You gave the Law Library an outstanding return rate on the recent Student Survey, and we are pouring over the results now.  For those of you who commented that you wish the library had a certain book or other items, we don’t want you to be bereft any longer.  These were here all along:

New York Times and Wall St. Journal – How could we all live without these daily newspapers?  The current issues are on the Circulation Desk counter and then available behind the desk for one month.

Israeli Human Rights Yearbook – Computers are so literal.  You have to type in the Title correctly, or they will be contrary.  The title is Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, and the Law Library has all volumes 1-41, from 1971-2011, on the new ground floor at K3236.3 .I87.

Model Penal Code Online –That’s available on your friends Westlaw (ULS-MPC) and Lexis (MODPEN).

Tribal Codes and Cases – Check out HeinOnline.  It’s not just for journals any more!  Go to the American Indian Law Collection. “With nearly 800 unique titles and more than 765,000 pages dedicated to American Indian Law, this collection includes an expansive archive of treaties, federal statutes and regulations, federal case law, tribal codes, constitutions, and jurisprudence.”

Chinese Law Dictionary – Two good ones are in the reference collection in the Reading Room, alcove 3.  英汉-汉英双向法律词典 = An English-Chinese and Chinese-English Two-Way Law Dictionary at K52.C5 Y59x.7 and Ying Han fa lü ci dian = English-Chinese Dictionary of Law at K52.C5 Y566x.

Terry Pratchett and dogs – Olin Library has all of this author’s books and will send them to the Law Library for you to pick up.  Just find the title you want in the online catalog and click the REQUESTS button at the top.  Then select BOOK DELIVERY SYSTEM from the drop-down menu at the bottom; click OK.  Select Law Circulation for where you will pick it up.

Be sure and check with a reference librarian if you aren’t finding what you need.  We’ll be happy to help!

CALI web lessons help you drill legal concepts from your courses, right down to the specific pages of your casebooks. It’s a great way to prepare for exams. Click here to go to the chart of CALI Lessons by Casebook to see if your casebook is included.

CALI is the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, and Cornell Law School is a member, so you have access to over 800 interactive tutorials on narrow topics of law. So even if your casebook is not linked, there will be tutorials for your courses. Some sample lessons include:

  • Federal Commerce Power & Other Restrictions on State Regulatory Power / Constitutional Law
  • Summary Judgment / Civil Procedure
  • Liquidated Damages / Contracts
  • Capital Gain Mechanics / Federal Income Taxation
  • Authority of Partners to Bind the Partnership / Business Organizations
  • Execution and Revocation of Wills under the Uniform Probate Code / Trusts & Estates

If you don’t have the CALI password to access these lessons, stop by the Reference Desk or send an email to get the password so you can get online with CALI right away. Best of luck with your exams!

HeinOnline has become indispensable for law review articles, as well as pdfs of the US Code, CFR, Federal Register, U.S. Reports, English Reports, and much more. They have recently announced a free app for your iPhone or iPad. Click here for more details, including how the app works with our IP authentication access. Features of the app include the citation navigator, browsing by volume, and the electronic table of contents.

The New Books List for October 1-15 is now available on the Law Library web site. Click here to view the entire list. It includes the new books at the Law Library as well as law-related books all across campus. Here are a couple titles of interest:

Principles of law and economics / Daniel H. Cole, Peter Z. Grossman. — New York : Wolters Kluwer Law & Business/Aspen Publishers, c2011
Special Reserve KF385 .C65x 2011 — Law Library

What’s law got to do with it? : what judges do, why they do it, and what’s at stake / edited by Charles Gardner Geyh. — Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2011
KF8775.A75 W48x 2011 — Law Library

Click here to sign up for semi-monthly RSS feed of the new law books at the Law Library.

Electronic filing of court papers with public access to many of the documents is now the standard for federal courts through PACER. And now New York State Courts have an e-Filing System, NYSCEF. NYSCEF permits the filing of legal papers by electronic means with the County Clerk and the courts in certain case types in designated venues, as well as electronic service of papers in those cases. Tompkins County is not yet one of the venues; click here for the list of current counties eligible.

