Friday, December 31, 2021

The Public Domain Gets Louder

New Year's Day is a time for many to take stock of personal goals for the future. But January 1 also merits a look back to the past, as this year thousands of copyrighted works from 1926 will enter the public domain, along with hundreds of thousands of pre-1923 sound recordings. Duke's Center for the Study of the Public Domain outlines these exciting new additions at Public Domain Day 2022.

Books entering the U.S. public domain this year include early works by Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, Langston Hughes, and Agatha Christie. Films starring the likes of Buster Keaton, Greta Garbo, and Rudolph Valentino will join them, along with compositions by George Gershwin, Jelly Roll Morton, and Irving Berlin. As noted at the Public Domain Day site, this year features the first major entry of sound recordings into the public domain, under the schedule created by Congress in the 2018 Music Modernization Act. (These older compositions were already in the public domain, but the individual performance recordings were still covered by various state laws until the federal act took effect.)

Works entering the public domain in 2022 will be freely accessible in sites like the Internet Archive, Google Books, and HathiTrust (which has set up a preview of 1926 Publications that will change from "Limited" to "Full" view), available for copying, republication, and adaptation without permissions or clearance fees.

While the continued expansion of the public domain is cause for celebration, the Public Domain Day website notes that under the laws that were in place prior to copyright term renewals in the late 20th century, the U.S. could be welcoming works from 1965 into the public domain this year. The Public Domain Review's "Festive Countdown" highlights some additional entries around the world in countries whose copyright scheme differs from the United States -- for example, while A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh enters the U.S. public domain this year, it was already in the public domain in countries with a "life of author plus 50 years" copyright term.

To learn more about copyright law and the public domain, check out some of the recommended readings at the Public Domain Day site, including the Center's FAQs. Additional resources on copyright law can be found in the library's research guide to Intellectual Property. For help locating treatises or public domain resources, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

A Database by Any Other Name

Rebranding has been a hot trend over the last year or two. Facebook? Recently rechristened its parent corporation to Meta. Washington's football team? Officially now the…Washington Football Team. Legal research databases are no exception -- particularly at Wolters Kluwer, which has renamed several of its research products in late 2021.

First was VitalLaw (formerly known as Cheetah), which at Duke provides access to a number of Wolters Kluwer treatises on various topics, particularly in intellectual property, securities law, and tax law. Some key resources include:

  • Hazard et al, The Law of Lawyering: a core treatise on law practice and professional responsibility topics
  • Federal Securities Law Reporter: reproduces the key securities acts and collects cases, regulations, releases, no-action letters, and editorial commentary, all arranged by the act to which they relate
  • Epstein on Intellectual Property: treatise covering various aspects of IP law, including patent, trademark, and copyright.

As noted by legal blogger Bob Ambrogi, the rebranding effort also includes free public access to the top stories on legal news pages, as well as associated primary law for that story. Any user not affiliated with a subscribing institution may also access up to three "locked" stories on VitalLaw per month.

Coming soon is the Aspen Learning Library, which our students currently know better as the Wolters Kluwer Study Aids Library. This database contains nearly 200 study aids from Aspen Publishing, including the series Examples & Explanations, Glannon Guides, Emanuel Law Outlines, and more. Users may search or read online, or create an individual account that allows for offline reading and annotation. The company will also launch a new Aspen Learning Library app early in 2022. 

The Library will be working to update its references to both VitalLaw and the Aspen Learning Library on the library website and research guides. Right now, the Legal Databases & Links page has pointers under both the new and former names to help users get accustomed to the changes, and if you ever have trouble remembering what to call that resource, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Friday, November 12, 2021

Legal Holiday Gift Guide 2021

First, the not-so-nice news: with continued disruptions to both the global supply chain and the postal service, holiday shopping will present additional challenges this year. Experts recommend advance planning, especially for expected shipping delays. However, there's still time to find a great holiday gift! Since 2009, the Goodson Blogson has scoured the internet to find gift ideas that are suitable for the law students and lawyers in your life.

Judging by the consistent demand for the library’s sit-stand desks, many law students (and, presumably, lawyers) might also enjoy a similar setup in their home office spaces. If you'd like a copycat model, our sit-stands are the UPLIFT Standing Desk (48" x 30" desktop) with ash gray laminate. However, these desktops can also be customized in about 20 different styles, including a whiteboard laminate.

Book stands are another thoughtful gift, although law students will need a larger version to accommodate their heavy casebooks. Check out Book Riot's 2020 guide 12 Worthy Big Book Holders for Textbooks and Other Large Books for some stylish ideas.

If you know a pre-law or new law student, they might also appreciate a multi-year Bluebook Online gift subscription, which provides access to the online version of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation and allows students to annotate their highly-used citation rules.

Mechanical keyboards have gained a large following in the gaming community for their speed and durability. Switches underneath each key make typing a more tactile (and, it should be noted, noisier) experience, and each board can be customized in myriad ways, including colored keys and backlighting. Wirecutter recommends several of The Best Mechanical Keyboards.

