You’ve already selected the obligatory new tie for Dad; used the discount code UGLYXMASSWEATER to buy Mom a festive holiday cardigan; and snagged the video game at the top of your sister’s wish list.  Now what should you do with the rest of your Cyber Monday?  Why not consider engaging in a bit of computer law research?

According to the Council on Research Excellence,  Americans spent an average of over 2 hours per day (142.8 minutes) parked in front of their computers as of 2009.  Technological advances and the increased importance of computing and the Internet in American society have created a burgeoning new legal field.  Per Black’s Law Dictionary, cyberlaw deals “…with the Internet, encompassing cases, statutes, regulations, and disputes that affect people and businesses interacting through computers.  [It] addresses issues of online speech and business that arise because of the nature of the medium, including intellectual property rights, free speech, privacy, e-commerce, and safety, as well as questions of jurisdiction.”

There are a number of online legal publications devoted to technology and intellectual property issues.  Among them, the Maurer School of Law’s IP Theory, which is available in our digital repository.  Other major law journal publications covering this topic include the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, Harvard’s Journal of Law & Technology, and Florida’s Journal of Technology Law & Policy.  In HeinOnline, you can search the Law Journal Library for topical articles in additional journals.  While you are there, be sure to search their new Intellectual Property Law Collection too.

Several of the law library’s electronic databases also contain cyberlaw material.  Bloomberg’s Technology and Internet Law practice page has a sizable amount of information, with an emphasis on current developments and news.  Lexis Advance’s Computer & Internet Law database can be selected (and searched) using the “Browse Topics” tab and contains a helpful breakdown of the major subtopics.

Another great place to conduct Internet law research is IUCAT.  Because cyberlaw is a loosely-defined area of law that is closely intertwined with several broad legal concepts, search term selection is particularly critical, whether you are searching the Internet or a library catalog.  Try using “cyberlaw” and its synonyms, such as “Internet law” or “virtual law” or “computer law”.  Additionally, it is a good practice to attempt searches combining the core subject term (i.e., “the Internet”) and any narrower terms applicable to your research interests (i.e., “privacy” or “intellectual property”).  The law library has several recent print publications on computer and technology law.  Books on this subject are classified beginning at KF390.5 and located on the 3rd floor.  Thumb through the volumes of  Law of the Internet (3rd edition), peruse Virtual Law, or scan Internet Law in a Nutshell (on reserve at the circulation desk).

For current awareness resources, look at the ABA Journal’s list of technology law-focused blogs and news sites, Science and Technology Law Blawgs, and any of the numerous institutes on technology and law: Berkeley Center for Law & Technology, Center for Innovation Law & Policy, and Stanford’s Center for Internet & Society, to name a few.  These organizations often host conferences and publish articles on Internet law and related topics.  GL&HF researching cyberlaw!

The Law Library is delighted to welcome Linda Fariss as its new Director.  Linda has been the Associate Director of the Law Library for many years, so she knows and is dedicated to the continuing excellence of the Library—there simply isn’t a better choice for the position.  In addition, Keith Buckley and Nonie Watt have been named Assistant Directors of the Law Library, Keith for Public Services and Nonie for Technical Services.  So congratulations, Linda, Keith, and Nonie!  The Law Library is lucky to have you!

HeinOnline recently added the official Canada Supreme Court Reports to its basic subscription, beginning with volume one (1876). While the entire collection is of potential interest, volumes published since 1982 are of particular interest to constitutional law comparativists. In that year Canada “patriated” its constitution, formerly the British North America Act, 1867, and added to it the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which is analogous to the U.S. Bill of Rights. The new constitution conferred on the Canadian Supreme Court the power to interpret the provisions of the Charter, leading to the advent of constitutional judicial review, previously unknown in the British Commonwealth.  The Canadian Supreme Court’s subsequent jurisprudence is of great interest to American comparativists because it addresses many of the same issues that have come before the U.S. Supreme Court during the same period. Full Story »

The Law Library has 300 carrels that all have lights built into them.  For several years we have been struggling to keep the lights in working condition, not to mention the constant need to replace the light bulbs. Thanks to funding from the University, the carrels now all have new LED lights! These lights use far less energy and provide almost twice the light of the old fixtures.  Not only are they more efficient, but they will be maintenance free for many years to come.

