The Goodson Blogson

Legal ethics should always be a matter of paramount concern for practicing attorneys. Failure to abide by ethics rules and opinions can spell disaster – including malpractice suits by clients and disciplinary action by the bar. Unfortunately, many key publications are locked behind premium legal research services like Bloomberg Law (online home of the ABA/BNA Lawyer's Manual on Professional Conduct ), Westlaw , and Lexis Advance – sometimes out of reach for solo practitioners and the general public. However, it is possible to conduct some legal ethics research without premium research tools. The University of Texas's Tarlton Law Library recently unveiled a new free resource for legal ethics research, the Thomas Woodward Houghton 50 State Ethics Guide . This new guide links to free options for state codes of attorney and judicial conduct, legal ethics opinions from state and local bars, and selected print and online resources from the American Bar Association. For addition...

Around this halfway point of the semester, many law students are thinking about potential topics for their seminar papers, law journal notes, and/or other scholarly writing projects. In the first year at Duke Law, professors determine the topic of LARW writing assignments – after that, students are largely on their own. This can be a difficult adjustment for many, since topic selection is a critical stage of the academic writing process. Authors must find a potential topic that is both interesting and novel, and examine it from an angle that has not previously been explored in great depth by prior publications. The associated process of preemption checking can seem frustrating and overwhelming, as it often results in false starts and discarded potential topics. Fortunately, the Goodson Law Library has resources to help students navigate the maze. Some guidebooks on academic legal writing are available in the Reserve collection, and may be borrowed for four hours at a time: Volok...

With only a few days left in the U.S. Supreme Court's term, all eyes have been on SCOTUSblog and other sources for news and analysis. Yesterday, the Court released four opinions, including the much-discussed "Internet sales tax" case South Dakota v. Wayfair , and Pereira v. Sessions , which interpreted rules regarding immigration removal notice and procedure. Compared to those higher-profile opinions, Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States received less attention in yesterday's news media. A case determining that stock options are not taxable compensation under the Railroad Retirement Tax Act, this opinion is likely of greatest interest to tax professionals (or, presumably, retired railroad employees). But something notable lurks in the dissenting opinion by Justice Breyer: the Court’s first-ever reference to the cryptocurrency Bitcoin in its opinions. Moreover, what we view as money has changed over time. Cowrie shells once were such a medium but no longer a...

Law.com , the online home of American Lawyer Media (ALM) publications like The National Law Journal and American Lawyer , is now available to the Law School community. In addition to Law.com online-only content, electronic versions of the following publications are included: American Lawyer  AmLaw Litigation Daily  Connecticut Law Tribune  Corporate Counsel  Daily Business Review  Daily Report  Delaware Business Court Insider  Delaware Law Weekly  Inside Counsel  Legal Intelligencer  Legal Tech News  National Law Journal  New Jersey Law Journal  New York Law Journal  Supreme Court Brief  Texas Lawyer  The Recorder Full text access is available within the Law School's IP range at Law.com , and current Law School community members may also create a personal account (allowing mobile and off-campus access) at this site . (ALM publications are also available to the Law School community withi...

Yes, yes, we know. FOMO, or "fear of missing out," is a term more frequently applied to social gatherings than to scholarship. But when you are researching a seminar paper, conducting a preemption check for your journal note, or even simply looking for something good to read, you don’t want to miss the latest or greatest resources. Fortunately, you have easy ways to keep up with the latest developments in the Goodson Law Library and on your research topics. New Library Acquisitions : The Advanced Search of the Duke Libraries Catalog includes a tab to Browse New Titles . You can view recently-added items in the Law Library or other campus libraries within the last week, month, or three months. If you really want to preview the latest, you can also choose to view titles that are currently "On Order" for a particular library. (Note that in catalog search results, you can also change the default sorting option from "Relevance" to "Pub date (newest)...

The Goodson Law Library has recently added a brand-new research guide to Health Law . Reference Librarian Jane Bahnson , who also teaches the advanced research course Health & Medical Research for Lawyers , curated this list of primary and secondary resources on health and medical law topics. Looking for a treatise or hornbook to explain health care-related legal concepts? Want a medical dictionary to illustrate complex terminology? Need statistics about a particular health care issue? It’s all in the guide. The "Primary Sources" section also describes and lists background and legislative history resources for nine major federal health statutes. These include the Americans with Disabilities Act (which marks its 25th anniversary next month), Medicare/Medicaid, and the recent Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, whose health care tax subsidies were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court last week (see SCOTUSblog info page for King v. Burwell ). Color diagram of ...

