Legal Writing and Research Commons^™

Discovering The Knowledge Monopoly Of Law Librarianship Under The Dikw Pyramid, Alex Zhang

Scholarly Articles

This article uses the Data-Information-Knowledge-Wisdom (DIKW) pyramid to help identify the exclusive knowledge base and practical skills that law librarians must possess to solve practical problems. Paragraphs 4–24 trace the historical debates on whether law librarianship is a profession, which focus on autonomy as a key component of a profession. The consensus is that autonomy boils down to two major issues: identifying problems and providing solutions through exclusive methods that are restricted to a profession. Both require a solid and exclusive abstract knowledge base. Paragraphs 25–77 discuss the epistemological approaches employed thus far to identify a knowledge basis for library …

A Tale Of Two Resources: Foreign Law Guide V. Globalex, Alex Zhang

Scholarly Articles

Purpose – This article aims to examine two important foreign legal research resources, Foreign Law Guide and Globalex, under the Ellis’s information search process model.

Design/methodology/approach – This article proceeds in three sections. Part I establishes the evaluation framework based on Ellis’s information search process model, incorporating special demands arising out of foreign legal research. Part II evaluates the two reference resources under the framework established in Part I. Part III summarizes the major features and accessibility of both the databases.

Findings – Generally speaking, both Foreign Law Guide and Globalex are great reference resources for researching a foreign jurisdiction …

Public Defender Externship, Legal Clinic Program

Course Descriptions and Information

Students represent indigent clients through various Public Defender offices in Central Florida in all phases of the criminal justice system under the direct supervision of Assistant Public Defenders.

Judicial Externship Clinic, Legal Clinic Program

Clinical Programs Brochures

The Judicial Externship allows each student to observe, evaluate and participate in the practice of various areas of the law outside the classroom. The educational benefits derived from this experience include improving legal analytical, research and writing skills; learning how judicial decisions are made; and becoming familiar with various court procedures. Students gain a unique view of the court system by assisting a state or federal judge. Students observe and perform a range of lawyering tasks within the judicial system, including: research; writing; attending settlement conferences; observing trials; reviewing jury instructions; preparing bench briefs; and other assignments unique to judicial …

Unh School Of Law Ip Library: 20th Anniversary Reflection On The Only Academic Ip Library In The United States, Jon R. Cavicchi

Law Faculty Scholarship

[Excerpt] The UNH School of Law Intellectual Property Library celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. It is a fortuitous time for this look back and for strategic considerations for the future. This anniversary comes at a time in the history of legal education when conditions over the past few years have intensified the analysis of mission and resources for law school libraries. This article is a retrospective review of the history and dynamics surrounding the founding and first twenty years of growth. It is also an analysis of the future growth and mission of the IP Library during times that …

Once Upon A Transaction: Narrative Techniques And Drafting, Karen J. Sneddon

Articles

A granddaughter joins the family business as a partner. An entrepreneur licenses his newest product. Two parties decide to settle a dispute. A charitable idea materializes as a private foundation. A parent's belief in the power of education is perpetuated by a trust agreement. Each of these events forms a narrative. A transaction is more than the scratch of pens across signature pages or the click of keys to email an executed document. A transaction is itself a story. These stories, made with provisions and clauses, result in the formation of contracts, agreements, and wills. Conceptualizing transactions as narratives benefits …

How Cosmopolitan Are International Law Professors?, Ryan Scoville, Milan Markovic

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article offers an empirical answer to a question of interest among scholars of comparative international law: why do American views about international law appear at times to differ from those of other countries? We contend that part of the answer lies in legal education. Conducting a survey of the educational and professional backgrounds of nearly 150 legal academics, we reveal evidence that professors of international law in the United States often lack significant foreign legal experience, particularly outside of the West. Sociological research suggests that this tendency leads professors to teach international law from predominantly nationalistic and Western perspectives, …

Riding Circuit: Bringing The Law To Those Who Need It, Susan D. Zago

Florida A & M University Law Review

In this article, I will first look at how various state Access to Justice Commissions in the United States are addressing self-represented litigants' ability to access and navigate the civil court system. I review various projects that attempt to make legal forms and processes more understandable to the public. I also discuss the role of law librarians, and how they bring a working understanding of the problems and missteps that self-represented litigants face first-hand. I argue for better inclusion of these information professionals in state commissions and in various outreach programs to improve the quality of the legal information provided …

Aesthetic Nondiscrimination & Fair Use, Brian L. Frye

Belmont Law Review

While courts do not consider the aesthetic value of an element of a work in determining whether it is protected by copyright, they do consider the aesthetic value of the use of a copyrighted element of a work in determining whether that use is a fair use. This asymmetry improperly and inefficiently discriminates in favor of copyright protection and against fair use. Moreover, the fair use transformativeness inquiry discriminates against marginalized authors, because courts are less likely to appreciate the aesthetic value of their uses of copyrighted works. Courts should apply the aesthetic nondiscrimination principle to both copyright and fair …

The Inadvisability Of Nonuniformity In The Licensing Of Cover Songs, Yolanda M. King

Belmont Law Review

In February 2015, the U.S. Copyright Office released a report entitled Copyright and the Music Marketplace, which summarizes its study of the music industry and recommends significant revisions to copyright law in response to the rapidly changing demands of the industry. Among its recommendations, the Copyright Office proposes an amendment to section 115(a)(2) of the Copyright Act. Currently, section 115(a)(2), referred to as the compulsory licensing provision of copyright law, permits someone to record a new version of a previously recorded and publicly distributed song, regardless of the format of the newly recorded version. The revised section 115(a)(2) would require …

Symposium Panel: Bringing Blurred Lines Into Focus, Suzanne Kessler, Ramona Desalvo, Sara Ellis

Belmont Law Review

Belmont Law Review Symposium: Bringing Blurred Lines into Focus, October 2015.

