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The Goodson Law Library has recently subscribed to Jus Mundi , a research platform containing the full text of treaties, case law, rules, and publications related to international law and arbitration. This database is available to current Duke University students, faculty and staff with NetID and password, and links are available through the Duke Libraries Catalog and Legal Databases & Links page. Jus Mundi includes thousands of documents on the topics of investment arbitration, commercial arbitration, public international law, law of the sea, and international trade. Decisions from more than 100 commissions and organizations are included. Duke's subscription also includes access to the ICC Dispute Resolution Library and Juris Arbitration Library. Additional international arbitration databases include Kluwer Arbitration and the Oxford Legal Research Library 's International Commercial Arbitration module. For more information about researching international arbitrat...

As the legal fallout over Elon Musk's bid to purchase social network Twitter continues to unfurl, the Wall Street Journal recently explored the situation from an unusual perspective: what would Charles Dickens think of it all? In a story for the paper's humorous A-Hed section , Ellen Gamerman notes the parallels between Twitter v. Musk and Jarndyce v. Jarndyce , the all-consuming inheritance dispute at the center of Dickens's 1852 novel Bleak House (available to the Duke community in a variety of formats) . Although Gamerman is careful to note that the lumbering Chancery Court of the Dickens tale (described at one point in the tale as "being ground to bits in a slow mill") bears little resemblance to Delaware's Court of Chancery today, she quotes a few fans and even one Dickens descendant who express amusement at the prospect of a modern-day chancery case playing out, should the parties fail to settle the dispute before the November trial date. Gamerman br...

Current members of the Duke University community now have access to the database World Trade Online , a news and current awareness service for international trade topics. This database is accessible from the Legal Databases & Links page, the campus library Research Database Finder , and the Duke Libraries Catalog . Off-campus access requires a current Duke University NetID and password. World Trade Online includes access to the weekly newsletter Inside U.S. Trade , as well as breaking and archived news stories. Users can browse or search the site, as well as sign up for alerts in several categories (breaking news, weekly headlines, etc.) under About Us > E-mail Alerts and Mobile Devices. The new campus-wide database joins WorldTradeLaw.net (available to members of the Law School community on networked computers) as a resource for international trade law news and analysis. For additional resources in the library collection related to international trade, be sure to Ask a Lib...

The Goodson Law Library has subscribed to the Oxford Legal Research Library , a collection of Oxford University Press titles in four collection areas: International Commercial Arbitration, International Commercial Law, Financial and Banking Law, and Private International Law. Each collection can be browsed and searched separately, or across the broader ORLR interface. Titles in these collections include treatises, practice guides, and commentaries, such as Schlechtriem & Schwenzer's Commentary on the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods (4th ed. 2016), Commentary on the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) 2nd ed., Brexit and Financial Regulation (2020), and Sovereign Defaults Before Domestic Courts (2018). See the full title list . For help with accessing the Oxford Legal Research Library or other research resources, be sure to Ask a Librarian .

Do you suffer from page fright ? When you're drafting a legal document for the first time, having an example (or "form") to go by can alleviate writer's block. Of course, you will have to edit any forms to reflect the specifics of your client's case or transaction, but starting with a form can save you time and help you avoid mistakes and omissions. Last week , we highlighted the SEC's EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval) system as a notable source of information about publicly traded companies. Did you know that EDGAR is also a goldmine of forms for transactional drafting? Issuers are required to file "material contracts" as exhibits to their EDGAR filings, and you can repurpose those agreements as sample documents when you are drafting. (When agreements from completed transactions as used as forms, they are often called "precedents." ) If you have a specific precedent in mind, the SEC's Company Filings sear...

Did you know the same company that makes Sunlight dish detergent also makes Axe cologne, or that Starbucks owns an insurance company in Vermont? Ever wonder which law firms represent the Disney Company? Finding company information is a useful skill, whether you are looking to make a good impression in an interview, conducting due diligence as you prepare your client for a merger, or trying to come up with some decent trivia questions. Fortunately, there is a lot of information you can learn about companies, and much of it is accessible for free. If it's a publicly traded company, check out EDGAR , the Securities and Exchange Commission's free company search website. Track down the latest 10-K form, and see what surprises await. This is the annual report, where you will find everything you could want to know, including a list of subsidiaries, a rundown of the past year's performance, and projected income for the coming year. If you want to see how a company has been impac...

The Duke University community now has access to PitchBook , a financial technology database with extensive company and deal information. PitchBook users can search thousands of private equity and venture capital deals by hundreds of criteria, establish benchmarks, find real time data on deals, identify and analyze comparables, and search investor details. All current Duke University students, faculty, and staff are now eligible for Academic User accounts that permit restricted amounts of data exporting and printing: 10 daily / 25 monthly rows of company, deal, fund, or people data. Faculty members at Law and Fuqua may inquire about options for a premium upgrade that allows for increased downloads. Instructions for the account creation process as well as PitchBook content guides can be found at the Ford Library's PitchBook at Duke portal page (NetID login required). Additional campus resources for locating company information and venture capital data can be found at the Ford Li...

