Library Orientation--Scavenger Hunt Winners!

Congratulations to Tanya Manderson, the winner of the grand prize for participating in the Library scavenger hunt during orientation--a copy of Black's Law Dictionary, 9th edition.

Congratulations to the 50 lucky 1L winners (listed below) of a copy of Black's Pocket Law Dictionary.

You can pick up your copy of Black's at the Circulation Desk in the Law Library. Thanks to all for participating.

Auger, Jeffrey
Brown, Travis
Calcagno, Jaclyn
Campbell-Ferrari, Alexandra
Crough, Cassidy
Curtiss-Rowlands, Nicholas
Davidson, Justin
DeVries, J. Porter
Diaz, Noelle
Dixon, Michelle
Donegan, Patrick
Doneson, Douglas
Fout, Hannah
Frins, Erik
Geter, Lawanda
Grove, Thomas
Haimi, David
Huang, Jennifer
Joshi, Hina
Judd, Alex
Kaplan, Alison
Klemm, Gabi
Kochevar, Janice
Laboy, Luis
Lee, Paul
Leisch, Katherine
Low, Loriann
Luciano, Kristen
Mangino, Kristina
McChesney, Jacob
McIntosh, Lauren
McLeod, Anna
McManus, Kurtis
Pace, Deanna
Palmer, Sanchia
Park, Jeongyun
Patalano, James
Peric, Ivana
Pons, William
Ramage, Ian
Reda, Stephanie
Rodriguez, Clara
Roveillo, Virginie
Sardinha, Nicole
Sauer, Jonina
Serrano, Margaret
Stockel, Becky
Suh, Samuel
Voronovitskaia, Alla
Woodford, Kristen

Nokia Branches New Booklet 3G

Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, is to branch out into computing by selling laptops.

The Nokia Booklet 3G will use Microsoft's Windows operating system and will measure just 10 inches wide and 2 cm thick, and weigh 1.25 kg. The Finnish company is facing growing competition in the mobile phone market from Apple's iPhone and Research in Motion's BlackBerry.

Kai Oistamo, Nokia’s executive vice-president for devices, said

A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility, and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all-day, always-on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling.

Further,

The mini-laptop, known as a netbook, will have a battery life of up to 12 hours, offer high-speed access to the Internet, and be capable of playing high-definition video. It will be powered by an Intel Atom processor. Nokia will announce more details about the gadget on September 2.

Google Translate Now Speaks 51 Languages

Google Translate is a beta service provided by Google Inc. to translate a section of text, or a webpage, into another language [Wikipedia]. Google has recently added the following 9 languages ( Afrikaans, Belorussian, Icelandic, Irish, Macedonian, Malay, Swahili, Welsh, and Yiddish) totaling at 51 offered languages for translation.

What are you thoughts on automatic Internet translating services? Can they truly translate a meaning of a sentence? Share you thoughts, we would like to read them.

FEMA Searchable Disaster Photo Library

Via BeSpecific, the FEMA Disaster Photo Library is searchable by keyword, location, photographer, disaster number, category, and the results can be limited by date or range of dates.

The FEMA on line Photo Library contains more than 16,500 disaster related photographs made since 1989. The collection is composed almost entirely of declared disasters and there are also photographs from FEMA public events which have occurred in Washington, DC. The photographs are of Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Floods, Typhoons, Fires, Avalanches, Ice Storms, Blizzards, World Trade Center and Pentagon Terrorist Attacks, Earthquakes, and the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster.

Statutory Remedies For The Wrongfully Convicted

Adele Bernhard, Associate Professor of Law at the Pace University School of Law, has recently published A Short Overview of the Statutory Remedies for the Wrongly Convicted: What Works, What Doesn't and Why, in the Boston University Public Interest Law Journal.