For a more traditional and law-themed keyboard, there's also LegalBoard, which includes specialized keys and functions for inserting the common legal writing symbols like §, ¶, em and en dashes, and frequently-used citation signals, among other tasks. The new wireless version is now available for pre-order, and the classic keyboard as well as a travel-sized LegalPad are also available.

Although the pandemic feels far from over, business and leisure travel is on the upswing. If your recipient has fly-back interviews or business trips in their future, perhaps they’d appreciate a Cadence magnetic honeycomb for TSA-approved quantities of toiletries. A "Build Your 6" bundle is currently available with a $14 discount and several color choices.

Another gift suitable for both travel and study is a good pair of noise-canceling headphones. CNET provides a range of options with detailed reviews; the NYTimes Wirecutter blog provides a similar list. Sound machines (a.k.a. white noise machines) may be another welcome gift at a lower price point than headphones; Wired writes up six recommended options.

For the lawyer with an impressive home or office library, bookshelf insert dioramas are another fun gift. Etsy offers a variety of options to nestle between tomes. Sci-fi and fantasy scenes dominate the landscape, but other options include a Parisian café, quaint alleyways, and even Sherlock Holmes. No courtroom scenes that we could find (objection!), but DIY kits are also available for those who wish to build their own book nook scenes.

And OK, maybe the library is a little biased, but we think books make great gifts, too. Titles on law, U.S. history, or writing references may be especially thoughtful gifts for your legal eagle. While you may find faster shipping at other retailers, consider supporting your local independent retailer or Bookshop.org, which shares allows profits from your order with a specific independent bookstore, or an earnings pool that is distributed to independent bookstores around the country. Some recent titles that may fit the bill include: Nikole Hannah-Jones's forthcoming The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story, the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's final book, Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life's Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union, and Fred Shapiro's reference work The New Yale Book of Quotations, updated this summer with more than a thousand new entries.

Finally, an annual reminder to support local vendors as well as online retailers for your holiday shopping. Many small businesses and restaurants are still struggling to stay afloat from the pandemic, and your gift cards and purchases will likely go a long way. Some local Durham retailers can be found on the Sustain-a-Bull website, and more can be located in the INDYweek Best of the Triangle listings

As always, the Goodson Blogson HQ wishes you a safe and happy holiday season -- and one where everything arrives on time!

Friday, November 5, 2021

Revisiting the Durham Statement on Open Access

Sunday, November 7 marks the thirteenth anniversary of a fateful meeting at the Goodson Law Library. During the Law School's Dedication Week festivities in 2008, marking the end of a fifteen-month building renovation project, a group of academic law library directors gathered in the library's conference room. That meeting was the genesis of the Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarship, formally released in February 2009 after several months of drafting. The Durham Statement aimed to improve the dissemination of legal scholarly information through formal commitments to open access and electronic publication.

In February 2021, the current directors of the signatory law libraries formed a Durham Statement Review Task Force, comprised of representatives from four drafting schools, in order to explore the current status of the Statement's adoption, examine barriers to adoption, and recommend best practices going forward, including potential revisions to the statement language. The Final Report of the Durham Statement Review Task Force was completed in August 2021 and is now available on the Duke Law Scholarship Repository.

The Task Force reviewed scholarly literature on the impacts of open access publication and the Durham Statement itself. The group also surveyed academic law library directors in order to determine the status of the Durham Statement's implementation, including barriers to adoption of its various calls to action and suggested language for a potential revised or new version of the Statement. 

For more information about the history and background of the Durham Statement, visit the Durham Statement on Open Access to Legal Scholarship and Frequently Asked Questions. Both pages include a link to the Task Force's Final Report.

Sunday, October 31, 2021

A New Look for ICLR Online

This weekend, the British legal research database ICLR Online upgraded to ICLR.4. As noted in ICLR's overview of changes, this version of the resource includes new features and functionality, including improved legislation searching and a new option to browse case law by topic. (An add-on feature called Case Genie, incorporating AI into natural language search processing, is not currently available in Duke's campus-wide subscription to this resource.)

Now in its tenth year of operation, ICLR Online is the digital research platform for Incorporated Council of Law Reporting for England and Wales, which has published law reports for England and Wales in print since 1865. ICLR Online contains the full text of case law from ICLR reporters in both HTML and PDF format, as well as a number of search options and browsing tool. The new upgrade to ICLR.4 adds integrated access to legislation through the UK's Legislation.gov.uk website.

For additional resources related to searching English law specifically, consult the library research guides to English Law Research and English Legal History, or Ask a Librarian.

Friday, October 15, 2021

Workers of the World

On Monday, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees expects more than 60,000 of its members to begin a labor strike. The move would shut down film and television production across the country, unless and until an agreement is reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. They'll join several other labor union strikes that have made headlines in recent weeks, inspiring the hashtag #Striketober on social media. Currently, more than 10,000 workers at John Deere plants are on strike, following an overwhelming rejection of a new contract proposal. Another 1,400 employees of Kellogg cereal plants are also in their second week of a strike over labor negotiations.