The Goodson Law Library has created a group subscription to Financial Times (FT.com) for the Law School. Current Law students, faculty, and staff may use their Duke Law email address to register for an account, which will allow access to the full text of unlimited articles. To take advantage of this group subscription, you will first need to visit FT.com on a networked Law School computer ( e.g. , library workstations or office computers). When you attempt to access a desired article from a networked computer, the following message should appear: Duke Law Library purchased a group subscription to FT.com. Current Law School students, faculty, and staff may join the group subscription using their school email address, which includes unlimited access to FT content on your desktop and mobile. Scroll down to the "Join Now" button and follow the steps to register an account with FT.com. If you had previously created an account using your Duke Law email, in order to acces...

Confused by corporations law? Take some time to learn more about this essential law school subject. Business Associations courses are a foundation for many upper-level law school classes in corporate and financial law topics, and will also be tested on bar examinations (including the jurisdictions which have adopted the Uniform Bar Examination ). The amount of treatises and other research materials on business and corporate law topics can be overwhelming to a BA beginner. Fortunately, the Goodson Law Library is here to help. Reference Librarian Laura Scott has created a new research guide to Business Associations , now available on the library website. The new guide covers both primary law (statutes, regulations, company filings, and case law) and secondary sources. The guide details both print and electronic resources for business associations in general, as well as specific subtopics like corporate governance, Delaware law, and the roles and responsibilities of corporate officers ...

When even the author of a leading scholarly treatise calls its subject matter "tricky" and "a puzzle," researchers know they are in for a challenge. That's the reality of securities law , a complex area governing such negotiable instruments as stocks and bonds, as well as their secondary markets. Securities law research can include primary and secondary sources of law, at both the federal and the state levels. It is governed by a massive collection of statutes, regulations, and administrative law materials from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) . In addition, self-regulating organizations (SROs) , such as FASB and FINRA, set standards and issue pronouncements which may also need to be reviewed when researching a securities law topic. These sources are available free on the web in some cases, but may be more conveniently navigated in a subscription research database like Westlaw , Lexis , or Bloomberg Law , which each have customized securities ...

Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission announced a massive lawsuit against four cancer "charities" which allegedly misused nearly $200 million in consumer donations. The complaint was filed in federal court on Monday, with the FTC as well as all 50 states' attorneys general offices listed as plaintiffs. As Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring noted in the FTC press release , "This is the first time the FTC, all 50 states, and the District of Columbia have filed a joint enforcement action alleging deceptive solicitations by charities and I hope it serves as a strong warning for anyone trying to exploit the kindness and generosity of others." The FTC's case infographic starkly illustrates the discrepancy between the defendants' charitable aid and organizational overhead expenses, with the vast majority of donations going to employee compensation and other non-charitable uses, such as cars, tickets to sporting events, trips, and even dating ...

The Goodson Law Library website now includes a new research guide Transactional Resources: Tools for Doing a Deal . Reference librarian Laura Scott has compiled a mix of electronic and print resources for transactional practice, including drafting guides, forms and checklists, and sample documents. Current members of the Duke Law community have access to many resources through Bloomberg Law 's Transactional Resources tab, the Lexis Practice Advisor available on Lexis Advance , and WestlawNext 's Business Law Center . All of these sources include forms and helpful secondary sources such as glossaries and treatises. The library collection also includes several useful titles, particularly in the area of contract drafting. Of particular interest is the recent textbook Contract Drafting: How and Why Lawyers Do What They Do (Reserves KF807 .S73 2014); this helpful introduction is not available online at Duke. A similar, but older, title, Working with Contracts: What Law School ...

The Duke University Libraries recently subscribed to the Financial Times Historical Archive , a facsimile edition of the seminal British finance newspaper from 1888-2010. It's a searchable and browseable collection of every article, advertisement and market listing from the very first issue of the newspaper until the end of 2010. Known as the London Financial Guide when its first issue was published on January 9, 1888 ( view issue ), the tri-weekly paper contained invaluable financial analysis for the low price of one penny. Barely a month later, the paper had expanded to a daily format and renamed itself The Financial Times ( view Feb. 13, 1888 issue ), illustrating its commitment to global financial coverage beyond the city of London. Other fun facts from FT history, including the first printing on its now-iconic pink paper (1893, for you trivia buffs) can be found on History of the FT: An Interactive Timeline or in the 1988 publication The Financial Times: A Centenary Hi...

