New Blogs From the Government

Via USA.gov, the following are some new blogs that have been added to the government blogs site.

Jobs, Education, and Volunteerism Blogs added ED.gov blog (the official blog from the U.S. Department of Education), Disability.gov blog (attempts to connect disability community to information and opportunities), and Collaborate (serving as a virtual meeting place for members of the National Archives education team and colleagues from schools, institutions, and organizations across the nation).

Travel and Recreation Blogs added TSA.gov blog (providing ongoing discussion on innovations in security, technology and the checkpoint screening process) and Fast Lane (providing forum for discussing the nation's transportation system and making announcements about future projects).

Business and Economics Blogs added Business Law Advisor (helping to comply with business laws and regs), In the Loop (information about business.gov plans and status), Small Business Cents (small business grants, loans, and finance), Small Business Matters (information about a range of small and home business issues), and The Industry World (small business professionals sharing their small-business expertise).

Science and Technology Blogs added OSTIblog, which is a place where members of OSTI community discuss personal perspectives, national impacts, OSTI products and content, and technology.

You can subscribe to automatic updates from the USA.gov website via email or RSS feeds.

Where To Get Help For Victims Of Domestic Violence

The USA.gov website posted information about getting help for people who are victims of domestic abuse. Visit this site for more information including National Domestic Violence Hotlines where instances of domestic abuse can be reported. The website also provides additional information and resources.

You can receive updates from the USA.gov website automatically via email subscription or RSS feeds.

Making Summary Judgment Motion More Effective

Via the (new) legal writer, Raymond Ward posted a blog titled How to make your summary-judgment motion more effective. In this post, Mr. Ward features an article by Michael Reitzell, and he writes:

If you’d rather write your summary-judgment motions with the goal of having them granted, then you’ll benefit from reading Michael Reitzell’s article, Focus on the Material Facts for a Successful Motion for Summary Judgment. Michael gives good advice not only on how to focus your motion on the facts that matter, but also on how to respond to an opposition loaded with irrelevant factual assertions. The article is written from a defendant’s perspective, but its advice applies just as well to a plaintiff’s summary-judgment motion.

Environmental Blog From the Government

Via USA.gov, a new blog of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program (NOAA Marine Debris Blog) has been added to the Environment, Energy, and Agriculture blogs generated by the U.S. government.

The NOAA Marine Debris Program serves as a centralized marine debris capability within NOAA in order to coordinate, strengthen, and increase the visibility of marine debris issues and efforts within the agency, its partners, and the public.

You can subscribe to automatic updates of the USA.gov site via email or RSS feeds.

Green Google

Via the Official Google Blog, A Green Tour of the Google Campus blog post features Google's efforts to be environmentally friendly. Read for yourself about environmental sustainable measures Google implemented regarding its employees coming to work, lighting and buildings issues, or employees need to run daily errands.

History of the New York County Supreme Court Libraries

Via Criminal Law Library Blog published by David Badertscher, features an article by Julie Gick, History of the New York County Supreme Court Libraries. Readers can learn about the beginnings of the court, the buildings (including great photographs), the staff, early Supreme Court, Supreme Trial Court, Court of General Sessions, Bronx court, New York County Courts Public Access Law Library, the collection, administrative changes, and innovations.

Defining Terms of Art

Via the (new) legal writer, Raymond Ward writes about defining the terms of art.

Legal writers often must use terms of art—technical words or phrases unique to a profession. Sometimes these terms come from the legal profession; sometimes they come from other professions, such as medical or engineering. But they all have one thing in common: not everyone knows what they mean. So to make sure that your reader understands a term of art in your writing, define it.

You can define terms of art unobtrusively, without interrupting the flow of your writing. To learn how, read Robert Fugate’s recent article in the Texas Bar Journal, Defining Terms of Art in Legal Writing.

Blogs From U.S. Government

The blogs from U.S. Government are now organized by subject. The list of topics include the following:

• Business and Economics Blogs
• Defense and International Relations Blogs
• Environment, Energy, and Agriculture Blogs
• Family, Home, and Community Blogs
• Health and Nutrition Blogs
• History, Arts, and Culture Blogs
• Jobs, Education, and Volunteerism Blogs
• Public Safety and Law Blogs
• Reference and General Government Blogs
• Science and Technology Blogs
• Travel and Recreation Blogs

You can subscribe to updates to this page via email or via RSS feeds.

