White House Transition Project

Since 1997, the White House Transition Project has combined the efforts of scholars, universities, and policy institutions to smooth out the American presidential transition. WHTP bridges the gaps between the partisan forces engaged in settling elections and the decision processes essential to governing by providing non-partisan information about the challenges of the American presidential transition and the strategies for overcoming those challenges. It provides these and other resources to presidential campaigns, to the president-elect, and to the new administration. These resources include three separate report series providing a White House institutional memory, perspectives on past transitions, and advanced research covering special aspects of transitions and governing. The WHTP also provides unique analysis of the appointments process and a clearinghouse on other transition resources.

Job opportunities in the Obama administration

Change.gov is the official website of the Obama-Biden Transition Project. Individuals interested in applying for non-career positions can take the first step here by filling out an expression of interest form.

Drafting Contracts? - Take a Note of the Following ...

Also posted on the (new) legal writer blog by Raymond Ward, the JALWD (Journal of the Association of Legal Writing Directors) features a publication by M.H. Sam Jacobson titled A checklist for drafting good contracts that is recommended to all those who are involved in drafting contracts.

For all drafters, a checklist can ensure that the contract will contain the necessary substantive provisions and that the decisions about those provisions will have been made by design, not by accident. For the time-challenged drafter, a checklist eliminates the need to rethink from scratch what to include in a contract and how best to draft it. For the detail-challenged drafter, a checklist ensures that all tasks associated with the drafting are completed. For the occasional drafter, a checklist is an invaluable reminder of content and form that might otherwise be forgotten. For the experienced drafter, a checklist effectively reminds the drafter when boilerplate or often-used language is inappropriate, that special circumstances require special language.

The author recommends six basic steps:

1. Determine the substance of the contract
2. Analyze the audience
3. Organize material
4. Draft the contract
5. Design the document
6. Evaluate the document

Leave your comments sharing if you had a chance working with this publication and what was your experience. We look forward to reading them.

Legal Podcasts to Listen to!

Robert J. Ambrogi shares his opinion about legal profession and legal podcasts on Legal Technology Blog. He points out the inconsistency in publishing and short half-life of legal podcasting. Lawyers are too busy to do their own broadcasting. However, he says:

... for every podcast that turned off its mikes, others came along to fill the silence. As I surveyed the current crop of podcasts, I concluded that, within the legal field, podcasting remains alive and well.

And he recommends the following ten legal Podcasts to keep you informed:

1. Legal Talk Network
   
2. Conversations at Law - Hamlin University School of Law
3. ABA Podcasts is a series of podcasts including ABA Litigation Podcasts, ABA CLE Podcasts, and ABA Book Briefs Podcasts
   
4. University of Chicago Law School Podcasts posted on the Faculty Blog
   
5. Law and Disorder Radio
   
6. Out-Law Radio
7. This Week In Law with Leo Laporte & Friends
8. Hearsay Culture
9. International Dispute Negotiations created by International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution
   
10. New Jersey Law Blog by Stark&Stark Attorneys at Law

Enjoy listening and let us know what podcasts you like to or would like to listen to.

LTN talks about the Federal Rule of Evidence 502

The cost of discovery process can quickly escalate. On September 19, 2008, Senate Bill 2450 was signed into law, which establishes Federal Rule of Evidence 502 and is effective immediately. This law creates a new rule of evidence limiting certain attorney-client privilege and work product waivers. Bloggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi, carry on a discussion with attorney Robert D. Owen, a partner in Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP, about how this rule will affect litigation costs as well as clients. Download the episode to your iPod or iPhone for the road and enjoy listening.

Google is to digitize Congressional Hearings

The Library of Congress (LC) and Google will collaborate on digitizing Congressional Hearings. The LC contains about 75,000 volumes of printed Congressional Hearings. Committees hold hearings for a variety of purposes. Testimony is received from members of congress, officials of the executive branch, policy experts, interest groups and sometimes the general public on legislative proposals, the functioning of government progress, subjects of controversy and matters under investigation. The Law Library’s hearing collection is a rich resource for anyone interested in the history of issues that still face our country today.

As part of the Law Library’s transition to the digital future, a collaborative pilot project was undertaken with Google, Inc. to digitize the entire collection and make it freely available to Congress and the world. Three collections have been selectively compiled to provide users with a test experience: Census: U.S., Freedom of Information and Privacy, Immigration.

This project aims to provide text-readable PDF versions of the Congressional Hearings and to make them available as quickly as possible.

JURIST has a Facebook presence

JURIST has launched an official page on Facebook, the rapidly-growing social networking portal. JURIST writes:

The page is designed to give our US and worldwide audience a space in which to share their JURIST experiences and their common interest in the legal news and commentary that we offer every day. After more than a decade of delivering content to hundreds of thousands of largely anonymous readers around the world, our staff is looking forward to seeing the faces and hearing the voices of the ever-growing number of JURIST readers.

You can join JURIST here. Get their newest updates, posts, and announcements immediately and have the opportunity to leave a note on their Wall, take the Poll, or participate on the Discussion Board.

Social Networking and Law Firms

Legal Talk Network posted yet another great episode, this time about social media and law firms. Bloggers and co-hosts, J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome Brian Carter, keynote speaker and Director of Search Engine Marketing (PPC), SEO, and Social Media at Fuel Interactive and Heather M. Milligan, Director of Marketing at Barger & Wolen LLP to talk about social networking tools Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook as they hit the mainstream, how they are utilized in the legal community if at all, and how some firms look at social networking as a great PR tool for business. The guests further discuss why some lawyers are skeptical of Web 2.0. Download the episode to your iPod or iPhone and enjoy listening to this interesting discussion.

Pace Law Library New Acquisitions August 2008

Here is the latest list of new book received by Pace Law Library. Many new titles have links to GoogleBooks so that you may preview the book before coming to the library.

For Public Patrons of Pace Law Library

Lexis Public Access will replace the current Westlaw Public Access as of Saturday, November 2, 2008, and will be available on the public computer workstations in the Pace Law Library. The six public computer workstations are located on the main level of the library opposite the reference desk. Westlaw Public Access will no longer be available in the library after tomorrow November 1, 2008.

Access to Westlaw and Lexis for students, staff, and faculty is uninterrupted by this change.