Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Citators Of Pennsylvania, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Legal literature consists of a variety of secondary sources that assist the researcher in interpreting primary sources. Citators provide a useful tool for researchers needing to find citations to cases, statutes, and other primary sources.¹ Lawyers are of course familiar with Shepard's citators for almost one hundred years now. But Shepard's did not always dominate the legal field until after the first decades of the twentieth century.² But it was not until the end of the first quarter of this century that Shepard's citators gained dominance in Pennsylvania. With over 1,100 volumes of appellate court cases and 1,000 …

Alabama, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

A report on the state of Alabama's authentication of online legal resources, the first update was recorded in 2007.

Building A Law Firm Library, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

Opening a law practice is a daunting task. Renting space, equipping an office, and hiring staff are obvious first steps.But what about assembling a library?

Concurrence, Posner-Style: Ten Ways To Look At The Concurring Opinions Of Judge Richard A. Posner, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

New Research Uses For Patent And Trademark Data, Roger V. Skalbeck

Law Faculty Publications

In this article, I examine alternative uses for information found in patent and trademark filing databases, suggesting ways to locate a law firm's clients, perform competitive intelligence, and locate or investigate expert witnesses. Finally, I talk about an interesting non-law use of patent data, i.e., historical research.

Virginia Law: It’S Online, But Should You Use It?, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

A judge asks you to present her with a copy of the Virginia Code section you are referencing in court, or she asks you to provide a copy of the Supreme Court of Virginia opinion you cited. You used Virginia state government websites to find both the code section and the court opinion. This is easy, right? You give her the copy of what you found online. But could there be a problem? Is the court opinion that you retrieved from the court website considered an official version of the court opinion? Has the Virginia Code section that you provided …

From The Treasurer: Aall Funds Initiatives, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

Report of AALL financial status at the end of FY 2005-2006.

"They're Practically Learning:" Pointers On Practical Legal Research Exams, Steven R. Probst

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Have You Reddit? Exploring Ways To Digg Some Del.Icio.Us Stories, Roger V. Skalbeck

Law Faculty Publications

Almost anybody who has read an online newspaper or blog recently has probably seen the names del.icio.us, Digg, or reddit. These are three of the most popular social networking sites included in the concept that makes up part of the buzzword Web 2 .0.

Beyond Jetting you collect and share information, these services also have great research and marketing potential. In this article, we explore some of these concepts and how to use them.

Cold Case - One Ordinary Law Librarian Assists In Solving A 53-Year-Old Mystery And Learns A Lesson About How Law Students Treat Legal Research, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

One ordinary law librarian assists in solving a 53-year-old mystery and learns a lesson about how law students treat legal research.

Law And Technology Podcasts, Roger V. Skalbeck

Law Faculty Publications

This article lists a select handful of useful podcasts covering topics such as technology policy, law, and web development.

From The Treasurer: Another Positive Year For Aall., Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

This article reports on the fiscal health of the American Association of Law Libraries in 2006, including statements of assets and activities.

Is There A New Digital Collection In Your Future?, Roger V. Skalbeck

Law Faculty Publications

In this article, we take a look at a handful of the bigger law-related digital collections available today. We present the core elements of each collection to give readers an idea of what is out there. In addition, we look at some broad-based questions presented by acquiring access to digital collections. Finally, briefly, we look at issues of access, ownership, copyright, interlibrary lending, catalog records, and cost.

Judge Posner's Dissenting Judicial Oeuvre And The Aesthetics Of Canonicity, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Index To The American Journal Of Legal History Volumes 1-48 (1957-2006), Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

This index is an update of the original index published as Index to the American Journal of Legal History Volumes 1-42 (1957-1998) published in 43 AM. J. LEGAL HIST. 353-506 (1999), published in 2001. Now I have updated the index to include the next four volumes.

From The Treasurer: Aall Current Reserve Fund Restored, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

This article reports on the fiscal health of the American Association of Law Libraries in 2005, including a comparative statement of revenues and expenses.

Easing The Path For Newer Colleagues: Conference For New Law Librarians Helps Beginners Learn Aall's Ropes, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

The author provides advice for prospective attendees of the Conference of Newer Law Librarians (CONELL).

Celebrating A Diamond Anniversary: Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly Volumes 1-74 (1929-2003): A History, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

In celebrating the seventy-fifth year anniversary of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly, a description and some commentary upon this leading periodical of the state bar association deserve attention.¹ The Quarterly’s publication history is fairly straightforward. The first issue was published in June 1929. In the first ten years, issues were numbered from one to forty until June 1939 and so for bibliographical purposes, volumes are not included in the citations.2 Beginning in 1939-40, the volume number (11 ) was added. In the first four years the Quarterly was published in June, September, December, and March and changed to …

Advocacy As History? That Takes The Prize! Gulag: A History [Book Review], Dana Neacsu

Law Faculty Publications

Gulag: A History, the recipient of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction, may be particularly well received by lawyers and law students because they can appreciate author Anne Applebaum's writing skills. Gulag reads like a lawyer's product: a conclusion replete with facts and arguments. Those who enjoy perfecting their legal skills while reading for pleasure should read this review. Gulag is, in essence, a successful legal brief.

