The Goodson Blogson

Duke Law has now purchased access to a broad range of Japanese-language legal material through the Lexis AS ONE database. This resource is available to the Duke Law community and to visitors working on-campus within the University IP range by using the link on the Foreign & Int’l tab of the Legal Databases and Links page. Lexis AS ONE is the flagship product of Lexis in Japan. Core primary law materials date from as early as 1947, but the real breadth of coverage for most sources begins around 2010. The database handles all levels of government, from a collection of treaties and international documents to the full range of relevant municipal law, including some sub-federal sources. Access to case law is exceptionally deep, with options to search for opinions stretching back to the Meiji Era (1868). The popular reporter Hanrei Times , as well as a number of topical reporters, are also included. In addition to the primary law material, Lexis AS ONE includes some serials providin...

With just over a month left until tax day (Tuesday, April 17), it's time to get serious about completing 2017 federal and state tax returns. Although the Goodson Law Library staff cannot answer substantive tax-related questions (such as "what forms do I need to file?" or help with interpreting the form instructions), the Goodson Blogson can recommend some starting places for finding tax information and assistance . The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ( Public Law No. 115-97 ) passed by Congress in late December 2017 marked the first major reform of federal tax law since 1986. Although many of its provisions do not take effect until it is time to file taxes for 2018 or later, some portions of the new law do affect 2017 filings. The Internal Revenue Service Tax Reform page links to news releases and updates related to the new law. (If you're already thinking ahead to next year’s taxes, an interactive Withholding Calculator can help you determine if recent tax law changes sh...

The entire Duke community now has access to more than 250 law treatises through the Thomson Reuters ProView platform. Titles from publisher Thomson Reuters Westlaw are visible to the University community and visitors when working on-campus within the University IP range; this link is accessible via Legal Databases & Links or the campus Law Databases page. (Off-campus access to ProView is available to current members of the Duke Law community via a current Westlaw login at the link above, or by clicking "Practice Ready" on the Westlaw Law School home page.) The 255 available titles can be searched or sorted by title, author, jurisdiction, or subject; library staff are currently working to add individual links to the online catalog and Law Library research guides. Most titles focus on aspects of state or federal law in the United States, although selected titles relate to international law practice (such as International Capital Markets and Securities Practice ) or do...

March is Women's History Month , making it a particularly good time to remember pioneering women in the legal profession. Even today, gender diversity at top law firms remains a challenge: as reported last month by the ABA Journal , only 22% of the major law firm partners are women, and even smaller numbers have represented those top firms in court appearances. But for America's earliest female lawyers and law students in the nineteenth century, a career in the law was even tougher. The National Conference of Women's Bar Associations maintains a helpful page of Women Lawyer "Firsts" , which attempts to untangle the many historical "first" facts for women in law. Generally, Myra Bradwell is one of the most famous examples, having been the first woman to appeal for admission to both the Illinois state bar and the U.S. Supreme Court bar in the 1860s and 1870s. Bradwell lost her earliest appeals, and by the time she was admitted to both bars in the 1890s, ...