The law librarians at Stanford University's School of Law have recently announced a new legal research blog called Legal Research Plus.  The blog intends to keep abreast of current legal issues and developments in legal research.  We at Heafey wish to congratulate our colleagues at Stanford for their newest entry into the legal blogosphere!

Legal Research Plus -- From the Advanced Legal Instructors at Stanford Law School

The California Supreme Court today issued its ruling in the "In re marriage cases" on the issue of marriage equality for same-sex families.  The court found that CA Family Code § 300 and 308.5 which restricted marriage to only heterosexual couples failed to meet the strict scrutiny standard as it did not demonstrate a compelling state interest.

Court's opinion -- California Supreme Court website

California ban on same-sex marriage struck down -- CNN.com

Governator supports gay marriage -- Box Turtle Bulletin

Thumbs up on marriage equality -- Pam's House Blend

National Center for Lesbian Rights -- represented plantiffs in this case

Press release -- National Center for Lesbian Rights

Exciting news from West (a Thomson Reuters company)!

Changes to the Key Number System

On May 12, West plans to release significant changes to the Key Number System.  Attorney editors have completed the reclassification of over 500,000 headnotes.  The improvements include the following:

• A large portion of the topic CRIMINAL LAW has been revised and expanded to account for recent changes in the law relating to the right to counsel, effectiveness of counsel, conduct and argument of either prosecuting attorneys or defense counsel, authentication of evidence, mistrial, regulation of trial, and standards of review on appeal.
•  
• Revisions have been made to the topic SENTENCING AND PUNISHMENT relating to application of the Sentencing Guidelines.
•  
• Dozens of other areas of the Key Number System have been given minor improvements, particularly in the topics AUTOMOBILES, INNKEEPERS, INSURANCE, and NEGLIGENCE
•  

Changes to the Key Number System do not affect a researcher’s ability to search by a former classification number. West tracks the former Key Number next to the updated classification, so Westlaw can be searched using old or new numbers. Depending upon the total impact on the bound print volumes, the reclassified headnotes may go into the pocket part.

For more fun and information about headnotes, you might want to look at these resources:

West Headnote of the Day--Each business day, West publicizes "an amusing, profound or otherwise interesting" headnote. You can subscribe to this by e-mail.

 

Fisher v. Lowe, 333 N.W.2d 67 (Mich. App. 1983)--A tort case where the judgwrote the opinion in rhyming verse. West wrote the headnotes and summary in rhyme also.

 

Daniel Dabney, The Universe of Thinkable Thoughts: Literary Warrant and West's Key Number System, 99 Law Library Journal 229 (2007) (available on Hein Online)--A fascinating article about the way in which West's Key Number System creates an orderly way of searching for the law itself but itself influences the law. The article is more interesting than might be supposed from its title; the author supervises the change and development of the Key Number System.

 

Mary Whisner, These Are a Few of My Favorite Books, 95 Law Library Journal 129 (2003) (available on Hein Online)--One of the books discussed is West's Analysis of American Law (at page 134 et seq.). What might otherwise be ignored as a dry reference work turns out to be surprisingly useful. The author is a reference librarian at the University of Washington's Gallagher Law Library.

The new chancellor at the University of Colorado at Boulder is proposing a new, and controversial, faculty position of "Conservative Thought and Policy".  This is apparently in response to a perceived "left-wing bias" on the campus, and criticism from conservative groups.  This action, however, is drawing the ire of both conservatives and progressives alike.  Some conservatives, such as George Will, believe that conservative professor should be more intergrated into the campus community.  He quipped this action is "[l]ike Margaret Mead studying the Samoans, they're planning to study conservatives".

CU seeks right-wing prof -- The Daily Camera (Boulder, CO)

An article in today's Washington Post details the boom in U.S. legal work among Indian workers.  The outsourced legal industry in India is going at a rate of 60% a year, taking advantage of the 300,000 Indians who enter law school yearly.

From the article:

Indian workers who once helped with legal transcription now offer services that include research, litigation support, document discovery and review, drafting of contracts and patent writing. The industry offers an attractive career path for many of the 300,000 Indians who enroll in law schools every year. India and the United States share a common-law legal system rooted in Britain's, and both conduct proceedings in English.

The explosion of opportunity here was triggered by what are known as "e-discovery laws," a set of U.S. regulations established in 2006 to govern the storage and management of electronic data for federal court actions. Overnight, the volume of information to be stored, archived, filtered and reviewed for litigation swelled. But there were not enough affordable lawyers or paralegals to do the work in the United States.

U.S. Legal Work Booms in India -- Washington Post

The librarians at the Heafey Law Library are happy to announce the introduction of screencasts, or video tutorials, available on the law library's website.  The tutorials cover basic topics such as how to find a law review article, course reserve, or book.  Watch the website for more screencasts as they become available.

How to find a journal article

How to find a course reserve

How to find a book

Using LegalTrac and Google Scholar to locate law review articles

Patent Attorney Stephan Kinsella gives a 40-minute presentation on why we need to "rethink" intellectual property.  From Techdirt, "He does a very nice job ripping apart the "property rights" arguments that some, especially some libertarians, use in favor of patents, explaining why that doesn't make sense. It's an excellent presentation, and well worth watching."

Patent Attorney Stephan Kinsella presents why we need to rethink intellectual property -- Techdirt

Discussion -- Slashdot

Harvard Law School has announced that articles written by their faculty must be available in open access journals.  This mandate upon Harvard faculty marks the first foray by a law school into mandatory open access.  Articles written by Harvard faculty will be hosted in an online database and indexed in Google Scholar.

Press release -- Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School votes for open access -- Law Librarian Blog

Harvard votes YES to open access scholarship -- Law School Innovation

The website, Lawschoolnumbers.com, has aggregated some statistics on the attrition rates among 1L at the nation's top 200 law schools.  In their report, Santa Clara ranks 33rd in the list, with 16.9% of 1Ls not continuing into their second year. 

1L Attrition Rates -- Lawschoolnumbers.com

(h/t to law librarian blog)

The Supreme Court for the State of Michigan recently ruled 5-2 that the state ban on same-sex marriages also blocks the extension of health insurance to partners of gay state government employees.  The ban dates back to 2004 when voters amended the state constitution to restrict marriages to opposite-sex couples.  Currently some 375 families are covered via their LBGT partners who are employed at one of Michigan's state universities or colleges.

Mich. high court says gay partners can't get health insurance -- Associated Press

Michigan Supreme Court 'No benefits for gay partners' -- Bilerico Project