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CMLawLibraryBlog

The CM Law Library Blog seeks to inform the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law community about key legal education, research, practice, and law library news, with a particular focus on Cuyahoga County and Ohio as well as faculty research interests.

Software Improves Legal Writing

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | April 03, 2008 - 17:34

WhiteSmoke Legal Writing Software can help when preparing legal documents, contracts, memos or proposals. It has a thesaurus of legal terms, which can suggest synonyms. There are document templates and writing tips. According to their website, "By adding legal-based terminology, WhiteSmoke Legal writing version makes your writing more precise, persuasive and credible. You will improve your legal writing skills rapidly." The product works with word processing and email applications. Source: The Legal Writing Professor Blog, who heard about this product from Cleveland-Marshall Professor Karin Mika.

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Want to be a Judicial Clerk?

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | April 03, 2008 - 15:55

If you are interested in clerking for a federal court judge, take a look at SoYouWanttoBeALawClerk.com. The site lists job openings and has advice on how to land a job. Source: Dan Slater, SoYouWantToBeALawClerk? A New Web Site Claims to Lead the Way, Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Mar. 27, 2008.

Also see Judicial Clerkship Handbook (MS Word File) from our Career Services Office.


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What Law Firm Librarians Want You to Know

Sue Altmeyer, Electronic Services Librarian, sue.altmeyer@law.csuohio.edu | April 03, 2008 - 11:41

(Update: Be sure to read the comments to this post by Christine Stouffer, Library Director at Thompson Hine)

If you will be clerking this summer, you will want to look at the library's new guide: Getting Ready to Clerk: Resources and Tips for A Successful Summer Associate Research Experience.

You may also want to look at the following tips I gathered by speaking with local law firm librarians. Here is what the firm librarians want you to know:

1. "We have a lot of online services in addition to Lexis & Westlaw. Sometimes they can be a lot more cost-effective, especially when starting a project."

What you can do --- Take a look at Heinonline, BNA databases or RIA Checkpoint(tax) via the electronic resources page. Get a free student membership in the Ohio State Bar Association and get the Casemaker database for free. Look at the library's Internet Legal Research Guide or Legal Research Workstation to discover free Internet sources. Ask the firm librarian about available databases before starting a project.

2. "There is a lot of electronic information that can not be reached by Googling."

What you can do ..... Again, find out what databases the firm purchases. As far as information on the web, use search engines geared specifically to legal information such as Justia, FindLaw or Westlaw WebPlus (free for Westlaw subscribers). Find and bookmark sites that have relevant legal information, or are portals to legal information. Read The Invisible or Deep Web by U.C. Berkeley.

3. "Treatises and practice books can be a good starting place. Often students will want to hop on a case law database right away. These books collect the relevant cases and familiarize the researcher with the appropriate terms of art. While many of these books exist both online and in print, use the print versions if the firm has them."

What you can do ..... Take a look at law library research guides to discover the titles in particular areas. Ask the firm librarian what treatise/practice book they would recommend.

 (More)

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Legal Web Resources---Official vs. Authentic

Jessica Mathewson-Library Media Technical Asst.-jessica.mathewson@law.csuohio.edu | April 03, 2008 - 09:37

How trustworthy are legal resources on the web? Are they trustworthy just because they are hosted by the government? Last March, the Access to Electronic Legal Information Committee part of AALL, released a report on the authentication of online state-hosted legal resources. According to the report, the "official version" of a statute or court opinion means it is government prepared or government authorized.

Content that is "authentic" must be verified by the government as complete and unaltered from its original context. An authentic text has a mark or certification, meaning that the document in question has been validated. Marks of authenticity may be digital watermarks or signatures. Official print versions are automatically authentic, but official on-line versions are not, because they can be tampered with or subject to data corrosion.

The report concluded that only 10 states and the District of Columbia have one or more of their primary online sources deemed "official". Eight more states have online sources with "official traits". None of the state online resources are "authentic" or capable of easy authentication.

Does this mean we should stop using government-hosted primary law websites? Not necessarily. But be aware that if a discrepancy arises, the official, authenticated version of the legal document will prevail over the unofficial and/or unauthenticated.

GPO took a step in remedying the problem on the federal level. Recently, they announced that beginning with the 110th Congress, Public and Private Law on GPO Access will be digitally signed and certified, making the documents official and authentic.

Thanks to Sue Altmeyer for her input.


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