ZiefBrief

First Law School Dean Blog

Frank H. Wu is the dean of Wayne State University School of Law, and as far as we can tell, he is the first law school dean to venture into the blogosphere.  His blog, DeanWuBlog, debuted last month, and it features thoughtful pieces on the dean's role in the life of the law school, explanations about the functions of each law school administrative department, and law school news.  Thus far, Dean Wu appears to be dedicated to furnishing regular updates on his blog -- he's posting about once a week, which is admirable!  Thanks to CALIopolis for the tip.

ABA's 2006 Legal Technology Survey

Law.com reported some of the highlights of the ABA's 2006 Legal Technology survey today. For those of you about to begin practice in the next year, it's worth taking a look at some of the technology trends described in the article.  First, a majority of surveyed attorneys are now using PDAs to stay in touch with clients and colleagues when they're away from the office.  Fifty-five percent of the surveyed lawyers are currently using a PDA, Blackberry, or smart phone when they're not at work.  In the 2004-05 survey, just 45 percent of respondents reported using these devices. When asked where they were using PDAs, 80 percent responded that they use them at home, 64 percent use them while traveling, 60 percent use them in hotels, and 58 percent use them in client offices. In fact, one respondent was so enamored with his PDA that he took the time to compose this ode to the device:  "In the elevator, in the hall, with a friend or in the stall, in the park or in the dark, I can use it here or there, I can use it anywhere."

Although continuing legal education programs about using technology in the courtroom seem to be everywhere these days, the survey responses seem to demonstrate that attorneys aren't so enthusiastic about using technology in the courtroom.  Sixty-four percent of the respondents reported that they did not use laptops in the courtroom.

The ABA isn't distributing free online copies of the survey, but ABA members can download free executive summaries of the lengthy survey at the ABA Legal Technology web page.

Free Online ADR Conference

During the past few weeks, we've met with lots of students searching for paper topics relating to alternative dispute resolution, so we wanted to alert these students to a timely resource, CyberWeek's online conference about "Shaping the Future of Online Dispute Resolution and Online Justice." The Center for Information Technology and Dispute Resolution at the University of Massachusetts and Internetbar.org have organized this year's CyberWeek conference.  Registration is free, and once you've registered, you'll have full access to Skypecasts, podcasts, online discussion forums, and more!

Berring Podcasts on Legal Research

West Law School Publications has just launched a "Berring on Legal Research" web page, featuring podcasts and publications from Bob Berring, Boalt's well-known legal research expert.  The podcasts are available to users at no charge.  The first three podcasts cover searching for cases by subject using the West Topic and Key Number System, legislative history research, and finding useful legal periodicals.  Thanks to our fellow law librarian bloggers at Carolina Blawg for the tip!

Advice for 2L Students from the Blawgs

Everybody who has been through the law school experience collects little tib-bits of information to pass on to incoming students. While ZiefBrief has passed on some choice advice for first year students (see Succeeding in First Year: Advice From the Blogosphere) the good folks at the blawg Concurring Opinions tipped us off to some advice for 2Ls..

For the struggling 2nd year law student there is some pithy advice at the blawg 3L Epiphany. The 2nd year of law school includes something missing from first year -- class choices! What you choose and when you choose it will make a difference for the rest of your law school adventure. This blog's unsolicited advice is to take Evidence as soon as possible (preferably during the summer before you start 2L). There are a number of clerkship and externship opportunities that aren't open to students that haven't completed evidence.

Supreme Court Cert. Petitions - Who Will Be Heard?

Each year thousands of litigants petition the U.S. Supreme Court, yet the Court grants cert. in fewer than 100 cases.

As the new term approaches, is there any way to predict which cases make it over the hurdle? Over at SCOTUSblog, they think so, and in Petitions to Watch: Opening Conference,  SCOTUSblog presents and describes Tom Goldstein's list of petitions with a "reasonable" chance of being granted.

How skilled a prognosticator is Tom Goldstein? Last year, after sorting through well over 1500 paid cert. petitions, he identified about 200 with a "reasonable" chance of being granted — and of those about 70 or so were among the small number of cases the Court agreed to review.

Oyez, Oyez! Same-Day Access to Supreme Court Argument Transcripts

When the first Monday in October rolls around, the days of waiting several weeks for free access to transcript of U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments will be over. Starting with the October 2006 Term, the Court will post argument transcripts on its web site on the day of the argument.

Once the term starts, you'll find transcripts on the Argument Transcripts section of the Supreme Court site.

There's more detail in the Court's press release announcing same-day access to transcripts, SCOTUSblog has this post on Prompt, free access to argument transcripts, and Tony Mauro's article, High Court to Provide Same-Day Argument Transcripts Online, appears in the Legal Times.

[Thanks to Jill Duffy, Research Librarian at the Court, for the tip, and to Howard Bashman at How Appealing for leads on news stories.]

The Pocket Part

It's been almost a year since we featured content from The Pocket Part, Yale's online companion to the Yale Law Journal.  The Pocket Part provides "original essays, commentaries on current legal events, and responses to articles printed in the Journal." (And yes, Harvard Law Review has a similar -- but slightly-stodgier -- site called The Forum.)

The latest Pocket Part discussion is all about the future of legal scholarship, and you'll find intriguing articles and comments on how technology is altering how legal scholars develop and deliver their work.  If you're involved with a student journal, you simply must read Stephen Vladeck's short piece, "That's So Six Months Ago: Challenges to Student Scholarship in the Age of Blogging."  Vladeck raises an important point about the the tendency of student legal scholars to focus on current legal developments.  Because so many important court decisions are thoroughly analyzed in the blogosphere by law professors and practitioners within days after the opinion's release, students may want to rethink their topic selection strategy and look to historical topics instead.  These days, a student note about a previously-neglected moment in legal history might stand a greater chance of enduring as an original piece of legal scholarship than a note about a recent legal development. 

Empirical Data on U.S. Courts

The always-useful beSpacific features information this week about the S. Sidney Ulmer Project for Research in Law and Judicial Politics at the University of Kentucky.  The Project's website includes full-text access to working papers on law and judicial politics, but the most interesting page on the site furnishes access to voting data on the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals.  You'll also find interesting data on U.S. Court of Appeals judges who served from 1801 to 1994, including information about judges' religion, political party affiliation, education, prior experience, gender, and ethnicity.

Your Peers in the Blogosphere - Finding Law Student Bloggers

Law students, being bright, verbal people, are well-represented among bloggers. If you'd like to sample their insights, here are a couple of places to find law student blogs:

• Clever WoT's The Law Student Blogger Directory (which is organized by school and includes Otherwise Occupied from USF's own Greg Haverkamp.)
  [Thanks to Bonnie Shucha at WisBlawg for the tip!]
• The "Law Students—Aspiring, Current, or Just Finished" blogroll at Evan Schaeffer's Legal Underground. (This blogroll is on the right-hand side of the screen, and you have to scroll down fairly far to get to it.)