$100 Fine For a Wrong Case Citation

Via ABA Journal Law News, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals fined an attorney a $100 for a wrong citation to a case in the submitted brief.

The lawyer cited an unpublished case that supposedly upheld a stipulated damages clause in a vending machines contract. But a search for the case based on the name provided by the lawyer turned up a misrepresentation case brought by newlyweds against a wedding photographer.

The cite wasn’t helpful, either. It was listed as “2005 AP 160,” which sent the appeals court to 2005 WI App 160 and another “dead end,” the footnote said. When the court finally found the real case—which had an entirely different name—it learned “2005 AP 160” was the docket number.

Live Video-Tweeting By Twitter

Via Telegraph.co.uk, Twitter is to introduce live video-tweeting.

Twitter users may soon be posting real-time video tweets in addition to text tweets under plans to modernize the site.

The upgrade, which is being discussed by Twitter's founders, will enable Twitter users to upload brief video snippets to their profiles directly from mobile phones, laptops and other devices.

Bing vs. Google Search Engine

Bing vs. Google search engine searches both engines simultaneously and displays the results side by side on the screen. Check it out for yourself!

Can't choose default search engine? Want to compare Bing & Google results? This is the right place to be. Just put your query in the search box and press Enter. You'll see results from both engines side by side. Search provider for Internet Explorer 7/8 and Firefox is also available - search both engines from your browser!

Law.gov

Publicresource.org is part of group of legal scholars hosting a series of workshops with the ultimate goal of developing an open source repository of authenticated primary legal materials to be know as Law.gov.

Law.Gov would be similar to Data.Gov, providing bulk data and feeds to commercial, non-commercial, and governmental organizations wishing to build web sites, operate legal information services, or otherwise use the raw materials of our democracy.

The goal is to deliver a detailed report by mid 2010 on exactly what it would take to create this repository, including technical specifications and an economic impact statement.

Children's Exposure To Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey

October 2009 issue of the Juvenile Justice Bulletin features the 2009 National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence.

[The survey] was sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Conducted between January and May 2008, it measured the past-year and lifetime exposure to violence for children age 17 and younger across several major categories: conventional crime, child maltreatment, victimization by peers and siblings, sexual victimization, witnessing and indirect victimization (including exposure to community violence and family violence), school violence and threats, and Internet victimization.

The survey confirms that most of our society’s children are exposed to violence in their daily lives. More than 60 percent of the children surveyed were exposed to violence within the past year, either directly or indirectly.

Crime Against People With Disabilities, 2007

U.S. Department of Justice, the Bureau of Justice Statistics released the 2007 findings on Crime Against People With Disabilities.

Presents the first findings about nonfatal violent and property crime experienced by persons with disabilities, based on the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The report includes data on nonfatal violent victimization (rape/sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault) and property crime (burglary, motor vehicle theft, theft) against persons with disabilities in 2007. It compares the victimization experience of persons with and without disabilities, using population estimates based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS). Data are presented on victim and crime characteristics of persons with and without disabilities, including age, race and gender distribution; offender weapon use; victim injuries; and reporting to the police.

Data includes the following:

• Persons with disabilities were victims of about 47,000 rapes, 79,000 robberies, 114,000 aggravated assaults, and 476,000 simple assaults.
• Age-adjusted rate of nonfatal violent crime against persons with disabilities was 1.5 times higher than the rate for persons without disabilities.
• Females with a disability had a higher victimization rate than males with a disability; males had a higher rate than females among those without a disability.

The page provides information about the source data. The data is available as a PDF file, an ASCII file, or a spreadsheet. Users may also order a paper version of the report.

Nov 9 Deadline For Google Books Deal

Via Telegraph.co.uk, a judge has set November 9 of this year to be the deadline for Google books deal.

Google is having to renegotiate a previous deal it struck with publishing companies last October, because the US government ruled that it violated antitrust laws.

The original agreement, between Google and the Authors Guild and Association of American Publishers, was a response to a class-action lawsuit in which Google was accused of copyright infringement after it started scanning books from university libraries.

Lawyers representing US authors and publishing groups said they fully expected to have a new deal in place with Google by the Nov 9 deadline set by Judge Denny Chin. Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, said that he expected the core agreement "to stay the same".