With unemployment rates continuing to trend toward pre-pandemic levels, and a record number of employees quitting jobs in what is now termed "The Great Resignation", labor conditions and labor markets will likely be hot topics of conversation for the indefinite future. If you're interested in learning more about these topics, the U.S. Department of Labor offers helpful free topic pages on Major Laws, Labor Relations, and common worker questions like workplace safety, wage and hour laws, and whistleblower protections.

For more detailed treatment of labor law topics, try some of these legal resources:

  • Labor Law in a Nutshell, 5th ed 2008 (online in West Academic Library Study Aids): provides a quick overview with concise discussion of key laws and procedures, including topics like organizational picketing, antitrust considerations, and collective bargaining agreements.
  • Higgins, The Developing Labor Law: The Board, the Courts, and the National Labor Relations Act, 7th ed. 2017 (online in Bloomberg Law): this expansive treatise, updated in 2020, provides an overview of the NLRA’s history and discussion of topics like protected employee activity, the collective bargaining process, and a section on "economic action" describing strike practices.
  • Lareau et al, Labor and Employment Law (available on Lexis). This treatise is recognized as a leading authority on the topic of labor law, with chapters on major topics like the NLRA, Wages and Hours, and Labor and Employment Arbitration. Lexis's Practice Area page for Labor and Employment Law includes other titles like National Labor Relations Act: Law and Practice and Wages & Hours: Law and Practice.

To locate additional titles in print or online about these topics, try a subject search of the Duke Libraries Catalog for "Labor laws and legislation -- United States" or Ask a Librarian.

Monday, September 27, 2021

First Monday in October

Monday, October 4 marks the annual opening of the U.S. Supreme Court's new argument term, as set forth in 28 U.S.C. § 2. "First Monday in October" hasn't always been the start of a new Court term, however: as noted in the treatise Supreme Court Practice § 1.2(f) (Reserves KF9057 .S8 2019 & online in Bloomberg Law), the opening day of the Court's term (and even the total number of regular terms per year) has changed over time…although not since 1916.

This year, the Court will return to oral arguments inside the courtroom, after the coronavirus pandemic forced it to schedule remote arguments for the end of the 2019-2020 term, and for the entirety of October Term 2020. However, the Court's building will remain closed to the public, limiting in-person access during arguments to the justices, the attorneys, and to a limited number of media representatives. The Court anticipates live audio streaming of oral arguments to continue through at least December, a practice that began during the pandemic after many years of institutional resistance.

Last week, the Court announced another update to its argument format, inspired by the changes made during remote arguments. The remote argument format allotted each justice dedicated questioning time in order of seniority, rather than the more freewheeling, interruption-prone in-person oral arguments. Upon returning to the courtroom, the Court will take a hybrid approach: first, the traditional open questioning during an attorney's argument time, followed by a more structured question-and-answer portion in order of seniority. The Court's Guide for Counsel in Cases to be Argued before the Supreme Court of the United States has already been updated with this change.

This new term begins at a time when polling firm Gallup reports that U.S. public opinion of the Supreme Court is at an historic low, with only 40% of Americans approving of the Court's recent activities. The Court has come under increased scrutiny for its "shadow docket" rulings on emergency petitions, which can have sweeping impacts without the processes of oral argument, deliberation, or lengthy opinion drafting. Most recently, the Court's unsigned 5-4 ruling that declined to block Texas's restrictive new abortion law from taking effect pending constitutional challenges has sparked new debate, with dissenting Justice Elena Kagan observing, "Today's ruling illustrates just how far the Court's 'shadow-docket' decisions may depart from the usual principles of appellate process." 

 This Court term is likely to generate more controversy, with a petition already pending before SCOTUS on the Texas abortion law as well as oral argument on the constitutionality of a Mississippi abortion ban scheduled for December. Detailed descriptions of cases already on the Court’s upcoming docket can be found at SCOTUSblog and the Court's own argument calendar.

For more information on the history and practices of the U.S. Supreme Court, check out the resources linked in the library's research guide or Ask a Librarian.

Thursday, August 26, 2021

Resources for Legal News

Legal matters seem to generate an avalanche of headlines every day, in both mainstream and specialized publications. How can a reader possibly keep up with the latest news? A few well-chosen RSS feeds and/or browser bookmarks may help, such as from the recommended legal news resources below.

  • The ABA Journal website provides recent news stories from the American Bar Association, as well as articles and issues of its monthly print and digital magazine. (Back issues and articles can also be found in a number of third-party databases.)
  • State and local bar association journals are another good source to keep up with legal developments in a particular jurisdiction. Many titles are available online, though often only to association members; the Duke community can access many titles through HeinOnline's Bar Journal Library.
  • Law.com and Law360.com are two popular legal news sources. The full text of articles on their websites can be accessed directly from within the Law School's IP range; current members of the Duke Law community can also access content from both sources on Lexis under the Legal News content type (ALM Media for Law.com and Law360, respectively).
  • Bloomberg Law News includes analysis and commentary on a variety of topics, including the popular U.S. Law Week. To access available topics and titles, follow the path News & Analysis > Bloomberg Law News.
  • Legal blogs are another source for the latest law-related news. The Goodson Law Library's Legal Blogs page rounds up some links to search engines and directories, including Justia BlawgSearch. Westlaw includes the full text of selected law blogs under News > Blogs.

