Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Celebrate with the Library this Week!

The Law Library staff invites all students and faculty to visit the library this week in celebration of National Library Week. Stop in to say hi to the librarians--no pressure to ask a question (although if you do, we will do our best to help you find the answer!). Check out the table by the comfortable seating area for random treats. Enjoy!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Check out these new books in the library!

The following books are all new to Hamline Law Library's collection and are available for browsing or checking out:

Cloud computing for lawyers/Nicole Black KF 242.A1 B575 2012

From ABA: This book will help you:
•Understand the current state of cloud computing technology
•Weigh the risks and benefits of cloud computing
•Evaluate legal cloud computing applications like law practice management, billing, time tracking, e-mail, and e-discovery software
•Consider the ethical considerations of storing client data in the cloud
•Maintain security and privacy for your online data

Law school exams : a guide to better grades/Alex Schimel KF283 .S335 2012
*Available at the Circulation Desk

"Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades is the complete handbook for students who want to significantly improve their performance in law school. Written from the perspective of a student with a 4.0 GPA, this book offers fresh and unique insights on law school exams by stripping the exam format into a series of repeatable steps and building blocks. It also teaches students how to ''prepare for exams, instead of preparing for class,'' with proven time-management, outlining, and case-briefing techniques." From Amazon

Advanced tort law : a problem approach/Vincent R. Johnson.
KF 1250.A7 J638 2010

"This textbook is designed for use in upper-level law school courses. It reflects the belief that the most effective teaching materials for students beyond the first year of law school are centered on problems of the kind that lawyers face in practice." From Amazon

Pretrial/Thomas A. Mauet KF 8900 .M38 2012
*Available at the Circulation Desk

"Pretrial achieved leading stature through its clear, concise, well-organized presentation of pretrial preparation by one of the country's leading experts on trial techniques. An effective systematic approach organizes pretrial planning and preparation into a series of distinct steps students can readily master. Litigation files from a hypothetical case, complete with sample documentation and paperwork, take students through each stage of a civil case. Additional litigation files, six in all, appear on an accompanying CD-ROM and include both plaintiffs' and defendants' files. The Eighth Edition expands the discussion of using the Internet to conduct informal fact investigations. The text examines Ashcroft v. Iqbal and Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and their influence on general notice requirements for claims. New material explores liens on settlements, and the Eighth Edition includes a full discussion of Supreme Court decisions in Wal-Mart Stores v. Dukes and Erica P. John Fund v. Halliburton." From Amazon.

Friday, March 30, 2012

HeinOnline Training Guides Available

Learn more about using HeinOnline, at your own pace.  Training guides ranging from "Getting Started" to "Advanced Search Syntax" to Quick Reference Guides for particular HeinOnline collections may be found on the HeinOnline Training Guides Page. 

Not exactly sure what HeinOnline is?  Learn more at Exploring Electronic Legal Research: HeinOnline.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

YOU are There at the US Supreme Court

Good news! You don't have to wait to be one of the lucky 400 trying to get a seat at the U.S. Supreme Court next week. The Court announced that audio recordings and transcripts will be available on an expedited basis [emphasis added] for oral arguments on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The March 26, 27 and 28, 2012 transcripts of the morning sessions will be available no later than 2 PM and the March 28th afternoon session transcript should be available no later than 4 PM.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Can you believe the weather?

As a born and bred Minnesotan, discussing the weather is in my blood.   It's hard to resist the topic lately, with the recent clear skies and record temperatures.

Did you know that certified weather data for use in litigation is available only through the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.?    The NCDC is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Information (NOAA)'s Weather Service.   To order the certified data, go to this page for instructions: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/pa/climate_data.php

To find preliminary data, go to http://www.weather.gov/.  Click on the state you're interested in and use the "Climate" menu on that state's page.   For example, the Twin Cities climate data is accessed here: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mpx/climate.php.   Not only can I find the high temperature from this date last year (44) but also the average wind speed (6.6) and, among other things, that there was thunder.

Enjoy the mild Spring!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Check out these new books in the library

Check Out These New Books In The Library

*Judicial clerkships : legal methods in motion / Aliza Milner KF8771 .M55 2011

From Lexis:
Judicial Clerkships: Legal Methods in Motion teaches a combination of analytical and practical skills. With its three part focus, the book:
1. Provides an introduction to clerking in both the trial and appellate courts;
2. Explores clerking for an appellate court, including lessons in thinking and writing for these courts; and
3. Offers a complete complete discussion of the analytical and drafting skills necessary for trial court judicial clerks.
Judicial Clerkships: Legal Methods in Motion also is unique in that it:
• Instructs students in drafting appellate opinions, both majority and minority, as well as trial court orders, judgments, and findings of fact and conclusions of law.
• Helps students to examine fundamental concepts like scope of review, stare decisis, and the spectrum of law and fact. It provides the depth necessary for working with these concepts in a clerkship or internship;
• Provides lessons and exercises in "clerking" or editing draft opinions; and
• Offers concrete writing tips, based on actual appellate court opinions and trial court orders. “

