Thursday, November 30, 2006

New Model for Legal Education

From the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog:

"Stanford Law School announced “a new model for legal education” Tuesday, unveiling a program it calls the “3D” JD. The initiative focuses on the second- and third-year curriculums and centers on two major themes: more interdisciplinary education and expanded clinical programs."

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2006/11/30/stanfords-larry-kramer-wants-to-revolutionize-legal-education/

Federal Sentencing Guidelines Manual

The Manual (updated Nov. 2006) is ready for download at http://www.ussc.gov/.

PDAS CAUSING INCREASING INJURIES

From Bytes in Brief:

"Employment lawyers are warning companies they could face liability or workers' compensation claims related to employee injuries from personal digital assistants. The American Physical Therapy Association in Alexandria, Virginia, and other occupational organizations warn that improper use and overuse of personal digital assistants (PDAs) can lead to hand throbbing, tendonitis and swelling, a condition known as BlackBerry Thumb, named after the popular PDA. Frank Morris, a lawyer in Washington, D.C., says employers need to develop policies on PDA use. They also face a liability risk because some employees could argue they're entitled to overtime if a staffer is expected to use a company-provided PDA after work hours. Some hotels catering to business clients offer treatments for the problem. The Hyatt Regency Scottsdale Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz., offers a special BlackBerry Balm Hand Massage that runs $80 for 30 minutes. A resort spokeswoman says the treatment has become very popular."
Further information may be found at
http://www.apta.org/AM/Template.cfm?Template=/CM/HTMLDisplay.cfm&ContentID=34990

List of Companies and Backdating Stock Options

The Wall Street Journal is keeping a list of companies that have problems with their past stock option grants. You can view the list by company name or by corporate officials. See what has happened to the officials and the companies. This looks really good and interesting!

http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/info-optionsscore06-full.html

Texas State Law Library Resources

This is just a reminder...
The Texas State Law Library has a resource page with links to codes, statutes, sections affected, the Constitution (including Braden's analysis), etc.

http://www.sll.state.tx.us/research/texaslaw.html

Texas State Bar: Winners of the Annual Haiku Contest

Over the past few years the Texas State Bar Appellate Section sponsors a Haiku Contest. Here are this year's winners:

FIRST PLACE
Like sleeping tigers
Hungry justices dream of
Feasting on verdicts
- Neil McCabe

SECOND PLACE
Chances to win, don't ask…
on motion for rehearing-
impossible task.
- Kirby Hopkins

THIRD PLACE (TIE)
Response requested.
For relator, joy! hope! thrill!
Petition denied.
- Kirsten CastaƱeda

City of Keller,
Brister's wolf in sheep's clothing.
Can you say, "Reversed"?
- Kelly Kirkland

For the Honorable Mentions, surf to http://www.tex-app.org/haiku.html

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Update on Saving the Thanksgiving Turkeys

The public has spoken!
20,478 votes have been cast and "Flyer and Fryer" are the winning names of the Thanksgiving Turkey and the alternate that the President pardoned on November 22, 2006.

I guess my turkey votes (Plymouth and Rock) did not make the "cut," but they came in second!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/holiday/thanksgiving/2006/

:-)

ROI Seminar in Dallas

ASTD Meeting
Time: 6 p.m.- 8 p.m.
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 12th
Place: Wyndham Dallas North Hotel--4801 LBJ Freeway, Dallas, TX
Guest Speaker: Jack Phillips
Topic: ROI Methodology
Cost: $30/members or $40/guests
Includes dinner


Dr. Phillips will share his ROI Methodology, a revolutionary process that provides bottom-line figures and accountability for all types of learning, performance improvement, human resources, technology, and public policy programs.

About the speaker: As a world-renowned expert on accountability, measurement and evaluation, Dr. Phillips provides consulting services for Fortune 500 companies and major global organizations. The author or editor of more than 50 books, Phillips provides workshops and conference presentations throughout the world.His expertise in measurement and evaluation is based on more than twenty-seven years of corporate experience in five industries (aerospace, textiles, metals, construction materials, and banking). Phillips has served as training and development manager at two Fortune 500 firms, senior HR officer at two firms, president of a regional bank, and management professor at a major state university.