The Duke Law community has access to several general news group subscriptions as well, including NYTimes.com, FT.com, and the Wall Street Journal. For sign-up instructions, visit Legal Databases & Links and review the information underneath each title. Electronic access to other legal and non-legal news publications will be linked in the E-Journals Search for a particular title. For help with accessing any of the resources listed here, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Tips for Law School Success

This week, we welcome our new JD and LLM students to the Law School! As mentioned in the library orientation sessions, the Goodson Law Library provides access to a number of print and electronic resources that are designed to help you succeed. Some key highlights for our newest students:

Both online study aid libraries also include general guides to law school success and exam preparation, including:

You can find print copies of these items in the library collection, as well as links to the online versions, by searching the online catalog. For help with using the resources listed here or with finding items in the library collection, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Ethical Lawyering

Last week, a federal magistrate judge in Colorado sanctioned two attorneys for their filing in an election dispute lawsuit, citing "a woeful lack of investigation into the law" and "patently frivolous arguments." The judge's order directed the attorneys to pay opposing counsels' fees for filing motions in the suit. Other attorneys who filed challenges to the 2020 election results have experienced similar professional consequences: Rudolph Giuliani currently faces a D.C. bar ethics investigation, following the June suspension of his law license in New York, and earlier this summer former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood weathered a high-profile hearing over potential sanctions in Michigan.

These cases have been a very public reminder of the importance of attorneys keeping up to date with their ethical duties and obligations. Every day, lawyers across the country face sanctions or other disciplinary action for failures to uphold the rules of their respective state bars – while most incidents may not be as sensational as the examples above, smaller-scale ethical infractions can still have major consequences for attorneys, including suspensions and permanent disbarment from practice.

The Goodson Law Library recently updated its research guide to Legal Ethics, which can help navigate the unique research universe of primary and secondary resources related to professional responsibility in the law, including model and enacted codes, ethics opinions, and helpful treatises. Some highlighted resources include:

  • The Law of Lawyering, full-text online in Fastcase & Cheetah Litigation Library: this treatise covers professional responsibility topics in extensive detail.
  • ABA/BNA Lawyers' Manual on Professional Conduct (online in Bloomberg Law: Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility Practice Center) includes recent legal ethics news stories, the full text of ABA ethics opinions as well as a digest of state ethics opinions, and links to additional ethics resources by state. The site also provides the full text of the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct as well as a link to the ABA's comparison chart between the ABA Model Rules and the adopted rules of each jurisdiction.
  • Individual jurisdiction codes and ethics opinions can often be found freely on the web, and also in the commercial legal research services available in the Law School.
    • On Westlaw, ethics opinions can be found by using the path Administrative Decisions & Guidance > Ethics & Disciplinary Opinions. ABA rules are available at Secondary Sources > By Topic > Ethics & Professional Responsibility. State bar rules are included in the Statutes & Court Rules databases for the jurisdiction, generally at the end of the court rules for that state.
    • On Lexis, follow the path Practice Area > Legal Ethics to view available sources.
    • On Bloomberg, visit the Legal Ethics & Professional Responsibility Practice center to view available sources.

For help with accessing resources described in the guide, or for additional sources related to legal ethics, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Friday, July 16, 2021

Law Review Submission Season

Earlier this week, University of Missouri at Kansas City Law professors Allen Rostron and Nancy Levit updated their long-running guide, Information for Submitting Articles to Law Reviews & Journals, available as a free download on SSRN. The popular document provides links and guidance on submitting articles to the 196 flagship law journals in the U.S.

One recent development for this fall's law review submission cycle is the closure of the former online submission portal ExpressO, announced last year and finalized on June 30. That leaves Scholastica's Law Review Author Submissions Center and email as the main points of contact for manuscript submission and tracking, although some individual journals have developed their own submission portals.

Law review submissions are highly competitive, and if using Scholastica there is also a cost per submission involved. (Law faculty at Duke may join the Law School's group account with Scholastica by registering with their law.duke.edu email address; faculty members may also sponsor student manuscripts for coverage of up to 20 submissions for JD and LLM students, or 40 submissions for SJD students.) It's important for submitters to pay careful attention to requirements like formatting and length to avoid a quick rejection; for student authors, it's equally important to ensure that the journal accepts submissions from students who do not belong to the journal and/or attend the school where the journal is published. The Rostron and Levit SSRN guide includes a column of formatting requirements that describes basic formatting, but student authors will need to visit individual journal websites to determine policies about student authors.

