The Goodson Blogson

Whether you are graduating from Duke Law this May or continuing your legal studies next year, your access to legal research services and other campus databases may change this summer. Below is a summary of policies for the major legal research databases that you might wish to access over the summer. Graduating Students Westlaw: You may opt in to Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for six months after graduation for non-commercial use . This "Grad Elite" access allows 60 hours of usage on these products per month to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills. While you cannot use it in situations where you are billing a client, Thomson Reuters encourages you to use these tools to build your knowledge of the law and prepare for your bar exam. In order to activate Grad Elite access: log in at http://lawschool.tr.com and use the drop-down menu by your name to access Grad Elite Status, or click on this link . In addition to the ...

As the ABA Journal and other news outlets reported this week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a new notice on " Preferred Typefaces for Briefs ." The notice indicated that the court was revising its Handbook of Procedures and Internal Practices "to encourage the use of typefaces that are easier to read and to discourage use of Garamond." Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32(a)(5) doesn't encourage or discourage the use of specific fonts in briefs, but does outline general rules for font spacing and size. The D.C. Circuit's new handbook language fleshes out the FRAP requirements with additional guidance: "Certain typefaces can be easier to read, such as Century and Times New Roman. The Court encourages the use of these typefaces. Briefs that use Garamond as the typeface can be more difficult to read and the use of this typeface is discouraged." The announcement quickly sparked chatter on social media , with some attorneys reading the ...

Last year, as the coronavirus pandemic ramped up in mid-March, the Internal Revenue Service announced an unprecedented across-the-board extension to federal tax filings. This year, alas, the IRS has already announced that they expect to retain the traditional April 15 deadline . [ Update 3/19 : The IRS announced a one-month federal deadline extension to May 17 earlier this week; states may or may not grant similar extensions.]  Between the narrower filing window and the delivery delays that continue to plague the U.S. Postal Service, taxpayers will want to get their filings in order as quickly as possible, and consider electronic filing in order to expedite the processing of returns and refunds. (It's possible to request an Extension of Time to File Your Tax Return , but note that this does not grant an extension for time to pay estimated taxes owed.) Taxpayers whose income was at or below $72,000 in 2020 may qualify for the IRS Free File service , which offers online tax prepar...