Wisblawg notes a new search engine, one with an animated librarian to ask questions to guide your search.  The librarian -- whose name is Ms. Dewey -- is sometimes patient and even insulting; I think she threw something at me one time.  

According to Forbes, the “site, put together by San Francisco-based design shop Evolution Bureau, is part of a Microsoft ad campaign, according to the company, although Microsoft is not currently mentioned anywhere on the site.”

My search efforts with Ms. Dewey were not successful.  I asked for information about identifying bugs that have been hovering around my house lately.  The first result was an ad from an exterminator.  The other results were difficult to read and I had trouble scrolling the other results. 

I strongly recommend that everyone use more than one search engine and not limit your efforts to Google.  That said, I probably won’t add Ms. Dewey to my list of favorite search engines, but check it out anyway. 

Tenser, says the Tensor has an interesting post on the use of “slouch” as a verb of motion, as in William Butler Yeats's poem "The Second Coming:"

    And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
    Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

The Tenser did a Google search and found 285 variants of slouching toward something.  Slouching toward Gomorrah seems to be very popular and frequently misspelled. (The Tensor found nine different spellings).   Slouching, when used as a verb in motion, creates a vivid word picture -- I will have to remember to use it more often. 

The slouching information was interesting, but read the Tenser’s discussion of “toward” and “towards,” which is linked to the slouching post.  Every time that I use either of those words, I hesitate because I assume that one is correct and one is not.  Based on another Google search, The Tenser found that “toward” is more common in American English and “towards” is more common in British English:  

It does appear that exclusive use of towards is more than ten times as common as exclusive use of toward in British English, but they're about equally common outside of the UK, and in .us domain web sites, toward is about twice as common as towards. Pages with mixed usage are always the least common.

So, boiling down this data to an oversimplification: if you use towards your prose will seem slightly more British to American readers, and less obviously American to British readers.

That is consistent with the OED, which lists both words, but the entry for “toward” mainly just refers to the entry for “towards.” 

When I am not sure of how to use a word, I usually try to find ways to avoid its use.  That’s how I have been with “toward” and “towards,” but not any more. 

In The Tenser’s post on “toward” and “towards,” there is a link to another interesting post on “word moments.”  Read it here. 

    Back in June, the Fifth Circuit reversed a conviction and sentence based on the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule.  United States v. Pope, 452 F.3d 338 (5th Cir. 2006).  Judge Jolly dissented from that holding “because [he] believe[d] the Leon good-faith exception applies, because the majority opinion reflects an erroneous view of the record, and because the majority engages in appellate fact-finding.” 

    I did not read the opinions when they were first entered in June, but the dissent is mighty powerful.  So powerful that, last week, the panel majority sua sponte reconsidered the arguments made by the dissenting opinion and concluded that they were well taken.  As a result, the panel withdrew the majority opinion and the dissenting opinion and replaced them with a unanimous opinion.  I checked the docket on this appeal and not sure how the sua sponte reconsideration worked, but I am certain that Ms. Pope was not too pleased.   Not surprisingly, she has obtained an extension to file a petition for rehearing/rehearing en banc.  This should be an interesting case to follow. 

    Even if you do not practice criminal law, read Judge Jolly’s dissent.  It is well-reasoned and well-written.  It shows that plain English can be interesting and persuasive and even snappy. 

The Double-Tongued Dictionary “records undocumented or under-documented words from the fringes of English,” focusing on “slang, jargon, and other niche categories which include new, foreign, hybrid, archaic, obsolete, and rare words.”    

This week it addressed that familiar phrase “leaving [something] on the table:”   “to refrain from taking the utmost advantage of something; to not address every aspect of a situation; in the form leave money on the table, to negotiate a deal that is less financially beneficial than is expected or possible.”  The examples of use of this term show that it has some significant variations.  It can refer to the difference between the highest and next-highest bid or the failure to address an outstanding issue.  It has also been used to reference the obligation to make a contribution to society by leaving something for the next generation.  In litigation, I usually hear the term used to mean that one party accepted an offer that was lower than the other party’s settlement authority. 

“Bob’s Quick Guide to the Apostroph, You Idiot” is a carton that expresses some strong feelings about the use of apostrophes.  Those feelings are apparently shared by a lot of people, because Bob has run out of posters of the cartoon, although more are on the way.  You can order one (or more) here.

Students at Stanford University Law School’s Center for Internet and Society  will answer questions about the upcoming elections.  According to the site, those questions will include things like: 


I don’t have questions, but will be interested in watching the site to read the answers to others’ questions. 

California Western School of Law offers Law in 10, “a weekly podcast produced by California Western School of Law, which brings you an expert analysis of the latest legal news, all in 10 minutes.”  The topics so far have included North Korea, immigration, the Supreme Court’s 2006-07 term and polygamy.  I listened to a few of them and found them informative.  Good job California Western! 

Thanks to Barclayblog for the link. 

Gruntled Employees listed the thirty riskiest firings and emphasized that just because firing one of the listed employees is risky does not mean that an employer should not do it. 

I want to add to the relevant considerations.  If an employer has an employee who did not get paid for all time worked (#22) or who did not receive all overtime pay (#23), the employer should get its house in order.  Otherwise, summary judgment will be mighty difficult. 

Of course, there is not much an employer can do about #29 – those pesky employees who “are related to, friendly with, or live near a lawyer.”  Who would want to be friendly with a lawyer? 

Here is the most fascinating article that I have ever read about Daylight Saving Time.  Read it and enjoy and then share your knowledge with your friends and strangers.  I am not kidding. I think this is a great article. 

And as a reminder -- DST ends this Sunday, for most of us. 

Have you ever been reading an opinion and noticed that "United States" has been misspelled as "Untied States?"  The typo probably makes you chuckle or cringe as you think of all the typos that you have made in the past. 

But think about it this way.  If you used "United States" as your search term, you would not find this reference.  In the case of "United States," your search probably will not suffer because that opinion probably has plenty of correctly spelled references to "United States."  But if you notice that a key search term is often misspelled or can be spelled different ways, you might want to adjust your search to include all possible spellings. 

Terry Bullard and Tina Gunther have put together a list of most common typographical errors in library databases and the list is fascinating. Check it out here.  Also, there is a blog devoted to the subject:    I hope that blog never has occasion to mention me! 

Thanks to Marylaine Block who always directs me to the neatest new stuff on the web! 

Here is the interesting history of West Group. 

Thanks to Legal Writing Prof Blog.

Have you ever wondered what the plural form of “mouse” is.  If the “mouse” is a rodent, the answer is easy.  But what if the “mouse” is that thing that is probably under your right hand right now. 

Lynn at Business Writing has some options.  According to the American Heritage College Dictionary, both “mice” and “mouses” are correct.  The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications suggests “mouse devices,” which, as Lynn points out, does not “roll of the tongue.” 

But my favorite option is to avoid the problem altogether: 

    Device: Mouse
    Number sent for repair: 3.

This discussion about mice and mousse and mouse devices raises a larger issue that arises in all writing, especially writing that is intended to be persuasive -- what to do when the correct expression simply does not sound right.  If it does not sound right to you, it probably will probably not sound right to someone in your audience.   If your audience stops to ponder whether a particular phrase sounds right, the audience might be distracted from the more important points that you want to make.  Usually the best idea is to work around it. 

Lynn gives these as examples of sentences that are correct, but don’t sound right. 

    I have lain in the sun too long.
    Whom will you invite?

She suggests these alternatives. 

    I have been in the sun too long.
    Have you made a guest list?

Dave Hoffman at Concurring Opinions posted a portion of a contract and is conducting a poll on its enforceability.  Interestingly, the contract is part of the form contract for pollhost.com.   Here is the contract provision.  Read it and go here to vote. 

Pollhost’s failure at any time to enforce any provision of these terms of service shall not constitute a waiver or limitation of Pollhost’s right subsequently to enforce every provision of the terms of service.

Pollhost shall have the sole discretion as to what what constitutes a violation of any of these terms.

NOTWITHSTANDING ANYTHING ELSE IN THESE TERMS OF SERVICE OR OTHERWISE, POLLHOST SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOST PROFITS, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS, GOODWILL, DATA, OR OTHER LOSSES (EVEN IF POLLHOST HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES) ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE.

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! 

Here is the word of the day from dictionary.com: 


Do you know lawyers who bloviate? 

The Federal Judicial Center has released its report on the Mediation & Conference Programs in the Federal Courts of Appeals.  The guide discusses the mediation and settlement conference programs in the thirteen federal courts of appeals.  All circuits have some form of mediation or settlement program and this guide will walk you through the rules and the practical operation of each.  Check it out now and also when you have an appeal in a different circuit. 

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. 

Ben Cowgill’s website has a great search engine for legal ethics opinions.  All in one place, you can search over 10,000 pages of information and commentary about legal ethics from one or more targets, including all Formal Ethics Opinions and Unauthorized Practice of Law opinion from the Kentucky Bar Association, and opinions at the websites for the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility,  the American Legal Ethics Library at Cornell,Legalethics.com, www.freivogelonconflicts.com, and  www.hricik.com. 

It’s a very helpful research resource.  Thanks to Ben and thank to Robert Ambrogi for brining it to my attention.

Where do you go for questions of writing style such as grammar and punctuation?  I almost always consult the Chicago Manual of Style first, just because I have used it for many years and am familiar with the way it is organized and written.  If I still have questions, I go to Bryan Garner’s The Redbook for confirmation or just another point of view. 

Legal Writing Prof Blog lists more style guides that are available on-line. 

    * University of Colorado at Boulder Style Guide   
    * University of Kansas, University Relations Style Guide  
    * University of Montana Style Guide 
    * University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Editorial Style Guide  
    * St. Olaf College Style Guide  
    * University of Tampa Style Guide  

What is the ultimate authority in style guides?  It depends on your audience – isn’t that a lawyerly answer?  Of course, most style guides are generally consistent on major points.  As a practical matter, however, having access to a variety of style guides is useful because they explain those points in different ways and focus on different details. 

On a related point, the Chicago Manual of Style is now available on-line, with a free trial and a variety of subscription options.