The U.S. Supreme Court will close its October Term 2014 at the end of this month. With several blockbuster decisions still pending (including same-sex marriage, and the Affordable Care Act exchanges), the Court has scheduled opinion announcements at 10 a.m. each day on Thursday, Friday, and Monday. SCOTUSblog will live-blog each announcement, and post opinions and commentary to each case page on its website. The OYEZ Project at Chicago-Kent Law School will also feature live coverage of opinion announcements. Opinions will also be loaded to the Supreme Court's " Latest Slip Opinions " shortly after their announcement each day. Commentary and analysis of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions can also be found in United States Law Week , available via Bloomberg BNA or Bloomberg Law . For more resources devoted to the activities of our highest court, check out the Goodson Law Library research guide to the U.S. Supreme Court , or Ask a Librarian .

The Duke Law School now has access to Intellectual Property Watch (IP Watch) , a source for the latest news and developments in copyright, trademark, and patent law around the world. Current Law School students, faculty and staff may access the website anywhere in the Law School building or from off-campus with a NetID and password. IP Watch provides frequent updates about international and domestic intellectual property law. A unique feature for subscribers is its annual series " The Year Ahead in IP Policy ,"  which explores current trends like 2013's focus on public health and genetically-modified food. An RSS feed is available to keep up with the latest stories, and the site also offers categories to help readers find stories on particular aspects of IP, including human rights, indigenous knowledge, and innovation policy. IP Watch joins several other available sources at the Law School for IP news. Bloomberg BNA provides the IP Law Resource Center & Worl...

Monday, October 2 marked an important annual legal event: as required by 28 U.S.C. § 2 , the "First Monday in October" begins a new term of the U.S. Supreme Court . The Court has already begun to hear oral arguments in the cases it will decide during this term, which adjourns in June 2013. Court-watchers regard First Monday with great anticipation, and much was written earlier this week about the current docket and expected additions. See coverage at CNN , the New York Times , and the Washington Post , among others. But once the mainstream media's excitement about First Monday dissipates, how can you keep up with the goings-on at One First Street? The Goodson Blogson has some ideas. The Court's own website includes argument calendars and transcripts, links to briefs and other docket materials, and opinions and orders as they are released.  For news and commentary, many legal researchers subscribe to U.S. Law Week , which is available electronically to the Duke L...

Yesterday, President Obama announced two nominees for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit . This is the first step in the federal judicial appointment process, which is outlined by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary . The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts points out around 75 current vacancies in the federal court system, with almost half of those classified as “ judicial emergencies ”. The Judicial Nominations page at the U.S. Department of Justice presents a graphical view of nominees and hearings, although there is a slight delay in updating. Information about current Article III judicial nominees can be found in a variety of places. THOMAS , the free Library of Congress web portal, maintains a search screen for federal nominations, including the judiciary. Results link to information about the status of the nomination. The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary also maintains free information for the current Congress , including links to hearing tra...

After years of maintaining nearly 400 different Tax Management Portfolio titles in print , the Goodson Law Library now has electronic access to the full text of the Tax Management Portfolios through BNA’s Tax and Accounting Libraries . These slim spiral-bound Portfolios are heavily used by tax professionals, who rely on the news, commentary and analysis within to keep current with changes in tax law. A list on BNA’s site describes the various titles available in the five portfolio series (Accounting; U.S. income tax; Estates, Gifts, and Trusts, Foreign Income and State tax). To browse or search the portfolios online, visit the BNA Publications database , which is available on the library’s Legal Databases & Links page . Our research guide to Federal Tax has been updated to add the new database, and the remainder of the guide will be updated in the weeks to come. The print portfolios, currently housed in the library’s Gann Tax Alcove, will shortly be moved to reflect the fact that...

It’s no secret that federal tax research is complex and highly technical. In the last decade, a number of specialized tax research databases have offered researchers increased choice—as well as increased confusion. LexisNexis , Westlaw , RIA Checkpoint , or CCH Tax Research Network : with this many options, who can decide where to begin? The Goodson Law Library research guide to Federal Tax offers some comparison, but these tax research resources are far too comprehensive for us to describe in extensive detail. Fortunately, three tax professors at Loyola Law School (Los Angeles) have written The Virtual Tax Library: A Comparison of Five Electronic Tax Research Platforms . Although the article will be published in an upcoming issue of the Florida Tax Review, it is already available on SSRN ( http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1317356 ; click “Download” in the upper left-hand corner). The 79-page article discusses the development of the five major fed tax research platf...

Although it’s hard to tell from the entry page , the Bureau of National Affairs online publications underwent a redesign earlier this week. BNA is a major publisher of services (also known as “looseleaf services” in their print incarnations), such as the United States Law Week and the Criminal Law Reporter . These services provide practitioners and scholars with information about the latest developments in a particular area of law, through case summaries and expert analyses. The redesign improves the general look and feel of the publications, in addition to providing more personalization options for repeat visitors. To view the new and improved version of your favorite BNA publications, choose a title from the list . Some titles (such as the ABA/BNA Lawyers’ Manual on Professional Responsibility ) automatically launch the redesigned version; others offer a link in red text to “Preview Our New Platform”. If you would like to offer your feedback about the new design, BNA is conducti...