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Introduce yourself to transnational legal issues

Jean Callihan No Responses »
Apr 082010

Want to be prepared to practice in a world of international and transnational law? Most of you will face issues involving transnational law—are you ready? An easy way to learn the basics is to use the Global Issues series on reserve in the Law Library. These slim volumes supplement law school courses from contracts to torts and give you an overview of key concepts along with comparisons to U.S. law. Each title includes narrative explanations and excerpts from articles, government documents, and cases. Most importantly, the books quickly get to the point. We will be adding titles on more areas of law as they become available. More are on the way, but right now we have the following Global Issues in…:

We have ordered these Global Issues in…:

  • Copyright
  • Employee Benefits Law
  • Environmental Law
  • Freedom of Speech and Religion
  • Intellectual Property Law

Check reserve items out for two hours at a time or overnight from the Law Library circulation desk.

Posted by library at 3:18 pm Tagged with:

Cornell Prof. Cynthia Bowman on law and cohabitation

Iantha Haight No Responses »
Apr 072010

Cynthia Bowman Unmarried Couples, Law, & Public PolicyIn honor of Cornell Law School Professor Cynthia Grant Bowman‘s new book, Unmarried Couples, Law, and Public Policy, today we are highlighting a few of her other publications. In addition to a degree in law, Professor Bowman earned a Ph.D in political science, and she brings an interdisciplinary approach to her analysis of topics such as family law and feminist jurisprudence.

Professor Bowman studied the relationship between law and cohabitation–and especially its impact on low-income women–for many years before writing this book:

For more of Professor Bowman’s writings, see her faculty publications page and the Scholarship@Cornell Law online repository.

Posted by library at 9:11 am Tagged with:

Legal troubles of Yankee Stadium

Iantha Haight No Responses »
Apr 022010

Yankee StadiumThe New York Law Journal featured an article today entitled “What Legal Challenges Ahead For New Yankee Stadium?” written by Angela M. Mazzarelli, Robert J. Patchen, and Jeffrey D. Ratner. Despite its title, the article is not a prospective look at the future of the new Yankee Stadium; instead it summarizes ten historic lawsuits involving the former Yankee Stadium.

Number 8 on the list is my favorite because of the opinion’s snarky concluding paragraph. In 1927 Harry Schafer purchased tickets for two ringside seats at the Sharkey–Dempsey prizefight at Yankee Stadium for $27.50 each—quite a lot of money then (click here for the results of the bout). Harry and his wife took the train from their home in Oklahoma City to NYC just to attend the fight, only to allegedly find the gates of Yankee Stadium locked. Upset and disappointed, Schafer sued to recover the cost of the trip, but the judge did not believe his story. The judge found that the defendant had, in fact, kept the gates open. But the judge offered Schafer these final words of consolation:

This was the first visit to New York for both plaintiff and his wife. They were there for three days after their tragic experience. They did some shopping in its magnificent stores, and attended the performances at several theaters. Plaintiff should find some consolation in the pride which must be his, that it can no longer be said that he and his wife did not visit the greatest metropolis in the world, and its splendid and stupendous places of amusement.

The case is Shafer v. Rickard, 132 Misc 489 (Mun. Ct. of N.Y., Bor. of Man., 4th Dist. 1928).

If you want to access this or other New York Law Journal articles and you are a Cornell Law student, you have several options available to you. Selected articles (including this one) are available in Westlaw, database code NYLJ. You can ask for a copy of the print publication at the circulation desk in the Reading Room. We keep the most recent issues stored there until we receive it on microfiche. Law students can also access the Journal’s Web site. Some of the articles are free; for articles that are not freely available, email a Research Attorney or ask at the reference desk for a password.

Yankee Stadium Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kjetilhr/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Posted by library at 7:10 am Tagged with: ,

Peeps Show IV

Iantha Haight No Responses »
Apr 012010

Eep!In celebration of April Fool’s Day today we are featuring Peeps Show IV, this year’s installment of the Washington Post‘s annual diorama contest featuring that lovable, pastel-hued, sugary character—the Peep.

My favorite this year is “Balloon Peep (based on the balloon boy)”, but I think “Little Bo Peep” is pretty great too. What’s your favorite? Make sure to vote for it in the Peeple’s Choice Awards (click on the link at the top of the page).

Check out the Washington Post’s behind-the-scenes coverage or the accompanying news story. There’s even an iPhone app, but sadly I can’t bring myself to pay 99 cents for it.

One of my dearest wishes is to submit a diorama that will earn inclusion in the Peeps Show, but competition gets tougher every year (over 1,100 entries!). Some of the dioramas look downright professional, although I usually prefer the homemade look myself. Most of the best dioramas are created by teams. Maybe next year some intrepid 2L’s will band together to create a diorama based on Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co. Think about it.

Posted by library at 3:00 pm Tagged with:

Cast a wider net: Intro to WorldCat Local

Jean Pajerek No Responses »
Mar 302010

Have you ever wished you could use the library catalog to search for articles published in journals?  Or discover what books other libraries (not just those at Cornell) might have in their collections on a particular topic or written by a particular author?  With the new Cornell library catalog, WorldCat Local, you can do that and more.

