CMLawLibraryBlog

The Martindale Hubbell Law Digest summarizes the law in foreign countries as well as the fifty states. It is a great starting point for research and provides references to relevant statutes. The print volumes are no longer being updated, but the up-to-date Digest is available at Martindale.com under Search Legal Topics. Free registration is required.

So, if you need to find the jurisdictional monetary amount for various courts in Ireland, or perhaps find the statute of limitations for a medical malpractice action in Montana, the Martindale Hubbell Law Digest is a great place to begin.

There are still a few days to vote in advance and save time on Tuesday, but in any case, try these tips.

1. You vote where you live, so on Tuesday you want to go to the correct location and precinct. Don’t know where? Check your county Board of Elections website in advance (Ohio Statewide or Cuyahoga County: Am I Registered?).

2. If Cuyahoga County, when you are on that page, take the extra step of printing out a copy of your sample ballot so you can prepare in advance. My guess is that you will find an issue or a race that you hadn’t expected. (Curious about local issues throughout the state? See the Local Issues Summary.)

3. Need a little more information about the state issues and/or judicial candidates? Ohio Secretary of State’s 2008 Ohio Issues Report , which has explanations by the opposing sides. For Cuyahoga County judicial races, see Judge4Yourself.com.

4. Bring the required identification so that part goes smoothly. ORC 3505.18

5. Mark your ballot carefully and on both sides of the ballot if indicated.

(more)

 (More)

Ever been studying in a library and got the feeling you weren't alone...someone/something was watching you? Your instincts may have been right, depending on which library you were studying. Britannica Blog has put together a list of haunted libraries. While our Law library didn't make the list or any in Cleveland for that matter, some of your old studying grounds may have. Check it out!

Ever notice BOO is in the word BOOKS...Coincidience...I think not!

Happy Hallowed-ween!

We welcome your comments to any of our blog posts. Be aware that the law library staff moderates the comments. It may take up to 24 hours for your comment to appear on the blog, because someone must actually read and allow the comment. The main reason we do this is to keep out spam comments, of which we get quite a few. The library also reserves the right to disallow comments that contain inappropriate language or have no relation to the topic of the blog post.

By the way, the post with the greatest number of comments is Challenges to Adam Walsh Sex Offender Law - Ohio and Elsewhere.

Ohio’s Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is proving to be an equal opportunity player when it comes to voter registration actions. Yesterday, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of ACORN in an action alleging the Secretary of State and the Director of the Department of Jobs and Family Services (DJFS) failed to comply with the section of the National Voter Registration Act requiring that citizens visiting DJFS offices be offered the opportunity to register to vote. Harkless v. Brunner, (Case no. 07-3829, Reversed and Remanded, 10/28/2008). The opinion reversed the District Court’s dismissal of the case, and held that the Secretary and Agency Director were proper parties to the suit. Earlier, we reported Brunner’s success with the U.S. Supreme Court in Brunner v. Ohio Republican Party, (Case no. 08A 332, 555 U.S. ____ (2008)) where the court granted her application to stay and vacate a TRO directing her to update the Ohio Statewide Voter Registration Database.

Bet she’ll be glad when this election is over.

A few hints for searching on Lexis and Westlaw:

1. Atleast command - If you want a specific term or phrase to appear a certain number of times in a document, do a search such as: atleast5("tort reform"). This works in all Lexis and Westlaw databases, but may be especially useful for finding law review articles with a substantial discussion on a certain topic, rather than just mentioning something in passing.

2. Find how courts defined a word or phrase - While there are legal dictionaries on both Lexis and Westlaw, you may want to know how a court defines a word or phrase. On Westlaw use the words and phrases field search in a case law database. For example, WP("abuse of discretion"). Westlaw is searching for cases where the court put the words in quotes. In Lexis, try a search such as: abuse of discretion /s defin! or means.

3. Differences in Lexis/Westlaw Syntax - Be aware of the differences in the search language between the two systems. The main one

 (More)

Just in time for our February bar takers (and those planning ahead for July)...we just received the 2008-2009 series of the RIGOS Bar Review Series. The set includes sample questions/answers and outlines for the MBE, MEE, MPRE and MPT . There is a copy in our study skills room, A066 and on reserve at the Access Services desk. For additional study aids for the bar, check out the library's Bar Exam Research Guide.

