The Goodson Blogson

At the end of each spring semester, law students often have questions about translating their academic research experiences into real-world work environments. On Monday, March 31 at 12:15 pm , join Goodson Law Library staff and research instructors in Room 4047 for a Legal Research Refresher: What to Know Before You Go . Part of the 2L Summer Success Series sponsored by the Career & Professional Development Center, this session will offer tips and tricks to get background in unfamiliar legal topics, use low-cost research database alternatives, and conduct business and transactional law-related research at your summer jobs. Lunch and a "swag bag" will be provided to attendees on a first-come, first-served basis, so arrive early! A common question as students prepare for summer employment is the availability of online research services. Some access to educational databases, like Westlaw and Lexis.com, will be restricted over the summer unless users qualify for an extensi...

March 16-22, 2014 is Sunshine Week , an annual event to promote the importance of government transparency. Sunshine Week highlights such issues as increased access to public records, the importance of Freedom of Information Acts at the state and federal levels, and other government accountability concerns. One new participant this year is the Coalition for Court Transparency , which calls upon the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the video broadcast of oral arguments. The Coalition's website includes a petition to Chief Justice John Roberts, and an advertisement calling for "a more open judiciary". (Supreme Court justices have long resisted efforts to allow televised oral arguments. Last month, a political activist posted hidden camera footage taken during oral argument in McCutcheon v. FEC , a pending high-profile case from this term which has been dubbed " Citizens United II".) Freedom of information and enhanced access to public records are both frequent s...

Confused about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine ? The global community is watching closely, as the next steps by the parliament of Crimea and the Russian Federation could have far-reaching consequences. Since November, anti-government demonstrations in Kiev were met with escalating violence by special police forces; more than 88 people were killed over just one three-day period in February. Former President Viktor Yanukovych was deposed shortly thereafter, and fled Ukraine along with many of his political supporters. Ukraine's newly-formed parliament has led to uncertainties about separatism in the Crimean peninsula, an autonomous republic within Ukraine which heavily supported former President Yanukovych in the country's last presidential election. Although jurisdiction of Crimea was legally transferred to Ukraine in 1954, the region was previously controlled by Russia for more than 150 years, and remains home to a majority ethnic-Russian population. As political tensions con...

It's that time of year again – the NCAA basketball season is drawing to a close. The ACC Women's and Men's Basketball Tournaments will continue into spring break, followed close behind by the NCAA tournaments . The Duke University Archives recently shared some basketball-themed historical photos from its collection (including a championship bracket filled out by former U.S. Senator Terry Sanford). The Goodson Law Library's collection may be comparatively light on Blue Devil memorabilia, but we have plenty of resources on the fascinating and complex topic of sports law . First, there's The Little Book of Basketball Law (2013). Part of an American Bar Association series of pocket-sized casebooks on entertaining topics , this recent publication describes more than twenty basketball-themed legal battles in American history, such as compensation for student athletes, copyright and trademark disputes, and even whether a drawing for Final Four tickets could be consi...