Since the first wrongful conviction was overturned by DNA evidence, more than 230 wrongly convicted individuals have been exonerated. For most, the long awaited and hard won exoneration is the beginning of a new struggle. Exonerees face insuperable hurdles upon release. Lacking recent employment history or experience, work is difficult to secure. Without education or funds, most can’t access necessary counseling or relevant training. Often without family, they live alone and lonely.2 Money alone can never repair damage done by an undeserved prison sentence or fully compensate for pain and suffering. A monetary award, however, does provide a springboard from which to begin life again.

Adele Bernhard, A Short Overview of the Statutory Remedies for the Wrongly Convicted: What Works, What Doesn't and Why, 18 B. U. PUB. INT. L. J. 403 (2009).

Free Library Check Outs With SONY E-Reader

To follow up on our previous post, via Engadget, Sony's Reader Daily Edition will launch in December 2009 for $400. It has a seven-inch touchscreen. It enables to pull content wirelessly. The 3G network will be free but limited to accessing the Sony eBook store.

The new feature (said to be a major advantage over Kindle) is

[t]he library finder service, which enables you to check out ebooks and other digital content from your local public library on any of the Readers -- for free.

The New York Public Library is the flashy public launch partner, but there are "thousands more" looped in through a partnership with Overdrive.com -- check out the huge selection of top-tier content you can get through the Chicago Public Library, for example.

The library buys a fixed number of "copies" of each title and "checks out" the licenses, so you're on a time limit -- licenses will revert after 14-29 days depending on your local branch's rules.

Any thoughts?

2009 World Population Data Sheet

Population Reference Bureau released the 2009 World Population Data Sheet suggesting the world is likely to reach 7 billion in the latter half of 2011, just 12 years after reaching 6 billion in 1999. The bulk of growth is expected in the world's poorest nations.

In 2009, world population stood at 6.8 billion, up about 83 million from 2008 ... [t]he less developed countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean are projected to increase by just under 50 percent in the 41 years between now and 2050, and the poorest of these are projected to double in population size over that period. But this scenario assumes that fertility in less developed countries will decline smoothly to the low levels observed in today’s more developed countries: about 1.8 children per woman. For fertility to fall to those low levels, many factors are key, including significant increases in the use of family planning in many less developed countries.

Conservation And Recycling

The Conversation and Recycling page of the USA.gov website has been recently updated by two new links:

• Recycling Centers by Zip Code - allowing you to find recycling centers near you using your zip code; and
• Where Can I Donate or Recycle My Old Computer and Other Electronic Products? learn more about local manufacturer or retailer, and government supported recycling programs for computers and other electronics.

You can subscribe to USA.gov updates directly via email or RSS feeds.

Welcome Pace One L's

The entire library staff takes this opportunity to welcome you to Pace Law School and Pace Law Library. We wish you every success both at law school and in your legal career. Should you need any research assistance, please do not hesitate to ask any member of the library staff.

Sony Unveils New Wireless E-Reader

Via NPR Blog, Sony unveils new wireless e-reader, perhaps a competition to the so popular Kindle?

Amazon's Kindle, the portable electronic reader that can wirelessly download books and newspapers, is about to get some competition from Sony which announced today that it will introduce its own wireless reader in time in December. *** The Sony Reader Daily Edition will have a suggested retail price of $399.

What do you think, does Sony stand a chance? Can Kindle use some competition?

Law Library Newsletter

Welcome to our new students, and welcome back to our returning students. The latest issue of D-Brief, the Law Library Newsletter, written by reference librarian Margaret Moreland, includes information on the Library's web 2.0 efforts and an historical look at pandemics.

Internet Materials In Opinions: Citations and Hyperlinking

In the July 2009 Newsletter of the Federal Courts, titled The Third Branch, is an interesting article titled Internet Materials In Opinions: Citations and Hyperlinking mentioning some "suggested practices" to assist courts on how to deal with citations to Internet materials.

The Judicial Conference has issued a series of “suggested practices” to assist courts in the use of Internet materials in opinions. The recommendations follow a pilot project conducted by circuit librarians who captured and preserved webpages cited in opinions over a six-month period.