Writing competitions present another avenue for law students who wish to pursue academic legal publication. Prizes often include publication as well as a monetary award. The AccessLex Writing Competitions Databank allows users to search and sort by various factors including topic, length requirements, application deadline, and even award amount.

For assistance with turning academic papers into publication-quality manuscripts, try a search of the Duke Libraries Catalog for the subject "Academic writing" with a focus on the Law Library's collection to find various guides to the academic writing process. A title that is particularly relevant to legal writers is Eugene Volokh's text Academic Legal Writing, whose companion website for the 4th edition includes Volokh’s sample Word template for formatting law review articles. Again, though, authors will want to pay close attention to the formatting requirements of their target publications when submitting a manuscript.

Whether you're submitting to law reviews or student writing competitions, good luck with this submission season!

Monday, June 28, 2021

Extra OT

The end of June usually marks the conclusion of the U.S. Supreme Court's October Term, when the Court issues the last of its opinions in cases argued since the start of the term in the previous fall. Last term, with disruptions to Court operations and argument sittings in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Court's final ten opinions of OT19 were issued in July.

This week, the Court has five opinions left to issue from the 2020 October Term. Will they successfully conclude the term before the end of the month, or push into July for the second year in a row? Court-watchers will be following the activities at One First Street closely this week. To join them, you can visit SCOTUSblog, which live-blogs order and opinion release days at the Court beginning at 9:30 am Eastern time.

SCOTUSblog's FAQ page on Announcements of Orders and Opinions provides some additional detail about the process. Although the Court highlights opinion release days on its public calendar, the Court does not announce ahead of time which opinions will be released, or even how many opinions will be released on that particular day. Because opinions are announced in reverse seniority order (meaning the opinions drafted by newer justices are released first, working up to the opinion written by the most senior justice on the Court for that day's release), Court-watchers can deduce which opinion will be the last for a particular day by the appearance of a number that indicates the release day's opinion order for the published U.S. Reports volume.

Once released, the latest slip opinions are posted to the Court website and, of course, made available on the various legal research services like Westlaw and Lexis. Commentary and analysis of the latest opinions can be found on SCOTUSblog, in The United States Law Week (on Bloomberg Law), the ABA Journal and mainstream news outlets like the New York Times and the Washington Post. The American Bar Association also publishes the Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases, whose eighth issue in each volume reviews the entire previous year's Court term.

For additional information and resources about researching the Court, check out the library’s research guide to the U.S. Supreme Court or Ask a Librarian.

Friday, June 11, 2021

Resources and Services for Law Alumni

Congratulations to the class of 2021! As new Duke Law alumni, you are eligible for continuing access to a number of library resources. As we shared in our post from March 26, recent Law School graduates can access Bloomberg Law, Lexis, and Westlaw following graduation, with different restrictions set by each research service.

There are many other campus library resources available to all alumni, not just recent graduates. An important first step is to register for a Duke OneLink Account. Any campus resource available to alumni will have a Duke OneLink login in addition to a NetID login.

 

Screenshot of Duke remote database login showing NetID and OneLink options


Alumni with OneLink accounts can access research databases like ProQuest, JSTOR, and several e-book platforms via the Duke Alumni Library Online Access page. While alumni are welcome to use the online catalog to determine whether Duke has access to a resource, online databases are only available to alumni via the special alumni access portal. Alumni can also create a RefWorks account to use this citation management software.

While Law School access is still restricted, 2021 graduates who registered through the Office of Academic Affairs have building access through the end of July. The Law School reservation system has been updated to allow 2021 graduates to book study spaces in the library, and classroom space can be reserved by contacting the Events Office. The scanner on the third floor of the library is available by reservation as well. Information about printing is available via Academic Technologies.

Borrowing of library materials and GoodScan/interlibrary loan services are available only to current Law School students, faculty, and staff. Alumni may be able to obtain interlibrary loan service for books, articles, and chapters through their local public library, which will generally offer similar interlibrary loan service to community residents with a library card.

Our team of research librarians is also available to help all our alumni with questions about database access, library resources, and general legal research guidance at ref@law.duke.edu.

--Rachel Gordon, Associate Director for Public Services

Friday, May 28, 2021

PowerNotes Research Organization Tool Now Available

The Law School community now has institutional access to PowerNotes, a research organization and outlining tool that uses a browser extension to capture, organize, and track sources from other databases and websites. Current Law School community members may sign up under an institutional account allowing unlimited projects with their Duke.edu email address. (Anyone may sign up for a free individual account that includes the creation of one project.)

PowerNotes provides a helpful "Quick Start" guide to using its system. Users must install a browser extension for Chrome (also works with Microsoft Edge) or Firefox, and create an account with the system. The browser extension allows researchers to capture highlighted text on a website and add it to a project outline with notes. Outlines can be easily organized and also exported into various formats, including Microsoft Word and Excel or Google Docs and Sheets.

PowerNotes can be used with free websites as well as subscription databases like Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg, and HeinOnline (which includes a guide to using PowerNotes with Hein libraries on its help pages). Tutorials on various aspects of using the system are available at the PowerNotes website. 