*The Zen of law school success / Chad Noreuil KF283 .N67 2011
From Amazon:
The Zen of Law School Success offers a comprehensive approach to succeeding in law school. Zen is about simplicity, balance, knowing your universe, knowing yourself, and staying focused on the path to enlightenment. Similarly, these principles should be the foundation for success in law school, and this book details how to put these principles into practice in order to maximize your ability to have a successful law school career. Like the Zen path to enlightenment, law school success is about balance (between studying and other aspects of life, as well as balancing your study time between subjects, outlining, etc.), knowing your universe (knowing not only the subject matter tested, but knowing how the questions are constructed, knowing what to look for, etc.), knowing yourself (what type of essay writer you are, what type of learner you are, what type of exam taker you are, etc.), and staying focused on your path (when to study, what to do when you are stressed out, what to do when you don t know a subject very well, etc.). In addition to offering a comprehensive approach to succeeding in law school, the book also offers practical advice for doing well during the classroom Socratic method, navigating the law school environment, managing law school stress, and getting a job after graduation. Moreover, The Zen of Law School Success focuses on doing well on final exams, including specific strategies and tips for both essay and multiple choice exams. The book includes many exercises and model answers that will benefit any law student and is an ideal resource for any law school Academic Achievement Program.

*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. KF8775.A75 W48 2011

From Amazon:
In What's Law Got to Do With It?, the nation's top legal scholars and political scientists examine to what extent the law actually shapes how judges behave and make decisions, and what it means for society at large.

*Open book : succeeding on exams from the first day of law school / Barry Friedman, John C.P. Goldberg RESERVE KF283 .F75 2011

From Amazon:
A concise, highly accessible guide to exam success. Provides an insider s view of what professors look for in exam answers, and how exam-taking connects to good lawyering. Accompanied by a Web site with content that is both free (e.g., sample outlines, class notes, case briefs) and for-sale (e.g., sample exams and memos written by professors giving feedback on the answers).

*Lawtalk : the unknown stories behind familiar legal expressions / James E. Clapp ... [et al.] KF156 .L39 2011

From Amazon:
Law-related words and phrases abound in our everyday language, often without our being aware of their origins or their particular legal significance: boilerplate, jailbait, pound of flesh, rainmaker, the third degree. This insightful and entertaining book reveals the unknown stories behind familiar legal expressions that come from sources as diverse as Shakespeare, vaudeville, and Dr. Seuss. Separate entries for each expression follow no prescribed formula but instead focus on the most interesting, enlightening, and surprising aspects of the words and their evolution. Popular myths and misunderstandings are explored and exploded, and the entries are augmented with historical images and humorous sidebars.

*Legal reasoning, writing, and other lawyering skills /
Robin Wellford Slocum KF250 .S568 2011

From Lexis:
Legal Reasoning, Writing, and Other Lawyering Skills, 3rd Edition retains the same core chapters of earlier editions that emphasize and illustrate the "process" of thinking through, and writing about, a client problem. However, the new edition expands its coverage to include the practicalities of modern-day legal practice, and also expands the lawyering skills that are introduced in the book. In this new edition, the book can be used in a typical two-semester legal skills course, as well as more intensive two-semester courses, and three- and even four-semester courses.

*Hot coffee [videorecording] / HBO Documentary Films
At Circulation Desk: KF1250 .H68 2011

“Analyzes and discuses so called "frivolous law suits" and the impact of tort reform on the United States judicial system. Discusses several cases and relates each to tort reform in the U.S.: Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants (public relations campaign to instigate tort reform); Colin Gourley's malpractice lawsuit and caps on damages; the prosecution of Mississippi Justice Oliver Diaz and judicial elections; Jamie Leigh Jones v. Halliburton Co. and mandatory arbitration. Exposes how corporations spent millions on a propaganda campaign to distort Americans' view of lawsuits, forever changing the civil justice system. From the infamous case of the woman who sued McDonalds over spilled coffee to the saga of the Mississippi Supreme Court Justice deemed 'not corporate enough' by business interests, this program tears apart the conventional wisdom about 'frivolous lawsuits.'

Monday, February 20, 2012

Law School Grade Anxiety

Law students always feel anxiety about grades. That will never change, but I ran across an article from the Record at Harvard Law that should give students some perspective about them. Read it here.