The Pace Law Library Blog Makeover

Dear Readers,

We are thrilled to introduce to you our new Pace Law Library Blog.  We have been writing here since June 2008 and so we decided that our blog more than deserved a major makeover.  Thus, in the beginning of 2011, we migrated to a new platform and VOILÀ, here it is!

Meet the re-designed and spanking new Pace Law Library Blog:

www.library.blogs.law.pace.edu 

We will continue to bring you news and commentaries from the areas of Law and Technology, Legal Research & Writing, Professional Responsibility, Criminal, Environmental, Immigration, and International, and we plan to expand our coverage into Corporate, Finance, and Securities Law.  And, of course, we will always have a special section for law students.

Visit us on our new blog as we will be writing there from now on. Follow us on Twitter, become a friend on Facebook, or subscribe directly to our blog posts via RSS feed.

Thank you blogger for having us for the past two and half years, and see you all at library.blogs.law.pace.edu.

Pace Law Library Blog

Ms. Lamikanra on Nigerian Law and Legal System

Ms. Ufuoma Lamikanra, the Head of Readers' Services Section at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, at the University of Lagos in Nigeria, gave an excellent presentation titled Conflict of Laws in a Federation: The Nigerian Experience at the 2010 annual meeting of the American Association of Law Libraries in Denver, Colorado, as part of the FCIL-SIS Executive Committee presents event.

Ms. Lamikanra addressed the complexity of the Nigerian legal system and its literature, including the issues associated with the influence of English, customary, and Sharia laws in Nigerian legislation and judicial decision making.  The entire presentation was recorded and you may access the MP3 file at the Pace Law Library Podcast site or directly here.  Enjoy listening and reading more about Ms. Lamikanra.

Prof. Crawford Reviews Estate and Gift Tax Law Review Articles of 2010

Check out our first 2011 addition to the Pace Law Library Podcasts site titled Estate and Gift Tax Law Articles of 2010.  Prof. Bridget Crawford from Pace Law School reviews interesting estate and gift tax law related articles that were published in the year of 2010.  Her review is forthcoming as an article in Tax Notes, titled Estate and Gift Tax Law Review Articles You Should Have Read (But Probably Didn't) in 2010.  See the article abstract here and enjoy listening.

Prison Population in the U.S.

According to the press release, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that for the first time since it started to collect data in 1980 the adult prison population in the United States is down, as shown by the numbers for 2009.  Could this be a sign of a step in the right direction?

Although comparatively small, decreases in the probation population (down by 40,079 offenders) and the parole population (down by 5,526 offenders) were the first observed decreases since BJS began annual data collections on these populations in 1980. At yearend 2009, 4,203,967 adults were on probation, and 819,308 were under parole or other post-custody supervision.

While more than half of states reported decreases in admissions to prison, California reported the largest decline (11,122 fewer admissions), which was about four times the decline reported in any other state. The decrease in admissions in California was led by a drop in the number of parole violators returned to prison (down 9,668).

Related Statistical Reports:
Correctional Populations in the United States, 2009
This report presents data on the number of adults under some form of correctional supervision in the United States, including probation, parole, and jail and prison incarceration, at the end of 2009.

Probation and Parole in the United States, 2009
This report presents data on the number of adults under community supervision (parole and probation) at the end of 2009.

Prisoners in 2009
This annual report presents data on the number of prisoners under jurisdiction of federal or state correctional authorities as of the end of 2009.

Superheroes and the Law

If it is impossible to kill Superman or Wolverine, does trying to do so constitute a crime?  How does the Second Amendment apply to superheroes?  Can RICO be used to prosecute the Legion of Doom?  Are mutants a protected class? Who foots the bill when a hero damages property while fighting a villain? What happens legally when a character comes back from the dead?


James Dailey, an intellectual property attorney licensed in Missouri, and Ryan Davidson, an insurance attorney licensed in Indiana, answer these questions and many others in their blog Law and the Multiverse: Superheroes, Supervillains, and the Law.  Their discussion of the hypothetical legal ramifications of superhero comic book characters is thought provoking and required reading for all comic book fans in the legal community.