Duke University users have access to other research and reference management tools, such as the citation managers EndNote and RefWorks (both available for free download through OIT’s Software page). Each of these tools works a bit differently, as PowerNotes describes on its own comparison document. Researchers may wish to experiment with these tools as well as alternatives like Zotero and Mendeley in order to determine the research and reference management processes that work the best for their preferences. The Duke University Libraries offer a comparison chart to these citation management tools that can help sort through the differences. In the end, the "best" research organization system is the one that works the best for your personal preferences!

Monday, May 17, 2021

Summer Reading

With the 2021 Law School Convocation now behind us, it's time to put summer plans in action. Whether that involves bar exam preparation, a summer associate job, or a fun post-vaccination trip or two, you may want to unwind with a good book occasionally. But with free time at a premium, how can you find a title that you’ll be sure to enjoy?

E-book enthusiasts can filter the Duke Libraries Catalog to items "Available Online," or use the separate E-Books Search to locate titles available via Duke. This page also links to the Duke Libraries' eBook FAQ, which provides guidance on using the various electronic publishers' platforms, such as OverDrive, ProQuest, and EBSCO.

If you're looking for specific suggestions on what to read next, try NoveList Plus. This database provides reading recommendations and reviews, and is available to current Duke University students, faculty and staff members. (Recent alumni who have a public library card in North Carolina may also access this database via the NC Live consortium.) Enter search keywords to identify some promising leads, or type the title of a recent favorite to find "read-alike" suggestions based on either the specific title or the author.

The website GoodReads offers similar reading suggestions and book lists, with added social features for members, such as the ability to share reviews and recommendations with a friend list. The site includes the annual "GoodReads Choice Awards," which can connect you to recommended titles in various categories.

Of course, personal recommendations are also a good way to find new titles to read. Here are a few titles that research librarians at the Goodson Law Library have either personally recommended or are looking forward to reading this summer, along with links to print, ebook, or audiobook access via Duke:

  • Klara and the Sun: A Novel by Kazuo Ishiguro (available in ebook and print)
  • Pappyland: A Story of Family, Fine Bourbon, and the Things that Last by Wright Thompson (available in ebook, print, and audiobook)
  • While Justice Sleeps: A Novel by Stacey Abrams (available in print)
  • The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein (available in ebook and print)
  • Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (available in print and audiobook)

We hope these resources will help you find your perfect summer reading list! For help with searching the libraries’ catalog or using the NoveList database, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Monday, May 3, 2021

Date Calculator Tools & Rules

In law practice (and life), sometimes you'll need to calculate a future date, especially for filing deadlines. While it may seem like a quick and simple task, any miscalculation could result in at least an embarrassing conversation, if not more severe consequences like a barred claim or even formal discipline. Some law practice management systems have this feature built in (like Thomson Reuters Firm Central Deadline Assistant), but others do not (for example, Clio's help page notes that while this feature is not yet available, users can request it). What should you do if your employer doesn't have such a tool built into its practice management system? As it turns out, there are a lot of options.

On social media last week, Chicago attorney Brad Romance went viral for his "Next Level Lawyer Pro Tip" video of the future date calculation feature in Microsoft Outlook Calendar, in which users can type "today+45" (or any other number) in the date field of an event to determine the date that many days into the future. The Court Deadlines website describes this process in more detail with screenshots in a post from 2018.

Microsoft's help pages also note that the built-in Windows Calculator includes a date calculation feature, by clicking on the navigation button in the top left corner. Select "Date calculation" from the menu of options (which includes a number of other calculator and converter tools that you may be more accustomed to web-searching) in order to calculate the date x days in the future.

In replies to Romance's Twitter tip, other lawyers chimed in with their own recommended approaches to date calculation. Many voted for the website timeanddate.com, a popular calculation and conversion web resource; Clio recommends its users try this site on its help page about date calculation. Other attorneys admitted that they still calculate the dates by counting on a paper calendar, whether as their primary method or as a backup to electronic calculation; still more expressed eternal gratitude to their firm paralegals who already knew the Outlook calendaring trick.

Other replies flagged the important considerations of excluding official holidays, or whether the needed calculations should count calendar days or business days. It's critical to know the specific applicable rules for computing time (such as Rule 6 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, or more specific instructions in local rules or court orders). Since non-legal calculator tools will not account for those additional specifications, a free legal deadline tool like Casefleet's Legal Deadline Calculator may also be a useful bookmark. This site includes options to include or exclude the "trigger" date, clarify whether to count calendar days or only weekdays, and determine how to handle rolling over in the event the future date falls on a weekend or holiday.

In short, lawyers have many tools at their disposal to calculate future dates with confidence. For more tips on handy features within Microsoft Office products, check out Lawyerist's overview of Microsoft Office for Lawyers, which includes an in-depth review of Microsoft Word for Lawyers.