The guidelines suggest that, if a webpage is cited, chambers staff preserve the citation by downloading a copy of the site’s page and filing it as an attachment to the judicial opinion in the Judiciary’s Case Management/Electronic Case Files System. The attachment, like the opinion, would be retrievable on a non-fee basis through the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system. When considering whether to cite Internet sources, judges are reminded that some litigants, particularly pro se litigants, may not have access to a computer.

iAWFUL: Internet Advocate's Watchlist For Ugly Laws

iAWFUL is a NetChoice initiative dedicated to tracking the worst [proposed or passed] Internet laws in America.

Reckless and misguided laws, often originating at the state level, threaten to undermine the foundation of the free and open Internet. Some of the most serious threats to the Internet come in the form of lawmakers trying to 'fix' it.

Through this site, the Internet Advocates' Watchlist For Ugly Laws (iAWFUL) will track dangerous legislation and mobilize citizens to defeat bills and proposals that threaten the future of e-commerce and online communication. The list will be continually updated to reflect the most immediate dangers, based on regulatory severity and likelihood of passage.

You can follow and/or subscribe to NetChoice blog. You can also follow NetChoice on Twitter. Or you can subscribe via email to receive any pertinent updates.

The Current Top 10:
1. Maine Predatory Marketing Law (10 MRSA c.1055)
2. Hotel Taxes on Online Travel Companies
3. New Jersey Social Networking Bill (A 3757)
4. New iTunes Taxes Without Legislation
5. North Carolina Digital Downloads Tax Bill (HB 558/S 487)
6. North Carolina Tickets Bill (SB 99)
7. Federal Bills on Organized Retails Crime
8. Massachusetts Online Advertising Bill
9. North Carolina Advertising Nexus Proposal
10. New York Online Employment Services Taxation Issue

Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think. We look forward to reading your comments.

2008 Yearbook Of Immigration Statistics

In August 2009, the Office of Immigration Statistics released the 2008 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics.

Statistical data on immigration have been published annually by the U.S. government since the 1890s. Over the years, the federal agencies responsible for reporting on immigration have changed, as have the content, format, and title of the annual publication. Currently, immigration data are published in the Yearbook of Immigration Statistics by the Office of Immigration Statistics in the Policy Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security.

The 2008 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics consists of a compendium of tables organized by subject matter, including:

• Legal Permanent Residents
• Refugees and Asylees
• Naturalizaitons
• Nonimmigrant Admissions
• Enforcement Actions

U.S. International Trade In Goods And Services June 2009

U.S. Census Bureau of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, DC issued U.S. International trade in goods and services June 2009 for an immediate news release on August 12, 2009.

The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of commerce, announced today that total June exports of $125.8 billion and imports of $152.8 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $27.0 billion, up from $26.0 billion in May, revised. June exports were $2.4 billion more than May exports of $123.4 billion. June imports were $3.5 billion more than May imports of $149.3 billion.

In June, the goods deficit increased $1.2 billion from May to $38.4 billion, and the services surplus increased $0.1 billion to $11.4 billion. Exports of goods increased $1.9 billion to $84.0 billion, and imports of goods increased $3.0 billion to $122.4 billion. Exports of services increased $0.5 billion to $41.8 billion, and imports of services increased $0.4 billion to $30.4 billion.

Pace Law Library Faculty Handbook

The updated Faculty Handbook, listing the Pace law library services for faculty, is now available.

This handbook will acquaint you with the broad range of services offered to our faculty by the staff of the Pace Law Library. In particular, you are encouraged to read about our Library Liaison Program and get to know and rely on your liaison as the first contact for your regular research needs. An overview of the services we offer is provided here; more information may be found in the Faculty Services area of the Law Library website. Announcements of general interest to the Law School community are made in the Library’s monthly online newsletter, D‐Brief, which is delivered via e‐mail, and in the Law Library blog.

Please let us know if there are services the library is not currently offering but would be useful. We look forward to reading your comments. Or you can email us directly.