Federal Justice Statistics 2008

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) published the Federal Justice Statistics - 2008 statistical tables.  They are  now available in PDF or as a spreadsheet.

[It] describes criminal case processing in the federal justice system, including arrest and booking through sentencing and corrections. These statistical tables present the number of suspects arrested and booked by the U.S. Marshals Services, suspects in matters investigated and prosecuted by U.S. attorneys, defendants adjudicated and sentenced in U.S. district court, and characteristics of federal prisoners and offenders under federal supervision.

The European Library

Recently, I came across a website of the European Library.

[It] is a free service that offers access to the resources of the 48 national libraries of Europe in 35 languages.  Resources can be both digital (books, posters, maps, sound recordings, videos, etc.) and bibliographical. Quality and reliability are guaranteed by the 48 collaborating national libraries of Europe.

Read more about the library and its organization.  You may subscribe to the library's newsletter.  To learn more about the participating libraries, click here. Current library's exhibitions include Reading Europe, A Roma Journey, Napoleonic Wars, Treasures, and Buildings.

Users may browse the entire collection or by subject, or search the collection by subject or material. The advanced as well as simple searches are available.  And, something that I was impressed by, the search screen includes an option for a virtual keyboard that has 28 language keyboards for users to choose from.  The website is very clean and easy to use.

Users may also register, which now allows them to save favorites and session query history, and in the future users will  be able to save selected collections, receive email alerts concerning collections of interest, and receive email alerts concerning subjects of interest.

FBI Releases Hate Crime Statistics for 2009

The FBI released the 2009 Hate Crime Statistics. The report including the background, collection design, data provided and participation is now available only on the FBI website.  A printable version is also available; however, according to the release, printed copies of the publication are no longer available.

[The statistics indicated that] 6,604 criminal incidents involving 7,789 offenses were reported as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability.  

Law In Film Collection Additions

Some of the most recent additions to our Law in Film Collection include A River of Waste (2009), a documentary about modern industrial system of meat and poultry production in the U.S. and elsewhere, Copyright Criminals (2010), a documentary about copyright, creativity and technological change in the hip-hop music making industry, Capitalism (2010), a documentary by M. Moore about the history of free-market capitalism in post-Reagan America, and Sin by Silence (2009), a documentary telling the story of Convicted Women Against Abuse.  Don't forget that Pace Law Library patrons may check out movies for up to five days and it is FREE.

Examples and Explanations Available Online

The popular law school study aids, Examples & Explanations, including Contracts, Federal Income Tax, Copyright, Debtor and Creditor, Evidence, Criminal Law, Property, and many others, are available online. Google has digitized the full content of many of the titles from this series. They are available on Google Books and large portions are available for free. Although the online collection does not include the most recent editions, some of the titles are as recent as 2007, 2008, or 2009.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act now in HeinOnline

HeinOnline's recently added Taxation & Economic Reform in America Library now contains more than 140 legislative documents related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Public Law No. 111-203, 124 Stat. 1376 (2010). Compiled by William H. Manz, Senior Research Librarian at St. John's Law School, this collection includes all versions of the bill, related bills, congressional hearings, reports and debates, presidential materials, Congressional Budget Office reports, and the full text of the law itself.

The voluminous Reform Act (849 pages in the Statutes at Large) has been criticized for not going far enough in changing the U.S. financial system. Nevertheless, it has imposed new regulations on hedge funds, derivatives, private equity funds, and corporate governance. Large hedge and private equity funds are now required to register with the SEC, bringing them under federal oversight for the first time. Derivatives markets are also brought under federal oversight by the Act. The issue of excessive executive compensation has been addressed by requiring the SEC to establish compensation disclosure rules for annual reports, as well as "clawback" provisions for recovering unjust compensation. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been established and given authority to write new consumer protection rules for banks and other financial firms.