For free public access, any individual can search via the “search as guest” function on the Log In screen; no NYSCEF account is required. However, the judge can order the county clerk to seal particular documents or the entire case. “Sensitive” documents can be viewed by attorneys consented in that particular case and by the public at the county clerk computer.

A demonstration video designed to familiarize filers with its functionality is available here. How to get to the Courthouse is no longer the first problem new lawyers have to deal with. NYSCEF and PACER on the web take you there virtually!

Many of you knew Iantha Haight, Research Attorney and Lecturer in Law, over the last couple years. We are sorry to have to tell you that she has left Cornell to go to Wichita Falls, Texas, where her husband has a new job.

Iantha was an excellent researcher and highly skilled with technology. In fact, she is the person who created, edited, and managed this blog, The Competitive Edge, from its inception. She also created the popular new course in “Online Legal Research: Free Sources,” and was well known for teaching research in Lawyering with John Mollenkamp.

We will miss Iantha – and her little girl Vinnae, born in May. We wish their family all the best in their new life in Texas.

Competition is thriving in the online legal information market. And perhaps the most successful of the new players is Bloomberg Law, or B-law, outgrowth, of course, from the wildly successful Bloomberg financial news and data service. They describe their edge as “the first real-time legal research system that integrates innovative search technology, comprehensive legal content, company and client information, and proprietary news all in one place.”

Bloomberg Law has a new web interface to which Cornell Law School users will be introduced on Wednesday, July 13, at 10:30am, in room 273. This update session will be conducted by our Bloomberg Law representative, Pamela Haar. Please join us if you are interested in this up and coming competitor to Lexis and Westlaw.

World Intellectual Property Day 2011Tuesday, April 26 is World Intellectual Property Day, celebrated each year since 2000 and established by the World Intellectual Property Organization. The aim is to demonstrate how the IP system fosters not only music, arts and entertainment, but also all the products and technological innovations that help to shape our world. This day commemorates the date on which the Convention establishing WIPO originally entered into force in 1970.

For your IP research, you are invited to use these top-notch resources at Cornell Law Library:

  • BNA Intellectual Property Law Resource Center
  • IP Theory — a new peer-edited intellectual property law publication
  • JIPITEC – open access journal on intellectual property, information technology, and e-commerce law
  • Nimmer on Copyright – available on Lexis and on reserve in the law library (11 volumes)
  • McCarthy on Trademarks and Unfair Competition – available on Westlaw and on reserve in the law library (7 volumes)
  • Chisum on Patents – available on Lexis

In response to student inquiries regarding the availability for group study of rooms G80, G81, 273, 387, 389 and the Library’s Casual Reading Room (these rooms are referred to herein collectively the “Study Rooms”), the Law School has implemented the following policy, effective immediately:

While classes are in session, SAME-DAY reservations for Study Room use in the afternoon and/or evening shall be made via a sign-out sheet available at the Circulation Desk in the Library.  Reservations shall be made in person at Noon or thereafter – not earlier.  Only same-day reservations will be accepted – no advance reservations permitted.

Under this new policy, room availability will no longer cease at library closing times, providing evening reservations are made prior to the last sign-up time for the day. In cases in which a room reservation extends beyond 7:30pm Sunday through Thursday, or beyond 4:30pm on Friday or Saturday, the student making the reservation will be responsible for securing the room in question (closing windows and locking doors) at the end of use.  Evening reservations that begin after 7:30pm (Sun-Th) or 4:30pm (Fr & Sat) must be reserved as of those times to insure the room remains open for their use.  Students making such reservation will be responsible for the room starting at 7:30 or 4:30, respectively.

During study periods, Study Rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis 24 hours a day.  There will be no reservation procedure.

Supreme Court Library Reading RoomStill looking to do something rewarding in Washington, D.C. this summer?  The U.S. Supreme Court has two openings for volunteer internships of up to twelve weeks specifically for law students.  One of the openings is in the Supreme Court Library and requires some library work experience or progress on a library science degree.  The other internship is in the Office of the Reporter of Decisions and is open to a law student who has editing experience.  Details are available here.

Hurry!  Applications must be turned in by Tuesday, March 22.

© 2020 InfoBrief Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha