Legal Research News and Information with an Emphasis on Wisconsin
I am pleased to report that Kris Turner has been appointed as the new Reference & Technology Services Librarian at the UW Law Library. Kris has a Masters in Library and Information Studies from UW–Madison has worked at the UW Law Library as the Circulation Services Assistant since January. He’s also worked at the Madison …
GPO has recently released a new series of training video modules on its Federal Digital System (FDsys). The first video introduces the basic search in FDsys and I must say that I was quite impressed. The basic search is actually very powerful. It allows you to use Boolean operators (and, or, not) as well as …
Two law librarians, Fred R. Shapiro from Yale and Michelle Pearse from Harvard, have recently compiled a list of The Most-Cited Law Review Articles of All Time. The article updates two well-known earlier studies dated 1985 and 1996. Using databases such as HeinOnline and Web of Science, the study lists the 100 most-cited legal articles …
The Wisconsin State Journal has compiled an interactive online voter guide for the spring general elections in Dane County. It allows Dane County residents to type in their address and call up a ballot with only those races that apply to their address. Then the ballot shows the candidates, their races, and their own statements …
My colleague Sunil Rao has published a well written book review of The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law, by Albie Sachs. It appears on the AALL Spectrum blog. From the review: In the process of conceiving this book, Justice Albie Sachs–who served on South Africa’s first Constitutional Court from 1994 until his retirement in …
Hack College has created a useful infographic on how to use Google more effectively. It’s targeted toward students, but is helpful to anyone who uses Google – which is just about everyone, right? I found the section on the operators to be the most useful. I’ve long used quotes to search for exact phases and …
FedCtRecords is a iPhone/iPad app which allows registered PACER users to search and retrieve documents. It is free for a limited time. According to the support page, you can: * Search Attorney and Party names within a District Court. * Add Attorney information to the Contacts Application. * Save multiple cases for quick retrieval. * …
On April 26, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court approved restyled amendments to the Federal Rules of Evidence. The amendments became effective today, December 1, 2011. For more information about the restyling, see The Third Branch. They are available online at Cornell’s LII. Apparently the uscourts.gov website has not yet been updated. Hat tip to my …
The 2011-2012 State of Wisconsin Blue Book is now available in print and online from the Legislative Reference Bureau. According to the LRB, “the Blue Book is the primary one-volume reference source about the state, documenting the organization of the state’s three branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial).” Each edition of the Blue Book …
Re-posted from a UW Law School news article by Eric Taylor: Recently retired Professor Ralph Cagle has gifted the library with his personal collection of materials chronicling the life and times of Abraham Lincoln. The collection includes a great many books, not only for adults, but a fair number of children’s books, and DVDs as …