Library catalogs have traditionally served as finding tools for a specific library’s collection.  You could search the catalog for a journal title once you had located an article citation (usually in a periodical index), and then try to ascertain from the catalog information whether the specific journal issue you needed was in the library.  This kind of research was time- and labor-intensive.  The catalog could show you what the library owned in a given subject area, but a researcher would need a more comprehensive view of the literature in his or her field, beyond a single library’s collection, to identify relevant articles and books. WorldCat Local aggregates the catalogs of thousands of libraries worldwide, allowing you to discover what other libraries have in their collections, in addition to what Cornell has.

WorldCat Local is a new discovery tool that overcomes these limitations of traditional library catalogs, and offers many other interesting and useful features as well (some of which will be described in future posts to The Competitive Edge).  To explore WorldCat Local yourself, enter a search in the search box located in the bottom right corner of the Law Library home page (the box that says ‘Search NEW Catalog’) or go directly to the WorldCat Local search page at http://cornell.worldcat.org/.

WorldCat search from Cornell Law Library home page

Posted by library at 12:48 pm Tagged with: , ,

The Law Library celebrates Cornell basketball

Iantha Haight No Responses »
Mar 262010

Cornell men’s basketball team Cornell Law Library staff Janet Gillespie and Elizabeth Teskey celebrate with members of the Cornell men’s basketball team at the welcome home party outside Day Hall today. Congratulations on reaching the Sweet 16!

Posted by library at 2:36 pm Tagged with:

The Snitching Blog

Iantha Haight No Responses »
Mar 262010

Snitching by Alexandra NatapoffA blog can be a great place to dip into a new topic. Take the Snitching Blog, for example–an excellent resource for news and information about criminal informants, how they operate, and how they affect the U.S. criminal justice system. The blog has entries about cases in which an informant played a critical role, a heads-up about a recent NPR series on a confidential informant and the House of Death murders, and legislative reform efforts. You can find links to reports, data, and government hearings in the blog’s sidebar.

Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School, authors the blog. She recently published a book entitled Snitching: Criminal Informants and the Erosion of American Justice, Cornell Law Library call number KF9665 .N38x 2009. You also may want to check out Ethan Brown’s Snitch: Informants, Cooperators & the Corruption of Justice, Cornell’s Olin Library call number HV8141 .B74 2007. Ancient history buffs should try Imperial Inquisitions: Prosecutors and Informants from Tiberius to Domitian by Steven H. Rutledge, Olin Library call number JC89 .R87x 2001.

Posted by library at 2:05 pm Tagged with: , ,

New booklet: Rare Treasures of Cornell Law Library

Janet Gillespie No Responses »
Mar 172010

A new booklet called Rare Treasures of Cornell Law Library is now available in the law library. The booklet highlights some of the rare books and special collections we have in our Rare Book Room. Among these treasures are the Donovan Nuremberg Trials Collection of transcripts and documents, a first edition of Blackstone’s Commentaries, an extensive 19th Century Trials Collection (part of which Hein digitized for its World Trials Library), and many other rare and interesting materials. The Rare Book Collection houses several thousand volumes, mainly English and continental European materials. We also have Liberian Law and artifacts from the Scottsboro Boys Trial, which are interesting viewing.

If you would like to look at any of these materials please contact me, Janet Gillespie, to make an appointment, or submit the online form. We also have periodic open houses when our treasures can be viewed. There are digital collections of some of these materials online, such as the Nuremberg Trial transcripts, which are being digitized courtesy of a generous grant from the Nathaniel Lapkin Foundation. Please pick up one of the beautiful pamphlets of Rare Treasures at the table in front of the Research Desk (in the Reading Room).

Posted by library at 10:55 am Tagged with: , ,

Bridge the Gap NYC: Hone your research skills

Pat Court No Responses »
Mar 122010

Will you be in New York City over Spring Break?  Here’s an opportunity to sharpen your competitive edge and learn more about legal research from the experts.

On Friday, March 26, you can participate in Bridge the Gap, a program to build legal research and career development skills for summer employment and beyond.  There will be programs on criminal law research, company/business research, international law research, New York Internet research, and much more. Bridge the Gap is presented by LLAGNY, the Law Library Association of Greater New York.

The full-day Bridge the Gap program will be held at the House of the New York Bar Association, 42 West 44th Street in Manhattan, from 9am-4pm. Cost is $30 and includes breakfast, lunch, and three research sessions you choose.  Your registration and check must be received by Friday, March 19.  The registration form is available here.

Enjoy your Spring Break, and cap it off with a day dedicated to sharpening your research skills!

Posted by library at 5:26 pm Tagged with: ,

Writing women back into history

Pat Court No Responses »
Mar 122010

Maryland suffragette’s picketing the White HouseMarch is National Women’s History Month.  And you live in a great location to get in the spirit of the celebration, since we are so close to Seneca Falls, located at the northern end of Cayuga Lake.  Seneca Falls is considered the birthplace of women’s rights because the first women’s rights convention was held there in 1848 at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott.  In downtown Seneca Falls, you can visit the Women’s Rights National Historic Park, as well as the Women’s Hall of Fame.

As we focus on writing women back into history this month (the 2010 theme of the National Women’s History Project), take a look at the Women’s Legal History Biography Project at Stanford Law School which provides extensive material on the lives of hundreds of early women lawyers.  Museums and libraries in Washington, D.C. are also providing exhibits and materials to help celebrate women’s achievements throughout the history of the United States.

Posted by library at 11:47 am Tagged with:
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