New Additions to LLRX.com

Among the most recent additions on LLRX.com, are the following research guides:

A Compilation of State Lawyer Licensing Databases

Compiled by Andrew Zimmerman and Trevor Rosen.

Although this guide focuses on websites that help you determine whether a lawyer is currently licensed to practice in a particular state, there are many other kinds of state-specific lawyer-related online databases -- lawyer finders, lawyer referral services, bar member directories, disciplinary rolls, etc. Many of these resources can be found by following the links posted at LegalDockets.com.

Forensic Evidence and the CSI Effect

Compiled by Ken Strutin.

This is a collection of select legal scholarship and media studies that illuminates the extent of the phenomenon and whether it needs to be addressed and how. It should be noted that there is a large body of news articles, short-term scholarship, books and other media concerning this topic that is not covered in this survey.

New On LLRX - The Government Domain: New & Free Regulations Trackers

Published on April 21, 2010, the new addition to the LLRX.com titled The Government Domain: New & Free Regulations Trackers, by Peggy Garvin, highlights few online resources that make the federal legislative information available in new ways. Those include the following:

• GovTrack.us
• OpenCongress.org
• RegInfo.gov
• Regulations.gov
• Federal Register
• OpenRegs.com
• FedThread.org
• Regulations Tracker from Justia
• Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative

Cloud Computing For Lawyers

Published on March 6, 2010, by LLRX.com (Law and technology resources for legal professionals), Nicole L. Black has put together a summary outlining what is cloud computing, particularly cloud computing for lawyers.

[C]loud computing makes it possible for your data and software platforms and services to be stored offsite, in the "cloud".

Online services of this type, which include software as a system (SaaS) and platforms as a system (PaaS), are becoming increasingly common and, for many lawyers, are an attractive alternative to the traditional law practice management software installed and maintained on a local server within a law office.

DNA Identification Evidence in Criminal Prosecutions

Published on March 7, 2010, by LLRX.com (Law and technology resources for legal professionals), Ken Strutin has put together a guide to DNA Identification Evidence in Criminal Prosecutions.

In criminal cases, there have been challenges on sufficiency grounds and concerns over the use of forensic DNA evidence as the sole or primary proof of guilt. Uncorroborated DNA matching might not be enough to satisfy the burden of establishing guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The reliability of forensic DNA testing results might be questioned for any number of reasons, e.g., laboratory error, cross-contamination, interpretive bias or fraud, etc. See generally Tarnish On the 'Gold Standard': Recent Problems in Forensic DNA Testing, Champion, Jan./Feb. 2006, at 10.

Studies, standards and case reviews have highlighted the types of miscalculations that can occur and undermine confidence in evidence derived from genetic matching. Every kind of problem from mathematical errors to laboratory mishaps to fakery can plague the presumptive efficacy of DNA testing. This article highlights recent publications that underscore the need for closer scrutiny and weighing of DNA profiling when it is offered as the principal or exclusive evidence of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

New Additions to LLRX

Law and technology resources for legal professionals (LLRX.com) added new guides to its collection during the October month of 2009.

The following are some of those included:

• Pretexting, Legal Ethics and Social Networking Sites (By Ken Strutin)
• Competitive Intelligence - A Selective Resource Guide - Updated and Revised October 2009 (By Sabrina I. Pacifici)
• Legal Implications of Cloud Computing - Part One (The Basics and Framing the Issue) (By David Navetta, published in September 2009)
• Legal Implications of Cloud Computing - Part Two (Privacy and the Cloud) (By Tanya Forsheit)
• The Government Domain: A Handful of Classics (By Peggy Garvin)

New on LLRX: The Government Domain - Congressional Documents on FDSys: the Basics

On July 27, 2009 Peggy Garvin published an article on LLRx.com titled The Government Domain - Congressional Documents on FDsys: the Basics. Peggy Garvin of Garvin Information Consulting is author of The United States Government Internet Manual 2006-2007 (Bernan Press) and Real World Research Skills (TheCapitol.Net).

The U.S. federal government’s content shop, the Government Printing Office (GPO), is rolling out a new website for the government documents stream that it manages. The Federal Digital System (FDsys) is to replace GPO’s fifteen-year-old GPO Access website by the end of this year. GPO is moving content to FDsys gradually, collection by collection, with congressional documents leading the pack. GPO refers to the current system as a public beta version.

Congressional documents collections currently (as of 26 July 2009) available through FDsys are listed below. The capitalized acronym for each document collection is the “collection code” used in advanced FDsys command line searching, described later.

• Congressional Bills, 103rd Congress (1993-1994) to present; BILLS
• Congressional Calendars, 104th Congress (1995-1996) to present; CCAL
• Congressional Committee Prints, 100th Congress (1987-1988) to present; CRPT
• Congressional Documents, 103rd Congress (1993-1994) to present; CDOC
• Congressional Hearings, if available from committee, 105th Congress (1997-1998) to present; CHRG
• Congressional Record, 103rd Congress, 2nd session (1994) to present; CREC
• Congressional Committee Reports and Senate Executive Reports, 104th Congress (1995-1996) to present; CRPT

Read the full article to learn more about the search options, including tips for a Boolean search and basic syntax, about the search results and the future of the FDsys.

New on LLRX: 5 Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media

On July 11, 2009 Nicole L. Black published an article on LLRX.com titled Five Things Lawyers Should Know About Social Media. Nicole Black is an attorney in Rochester, New York and the founder of lawtechTalk, a company that educates businesses about emerging legal technologies and Internet and Web 2.0 technologies.

[S]ocial media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content. It’s a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. Social media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect in the online world to form relationships for personal, political and business use. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM). — Source, Wikipedia.

Five Things To Know:

1. Social media is useless without goals
2. Different social media sites serve different purposes
3. 'Social media' is a misnomer
4. People want to hire other people, not businesses
5. Lawyers cannot afford to be left out of the loop

Read the full article to get the full scoop. And let us know your thoughts.

New on LLRX: Blackberry Apps for Lawyers

On June 30, 2009 Nicole L. Black published an article on LLRX.com titled Blackberry Apps for Lawyers. Nicole Black is an attorney in Rochester, New York and the founder of lawtechTalk, a company that educates businesses about emerging legal technologies and Internet and Web 2.0 technologies. As she writes it took some time to conduct the research.

First, there is a number of apps consisting of databases of federal and state laws, which allow lawyers to carry relevant laws and rules in their pockets in an easily accessible format.

From the developer “The Law Pod,” lawyers can purchase the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Federal Rules of Evidence and the U.S. Constitution.

And much more, check out the full article for more applications that might be useful to you.

New on LLRX - Green Files: Green Resources and Sites On The Internet

Published on July 17, 2009 and compiled by Marcus P. Zillman, the Green Files: Green Resources and Sites On the Internet is a list of resources allowing you find the latest green resources and sites freely available online. The list is in alphabetical order and periodically updated on the author's blog.

Green Files is a comprehensive listing of green resources and sites on the Internet. The below list of sources is taken from my Subject Tracer™ Information Blog titled Green Files and is constantly updated with Subject Tracer™ bots at the following URL: http://www.GreenFiles.info/