Friday, April 9, 2021

Online Almanac of the Federal Judiciary Now Available

Users of the popular judicial biographical directory Almanac of the Federal Judiciary recently discovered that Westlaw no longer carried the full text of this resource as of March 2021. The Almanac of the Federal Judiciary is now available campus-wide online through Wolters Kluwer.

The Almanac (a.k.a. AFJ) is a biographical database for all active federal district and appellate court judges. In addition to the standard biographical data, entries for judges will include information about their noteworthy rulings, media coverage, a list of publications, lawyers' comments on the judge's behavior and demeanor, and links to financial disclosure reports.

This online version also preserves former AFJ entries for inactive federal judges, which can be especially helpful in times of judicial transition. For newly appointed federal judges, the profiles can take some time to be developed, especially for the lawyers' evaluation section. (For example, newest U.S. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett does not have a SCOTUS entry yet, but her inactive profile from the Seventh Circuit remains accessible.)

The "Advanced Search" feature allows you to limit your search terms to a particular subsection of the biographical entries, such as identifying which judges attended a particular school. Unfortunately, the search function in either basic or advanced mode doesn't allow for terms & connectors style searching, although exact phrases can be enclosed in quotation marks. So you may have to run several separate searches to identify how many active federal judges have been described in AFJ lawyer evaluations as a "genius" (18) versus a "jerk" (9) and conduct your own name analysis to see if there is any overlap between the two groups (no).

Despite the limited search functionality, AFJ remains an essential tool for researching federal judges, both present and past. The lawyers' evaluation comments are a particularly unique window into judicial personalities and practices.

Other resources for researching judges include Westlaw's Profiler, Lexis+'s Litigation Profile Suite, and the Leadership Connect "Courts" section. For help with using these judicial research sources, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Friday, March 26, 2021

Summer Access to Legal Research Databases

Whether you are graduating from Duke Law this May or continuing your legal studies next year, your access to legal research services and other campus databases may change this summer. Below is a summary of policies for the major legal research databases that you might wish to access over the summer.

Graduating Students
  • Westlaw: You may opt in to Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for six months after graduation for non-commercial use. This "Grad Elite" access allows 60 hours of usage on these products per month to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills. While you cannot use it in situations where you are billing a client, Thomson Reuters encourages you to use these tools to build your knowledge of the law and prepare for your bar exam.
    In order to activate Grad Elite access: log in at http://lawschool.tr.com and use the drop-down menu by your name to access Grad Elite Status, or click on this link.
    In addition to the six months of Westlaw/Practical Law access for non-commercial purposes, Grad Elite access provides Knowledge Center eLearnings and Tutorials on Westlaw for 18 months after graduation.
  • Lexis: Spring 2021 graduates will have access to Lexis+ via their law school IDs until 12/31/21. Graduates can use their Lexis IDs for job research, professional development, and commercial purposes. Graduates do not need to register for this access; it is automatic.
    Graduates going into non-profit work may apply for a LexisNexis ASPIRE ID which lasts 12 months beyond graduation. Learn more about the LexisNexis Graduate programs and/or apply for an ASPIRE ID.
  • Bloomberg Law: Access to Bloomberg Law continues for six months after graduation. Graduated students may be limited in their ability to retrieve docket filings marked "Request," update dockets, or set up docket tracking. Graduates may download docket items already uploaded in the Bloomberg system (labeled "View").

Access to most other Duke University research databases will expire upon graduation, when your status in Duke's directory changes to "Alumni." Recent graduates who register with the Duke Alumni Association for a OneLink account receive remote access to selected databases (including ABI/Inform, several e-book platforms, and JSTOR).

Continuing Students
  • Westlaw allows continuing students to use Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw® and Practical Law, over the summer for non-commercial research (i.e., “to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills, but you cannot use them in situations where you are billing a client”). Examples of permissible uses for your academic Westlaw password include the following: summer coursework, Research Assistant assignments, Law Review or Journal research, Moot Court research, non-profit or clinical work, or an externship sponsored by the school.
    Your Westlaw summer access will continue automatically - no action is needed on your part.
  • Lexis: All returning students have automatic, unlimited access to their Lexis law school IDs for the entire summer. Law School Lexis IDs may be used for non-commercial purposes, as well as commercial purposes if your employer permits such use.
  • Bloomberg Law access continues over the summer automatically. IDs may be used for non-commercial purposes, as well as commercial purposes if your employer permits such use.

For questions about using legal research services or other Law Library/University electronic resources this summer, feel free to Ask a Librarian.

Friday, March 19, 2021

Font Fight

As the ABA Journal and other news outlets reported this week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a new notice on "Preferred Typefaces for Briefs." The notice indicated that the court was revising its Handbook of Procedures and Internal Practices "to encourage the use of typefaces that are easier to read and to discourage use of Garamond."

Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32(a)(5) doesn't encourage or discourage the use of specific fonts in briefs, but does outline general rules for font spacing and size. The D.C. Circuit's new handbook language fleshes out the FRAP requirements with additional guidance: "Certain typefaces can be easier to read, such as Century and Times New Roman. The Court encourages the use of these typefaces. Briefs that use Garamond as the typeface can be more difficult to read and the use of this typeface is discouraged."

