Andrew R. Roszak, J.D. / M.P.A. Candidate - Class of 2008, sent us this good news:
His paper — The Legalities of Legislatively Mandated Automated External Defibrillators in Educational Settings — was selected for presentation at the Education Law and Policy Forum conference in Athens, Georgia in September, and for publication in the third volume of the Education Law and Policy Forum in October.
Congratulations, Andy!
Congratulations to SIU law students Nicole Kaufman (class of 2007), Levi Burkett (class of 2008), and Jennifer Uhles(class of 2008), each of whom had commentaries published in the April–June 2007 issue of the Journal of Legal Medicine.
Current issues of the Journal of Legal Medicine are available on reserve in the law library and on Westlaw (password required).
The following SIU Law students had their articles published the winter 2007 issue of the Southern Illinois University Law Journal:
Justin Chasco, Comment, Judge Alberto Gonzales? The Attorney General's Power to Overturn Board of Immigration Appeals' Decisions
Natalie J. Kussart, Comment, Reporting Medical Errors: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Stephanie Lindsay, Note, Dirty Water on a Daily Basis: Friends of the Earth v. Environmental Protection Agency
Michelle Sanders, Note, To Serve and Protect? Supporting Police Inaction over Domestic Violence Victim Protection in Castle Rock v. Gonzales
Thanks to everyone who joined us for our Library Week open house yesterday. We had games, candy and bottled water, and five drawings.
Congratulations to Candle Wester-Mittan on a well-planned event.
With the end of the semester just weeks away, you may be thinking about how you can do a great job and impress your employer. Here are some tips to help you if your summer job includes legal research.
ZiefBrief, from the librarians at the University of San Francisco's Law Library, has PowerPoint slides, outline, handout, and worksheets on effective Boolean (Terms and Connectors) searching.
You can listen to Berring's Legal Research Podcast episodes to review topics that we covered in Lawyering Skills. You can also find overviews of topics that we didn't have time to cover, such as Local Laws (e.g., municipal ordinances). I recommend the episode on Legal Research Strategy, which pulls it all together for you. The podcast series supplements the Berring on Legal Research DVD set, which is on reserve in the law library at DVD 0024.
A good place to begin your research is in secondary sources, which can give you background and context for your topic as well as citations to primary authorities such as cases, statutes, and regulations. In Lawyering Skills we used legal dictionaries, encyclopedia, treatises, ALRs, and legal periodicals. Ask the lawyer who gives you an assignment for recommendations on where to start. If your employer has a law library, the librarian will also be happy to make a recommendation.
DavidMaister.com has podcast series on Career Development for professionals. The episode on Managing Your Boss begins with a discussion about how to receive assignments and an 11-point checklist to help you clarify each assignment and do what your boss expects. Even if you don't have time for the entire podcast, the first six minutes are worth a listen.
Evan Schaeffer, at the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog, provides the view from "the other end of the transaction" in Giving Legal Research Assignments to Others. He offers a helpful list of types of information that should be given with research assignments. If your boss forgets to give you information that would help you do the research, ask questions.
The SIU Law Library has research guides and links to recommended websites. You will have summer access to most of the electronic resources to which the law library subscribes if you connect with the Law VPN, so don't let your password expire. Westlaw and LexisNexis licenses limit use of student passwords to academic research. We will post instructions on how to register for summer access when we have them.
Unlike your Westlaw and LexisNexis passwords, you can use your CALI password over the summer. If you get an assignment on a topic that you haven't studied yet, check the CALI site to see if there is a lesson that will give you an overview.
The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law, by Mark Herrmann, is full of practical advice on the types of assignments a new associate is likely to receive, as well as general tips on succeeding in a law firm. Although some of the advice will only apply to permanent associates, at least the first half of the book also applies to summer employment. You can check out The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law in the law library at KF300 .H47 2006. See my previous post for links to excerpts available on the web.
(The image above is from from Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels: Into Several Remote Regions of the World pt. II, "A Voyage to Brobdingnag," ch. VII (Project Gutenberg EBook 2005) (Thomas M. Balliet ed., 1900 ed., originally published 1726).)
As you prepare for your oral arguments, you may want to listen to oral arguments in real cases:
And here is some advice from judges:
The rest of the editors for the 2007–08 Southern Illinois University Law Journal Board of Editors were announced today:
They join the previously announced executive committee of the board, Amber Jeralds, John Persell, and Jessie Mahr. Congratulations, all!
Congratulations to SIU 3L students Sam Wright and Michael Ruel, each of whom had commentaries published in the January–March 2007 issue of the Journal of Legal Medicine. Professors Basanta and Kapp also contributed articles, and Professor Behan contributed a book review.
Current issues of the Journal of Legal Medicine are available on reserve in the law library and on Westlaw (password required).
Congratulations to the SIU Gibbons National Criminal Procedure Moot Court Team, who competed in Newark this past weekend. The team, comprised of 3L students Tim Geiger, Adam Ghrist, and Matt Rokusek, advanced to the quarter-final round.
Adam Ghrist was named the Second Best Oralist in the preliminary rounds of the competition.