His background led Phillips to develop the ROI Methodology--a revolutionary process that provides bottom-line figures and accountability for all types of learning, performance improvement, human resources, technology, and public policy programs.

Please register for the monthly meeting before midnight, Monday, December 11, 2006! To register, click here to open the registration form, or e-mail us at info@dallasastd.org or call us at 972.755.0956, ext.31 (for members) or ext.30 (for guests).

Understanding the new e-discovery rule amendments

If you need help understanding the new amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that take place on Dec. 1st, Robert Ambrogi has written a good article summarizing the changes.

http://www.ims-expertservices.com/newsletters/nov/eddrules-111406.htm

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

SLA/DFW Holiday Dinner

Date: Friday, December 1, 2006
Time: 7 pm

Locations: Love & War in Texas (located near Grapevine Mills Mall)
http://www.loveandwarintexas.com/home.html

Everyone is welcome including spouses. This is a Dutch treat. Reservation is under SLA.

Please RSVP to Denis Chochrek at Denise.Chochrek@fritolay.com by Wednesday, Nov. 29th.

Monday, November 27, 2006

British copyright - not extended?

Musical copyright terms 'to stay'
BBC News
Last Updated: Monday, 27 November 2006, 14:45 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6186436.stm

According to this article, the UK may elect not to extend copyright beyond 50 years to 95, like other countries.

Donald Wilson, LexisNexis Pioneer

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog printed a wonderful obit on Donald Wilson, who wrote the original business plan for the birth of Lexis.

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2006/11/27/law-blog-obituary-donald-wilson-lexisnexis-pioneer/

Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure

There is a good article in today's Law.com about the new amendments
to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that take effect officially
on Friday, Dec. 1.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1164189923012

E-Discovery

Sabrina Pacifici has a couple of links to surveys and articles on E-Discovery. Looks like a lot of companies are not prepared.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you're asked about retail statistics for Black Friday or Cyber Monday, head over to the National Retail Federation's collection of surveys.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

AALL Handbook

The AALL Handbook is now online over at aallnet.org.

Top spammers

A list of the top ten spammers according to Spamhaus. According to Spamhaus, 80% of spam directed at North American and European accounts is generated by abotu 200 "hard core spammers".

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Presentation from Nov. 14 meeting

Blythe McCoy, West Librarian Relations Manager, was kind enough to send us a copy of her presentation from the November 14 General Meeting. You may get the presentation from our Members' Only section here.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Cast Your Vote to Name the Turkey!

Cast your vote to name the 2006 National Thanksgiving Turkey and its alternate!

The live turkeys will be part of the 59th National Thanksgiving Turkey presentation, during which the President of the United States traditionally grants a pardon to the National Thanksgiving Turkey. The winning names will be announced on November 22, 2006.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/holiday/thanksgiving/2006/

Let the Turkey Live!!

Names to vote:
1. Ben and Franklin
2. Plymouth and Rock
3. Washington and Lincoln
4. Corn and Copia
5. Flyer and Fryer

My vote goes to Plymouth and Rock...cool names!

Ipods this Holiday season

The technology industry is predicting that over 14 million ipods will be sold this holiday season! Wow...stay tuned!

Presentation from November meeting

Coming soon to the DALL website - Blythe is sending me her presentation and I'm planning to post it this weekend some time. Watch this blog for the announcement.