Hein's Taxation and Economic Reform in America Library is a great resource on U.S. tax laws, banking laws, securities laws, and financial reforms passed by Congress as far back as the 1800s. In addition to the recent Dodd-Frank Act, it contains resources on the Great Depression, the Wall Street Crash of 1987, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2008, and 2010 staff reports of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.

Prof. Nolon on Sustainable Development

Today, November 10, 2010, at 4:00 pm,  Prof. John Nolon, James D. Hopkins Professor of Law at Pace Law School, will present on Sustainable Development Law: Keeping Pace as part of the Hopkins Lecture.  The event will be held at the Judicial Institute at Pace Law School.  For more information, email bthornton@pace.law.edu.

Professor John R. Nolon is Counsel to the Land Use Law Center and Director of the Kheel Center on the Resolution of Environmental Interest Disputes.  Prof. Nolon has been Visiting Professor of Environmental Law at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies since 2001.  He served as a consultant to President Clinton's Council on sustainable Development in the mid-1990s and, during that time, studies and wrote about sustainable development in South America as a Fulbright Scholar.  In 2009, he was presented the National Leadership Award for a Planning Advocate by the American Planning Association.  Prof. Nolon's current focus is on sustainable development law and managing climate change through land use practices.  He participates in the Experts meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.  He has written a book on climate change and sustainable development law and is redrafting his law school casebook to include chapters on these topics.  

Can't make it here on time?  You can still attend by watching the lecture video in real time.

Civil Litigation Management Manual

The Federal Judicial Center (FJC) has recently published the Civil Litigation Management Manual, Second Edition. The entire manual (220 pages) is available online in PDF along with a list of appendices including various sample forms.

This manual provides trial judges a handbook on managing civil cases.  It sets out a wide array of case-management techniques, beginning with early case screening and concluding with steps for streamlining trials and final disposition.  It also discusses a number of special topics, including pro se and high visibility cases, the role of staff, and automated programs that supports case management.  This new edition incorporates statutory and rules changes and contains updated advice on electronic case management, electronic discovery, and ways of containing costs and expediting cases. 

After Gender? Examining International Justice Enterprises

Since 1982, the Pace Law School has hosted a yearly event, the Dyson Distinguished Lecture series.  This year's title is After Gender? Examining International Justice Enterprises. The Pace Law School will welcome Janet Halley, Royall Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, and an impressive group of exciting moderators, panelists, and commentators, as they all engage in a series of conversations about international law, sex, gender, and sexuality.

This one-day conference will explore contemporary thinking about gender in international law.  Traditionally, international law's gender analysis focused on women to the exclusion of other sexes.  More recent efforts to understand the complexities of gender in the international arena, including those in international criminal law, the United Nations, and other international organizations, have attempted to move toward a broader understanding of gender identity.  Do these efforts continue to rely on the exclusive centrality of "women" to understand "gender?"  If so, what are the costs to gender-related projects, if any? 

This event is scheduled on November 12, 2010 at 9:30 am and will be held in the Judicial Institute Lecture Hall on the Pace Law School campus. For more information, email plr@law.pace.edu.

The lecture will be available online in real time here.

2010 Manual on Recurring Problems in Criminal Trials

Federal Judicial Center (FJC), created in 1967, is the education and research agency for the federal courts. On its website it provides information about its publications & videos, international judicial relations, federal judiciary history, and educational programs & materials.  Recently, it has published the sixth edition of the Manual on Recurring Problems in Criminal Trials.

This Manual is not meant to be a comprehensive treatise on criminal law, but rather a basic guide to the law governing many of the procedural matters that arise frequently in criminal trials.  Consequently, it should not be cited as authority in opinions or other materials, nor should the case summaries, which have been updated through August 15, 2009, be considered substitutes for the judicial opinions they reference. 

Additions to Our Law in Film Collection

Pace Law Library, in addition to its extensive law collection, also has a not so shabby Law in Film Collection.  The idea is to collect movies with law/legal theme, though occasionally a not so law or legal related movie slips in.  In any instance, you should check it out.  The collection is located on the main floor of the law library, behind the reference desk.  All movies in this collection do circulate, so our patrons can check them out for up to five days.  And although we don't have as extensive variety as for example Netflix does, we do have some great titles and it is free for our patrons.

