We lawyers brag/complain that the law is very complicated, but Professor G. Robert Blakey has put in one page, part-outline, part-artwork.  You can see the product here – it’s brilliant! 

Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia law school and a former clerk for Judge Posner, has created a searchable database of opinions written by Judge Posner.   Here is what Professor Wusays about the site:

The purpose of this site is to make freely and easily available to the public Richard Posner's largest and greatest body of work — his judicial opinions. The database contains opinions from 1981 to 2006. It will not contain the most recent opinions.

Why this site? While Posner's books and popular writings are easily available to the public, his opinions are difficult or expensive for the public to access, let alone search. This site, for the first time, collects almost all of his opinions in a single searchable and easily readable database.

For lawyers and those interested in law, Posner's opinions have a particular substantive value. One thing that distinguishes the opinions is the effort to try and get at why a given law actually exists, and an effort to try and make sense of the law. That can make them more useful than most case reports.

In addition, the opinions often develop the American general and state common law. Posner is among the judges who feels free to take the rule of Erie as more suggestion than injunction.

Finally, some of the opinions are funny.

Thanks to Boing Boing! 

Concurring Opinions has published the beta version of its semi-annual census of law professor bloggers. The census lists 202 blogs by law professors.  This is a great resource for finding blogs that address particular areas of law.  Read the lists here. 

Prawfsblawg has initiated a project that it calls "Research Canons.”  According to the blog, the “purpose of this project is to get input from you, our readers, about the most important works of scholarship in the various areas of legal inquiry.”  The project should produce a great list of resources that will be helpful to professors, students and practioners.  I intend to follow it and recommend that you do the same.

Here are the subjects that will be covered (and the dates on which the blog will be requesting input): 

    * Civil Procedure - 9/6
    * Contracts - 9/7
    * Criminal Law - 9/11
    * Criminal Procedure - 9/12
    * Property & Real Estate Law - 9/13
    * Torts - 9/14
    * Constitutional Law - 9/18
    * Administrative Law - 9/19
    * Antitrust - 9/20
    * Commercial Law - 9/21
    * Corporate Law - 9/25
    * Dispute Resolution - 9/26
    * Employment and Labor Law - 9/27
    * Energy Law - 9/28
    * Environmental Law - 10/2

Start thinking of the resources that you would add to each category and contribute to the canon! 

Shlep: the Self-Help Law ExPress is seeking co-editors.  The blog defines “schlep”  as to “drag, carry or haul, particularly unnecessary things, parcels or baggage; to go somewhere unwillingly or where you may be unwanted.”  With that definition, the website posits that “we shouldn’t have to shlep around with a lawyer on our backs in order to get justice. The best way to ensure that the non-rich also have access to necessary legal and judicial services is to give them the ability and the option to formulate adequate solutions themselves, including acting as pro se litigants in court.” The blog's goal

is to bring the benefits of a daily weblog to the Self-Help Law movement.  Developments and news about self-help will be presented (often thanks to the efforts of the good folk at SelHelpSupport.org).  In addition to creating or organizing background materials for those who want to find self-help resources, your editor will attempt to keep readers informed of self-help resources available to the public and to professional providers of those services, of studies and reports on self-help law and related issues, of relevant symposia and meetings, and of the people and groups aiding (or obstructing) the movement. 

     The blog is still pre-launch, but it should be interesting to follow. 

Thanks to BoleyBlogs!

I recently found Mitch Jackson’s blog, My Trialblog.  Mitch says the “purpose of MyTrialBlog is to provide all trial lawyers with a one-stop resource to share their trial tips and resources.  Whether you are a brand new attorney or seasoned trial veteran, this site is your tool to use, add to, and generally benefit from.” 

In recent posts, he discusses tips for depositions, power point presentations at trial,  opening statements   and questions for voir dire. 
Check it out. 

Findlaw has a great stash of form contracts.  They are arranged by industry, by type, and by company.  You can also see a list of the newest contracts.  It’s a great resource for lawyers who draft contracts and especially for those who don’t.

Thanks to Wisblawg (from the UW Law Library).

The Cleveland Law Library Weblog lists more articles on the proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.   December (and the effective date for the amendments) will be here before you know it. 

The Third Branch (the Newsletter of the Federal Courts)  announces that the Seventh Circuit “is the first federal court of appeals to make RSS feeds of opinions and audio recordings of oral arguments available from its Web site.”  You can get the feed here. 

The Third Branch says this about innovations in the Seventh Circuit and other circuits: 

Over a decade ago, the Seventh Circuit was the first federal circuit with a bulletin board, a type of pre-Internet system that allowed users to exchange messages and read news over a phone line. The circuit was the first to require attorneys to submit briefs on floppy disks. They also were one of the first to make audio of arguments available online. With the addition of an RSS feed, audio of oral arguments is now available the same day, and the Seventh Circuit is again leading the way. The circuit also plans to add more "how to" information about rules and procedures to their Web site.