The World's 10 Best Court Websites

Via Legal Blog Watch and with a little bit of delay, Justice Served announced its annual awards for the Top 10 Court Websites in the world. Justice Served is a consulting firm that provides services and training to courts in management and technology. It looked at thousands of court Web sites and evaluated them based on criteria including court and web functionality.

The Winners Are:
Superior Court of California, County of Orange
Colorado State Judicial Branch
State Court of Chatham County Georgia
Singapore Subordinate Courts of Singapore
Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara
Courts Service of Ireland
Iowa Judicial Branch
Spokane County District Court
U.S. District Court, District of Maryland
Alabama's Legal Information Network

You can access the world's 10 best court websites for the previous years going back to 1999. Click here and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.

FreelanceLaw

FreelanceLaw.com is a national database of freelance attorneys, paralegals, and other legal professionals, offering their services to law firms on an independent contractor basis.

FreelanceLaw has built up a database of over 1,200 freelance legal professionals nationwide that are currently working, or willing to work, for law firms on an independent contractor basis, and hold the appropriate qualifications/certifications for performing that work. Law firms ranging from AmLaw 100 to solo practice in 12 states, have already registered and found freelancers to work projects for them. FreelanceLaw is now actively seeking more.

FreelanceLaw, Inc. was founded by San Diego attorney Melody A. Kramer for the purpose of simplifying the process for law firms and inhouse legal counsel who are trying to locate specifically qualified freelance attorneys, paralegals, court reporters, interpreters, and other freelance legal professionals to meet their project requirements.

To register is free. You can follow the site's blogs. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think.

Pace Subscribes To AudioCaseFiles

AudioCaseFiles offers downloadable MP3 files of court opinions as well as streaming trial video. You can search by course to find audio and text versions of the most precedential cases in the United States, including constitutional law, criminal law and intellectual property law. Watch experienced practitioners argue cases on products liability, antitrust, mergers and acquisitions, and more.

In order to register, you must use your school provided email address. So, for all of you Pace law students, you must use your Pace law school email address. If you are interested, you can register at http://www.audiocasefiles.com/register.

AudioCaseFiles service is listed on our law library website under databases. Let us know what you think. Did you find this service useful? If so, why? If no, what should be changed? We look forward to reading your comments!

Pace Law Library Registered On Twellow

Twellow.com is the Twitter Yellow Pages. Pace Law Library is now listed. Click here to view Pace Law Library Twellow profile. To create an account (to register) is free. User's profile displays basic information such as a name, a location and a website. Users may post a brief and/or extended biography and they can indicate what Web 2.0 tools are they currently using.

Guide For Law Review Members

The Pace Law Library created a new guide titled Guide For Law Review Members. This guide will assist students who serve on the three Pace law reviews. It provides a basic overview of cite checking, circulation policies, and interlibrary loan request procedures. You can find suggestions on how to find print and/or electronic sources, how to obtain sources via ILL, and what to consult to properly cite.

Also, take a minute to view the full list of Pace Law Library Guides.

Prof. B.J. Crawford Is Featured On Legal Theory Blog

Article titled Taxation, Pregnancy and Privacy by professor Bridget J. Crawford, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at the Pace University School of Law is featured on the Legal Theory Blog.

This Article frames a discussion of surrogacy within the context of existing income tax laws. A surrogate receives money for carrying and bearing a child. This payment is income by any definition, even if the surrogacy contract recites that it is a "reimbursement". Cases and rulings on the income tax consequences of the sale of blood and human breast-milk, as well as analogies to situations in which people are paid to wear advertising on their bodies, support the conclusion that a surrogate recognizes taxable income, although the IRS has never stated so. For tax purposes, the reproductive labor of surrogacy is work. The federal government should take steps to increase tax compliance. The Article considers, and then rebuts, privacy-based objections to surrogacy tax. Disclosure of income from surrogacy is a reasonable consequence of the freedom to engage in that activity.

ABA Names 25 Greatest Legal TV Shows

The August 2009 issue of the American Bar Association Journal features a piece by S.F. Ward titled The 25 Greatest Legal TV Shows.

