The Goodson Blogson

With less than a month until the July bar exam, heads are probably swimming with legal concepts, case names, and prep-course mnemonics. If you’ve come down with a case of bar-exam brain-freeze, it might be time to try some alternative ways to learn: CALI, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction , provides interactive tutorials on more than 900 legal topics. Tutorials range in scope from general areas of law to very specific legal concepts. A Duke Law registration code is needed for accessing the tutorials on the web, and can be obtained from the library Reference Desk or online with a NetID and password . If you like an interactive Q&A approach to studying, you might also prefer to download the mobile app versions of popular aids like the Law in a Flash flash-card series or the Q&A books from LexisNexis . Though the online version of each series is only slightly cheaper than the tangible versions, the ability to “shuffle” and annotate the flash cards and re-ta...

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...

Yesterday’s New York Times contained a fascinating article about the recognition of tribal courts in South Africa . These traditional village councils were commonplace during the apartheid era, and have remained an influential force in many areas nearly two decades after the country’s democratic reforms. As the Times piece illustrates, village residents who resist the unofficial but powerful local courts do so at their own peril: one widowed resident of Candu ignored the call of a traditional court following an insult to the village headman, and found herself shunned by neighbors until she appeared before the council to apologize and pay a fine (which included one live sheep and several cases of beer). Ironically, the affront to the local court was actually the woman’s adherence to the formal legal system: "She had broken customary law by calling the police to investigate a burglary at her house without informing the village headman." A bill pending before Parliament woul...

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...