Library in WA blocks gun magazine web site

The Second Amendment Foundation and three Washington state residents are suing the North Central Regional Library District "for denying them access to websites that include information on firearms and publications dealing with guns." The press release, dated Nov. 16, 2006, states that the library refuses to unblock the sites, even after a request from the plaintiffs.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

FTC Decisions Online

From the press release dated Nov. 15, 2006:

FTC Decisions Since 1969 Now Available Online

The Federal Trade Commission announced today that Commission actions from the past 37 years, including documents previously available to the general public only in book form, are now available on the agency’s Web site. These volumes – more than 70,000 pages covering 1969 through 2005 – contain virtually all administrative documents issued by the Commission, including Opinions, Final Orders, Complaints, and Consent Orders that result from negotiated consent agreements, as well as all Initial Decisions issued by Administrative Law Judges in administrative trial proceedings
[snip]
Future FTC Decisions Volumes also will include Commission analyses to aid public comment, and will be posted online semiannually. In addition, Volumes 1-74 (1914 through 1968), formerly available to the general public only in book form, also will be posted online.

The index to the decisions is located at http://www.ftc.gov/os/decisions/index.htm . I saw a reference to this at BeSpacific.com.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Texas Community Association Law Blog

a View from the property line

The Texas Community Association Law Blog includes helpful articles and insights on managing community associations and navigating the provisions of the Texas Property Code and other governing laws.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Electronic waste

Good article in the NY Times, reprinted at CNet News, on the fits and starts for recycling electronic waste.

Clearing a path from desktop to the recycler

In New York, the bulk of the effort to recycle electronic trash has been left to voluntary efforts.
The New York Times By Paul Vitello
The New York Times
Published: November 11, 2006, 12:23 PM PST

From out of closets, and from deep corners of basements, emerged the digital equivalent of a thousand Proust-like madeleine moments: old Commodore Plus/4's with cracker crumbs in the keys, original IBM's with floppy disks but no hard drives, perfectly good but long dormant things called word processors.

Does anyone know of any local programs? If so, hit the comment link.

Texas Legislature: Bills

Today marks the day that bills are being filed by the Texas Legislature. The Texas session begins on Jan. 9, 2007.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Holiday Party RSVP

Come one, come all! If you would like to attend the DALL Holiday Party, head on over to our web site for your RSVP form. Cost is $15 per person (you may bring spouses, significant others, or good friends with you).

Friday, November 10, 2006

Shopping Gala at the Belo

Event: Shop-Til-You-Drop
Time: Monday night, Nov. 13th.
Place: Belo Mansion
Sponsored by: Dallas Court Reporters Association

List of vendors that will be at the event:

1. Mary Kay
2. Creative Endeavors
3. Lili Feingold Jewelry
4. Have to Have It
5. Pampererd Chef
6. A Better Letter
7. Partylite Candles
8. Beijo Bags
9. Swiss Colony
10. Creatvie Memories
11. Homemde Gourmet
12. Stitches n’ Bloom
13. DCRA T-shirts

Veterans' Day

Just an FYI...some government offices and courts may be closed today in observance of Veterans' Day which is Saturday, Nov. 11th.

http://www1.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetday_faq.asp

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Advertising Sales on the Web

Do you need to find out what is going on sale by the major stores? Look no more...check out Black Friday for some great deals!

http://blackfridayhome.com/

Five stages of book grief

This post from OREGON LEGAL RESEARCH is humorous, and yet, captures that heart-pounding feeling when you realize that a book is really and truly gone.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

National races summary

CNN has a nice feature with charts showing election results. Listed by main, issues, house, senate, governor, ballot measures, campaign headquarters, and election exchange.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/

More NTP lawsuits

From BusinessWeek online:


Technology November 8, 2006, 10:10PM EST
NTP: A Taste of Its Own Medicine

The company that initiated a patent battle with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is now being sued over credit for its patents

by Arik Hesseldahl

The people behind the Virginia holding company NTP struck gold when they settled a long-running patent dispute with Research In Motion (RIMM) for $612.5 million in March. They hope to do it again with a similar lawsuit against handheld maker Palm.

By way of reminder, NTP says it came up with the technology used by both companies to provide wireless paging services. But now, Oren Tavory, a 43-year-old software developer living in West Palm Beach, Fla., says he got there first. Tavory says he did much of the work developing the technology behind NTP's patents. And since NTP has spun those patents into a big payday with hopes of another, Savory says he deserves part of the credit for the patents, and some of the payouts, too.