So, you’re in Bloomington for the summer. Doing an externship for credit, maybe a B706, waiting to begin as a summer starter, or worst of all, about to begin a bar review course. Kind of makes you wonder why you wanted to be a lawyer, right? Full Story »

Over the winter break some major enhancements will be made to IUCAT. Unicode conversion will allow patrons to display and print catalog records for the world’s alphabets and users will be able to search using non-Roman scripts. During the upgrade there may be some limited catalog functionality and the following services will be unavailable:-

• My Account – Patrons will be unable to renew materials through IUCAT.
• Recall – You will not be able to recall books that are checked out during this period.
• Request Delivery – This service will be unavailable. Patrons should be sure to request delivery of items from another IU campus by December 17^th.

The good news is that patrons will still be able to check out and return library materials. Items may be renewed either at the Law Library circulation desk, by phone (812-855-6404), or by email (lawcirc@indiana.edu). Interlibrary loan and ALF requests may be made as usual. If you have any questions please contact Rebecca Bertoloni Meli at rbertolo@indiana.edu or drop by the circulation office.

There are several changes in the legal research world, either taking place now or on the horizon.  Maybe the biggest is that Westlaw is now touting a new interface, WestlawNext.  It hasn’t been released to law schools yet, but there is talk that next school year students will have access to it.  It claims to be more “Google-like,” with one search box to do everything.  You can even do combinations of terms and connectors and natural language searches in the same box. 

Lexis is also making some changes.  LexisNexis Academic already looks pretty different, and there is word that Lexis is teaming with Microsoft to add legal research functionality to Microsoft products like your word processor, browser, etc.  There are also rumors that Lexis is revamping its main interface.

In addition to these changes in the major products, there have been changes to several smaller products, and according to the ABA Journal we can also look forward to the entrance of Bloomberg on the scene, and Google offering more legal research oriented tools.  The world of legal research is changing rapidly!  The Law Library will, of course, be on top of all these changes, and we will be happy to tell you what we know about proposed changes, or to help you navigate new interfaces.

We’re pushing the Jumpstart classes pretty hard, we know, but there is a reason for that.  As you embark on your legal career, or your first summer job there is a lot out there that you will need to know.  A refresher is a good idea.  The Law Librarian Blog recently directed us to an article by Patrick Meyer entitled Law Firm Legal Research Requirements for New Attorneys.  In the article Meyer looks at several surveys on what law firms expect in their new hires.  You might want to take a look at the article, and make sure that you are ready for the big stuff.  And you might want to sign up for one of the few remaining Jumpstart classes, either today or Thursday.

With exams right around the corner this is a good time to brush up on your substantive law.  There are lots of ways to do that, the best, or course, is probably attending the review sessions for the classes and looking at your own notes.  There are other options, though.  You can also thumb through a hornbook or nutshell, for example.  You can also go take a look at the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI).  Some classes actively assign CALI lessons, but in general this is something that is optional for you.  CALI is a collection of lessons, written by a variety of people in the legal world-the Center tries to get people who are especially close to the subject matter to write lessons.  The lessons very greatly depending on who authored them, but in general you will be given lots of information about a particular area, and review questions that come up throughout the lesson.  There are CALI lessons on most areas of substantive law, and even lessons on legal research.  (There is no Indiana state legal research lesson yet-but a couple of the librarians here are in the process or writing it!) You can look for lessons by subject, by year you are in school, and even by casebook.  You might want to see if your particular course book had a lesson attached-that could be a wonderful way to study.  CALI is a service that we subscribe to, if you would like an account come by the library reference office and we can get you a password.

The extremely popular Jumpstart research program returns to the Law Library for the next two weeks. The program, designed by the Reference librarians, will again work towards preparing law students for summer clerkships and the first year of practice. In addition to group sessions on basic legal research skills, there will also be individual sessions dealing specifically with the Internet and Web applications. During last year’s sessions, a number of students learned the necessary research skills for dealing with materials such as legislative history, administrative law and the regulatory process, and computer-assisted legal research.

Following the formula established in previous years, each of the Jumpstart sessions will begin with a brief review of the basic legal resources so that every student has a complete grasp of the legal research process. The librarians will also provide information about more specialized types of reference books, including practice aids and form books. The Jumpstart sessions will then focus on individual student problems and questions about legal research, with an emphasis on the type of practice student participants will be seeing in the summer. During individual electronic research sessions, Peter Hook, the Computer Services Librarian, will discuss applications and uses of these extraordinary computer sources in the law office and on the job. The Internet/Web sessions will include hands-on exploration of the various Web sources.

If you have any questions about the Jumpstart programs, be sure to drop by the Reference Office and speak to a reference librarian. We’d especially like to hear from those of you who already know in what jurisdiction you’ll be working this summer and any special areas of law with which you’ll be dealing. We tailor the Jumpstart sessions to your particular needs in order to make the program a continuing success.