Bonnie and Clyde Are Law Cats of the Week

This week's SIU Law Cats are Bonnie and Clyde, who are brothers. Carla Chatham, who works in the law library, adopted them when they were 6 weeks old. Bonnie & Clyde live with Chief, Mini, and another cat who will appear here in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. Click on the photo here to see more photos of Mini.

To see photos of all previous Law Dogs and Cats of the Week, visit our Gallery of SIU Law Dogs and Cats, which you can find under "Related Links" in the sidebar. See Submitting Your SIU Law Dog and Cat Photos for instructions.

Looking for tax forms?

If you are doing your own taxes this year, you may want to check out the IRS Forms and Publications page. The forms and instructions are listed by number and are in PDF. Additionally, the IRS has other helpful information. Including, if you qualify, how to file electronically for free.

Tax forms for Illinois are also available online.

Research Guides on Legislative History

As you begin work on your appellate brief, you may want to add some legislative history research to the research you did for your trial brief. The following research guides may help:

• Federal Legislative History: Documents & Sources / prepared by Frank Houdek.
• Using CIS/Annual for Federal Legislative History Research / prepared by Frank Houdek.
• Using LexisNexis Congressional for Federal Legislative History / prepared by Diane Murley.
• Comparing Federal and Illinois Legislative History Research / prepared by Frank Houdek.
• Illinois Legislative History Research / prepared by Frank Houdek.

You can find Research Guides, Research Tips, and more resources through the SIU Law Library website.

Bailey Is Law Dog of the Week

This week's SIU Law Dog is Bailey, a miniature pinscher. He belongs to Natalie DeLong, who is a first-year SIU law student. Click on the photo here to see more of Bailey.

To see photos of all previous Law Dogs and Cats of the Week, visit our Gallery of SIU Law Dogs and Cats, which you can find under Related Links in the sidebar. See our Call for Photos for instructions on submitting your SIU Law Dog or Cat photo.

More Good Stuff from Justia

I have blogged about Justia before, but not nearly as often as I should have, considering how frequently they release a new free tool for lawyers. Justia is a company that designs and optimizes law firm websites, lawyer blogs, and other online legal marketing. It also has many free information, public-interest, and pro-bono projects, including:

• Stanford Copyright & Fair Use Center, which provides an overview of copyright and fair use, primary and secondary sources, resources for librarians, and information on current issues and pending legislation;
• Recall Warnings, a collection of over 50,0000 recalls of autos, consumer products, food and drugs from U.S. government agencies;
• US Supreme Court Center, a searchable and browseable database of all U.S. Supreme Court decisions, with links to secondary sources, online databases, and mp3 audio of Supreme Court oral arguments from Oyez.org;
• Dog Law, a joint project of Nolo, Justia and Little Sheba the Hug Pug;
• BlawgSearch and Blawgs.FM, finding tools for law blogs and legal podcasts, respectively; and
• Legal Marketing Blog, with tips on legal website design, search engine optimization, and marketing for law firms.

This week I learned about the Justia Federal Court Filings Site, which lists new civil case filings in U.S. District Courts with links to Pacer, as well as blog, news, finance, and web searches on the party names. Search new cases by State, Court, Lawsuit Type, or Party name, and subscribe to RSS feeds to track new cases automatically, without having to rerun your search.

Another recent change at Justia is the home page, which has become a portal to legal information. It has articles and other content in a variety of legal practice areas, as well as a directory of links to U.S. state and federal laws, courts, government websites, forms, and more.

Zeus Is Law Dog of the Week

This week's SIU Law Dog is Zeus, a miniature pinscher puppy. Zeus belongs to Megan Jackson Orso, who is a first-year SIU law student. So far this semester, Zeus has chewed on the power cord for Megan's laptop and PDA. He also snacked on the corners of her ALWD manual. He is a handful. Click on the picture here to see more pictures of Zeus. He is asleep in almost all of them, because that is the only time he holds still long enough for a picture.

To see photos of all previous Law Dogs and Cats of the Week, visit our Gallery of SIU Law Dogs and Cats, which you can find under Related Links in the sidebar. See our Call for Photos for instructions on submitting your SIU Law Dog or Cat photo.

The Meaning of Legal Research Terminology

Legal research terms can sometimes be confusing. If you can't remember the difference between a cited case and a citing reference, between primary authority and mandatory authority, or between session laws and a statutory code, check the law library's Glossary of Legal Research Terms or one of the references listed at the bottom of that page, all of which are available in the law library or on the web.

We recently added Elyse H. Fox, The Legal Research Dictionary: From Advance Sheets to Pocket Parts (2d ed., Leg. Info. Serv. 2006) (KF 240 L43 2006).

Don't Trivialize Your Client's Case

This week's Appellate practice tip from the North Dakota Supreme Court should be applied to trial court briefs as well as to appellate briefs:

"Raise only important issues. Trivial issues detract from important ones."

New Legal Research Search Engine from Cornell University Law Library

Cornell University Law Library has developed a new legal research search engine that searches "approximately 20 different web sites that either prolifically publish guides, or index and link to guides." The resaerch engine was announced on law-lib by Julie Jones, Research Attorney and Lecturer in Law Cornell Law Library, who indicates that the search engine can also be added to one's Google home page.

Ginger Is Law Dog of the Week

This week's SIU Law Dog is Ginger, who belongs to Dave Wood's daughter, Katie. Dave is a 3L.

To see photos of all previous Law Dogs and Cats of the Week, visit our Gallery of SIU Law Dogs and Cats, which you can find under Related Links in the sidebar. See our Call for Photos for instructions on submitting your SIU Law Dog or Cat photo.

Interested in Copyright Law?

For those interested in copyright law, you may want to check out Professor Lawrence Lessig's blog. Professor Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society.

He has a terrific post on Orphan Works Reform which discusses the U.S. Copyright Office's 2006 report and proposal on Orphan Works, along with Professor Lessig's comments and his alternative proposal.