Monday, November 06, 2006

100 million websites

Can you believe there are now over 100 million websites?

See the latest issue of Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox at
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/web-growth.html

Now, I think there are over 94 million registered on MySpace...each with their own webpage.

Update on SLA Meeting for Nov. 9th

If you are planning to attend the SLA Meeting in Irving this Thursday evening, please let Denise Chochrek at Frito Lay know as soon as possible at Denise.Chochrek@fritolay.com.

Apparently due to security procedures at Verizon, only those names that Denise provides to security will be allowed in the building.

Thank you.

It's official...Roll Call buys GalleryWatch

"The Economist Group, whose businesses include The Economist, the Economist Intelligence Unit, CFO magazine and Roll Call, announced today that it has acquired GalleryWatch. The company is a leading provider of real-time online information and tools for searching, tracking, managing and analysing the federal and Texas legislative, regulatory and appropriations processes."

From the Austin Statesman
http://tinyurl.com/yyu5fs

Employment Data

Sabrina Pacific has links to the new Bureau of Labor Statistics on her BeSpacific blog. The entry is here: http://www.bespacific.com/mt/archives/012918.html.

Friday, November 03, 2006

I love reading. I love learning. For several years now, I have been receiving a Friday morning email, from the Scout Report. There is always an item that I would like to learn more about. I also find that there is something to pass on to someone else. My extended family generally being the recipient.

This past month for example, one week's sampling includes:
====== Research and Education ====
1. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
2. Miller Center of Public Affairs
3. International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism
4. Library of Congress Information Bulletin
5. Johns Hopkins Medicine Podcasts
6. Intute: Interactive Chemistry Tutorials
7. Japan’s Pop Power
8. Consortium for the Advancement of Undergraduate Statistics Education
====== General Interest ====
9. Celebrating 40 Years of Film in New York City
10. HGTV: Crafts
11. The World According to Sesame Street
12. The Genographic Project
13. Academy of Achievement
14. National Collegiate EMS Foundation
15. Eye on Europe: prints, books & multiples / 1960 to now [Adobe Flash
16. Rockefeller University: Information Technology


After the listing, there will be a short blurb for each of the items as well as the weblink.

http://scout.wisc.edu/
"Since 1994, the Scout Project has focused on developing better tools and services for finding, filtering, and presenting online information and metadata."

Go to the Scout website and sign up.

Windows Vista licensing change

For those of us who build or upgrade our own computers, this is pretty big news. It seems that Microsoft has decided to change the licensing on the retail versions of Windows Vista, the new operating system due out early next year. I'm guess this does not change the one machine/one license of the OEM versions of Windows. For details, see:

Pressure Forces Microsoft to Change Vista Licensing
Microsoft removes limit on how often you can reinstall the OS on a new device
.
Elizabeth Montalbano, IDG News Service
Thursday, November 02, 2006 11:00 AM PST
http://tinyurl.com/yzl9zd

Customer concerns over changes to Windows Vista licensing that would limit a transfer of the license to only one machine have moved Microsoft to revise the operating system licensing policy.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

European Union and artist's digital rights

Interesting article from BusinessWeek online.

EU to Roll Back Artists' Digital Rights?

by Andrew Rettman
EU to Roll Back Artists' Digital Rights? A dispute hinges on whether "collecting societies" should levy fees on computers and MP3 players, plus receive payments for downloads

European musicians suffered a double whammy on Monday (30 October) as news broke the European Commission and a leading UK think-tank are both pushing to cut back artists' digital music copyright privileges.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Banning trans-fats

The Health Department of New York City is mulling a ban on artificial trans-fats being used in their 20,000+ restaurants.

If this happens, a trend could become precendent and we'll start to see this in other large cities. I understand Chicago is also looking at banning trans-fats.
http://tinyurl.com/ydepl6

According to the article the final New York board vote is in December.