Modern Legal History 2015: The Road To Obergefell, Abby Rubenfeld, Regina Lambert

Belmont Law Review

We’re going to have the opportunity to hear about the road to Tanco v. Haslam, one of the most important individual rights constitutional decisions from the United States Supreme Court in the last half-century. We’ll have an opportunity to gain from Ms. Rubenfeld’s and Ms. Lambert’s perspectives and experiences and hear their stories, Belmont Law Review Modern Legal History Symposium, November 20, 2015.

Inmate Legal Information Requests Analysis: Empirical Data To Inform Library Purchases In Correctional Institutions, Kimberli Morris Kelmor

Law Library Faculty Works

The introduction of legal content to Google Scholar made United States case law and law journal articles accessible to an unprecedented extent. With case law freely available and accurate bibliographic information for articles, could Google Scholar be accurate and complete enough for correctional institutions to forgo purchasing either print publications or fee-based services for these materials? This article empirically assesses whether Google Scholar can reliably answer the questions of inmates in a correctional facility, the Baltimore City Detention Center. As a comparison, the same questions are tested in Westlaw Correctional, a subscription database marketed to correctional institutions.

Why Can't I Just Use Lexis Or Westlaw? Promoting Lesser Known Legal Research Platforms To Law Students, Theresa K. Tarves

Law Library Faculty Works

It can be difficult to convince law students to try new resources outside of Westlaw and Lexis, especially when these two resources seemingly have it all from a law student’s perspective. How do we expose law students to lesser known legal research resources so that they can be well-informed researchers who do not become dependent on only a few resources to carry them through their entire legal careers?

Social Media And “Flash-Infringement”: Live Music Culture And Dying Ip Protection, Michael M. Epstein

Belmont Law Review

This article interrogates issues of music intellectual property rights infringement at live performances. I am especially interested in music infringement at live concerts and DJ-driven mash-up parties, and the use of technologies to transfer protected content by smartphone — or remote storage device — at or near the performance site. The covalent forces of social media, including the use of smartphone apps such as Meerkat and Periscope, and flash mob culture have created a perhaps unstoppable threat to copyright and other intellectual property rights — a phenomenon that I define in this article as “flash infringement.” In a flash infringement …

Symposium Presentation: Nsai Director Bart Herbison On Copyright Reform For Songwriters, Bart Herbison

Belmont Law Review

A transcript of a presentation at the Belmont University College of Law Symposium, "Entertainment Law and Music Business in Transition."

Salvaging General Jurisdiction: Satisfying Daimler And Proposing A New Framework, B. Travis Brown

Belmont Law Review

General jurisdiction is slowly being eroded. What was once a well-trodden path used to hale corporate defendants into the courthouse is now increasingly barred or shut. In its most recent general jurisdiction opinion, Daimler AG v. Bauman, the U.S. Supreme Court continued its trend towards divesting general jurisdiction of its utility. This is a mistake. The 21st century’s economy is increasingly complex, and general jurisdiction must evolve with this complexity. Failing to do so allows intricate corporate structures to insulate corporate defendants from the jurisdiction of U.S courts. Although the theory of personal jurisdiction has come a long way since …

The Burden Of The Bargain: Revisiting The Predicament Of Meshing Workers’ Compensation And Tort Law In Light Of Widespread Acceptance Of Aligning Liability With Fault, Margaret Hearn Teichmann

Belmont Law Review

Most courts, legislatures, and scholars agree that the widespread movement over the past half-century toward aligning liability with fault has positively influenced tort law; however, the change has not come without difficulty. Courts and legislatures have struggled to determine how these developing doctrines affect apportionment of damages in various contexts. This note addresses the issue of how damages should be apportioned among multiple tortfeasors when an injured plaintiff has suffered a workplace injury and the employer or a coworker is partially to blame.

The Attorney–Client Privilege And Former Employees: History, Principle, And Precedent, Heath Henley

Belmont Law Review

When does attorney-client privilege protect communications between an attorney and her client’s former employee? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question. In federal courts, privilege over communications with current employees is generally governed by the subject-matter test. Under this legal doctrine, communication is privileged when it regards subject matter within the scope of the employee’s position. The rationale for the doctrine is that it is often the lower level employees who will have the information that an attorney needs. Extending the doctrine to former employees, however, has caused courts to stumble as they have attempted to reconcile evidentiary …

Dear Student Editors, We Need Your Help, Jessica Lynn Wherry

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.