The following are some of our newest additions:
The Name of the Rose; The Constant Gardener; Wall Street; Passport to Pimlico; Cry Freedom; Earth;
The Art of the Steal; Presumed Guilty; Capturing the Friedmans; The Andersonville Trial; Simple Justice; Nichts als die Wahreit (After the Truth); Sicko; American Violet; Gran Torino; and many more.

National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week

The EPA has announced National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week for October 24-30th in order to raise awareness of the risks associated with childhood lead exposure. According to recent statistics,

Lead paint poisoning affects more than 1 million children today. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that nearly 250,000 children living in the United States have blood lead levels high enough to require public health intervention, based on data from a 2003–2004 national survey.

For general information see:
National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week Toolkit
EPA Lead FAQ

For further reading see:
Lead Renovation Repair & Painting Rule, 73 Fed. Reg. 21,692 (Apr. 22, 2008) (to be codified at 40 C.F.R. pt. 745).

Alan Kaminsky et al., The Lawyers Guide to Lead Paint, Asbestos, and Chinese Drywall (2010).

Montrece McNeill Ransom et al., Toward Eradication: How Law and Public Health Practices Can be Used to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning, 22 Tulane Envtl. L.J. 1 (2008).

John S. Gray et al., Negligence in the Air? Should Alternative Liability Theories Apply in Lead Paint Litigation, 25 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 147 (2008).

Peter G. Earle et al., Negligence in the Paint: The Case for Applying the Risk Contribution Doctrine to Lead Litigation- A Response to Gray & Faulk, 25 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 179 (2009).

Legal Briefs: Eight local law professors urge legalization of marijuana -- Wash. Post

A group of law faculty from American, Georgetown, George Mason and George Washington universities have come out in support of California's Prop. 19. They argue that "the present policies toward marijuana to be bankrupt, and urge their rethinking."

Pace Law School phasing out part-time evening program

The rumors are true.  Dean Michelle Simon sent out a letter to alumni this week confirming that after this fall there will be no more part-time evening program.  Dean Simon writes

There has been, however, a confluence of factors over the years that has caused us to re-evaluate our evening program and nudged us toward the conclusion that under the circumstances, those resources need to be reallocated so that the law school can continue to evolve in non-traditional and flexible ways.  ... While we are sorry to be letting go of a program that has been a touchstone of the Pace Law legal experience, and has resulted in a cohort of such talented, successful, and supportive alumni, we are confident that the benefits far outweigh the losses and will result in your Pace Law degree becoming even more valuable.

 
I hope this is true, but as a 2003 graduate of the evening program at Pace Law School, I am sorry to see it go.  I understand the decision but don't agree with it.  Evening students participate in so many aspects of law school life, e.g. moot court and law review, and bring unique life experience to the classroom.  Many evening program students I know would not have been able to attend law school were it not for the part-time evening program.  I'll miss the interesting students it brought to the law school.

To other Pace Law alums and current students--what do you think?

Humbach on Sexting and the First Amendment

Sexting - a word that is becoming part of our vocabulary; a behavior most common among teenagers; a growing phenomena.  But what exactly is sexting?  Oxford Dictionary online does not have a readily available definition yet, so I turned to online Wikipedia.

Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photographs, primarily between mobile phones. [Wikipedia]

To learn more, please join Prof. John Humbach and Prof. Bridget Crawford, both from Pace Law School, as they discuss the implications of sexting and the First Amendment in the library's recent podcast titled Humbach on "Sexting" and the First Amendment. Prof. Humbach, in his article, "Sexting" and the First Amendment, writes that "[g]iven the reality of changing social practices, mores, and technology utilization, today's pornography laws are a trap for unwary teens and operate, in effect, to criminalize a large fraction of America's young people."

Article Citation
John Humbach, "Sexting" and the First Amendment, 37 Hastings Const. L. Q. 433 (2010).

To view and listen to more of our podcasts, click here.