Today, President Obama nominated Federal Reserve vice chair Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as the head of the United States' most powerful authority in monetary policy. (Bernanke will complete an eight-year term as Fed chair in January 2014.) If Yellen's nomination is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, her appointment will mark the first time that a woman has helmed a central bank in the United States – or any other country in the world. So what's all the fuss about "The Fed"? A quick review of the 2012 U.S. Government Manual should clear up any confusion. The entry for the Federal Reserve System describes the weighty mission of the organization thusly: "FRS contributes to the strength and vitality of the U.S. economy. By influencing the lending and investing activities of depository institutions and the cost and availability of money and credit, the FRS promotes the full use of human and capital resources, the growth of productivity, relatively stabl...

The Goodson Law Library now has campus-wide access to Trade Law Guide , a source for legal materials from the World Trade Organization. The database contains WTO agreements and instruments, negotiating history, precursor agreements, all related WTO and pre-WTO case law, dispute documents and other related content. The database is accessible from the Legal Databases & Links page under Foreign & International Resources. An encyclopedic Subject Navigator organizes topics alphabetically, allowing quick access to specific agreements. Trade Law Guide also features a citator service for both articles and case law, linking users to a list of documents which have each cited back to a particular article or case. Several key agreements are also available in annotated format, linking to citing articles and cases. Trade Law Guide will soon be added to the library’s research guide for GATT/WTO resources, alongside the competing service WorldTradeLaw.net . For help finding other in...

Since 1933, the Practising Law Institute (PLI) has been a leading provider of continuing legal education (CLE) materials. The Goodson Law Library has more than 1,000 PLI titles on its shelves , with particularly strong collections of corporate/securities law, intellectual property, and civil practice materials. Electronic access to the PLI library is now available campus-wide until the end of the year via the PLI Discover PLUS database. PLI Discover PLUS is accessible through the library's Legal Databases & Links page, under Legal Links. Discover Plus includes the full text of PLI treatises and course handbooks from 2005 to the present, as well as a growing collection of legal forms and seminar transcripts. Selected PLI titles (including The Pocket MBA , Electronic Discovery Deskbook , W orking with Contracts: What Law School Doesn't Teach You , and Duke Law Professor Steven L. Schwarcz's Structured Finance: A Guide to the Principles of Asset Securitization ) are ...

The Goodson Law Library is pleased to offer campus-wide access to The Deal Pipeline , a source for news about recent corporate deals and transactions around the world. Current University students, faculty and staff may access the site with a NetID and password. The Deal Pipeline provides valuable news and insight about private companies , which can be elusive compared to the more accessible information about publicly-traded companies in their required government filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission . The site includes data back to 1989; the latest news stories can be searched or browsed by topic of deal, date, industry, deal amount, and global region. Available topics include bankruptcy, initial public offerings, mergers & acquisitions, private equity, technology, and venture capital. There are also options to browse a Company Finder or a People Finder. For additional Duke resources containing corporate news and information about deals, visit the Databases by Sub...

Duke Law students, faculty and staff have access to Practical Law Company (PLC) , a transactional law resource which is used in practice by many firms. Register for an account with PLC for Law Schools by clicking the button labeled "FREE PLC Access." The website is organized into three sections, all of which include model documents with drafting tips, "Practice Notes," and step-by-step checklists in such areas as bankruptcy, securities, corporate finance, international arbitration, and intellectual property. Each section is organized slightly differently, and offers additional unique features. The Law School section provides Summer Associate Survival Guides and Interview Survival Guides designed to demystify corporate and securities law basics. The Law Firm section includes a glossary of law and business terminology, current news and analysis of the latest corporate deals, and guides to international business. The Law Department section is intended for use ...

Last week, the blog Letters of Note revived a famous exchange of correspondence between two attorneys in 1988 . Wyoming lawyer Becky Klemt wrote to several practitioners in California, seeking assistance with collecting court-ordered child support from her client’s ex-husband, who had skipped town to the Golden State. Stephen Corris, an Irvine-based international trade specialist, attempted to decline the opportunity politely: "Without sounding pretentious," he informed Klemt six weeks after her original letter, "my current retainer for cases is a flat $100,000, with an additional charge of $1,000 per hour." Klemt fired off a cheeky reply, which quickly circulated throughout law firms around the country: "Steve, I've got news — you can't say you charge a $100,000.00 retainer fee and an additional $1,000.00 an hour without sounding pretentious. It just can't be done. Especially when you're writing to someone in Laramie, Wyoming where you'r...

With the Goodson Law Library preparing for upcoming Christmas and New Year holiday closures (see Hours & Directions for info), it’s a good time to reflect on holidays around the world. As globalization has made transnational business the new normal, lawyers must be aware of cultural differences which can impact scheduling and travel plans; these details aren’t always readily apparent from travel guidebooks or simple web searching. Most international travelers are already familiar with the Background Notes and travel information provided by the U.S. State Department, including security threats and travel warnings. But a lesser-known series from the federal government can also be invaluable to travelers and those who do business on a global scale. The Commerce Department’s U.S. Commercial Service publishes and updates Country Commercial Guides , which are intended for use by U.S. companies doing business in a particular country. Chapter 8, “Business Travel,” always contains a sect...