A Plain Dealer study found that in the lowest level felony drug cases in Cuyahoga Count:

• White defendants are 55% more likely to be allowed to plea to a misdemeanor than black defendants
• White defendants are 35% more likely to receive treatment as an alternative to conviction

"Defendants who were able to hire their own lawyers fared much better than those who had attorneys assigned to them, according to the Plain Dealer analysis. And the white defendants were three times more likely than black people to hire their own lawyers." Inequities Evident from the Start, Bob Paynter, The Plain Dealer, Oct. 19, 2008.

In response to the P.D. survey, Cleveland City Council will hold a hearing on November 19, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. See PD Article on the hearing. (Thanks to Marie Rehmar for info on the hearing)

Also see: Justice Blinded: Race, Drugs and Our Legal System, Bob Paynter, The Plain Dealer, Oct. 19, 2008 and Getting Off Easy for Some, Bob Paynter, The Plain Dealer, Oct. 20 2008. Online versions: Second Chances in Drug Cases; In Cuyahoga County, You're Much More Likely to Get a Plea Deal if You're White; Early On, Scales of Justice Get Tilted by Race, Economics, Review Finds White Drug Defendants 55% More Likely to Have Charges Reduced

For more information on race and criminal law, take a look at the Race, Class and Gender category in Professor Berman's Sentencing Law & Policy Blog. Additionally, the library has many books on the topic of race discrimination in the justice system. For example:

 (More)

The Law Library of Congress’s Global Legal Monitor [see earlier post] has gone totally online. Instead of the old pdf format, the GLM is now redesigned as a continuously updated website. The GLM is a trusted source for legal news and developments, drawing information from the Global Legal Information Network, official national legal publications, and reliable press sources. Current news covers elections in India and Iraq, criminal law in Peru and Italy, and human rights. You can even subscribe to the GLM through RSS.

And don’t forget that The Law Library of Congress also puts out Current Legal Topics, guides written by legal specialists on a variety of issues. Latest topics covered: Russian Federation: Legal Aspects of War in Georgia, United States: Gun Ownership and the Supreme Court, and Australia: Terrorism Laws Control Orders.

We’ve talked about it before: Should you cite to Wikipedia, and if you do, at what cost? Lee Peoples, Associate Professor of Law Library Science and Associate Law Library Director of the Oklahoma City University School of Law, has posted The Citation of Wikipedia in American Judicial Opinions * on SSRN , noting nearly 300 citations to the online collaborative encyclopedia in written opinions as of September, 2008. Peoples isn't the only scholar taking a fresh look at Wikipedia - see also Diane Murley's In Defense of Wikipedia ,** explaining how the articles are written and suggesting strategies to evaluate them.

* Peoples, Lee F.,The Citation of Wikipedia in American Judicial Opinions(September 23, 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1272437

**Murley, Diane,In Defense of Wikipedia. Law Library Journal, Vol. 100, No. 3, 2008
Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1122602

 (More)

In case you missed last week's faculty session on using media options in the classroom, or just want to review what was covered, have a look at Course Media Options, linked from the Faculty Services page. You’ll find information on what technology and training ideas the library has to offer to assist C-M Law faculty in bringing media options to their classrooms. Any faculty member interested in learning more about classroom media options or course pages can contact Faculty Services at 687-6885 or use this online form.

CALI lesson links allow faculty to see whether students completed a CALI lesson, as well as the students' scores. The links can be placed on the faculty member's course page, TWEN page or Blackboard page. Students must access the CALI lesson through that link in order for the professor to see that the student completed the lesson.

To create links, the faculty member must go to the CALI Lesson Links Page., and log into CALI. Then, follow the instructions for setting up links. CALI will send an email containing the links, which you can put on your course page. Or, you can forward the email to myself or Jessica Mathewson, and we will put the link on your course page, TWEN page,etc.

In order to see student grades, the student must select the ScoreSave feature at the end of the lesson. When the student hits the X in the upper right corner to exit the lesson, the student clicks on the button to upload the score to CALI.

Thanks to Professor Mika and the Barclay Blog.

Students should have registered for CALI during library orientation. If not, they can obtain registration information here .

The United States Supreme Court today ruled in favor of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s application to stay the temporary restraining order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, which required Brunner to comply with Section 303 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, 116 Stat. 1708, 42 U. S. C. §15483(a)(5)(B)(i). Find the order in the Journal of Proceedings for October 17, 2008 in BNA's Supreme Court Today. . The contested provisions would require the Secretary of State to match voter registration application information with the state’s motor vehicle registration database.