ZiefBrief

Law School Search Engine

John Doyle of Washington & Lee Law Library has created a very handy custom Google search that allows you to search just the content of law school websites.  The page includes a list of each law school site that's included in the search, and yes, USF is included!  Searching law school websites is a quick and easy way to find legal research guides.  For example, let's say that you would like to find a research guide on art law.  Type the words, "art law guide," into the search box without quotations, and you'll find a few research guides right on point.  Looking for some handy guides to applying for judicial clerkships?  Just type "judicial clerkships" in the search box, and you can take advantage of all of the other law schools' online guides about this topic.  Thanks to beSpacific for the tip!

Should Prosecutors Blog?

Yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle had an interesting article about prosecutors who have launched blogs.  Apparently, the comments of at least one prosecutor, George Kennedy, formerly DA in Santa Clara County, may have landed him in legal trouble.  According to the  Chronicle story, Kennedy posted "graphic details" about a rape case after the San Jose Mercury News criticized the manner in which the DA's office handled the case.  After Kennedy posted these comments, the defendant's conviction was overturned, and he has now retained a libel attorney to assess a possible case against Kennedy.  This story serves as a good reminder for blogging attorneys -- think through the ethical implications before you launch a blog!  If you're looking for some pointers on how to blog without running into hot water, Kevin O'Keefe's blog, Real Lawyers Have Blogs, has lots of great tips on how to blog in an ethical fashion.

Save a Forest or Two

The first-year LRWA final is just about over, and because our Westlaw rep just told us that she observed a 700-page KeyCite result for a single case (!!) at one of the Zief printers, we thought it would be a good time to dispense some tips on how to print in an environmentally-friendly fashion on Lexis and Westlaw:

• Tip #1:  Use Limit KeyCite Display on Westlaw:  If you are printing a KeyCite result, take advantage of the "Limit KeyCite Display" function to customize your KeyCite result and make it easier to use BEFORE you print.  The "Limit KeyCite Display" function appears at the bottom left of your KeyCite result screen (this Westlaw guide shows you where to find it).  You can limit your KeyCite results by Jurisdiction, by Headnote, by Date, by Document Type, by Depth of Treatment, and by Keyword.  Usually, you can create a KeyCite printout that doesn't kill a couple of forests or confuse you endlessly just by applying the jurisdiction and document type limits.  For example, do you really need to know what the Seventh Circuit had to say about your California Supreme Court case?  Probably not, so limit your result by checking the boxes next to the jurisdictions that matter. If you're not sure which jurisdictions matter, come and talk to us at the reference desk, and we can help you figure it out.
  
  Similarly, if you are KeyCiting just to figure out if your case is still good law, you don't need to print out the long list of secondary sources and appellate briefs that cite to your case or statute.  Click on the Document Type restrictor, and uncheck the boxes next to secondary sources and briefs.  When you're done setting limits, click "Apply," and you will see a much more user-friendly result that you can print without guilt!

• Tip #2:  Use the "FOCUS Restrict By" Function on Lexis:  If you're a Lexis user, you, too, can be a friend to the environment.  You can filter your Shepard's results by clicking on the "FOCUS Restrict By" link at the top of your Shepard's results screen (this guide shows you exactly where to find this link).  After clicking this link, you can limit your results by Analysis, by Jurisdiction, by Date, and by Keyword.  You can also choose to display only "all negative" or "all positive" Shepard's results to refine your result.

• Tip #3: Don't print out the annotations to a statute unless you really need them.  Statutory annotations can be quite lengthy, and if you have already reviewed them online and picked out the relevant annotations, think twice before printing out the annotated version of the statute.  If you just want to print the statute's language, on Westlaw, select "Print," then at the next screen, select "Statutory Text Only" before you click the Print button. 
  
  On Lexis, look up your statute.  When you have the statute on the screen, click on the word "Custom" at the top left of the screen.  You'll be presented with a number of boxes.  Make sure that the only box that is checked is the "Text" box, then hit "OK."  When you return to the screen, you will just be viewing the statute's text, and you can now go ahead and print the statute without printing the annotations.  To return to a full, annotated view of the statute, click the word, "Full," at the top left of your screen.

• Tip #4:  Call the Lexis & Westlaw Customer Service Numbers.  The Westlaw and Lexis reference attorneys can help you with all of the above functions.  To reach them, call Lexis at 1-800-455-3947 (1-800-45-LEXIS) or Westlaw at 1-800-733-2889 (1-800-REF-ATTY)

Why Women Leave the Law

Most of us who work in the legal field are very familiar with the sobering statistics on attrition of women in law firms.  Law.com features profiles of six women who decided to leave the law for other pursuits and how they came to this decision. 

A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar...