We put that question to a jury of 12 experts—nine lawyers, two scholars and a TV critic—who write or teach about the nexus of law and pop culture. They were asked to pick their favorites among the scores of legal-minded shows that have come and gone over the years. We stayed away from those daytime judge shows and reality television, sticking to shows with actual scripts—though with some episodes of Law & Order it might be hard to tell the difference.

The following are the top 10 of the greatest legal TV shows:
1. L.A. Law
2. Perry Mason
3. The Defenders
4. Law & Order
5. The Practice
6. Ally McBeal
7. Rumpole of the Bailey
8. Boston Legal
9. Damages
10. Night Court

... and there is more. Click here to access the entire listing. Do you have a suggestion for a good legal TV show that deserves a spot in the top 25? Feel free to share your comments.

Typography For Lawyers

What is typography anyway? Should a lawyer pay attention to typography? Matthew Butterick suggests yes and here is why. First, what is typography?

Typography is the art and technique of arranging type, type design, and modifying type glyphs. Type glyphs are created and modified using a variety of illustration techniques. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading (line spacing), adjusting the spaces between groups of letters (tracking) and adjusting the space between pairs of letters (kerning). [Wikipedia]

Matthew Butterick is a civil litigation attorney running a law office, Butterick Law Corporation, out of Los Angeles. As he states,

Even though the legal profession depends heavily on writing, legal typography is often poor. Some blame lies with the strict typographic constraints that control certain legal documents (e.g. court rules regarding the format of pleadings). But the rest of the blame lies with lawyers. To be fair, I assume this is for lack of information, not lack of will. This website tries to fill that void. There are numerous guides on typography for generalists available but none specifically aimed at lawyers. This website is an ongoing work, with pieces being added as I write them.

Butterick addresses what typography is and why is it important and especially why is it important for lawyers? The website features lessons on how to improve typography in legal documents: basic typography, intermediate typography, and advanced typography. Users are welcome to leave comments and ask questions. See for yourself and enjoy!

Other blogs that posted about this:
Out of the Jungle: Typography for lawyers
Supreme Court of Texas Blog: Typography for lawyers
Standford Law School: Typography for lawyers
LexLibris: Typography for lawyers
Electriccounterpoint: Typography for lawyers
Binary Law: Typography for lawyers
Stark County Law Library Weblog: Typography for lawyers
Legal Writing Prof Blog: Typography for lawyers
FontFeed: Typography for lawyers
Cearta.ie: Typography for lawyers
GeoTypoGrafika: Typography for lawyers
RIPS Law Librarian: Typography for lawyers
Marblehead Blog: An online guide to typography for lawyers
And many more

National Parks Offering Free Admission This Weekend

Are you looking for something to do this weekend? Have some fun before the school starts.! For those who are interested and enjoy visiting national parks, more than hundred of national parks will waive their admission fee this weekend, August 15-16, 2009. Take advantage of this last summer special and visit a national park for free.

The NPS (National Park Service) will allow visitors free entry during three weekends this summer to encourage Americans to visit national parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Rocky Mountain National Park. The fee waivers (on June 20-21, July 18-19, and August 15-16, 2009) will apply to more than 100 national parks across the country that usually charge entrance fees. Fee waiver includes: entrance fees, commercial tour fees and transportation entrance fees.

We posted about this earlier this year; read here the full post and see the list of 7 participating national parks in New York state. And don't forget you can subscribe to all USA.gov updates via email or via RSS feed.

Cost of Duplex Printing Drops to 7.5 Cents Per Page

Starting today, duplex (double sided) printing done in the Pace Law Library Computer Lab or from the Public Access pcs will cost only 7.5 cents per click. Single sided printing will remain at 10 cents per click. (A click is a printed side of a sheet of paper.)
Also, the $25 printing credit for the fall semester has been added to your law student printing accounts, so you should be ready to start printing your first assignments when you return. If you have any questions about the new printing costs, ask a staff member for assistance.