The Goodson Blogson

The Duke University community now has access to vLex Global ( http://library.duke.edu/metasearch/db/id/DUK03325 ), an online legal research service based in Barcelona, Spain. vLex offers case law, legislation, and other legal materials for nearly 100 countries, with a particular focus on jurisdictions in Central America, South America, and Europe. The contents of vLex may be searched by keyword, or browsed by country. Information is presented in its original language, although translations are available for many documents and may be requested for others. Where available, translations are presented side-by-side with the original language of the document. For additional help with researching the laws of a foreign country, consult the Goodson Law Library’s research guide to Foreign & Comparative Law ( http://www.law.duke.edu/lib/researchguides/foreign ).

Last week, the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School launched a directory of Legal Services & Lawyers ( http://lawyers.law.cornell.edu/ ). This free resource offers basic information for every U.S. lawyer whom LII staff could identify; more robust profiles are available for lawyers who choose to register with the site. LII additionally offers higher placement for lawyers who donate to the LII website or perform other unspecified “good works”. Users may find a lawyer by location, practice area, or name. How does this resource compare to other free online directories? Only time will tell. For some comparison shopping, check out the Goodson Law Library research guide to Directories of Lawyers ( http://www.law.duke.edu/lib/researchguides/dirlawyers ).

While President Obama may be hanging on to his Blackberry over concerns from staff (story at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/23/us/politics/23berry.html ), cybersecurity measures will ensure that he won’t be nearly as accessible online as he was during his campaign. (For example, he hasn’t made a tweet since the day before the inauguration.) However, you can still stay abreast of the President’s latest work. One of the first major changes in the new administration is the creation of the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents ( http://www.presidentialdocuments.gov ), which replaces a Weekly Compilation that had been published since 1965. Like the Weekly Compilation before it, the Daily Compilation will be annually compiled into the Public Papers of the President . It will contain materials such as speeches, press conference transcripts, executive orders and memoranda, signing statements, and other messages issued by the President. For more information on presidential documents,...

Taking a bar exam in February? With just over a month left to prepare, panic often sets in around this time. Fortunately, the Goodson Law Library can help, no matter the jurisdiction. The most useful resource for North Carolina exam takers is the North Carolina Board of Law Examiners site ( http://www.ncble.org/ ). This site offers past exams back to 2005 free for download, for those who would like a peek at the structure of state-specific essay questions. (Older essay questions are available in the library at the call number KFN7476 .N671; the latest exam available in print is 2003.) The North Carolina Bar Association has also prepared a brief guide to Drafting a Bar Exam Essay Answer (KFN7476.Z9 D73 2004), with tips and tricks for NC test takers. An updated version of this pamphlet is available in PDF at http://younglawyersdivision.ncbar.org/LegalResources/Publications/5511.aspx . For bar examinations in other states , there is a collection of past exams in the Microforms Collecti...

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...

For more than two decades, legal scholars have turned to the Encyclopedia of Public International Law for its comprehensive analysis of international law topics; it is highly regarded as an excellent starting place for research. Each EPIL article is written by an expert in the particular field, and includes an extensive bibliography for further reading. As authors and editors prepare the next print edition (due in 2010), publisher Oxford University Press has taken the unusual step of publishing the completely revised articles online first. The Duke Law community may now access the posted articles from the upcoming Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law at http://library.duke.edu/metasearch/db/id/DUK03322 . The online MPEPIL already contains more than 500 of the planned 1700 articles, and additional articles are uploaded quarterly. (Note that even after the new print edition of MPEPIL is published in 2010, some of the online articles will remain web-only exclusives.) Upco...

Welcome to a new semester! Beginning Sunday, January 11, the Goodson Law Library will return to regular building access and service hours . Evening and weekend library services will remain in effect until the Law School’s Spring Break (March 7-14).

In September 2008, HeinOnline hinted that prior editions of the official U.S. Code might be added to their vast library of digitized legal publications (see our earlier blog post ). Although GPO Access provides a searchable USC back to 1994, legal researchers seeking earlier versions of a codified law needed to use superseded code volumes or cumbersome microfiche sets. (LexisNexis and Westlaw also provide earlier versions of their annotated federal code publications, but even these date back to only 1990.) The United States Code library is now activated in HeinOnline . It provides PDF versions of the official federal code dating back to its inception in 1926. (The Revised Statutes , an 1873 precursor to the US Code, was already available in Hein’s U.S. Statutes at Large library.) In other U.S. Code news, GPO Access has just begun to post the latest official version of the USC (2006 edition) at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/uscode/ . Titles 1-41 are now available; titles 42-50 are prov...

The 111th Congress (or “The Fightin’ 111th”, for Stephen Colbert fans) will convene for the first time at noon on January 6. This Congress will meet for two yearlong “sessions” before adjourning at the end of 2010. Although the seats of two potential senators remain in dispute (comedian Al Franken, whose election was the subject of a hotly-contested recount in Minnesota; and Roland Burris, appointed by disgraced Illinois Governor Ron Blagojevich to fill President-elect Obama’s vacant Senate seat), you can get to know the other new additions to Congress in the New Member Pictorial Directory ( http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pictorial/111th/newmems.html ). Congresspersons whose tenure continues from the 110th Congress can be searched in the Guide to House and Senate Members ( http://www.memberguide.gpoaccess.gov ), which has not yet been updated for the 111th Congress. So what’s on the legislative agenda? THOMAS ( http://thomas.loc.gov/ ), a service of the Library of Congress, should always ...