AmLaw 100 Best Websites

Larry Bodine published on his "LawMarketing Blog" the top 10 law firms that have the best websites. This list was harvest from the September 2006 white paper "AmLaw 100 Web Sites 2006" published by Deborah McMurray.

Baker & Hostetler LLP -- http://www.bakerlaw.com/
Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP -- http://www.wilmerhale.com/
Jones Day LLP -- http://www.jonesday.com/
Andrews Kurth LLP -- http://www.andrewskurth.com/
Hogan & Hartson LLP -- http://www.hhlaw.com/
Foley & Lardner LLP -- http://www.foley.com/
Dorsey & Whitney LLP -- http://www.dorsey.com/
Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC -- http://www.mintzlevin.com/
Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP -- http://www.eapdlaw.com/
Shearman & Sterling LLP -- http://www.shearman.com/

To read the entire entry surf to http://tinyurl.com/ydm2bv

Wall Street Journal Law Blog

I've just discovered that the Wall Street Journal has a Law Blog and you can subscribe to its RSS Feed and you can access the articles at no charge.
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/

It's easy to sign up for its RSS Feed:
http://feeds.wsjonline.com/wsj/law/feed

Delanceyplace.com

If you like to get a daily dose of literary knowledge, try http://delanceyplace.com/

It's a short excerpt of a book - varying topics from Frank Sinatra to how Al Qaeda recruited young men in Afghanistan.

AALL: Photo taking opportunity

Back by Popular Demand: A Day in the Life of the Law Library Community Photo Contest 2007

Dust off your cameras and start scoping out the perfect shot. A Day in the Life of the Law Library Community Photo Contest is coming back in February 2007.

During the month of February, AALL members will take a wide range of photographs of law librarians working, meeting, teaching, and doing all that law librarians do in a given day. Entries will be due by the end of the month, and they will be judged online by the membership in April. Winners will be recognized on AALLNET, in the July 2007 issue of AALL Spectrum, and during the AALL Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Visit the Day in the Life site for complete contest rules, photography tips, and the winning 2005 photos.

Journal Abbreviations

Sometimes journal/periodical title abbreviations can be, well, interesting to decipher. David P. Dillard sent a message on law-lib today, pointing to his entry on Net-Gold group.

Description:

PERIODICALS: ABBREVIATIONS:Selected Sources for Decoding Periodical and Journal Abbreviations

This is a brief list of sources on the internet and print that decode or index journal abbreviations or list sources that decode such abbreviations.

See the list at Net-Gold Yahoo Group.

Looking for something new to read?

U of Illinois law librarian, Travis McDade, has written "The Book Thief: The True Crimes of Daniel Spieglman" about a rare book crime and the unique federal sentence that stemmed from it. For more information, see http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/
law_librarian_blog/2006/11/mcdades_the_boo.html

What is TOXMAP?

TOXMAP (http://toxmap.nlm.nih.gov) is a Geographic Information System (GIS) from the National Library of Medicine (NLM) that uses maps of the United States to help users visually explore data from the EPA's Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) (http://www.epa.gov/tri/) and Superfund Programs (http://www.epa.gov/superfund/index.htm).

The Fact Sheet about TOXMAP is located at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/factsheets/toxmap.html

EPA Library Closing

Sabrina Pacifici has an entry on the EPA library closing with a link to the press release. Genie Tyburski also has an entry at The Virtual Chase.

Citing Unpublished Opinions - Texas Rules of Form 4.1.2(c)

In Texas, opinions "not designated for publication by the courts of appeals under current or prior rules have no precedential value but may be cited with the notation, "(not designated for publication)" following the full citation."

Example:
Young v. State, No. 10-02-00186-CR, 2003 WL 22023670, at *2 (Tex. App. - Waco Aug. 27, 2003, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication).

This is a change from the 10th to the 11th edition of the Texas Rules of Form. For information about obtaining a copy, link to http://www.texaslawpublications.com.