'Poking' Facebook User Led To An Arrest

Via Telegraph.co.uk, a woman was arrested for 'poking' a Facebook user.

Police deemed that 36-year-old Shannon Jackson violated a protection order – similar to a restraining order – by using the site's feature to attract the attention of another user.

The order previously obtained by the woman who received the poke banned Jackson from "telephoning, contacting or otherwise communicating with the petitioner".

We blogged about using Facebook to fire an employee, court papers being served by Facebook, court order served over Twitter, and now we write about a violation of a restraining order by using one of the Facebook applications to virtually poke another user. Any thoughts anyone?

Global Corruption Report 2009

The 2009 Global Corruption Report is available.

The private sector plays a pivotal role in fighting corruption worldwide. Transparency International’s Global Corruption Report 2009 documents in unique detail the many corruption risks for businesses, ranging from small entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa to multinationals from Europe and North America. More than 75 experts examine the scale, scope and devastating consequences of a wide range of corruption issues, including

• bribery and policy capture
• corporate fraud
• cartels
• corruption in supply chains and transnational transactions
• emerging challenges for carbon trading markets
• sovereign wealth funds and
• growing economic centres, such as Brazil, China and India.

The Global Corruption Report 2009 also discusses the most promising tools to tackle corruption in business, identifi es pressing areas for reform and outlines how companies, governments, investors, consumers and other stakeholders can contribute to raising corporate integrity and meeting the challenges that corruption poses to sustainable economic growth and development.

You can download the 2009 report by chapters or as a single document, or you can order the report.

Social Media Copyright Quiz

Via Robert Amrbogi's LawSites, Robert Ambrogi, Esq. compiled Social Media Copyright Quiz, which he presented at the Social Media: Risks and Rewards program. Bellow is embedded a smaller scale of the quiz; a larger scale of the quiz is available here. Thank you for sharing!

The quiz doesn't take long to complete. After all, see for yourself, brush up on your knowledge of copyright, and have fun.

Bloomberg Law

Legal Blog Watch has this article about Bloomberg Law, a new legal research service that competes with Westlaw and Lexis. Bloomberg's service is marketed to law firms, and integrates legal content with news and business information.

This new service is scheduled to be introduced later this month at a party at Wilkie Farr & Gallagher in NYC. It offers a citator, docket search, a law digest, law reports that integrate primary and secondary legal research with financial and business news, and the ability to search across multiple databases.

The Legal Blog Watch article includes reviews by beta testers (mixed verdicts) and questions the need for yet another proprietary legal research service.

UK Cybercrime Report 2009

The 2009 UK Cybercrime Report was published in September this year. It is the third consecutive report published by Garlik.

The report, which analyzes publicly available data to build a comprehensive view of cybercrime in the UK, revealed that during 2008 cybercriminals adapted to the social and economic changes in the UK to exploit victims in new ways and commit over 3.6 million criminal acts online (that’s over one every 10 seconds). In addition, the researchers believe that there is a growing complacency amongst consumers, demonstrating poor understanding of their responsibility to protect their personal information against fraud.

One of the most significant changes in cybercrime has been the 207% increase in account takeover fraud indicating that criminals have now shifted their efforts from opening new accounts with stolen identities to accessing existing accounts.

The report also highlights that online banking fraud has increased by a staggering 132%, with losses totaling £52.5 million, compared to £22.6 million in the previous year. This sharp rise can be mostly attributed to nearly 44,000 phishing websites specifically targeting banks and building societies in the UK.

The total number of cybercrimes has increased annually between 2006 and 2008, however, the good news is that sexual offences have decreased as a category each year. All other categories dipped in 2007 but then in 2008 bounced back above their 2006 figure.

Pace Law Library D-Brief

The October 2009 issue of D-Brief, written by the Pace Law Library, is available. Gail Whittemore, a reference and special collections librarian at the Pace Law Library, wrote about the new library drop box that is available off hours, Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Resolution, library hours for the fall semester, and suggested some fun activities to do. Enjoy reading!

October 2009 Briefcase

The October 2009 issue of the Briefcase, a newsletter written by the Pace University School of Law Center for Career Development, is available. This issue features some important deadlines, emissions trading, energy and climate law resources, relevant CLE classes, and upcoming programs and events. Enjoy reading!