Law Blog reports the amazing news today that someone has actually made a documentary about taking the California bar exam.  The documentary is called "A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar," and it's directed by Eric Chaikin.  I watched a few of the trailers available on the film's website, and it definitely gave me a frisson of long-buried terror to watch people talking about what those three days are like. And you can't help but admire one of the featured bar-takers, Mr. Donald Baumeister, who has taken the bar exam 41 times and is still plugging away on attempt number 42.  Now that's determination!

My own story?  I was convinced that I bombed the first day.  I felt like my essays were superficial, and the performance test gave me fits.  I walked back to my hotel room and spent most of the evening crying, with my husband looking on helplessly.  I thought that I was doomed and seriously contemplated packing up and going home, but somewhere around midnight, my husband convinced me that I might as well continue with the rest of the exam and see what happened.  Days 2 and 3 went surprisingly well.  Multiple-choice questions were easy for me, and I had much less trouble with the Day 3 essays and performance test (which was, of all things, based on maritime law(!)).  I finished the exam and thought that it could go either way.  When November rolled around, I was rather stunned to learn that I passed.   The moral of my story?  Don't let bar exam jitters do you in!  Cry, scream, and wail if you need to after a day that seems disastrous, but don't give up.

BAR/BRI Plaintiffs' Memo

Law Blog has posted a copy of the memorandum written by BAR/BRI lead plaintiffs Loredana Nesci, Lisa Gintz, and Ryan Rodriguez, which protests McGuire Woods' proposed settlement of the BAR/BRI class action suit.  The memo takes a very passionate tone, complete with the use of exclamation points (!), which usually don't creep into legal memoranda with much frequency: 

We exposed ourselves in this litigation as class representatives because this lawsuit was supposed to break up Bar/Bri. Despite the potential detrimental blow to our careers, we agreed to champion this worthy cause. We invested our time, our image and our reputations to promote the benefits of this suit. We would not have invested so much if we knew that all that the class members’ attorneys cared about was getting paid more than 100 cents on their investment, while the class gets just 12 cents!

I admire the quixotic spirit of the plaintiffs; we'll see if their pleas get them anywhere with McGuire Woods. 

Lawsagna Dishes Up Advice on Briefing Cases

Lawsagna, a blog that's all about innovative and useful ways for law students to study and learn, is talking about briefing cases today.

In her post What's in your brief? Anastasia offers 7 succinct tips on becoming better at briefing cases, and she links to several other useful sites as well. If you'd like to tune up your case-briefing skills, check it out.

Labor Lawyer Analyzes "The Office"

One of our OneL readers sent us a link today to Julie Elgar's excellent blog, "That's What She Said," which analyzes each episode of the popular television series "The Office" from a labor and employment lawyer's point of view.  Ms. Elgar summarizes the potential lawsuits stemming from each character's inappropriate workplace behavior, then estimates the total litigation price tag for each episode.  Here's how Ms. Elgar sums up the potential claims from last week's episode:

With Michael’s egregious behavior, you might hope that Phyllis could make a claim against Dunder Mifflin. After all, if she can be fired for boorish conduct at an office party, why can’t she sue the company when Michael ruins her party? But she can’t. Being a jerk is not illegal. As much as I wish that it were, it just is not.

I think we've all wished that jerky behavior could be actionable at least once or twice in our working lives (perhaps you've yearned for such a cause of action more frequently if you've worked at a large law firm!).  Ms. Elgar also dispenses lots of practical preventive tips in each blog post, so if you're a budding labor and employment lawyer, be sure to check out this blog.  ZiefBrief disclaimer:  "The Office" is all about people behaving very, very badly and offensively at work.  If you're easily offended, you should steer clear of both "The Office" and That's What She Said.  But if you're a fan, be sure to check out the British series that served as the inspiration for the American version of "The Office."  Ricky Gervais and Martin Freeman are simply brilliant!

The Litigious Side of Valentine's Day

If you thought Valentine's Day was a harmless, fun holiday, think again!  According to the British lawyers interviewed for this Daily Mail story, the holiday can trigger all kinds of litigation headaches for unsuspecting employers.  Referring to the dangers lurking in Valentine's Day cards, lawyer Peter Mooney stated, "It might all seem like a joke and a bit of fun at the time.  But the risks to employers on Valentine's Day are real and extremely serious. . . . The cost of getting it wrong can be huge." 

And racy Valentine's Day cards aren't the only worry! Employment Law Advisory Services warns in one of its client education brochures about the dangers of large flower arrangements in the workplace: "If you have one employee who has bad hayfever, or a similar allergy, [who] sat next to a member of staff who receives a lot of flowers, the employer could be in breach of their duty to provide an amenable working environment."

A happy and litigation-free Valentine's Day to you all!

BC Law IPTF Blog

The students who run the Intellectual Property and Technology Forum at Boston College Law are posting some thoughtful and fun posts on their blog, BC Law IPTF Blog.  If you'd like to read articles from IPTF, you can find full-text at the publication's website.  Thanks to Inter Alia for the tip!