The announcement quickly sparked chatter on social media, with some attorneys reading the change to be largely directed at the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Appellate Staff (which uses the disfavored Garamond font in its briefs). Fans of Garamond expressed disappointment in the change, while detractors derided its "ugly" italics and cramped spacing. (Want to delve more into the great legal font debates? Check out Matthew Butterick's thought-provoking book Typography for Lawyers, available for Library Takeout or full-text, pay-what-you-can online.)

The amusing kerfuffle serves as a good reminder of the importance of consulting local court rules when preparing filings. As Law.com noted, different courts can require or recommend vastly different typefaces, from the U.S. Supreme Court's preference for the Century family to the Seventh Circuit's discouragement of Times New Roman (one of the D.C. Circuit's new preferred fonts). For more information on researching the general and local court rules for a particular jurisdiction, check out the library's research guide to Court Rules or Ask a Librarian.

Monday, March 1, 2021

Tax Time (Yes, Again)

Last year, as the coronavirus pandemic ramped up in mid-March, the Internal Revenue Service announced an unprecedented across-the-board extension to federal tax filings. This year, alas, the IRS has already announced that they expect to retain the traditional April 15 deadline. [Update 3/19: The IRS announced a one-month federal deadline extension to May 17 earlier this week; states may or may not grant similar extensions.]  Between the narrower filing window and the delivery delays that continue to plague the U.S. Postal Service, taxpayers will want to get their filings in order as quickly as possible, and consider electronic filing in order to expedite the processing of returns and refunds. (It's possible to request an Extension of Time to File Your Tax Return, but note that this does not grant an extension for time to pay estimated taxes owed.)

Taxpayers whose income was at or below $72,000 in 2020 may qualify for the IRS Free File service, which offers online tax preparation assistance and free e-filing for federal taxes. The Free File Online Lookup Tool helps taxpayers to identify available free online filing offers that are appropriate for their tax situation. If you do not qualify for Free File, the IRS also outlines additional e-File Options, including free fillable online forms for federal taxes.

Some important considerations for the 2020 tax filing season includes treatment of economic stimulus payments as well as unemployment compensation. The IRS's Coronavirus Tax Relief and Economic Impact Payments page includes information on tax treatment of these payments, as well as how to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit for stimulus payments that were owed but not received.

Don't forget your state tax filings, as well! The Federation of Tax Administrators provides quick access to State Tax Agencies. Should your federal and state taxes prove too complicated to complete on your own, the IRS also has tips for Choosing a Tax Professional and for handling any complaints that arise.

For more resources on federal tax law, including access to research databases like Thomson Reuters Checkpoint, visit the Goodson Law Library's research guide to Federal Tax or Ask a Librarian.

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Impeachment Trial Redux

This afternoon marks the start of the second Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, a first in U.S. history. Trump was previously impeached last year by the House but acquitted in the Senate for abuse of power and obstruction charges, in connection with the Robert Mueller investigation of Russian election interference. The 2021 articles of impeachment are focused on Trump's role in inciting the deadly events of January 6, in which supporters of the 45th President stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress formalized the 2020 election results. If convicted by a two-thirds vote of the Senate, he could then be barred from holding federal office in the future (by a simple majority).

The House of Representatives voted to impeach on January 13, and delivered the article of impeachment to the Senate for trial on January 25. As NPR outlines, the first day of the trial will contain arguments on the constitutionality of holding an impeachment trial for a former president. (Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had planned to hold the 2021 trial after Biden's inauguration, according to a memo circulated before the House vote.)

The Law School community can keep up with the impeachment trial proceedings with the Washington Post, available full-text to current Duke Law members through this proxy link. A helpful free source for impeachment information is Ballotpedia, which maintains a timeline of the 2021 trial, the legal issues, and links to relevant documents. It also includes brief descriptions of the other three presidents who have been impeached in history: Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton.

You can learn more about the history of presidential impeachment in the United States with HeinOnline's U.S. Presidential Impeachment Library, which debuted during the first Trump impeachment and currently covers up to the conclusion of that trial. The library contains government documents and books from each trial, providing both primary and secondary source views of presidential impeachment. Hein's library will undoubtedly be updated for the second Trump impeachment at the conclusion of the Senate trial.

If you have questions about accessing these resources or on other sources for presidential or congressional information, be sure to Ask a Librarian.

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

The First 100 Days

Today marked the inauguration of 46th President of the United States Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. and Vice President Kamala Harris. The new administration is already taking action on several campaign promises, including the signing of seventeen Executive Orders on a diverse array of topics. Some, such as the United States rejoining the Paris Agreement on climate change and reversing course on the Keystone XL pipeline project, are direct reversals of executive actions from the previous administration. Others are aimed at tackling the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The first 100 days of a new administration are considered to be a critical benchmark in measuring a new president’s productivity. How can you keep up with the latest developments from the executive branch? We’re glad you asked!