The UK Supreme Court Launched a New Blog

Via SCOTUSBlog, New United Kingdom Supreme Court Launched, the UKSCblog is dedicated to the UK Supreme Court.

The UK Supreme Court is the UK's highest court; its judgments bind lower courts and thus shape the development of English Law. Since 1399, the Law Lords, the judges of the most senior court in the country, have sat within Parliament. From October 2009, however, they have moved to an independent court in the Middlesex Guildhall. To mark this historic development, this blog has been set up to provide commentary on the UK Supreme Court and its judgments.

The Supreme Court is to be made up of 12 Justices. The first Justices will be the Law Lords who made up the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords as at July 2009. The Justices will be housed in the Supreme Court and are disqualified from sitting or voting in the House of Lords. The current Justices are Lord Phillips, Lord Hope, Lord Saville of Newdigate, Lord Rodger, Lord Walker, Lady Hale, Lord Brown, Lord Mance, Lord Collins, Lord Kerr and Lord Clarke.

The UKSC's blog also links to the Archive, information About the blog, information About the UK Supreme Court, and many useful links such are the House of Lords Judgments, the BAILII Court of Appeals decisions, or the Court of Appeals listing calendar.

LegalTube

Bonnie Shucha at WisBlawg, via the new video matchmaking site for lawyers and clients, and Robert Ambrogi at LegalBlogWatch, via a video matching site for lawyers and clients, write about a new site called LegalTube.

LegalTube is the only legal directory where finding a lawyer or the answers to your law-related questions is as easy as channel surfing. It’s a way to connect attorneys and potential clients by offering “face time” in the comfort of your living room. On LegalTube, not only can you search by location and area of practice to find the perfect attorney for your needs, but you can get answers to common questions and find out more about important legal topics. And it’s as easy as watching TV!

LegalTube promises users to find a lawyer, shortlist, expert questions and answers, law laughs, law tales, law after dark, hot topics, LegalTube blog, off the record, and legal links. a user can log in as a member or as an attorney. Check it out for yourself and let us know what you think?

New York City Bar New Exhibit

The New York City Bar announced the opening of a new exhibit titled "Before Mad Men" Advertising in 19th Century New York.

The New York City Bar has an extensive collection of business directories from the 19th century. Many of these books contain vintage advertisements that open a window to a city that was on the verge of greatness. This nostalgic tour takes a look at how small businesses and innovative entrepreneurs shaped the landscape of New York and built the foundation for the city to become the economic capital of the world.

Some of the other featured exhibits include:
The Ultimate Penalty
Crimes of Passion
Women and the Law
Slavery in the Courts
Hail to the Chiefs

Court Order Server Over Twitter

Via BBC News | Technology, an article featuring UK High Court allowing an injunction to be served via social-networking site Twitter to serve an unknown Twitter user who anonymously posts to the site using the same name as a right-wing political blogger.

The order demands the anonymous Twitter user reveal their identity and stop posing as Donal Blaney, who blogs at a site called Blaney's Blarney. The order says the Twitter user is breaching the copyright of Mr Blaney.

UK law states that an injunction does not have to be served in person and can be delivered by several different means including fax or e-mail.

Comments anyone?

CALI: New York Primary Legal Research

CALI, the Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction, produces new lessons daily. One that caught my attention is intended to practice and review NY primary legal research. It takes about an hour to complete. A user is given a hypothetical in the beginning of the lesson. After that, he gets to explore secondary sources, statutes, cases, and regulations (both online and in print) to try to answer the questions posed in the hypothetical.

This lesson is intended to acquaint students with basic information regarding sources of primary law in New York state: case law, statutes and regulations. It can be used to supplement instruction in introductory Research and Writing courses or as a freestanding introduction to doing New York legal research.

There are more lessons to chose from; they organized by topic, author, or by lessons recommended to 1Ls and to 2 and 3 Ls. See for yourself.

America's National Parks

The Recreation and Tourism page of the USA.gov Web site has been updated by a new link National Parks: America's Best Idea Today.

For nearly 100 years, this best idea has been nurtured by the National Park Service. Over time, the number of national parks has increased and our mission has become more complex as the range of services we offer has grown beyond parks to meet the needs of thousands of towns and cities across the country. Filmmaker – and Honorary National Park Ranger – Ken Burns tells the story of the national parks and the people who helped create them in his new PBS film The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Thoughts or comments?