"I think having the briefs and arguments up on the Web makes for a much better-educated bar," said Circuit Executive Collins Fitzpatrick. "They can listen to arguments, and see what happens. They can be better prepared."

When compared to other circuits, the Seventh Circuit may be out front when it comes to the acces-sibility of opinions and arguments, but they are not alone. Most courts of appeals make audio files of oral arguments available to the public. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Federal Circuit make audio files of oral arguments available in MP3 format. The Ninth Circuit posts audio files of arguments on its Web site. (The Second and Ninth Circuits also permit camera coverage of their proceedings.) The D.C., First, Second, Fourth, and Sixth Circuits all provide audio files on a CD upon request.

Law.com has a good article today about e-discovery.  It is written by Craig Ball and entitled "Ten Blunders That Stop E-Discovery Cold." 

Read the article, but here are some of the blunders: 

• You commit to EDD efforts without understanding a client's systems or data.
• You think you can just "print it out."
•  You ignore preservation obligations until the motion to compell
• You fail to share sufficient information or build trust with the other side.
• You let fear displace reason.
  

Perhaps the most important blunder is No. 10:   "You kid yourself that we don't need to learn this stuff.." 

Appellate Law and Practice has a link to audiobooks at Internet Archive.

You can listen to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and even oral argument in cases like Miranda, Roe v. Wade, and Ginzburg v. U.S. The Archive includes many more valuable resources that are not readily available at our desks.

I have been a faithful and grateful user of the tremendous resources at www.llrx.com for many years. If you do not know about LLRX, check it out and you will be glad you did.

Here are two recent articles that are especially helpful to legal researchers:

"Discovery Update - by Fios Inc. -- Controlling the Accidental Release of Digital Information"

"Google's New U.S. Government Search." The article compares the new Google resource with Firstgov and has helpful information about how to search and personalize the Google portal. "The new Google U.S. Government Search and the relatively new FirstGov Search are useful search tools. They are part of tool chest, but they are not the only tools."

A few days ago, I mentioned a law journal article by Natalie M. Gomez-Velez, Internet Access to Court Records - Balancing Public Access and Privacy, Loyola Law Review, Vol. 51, p. 365, 2005,
Here is a blog article (thanks to the Virtual Chase) discussing one court's redaction of sensitive information.

 According to the article, the Superior Court, District of Columbia, has started removing dates of birth from its criminal index system. The article is on pibuzz.com, the "'Official' Blog of PI Magazine." According to PIBuzz, "the unfounded concern for identity theft is cited by other courts as the basis for truncating or removing the date of birth information from public records."


I am not sure I agree with PIBuzz's characterization of the concern for identity theft as "unfounded," but I will be interested to see if other courts follow suit.

I read about this article at Law Librarian Blog.

Natalie M. Gomez-Velez has written an excellent article, Internet Access to Court Records - Balancing Public Access and Privacy, Loyola Law Review, Vol. 51, p. 365, 2005, addressing the multitude of issues arising from public access to court records.

We all know that court records have always been "public," but you had to drive to the courthouse and find a parking place and go to the clerk's office and check out the file to read those records. Now, with just a PACER account, you can read everything that is filed in almost every federal court in the country. This easy access sure makes life convenient for many lawyers, but it is sort of frightening to think about how the access can be abused. As Gomez-Velez points out, the records can include Social Security numbers, detailed medical information, and sensitive personal information in family law cases involving children. Many lawyers file complete depositions in connection with motions for summary judgment, even though depositions are not limited by strict relevancy standards and often include information that is embarrassing and scandalous.

So what do we do? Gomez-Velez has some good points and identifies important factors that courts should consider in balancing the competing interests in privacy and access.

I hope that all of you will read the article and be inspired to volunteer to assist your local bar association in addressing these important issues.

Pointoflaw.com reports this morning that Northwestern law professor Ronen Avraham has compiled a database of tort reform. The report is over 1000 pages and, for each reform, includes "the effective date, a short description of the reform, whether or not the jury is allowed to know about the reform, whether the reform was upheld or struck down by the states' supreme courts, as well as whether it was amended by the state legislator."

The reports from the Congressional Research Services provide some great resources for lawyers.
The Congressional Research Service is an arm of the Library of Congress devoted to providing research and analysis to Congress on legislative issues. Its reports are provided to Congress but are not available to the general public on its website. The Center for Democracy & Technology provides the reports that have been released to the public by members of Congress.
Here are some recent titles that may be of interest to lawyers: Federal Habeas Corpus: A Brief Legal Overview (April 26, 2006)
Supreme Court Nominations: Senate Floor Procedure and Practice, 1789-2005 (January 24, 2006) Judge Samuel Alito's Opinions in Freedom of Speech Cases (December 09, 2005)
Medical Malpractice Liability Reform: Legal Issues and Fifty-State Survey of Caps on Punitive Damages and Noneconomic Damages (April 11, 2005)
Statutory Interpretation: General Principles and Recent Trends (March 30, 2006)