How Dewey Classify Oclc's Lawsuit, Roger V. Skalbeck

Law Faculty Publications

In order to understand the nature of the rights asserted here, it is important to properly classify the Dewey Decimal lawsuit. To these ends, this article presents analysis aimed to better define its scope and legal framework. This is not an analysis of the merits of the claims, let alone a prediction as to the outcome. The issues are considered in the following three sections. In closing, I offer a lighthearted suggestion as to how this suit might be resolved outside of litigation or settlement.

Playing On Words: Judge Richard A. Posner's Appellate Opinions, 1981-82--Ruminations On Sexy Judicial Opinion Style During An Extraordinary Rookie Season, Robert F. Blomquist

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Print No More: U.S. Code, Code Of Federal Regulations, And The Federal Register, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

If the United States Congress follows in the direction that it has been moving recently, the United States Code (2000 edition), the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Register, the official United States Reports, along with many other primary legal materials currently published and distributed to libraries through the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), will no longer be available in print for attorneys, librarians, legal assistants, and citizens. Congress has directed the Government Printing Office (GPO) to move toward electronic dissemination of materials and is reducing GPO’s funding so significantly that GPO soon may no longer publish these and other …

English Ideas On Legal Education In Virginia, William Hamilton Bryson

Law Faculty Publications

In 1700 the only methods of legal education in England and Virginia were apprenticeship to a practising lawyer, either a barrister, a solicitor or a court clerk, and independent reading of law books; most persons seeking active membership in the legal profession did an apprenticeship supplemented by reading and observing the courts in action. In 1700 the inns of court had long since ceased to provide legal instruction, and the universities in England and Virginia had not yet begun to do so. The obvious importance of legal education was, however, not overlooked on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Digests Of Pennsylvania, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

Published case law in Pennsylvania dates from the colonial period and constitutes one of the largest collections of court decisions in American law. Digests have long stood as an important tool for those conducting research in this material, with the first appearing not long after the cases themselves. Mr. Fishman helps to document the history of Pennsylvania digests by reviewing their publication, beginning with the early nineteenth century to the present. A bibliography is appended.

Program Planning-Ideas For Improvement, Joyce Manna Janto

Law Faculty Publications

Picture the scene: you're at the Annual Meeting, it's Tuesday, and you're listening to your fifth "talking head" presentation. At the front of the room are five librarians/speakers, each of whom has exactly 15 minutes to shower you with their words of wisdom on the selected topic. In the audience are scores of librarians, whose eyes are glazing over and whose thoughts are wandering to more congenial topics. Sound familiar? This describes way too many programs at the typical MLL Annual Meeting. Instead of a good, thought-provoking discussion, or vigorous give-and-take between panelists and audience, we get sound bites. Why …

History Of The Court Reporter In The Appellate Courts Of Pennsylvania, Joel Fishman

Law Faculty Publications

States have traditionally published the decisions of their intermediate and highest courts.¹ Legal historians, in recent years, have written extensively on the history of court reporting and court reports.² These historical accounts have revealed that many famous judges and lawyers throughout the country gained prominent reputations stemming from the publishing of their decisions.³ In the "nineteenth century, the development of court reports received attention from the legal community through reviews in many of the leading periodicals of the day."⁴ By 1900, however, the periodical literature contained only a small number of reviews of individual state reports. …

Bringing The "Real World" To Advance Legal Research, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

Nearly all U.S. law schools include an Advanced Legal Research course as an elective course for second and third-year students. The justification for the course is obvious, and proponents of advanced courses have succeeded easily in convincing law school curriculum committees to approve chem. Most Advanced Legal Research courses also use "real-world figures" (guest speakers) ro supplement and enhance the instruction provided by the professors of the courses.3 The experiences and current positions of rhe "real-world" speakers are diverse, including librarians, attorneys, publisher/vendor representatives, and government officials. This article discusses the reasons for using real-world figures in Advanced Legal Research …

The Aall And Its Government Relations Program: Part I And Ii, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

The Government Relations Policy [hereinafter Policy] of the AALL outlines the objectives of its government relations program. The Policy emphasizes that a primary goal of this Association's program is to ensure timely and equitable access to government and legal information. This Policy represents the views of an association with more than 5,000 members who provide law library services to government officials, the bench, the bar, legal scholars and the public in nearly 1,900 libraries. AALL, its members and its users are affected by a broad span of public policy concerns "ranging from the development of the National Information Infrastructure and …

The National Conference On Legal Information Issues: Selected Essays, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

During the past decade, information technology developments have the dissemination and use of legal and legal-related In 1995, the American Association of Law Libraries, a organization with more than 5,000 members, convened the first "National Conference on Legal Information Issues" in conjunction with its eighty-eighth meeting. National Conference provided a forum for members of the legal and information communities to discuss the challenging problems and issues arising from the dynamic technological changes that have impacted the creation, dissemination and use of legal information. The National Conference assembled more than 2,500 librarians, law faculty and deans, judges court administrators, practicing attorneys …

Information Redlining: A List Of Selected Readings, Timothy L. Coggins

Law Faculty Publications

In earlier essays Henry Perritt, Marvin Anderson, Gary Bass and Patrice McDermott discuss the increasing use of computers to access information through the information superhighway, the Internet and online services, the increasing reliance on electronic formats by publishers and the federal government and the continuing debate about "information redlining." They indicate that information redlining is broader than just the availability and effects of technology and enhanced online services on lower income, minority and rural communities. It also deals with what information will be available to these groups. As more and more data comes in digital form and when some information …