Congratulations to the two SIU teams who competed in the McGee National Civil Rights Moot Court Competition at the University of Minnesota March 1–3.
The 3L team of Nate Bailey, Marty Offutt, and Erica Stanmar made the "sweet 16" seeded tenth but was narrowly defeated by the team that went on to win the competition. Nate, Marty, and Erica had fifth best brief out of 40, and Marty Offutt was ranked third best oralist.
The 2L team of Brady Barke, Natalie Gregory, and Jason Leonard went 2 and 1 on oral argument scores in the preliminary rounds. Natalie Gregory was ranked fifth best oralist.
Congratulations to the two SIU Law teams who competed in the Midwest Moot Court Competition, sponsored by the Illinois Appellate Lawyers Association, in Chicago last weekend.
Joe Roark and Nick Williams, who teamed with Jamie McCarthy in the preliminary rounds, made it to the final round, and the team's brief placed third. Joe Roark was named best oralist in the competition.
Jennifer Kelly, Greg Odom, and Sarah Ward advanced to the semi-final round before being defeated by the winning team.
Well done, students!
The Fall 2006 issue of the Southern Illinois University Law Journal is out, and it includes several articles by SIU law students:
Kristin Beasley, “Up-Skirt And Other Dirt: Why Cell Phone Cameras And Other Technologies Require A New Approach To Protecting Personal Privacy In Public Places;”
Matthew J. Hodge, “The Fourth Amendment And Privacy Issues On The “New” Internet: Facebook.Com And Myspace.Com;”
Erin R. Doyle, “Endangering The Great Divide: Challenges To The Establishment Clause In Van Orden V. Perry, 125 S. Ct. 2854 (2005);” and
Natalie J. Kussart, “Paid Bills V. Charged Bills: Insurance And The Collateral Source Rule Arthur V. Catour, 833 N.E.2d 847 (2005).”
Congratulations, students!
Current issues of the SIU Law Journal are available on reserve in the law library, on LexisNexis (password required), and on Westlaw (password required).
The following 2L students had their casenotes chosen for publication in upcoming issues of the Southern Illinois University Law Journal.
BEST CASENOTE:
The Knock and Announce Rule: More Trouble Than Its Worth. Hudson v. Michigan (Ryan Straw)
OTHER ARTICLES:
It's Political, You Can't be Offended! A Discussion of Student Speech Analysis in Guiles ex rel. Guiles v. Marineau (Derek Ruzicka)
Murky Wetlands Protection Following Rapanos v. United States (John Persell)
The Duty Question in Special Relationship Negligence Cases: Preserving the Role of the Jury, Marshall v. Burger King Corp (Craig Runyon)
The Practical Effects of the Ruling in Davis v. Washington (Andrew Fisk)
To Decide or Not to Decide: Is That the Question? Jurisdiction of Immigration Appeals in Kambolli v. Gonzales (Jessica Reese)
ALTERNATES:
Rumsfeld v. Fair: The Military's Message Comes Home (Jessie Mahr)
Determining Who Constitutes an "Employee" Under Title VII After Smith v. Castaways Family Diner (Jeff Wright)
Current issues of the SIU Law Journal are available on reserve in the law library, on LexisNexis (password required), and on Westlaw (password required).
Congratulations to SIU 3L students Jared Martin, and Jarred Tynes, each of whom had commentaries published in the December 2006 issue of the Journal of Legal Medicine.
Current issues of the Journal of Legal Medicine are available on reserve in the law library and on Westlaw (password required).
Welcome back. We hope you had a relaxing break.
Most of you are probably a little disappointed in your grades. We know this because it happens every year. There are two things to keep in mind about law school grades: (1) law school grading is very different from undergraduate grading; and (2) you can probably improve your exam performance, but it will take some effort.
If you want to improve your performance on law exams, there are several things that you can do:
Austin Groothuis, at CALI's Pre-Law Blog, has this advice on Your First Semester Grades in Law School.
Congratulations to SIU 3L students W. Kyle Simonton, James D. Stivers, and Sameer S. Vohra, each of whom had commentaries published in the September 2006 issue of the Journal of Legal Medicine. W. Wylie Blair, SIU Law class of 2005, also had a paper published.
Current issues of the Journal are available on reserve in the law library and on Westlaw.
Groklaw presents "A Brief Description of Citators for Those Without a Legal Background" by Mark Giangrande.
Mark Giangrande is a lawyer and member of the Illinois Bar. He currently works as a reference librarian at the Vincent G. Rinn Library at the DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. He is also the editor of the Tech Law Prof Blog and a co-editor of the Law Librarian Blog.
For more information on Groklaw, see Groklaw's Mission Statement and What We Offer You and the Map to Groklaw.
Thanks to the Law Librarian Blog for the tip.
A couple of people have asked to see my legal research mind maps. Those I created for my spring 2006 and fall 2006 Lawyering Skills classes are available at http://www.law.siu.edu/lawlib/mindmaps/legalresearch.htm.
Thanks to a comment by David Stubbs on my posting about Mind Mapping Legal Research, I learned about this fabulous site that David and some friends have set up to share their maps with others.
They have detailed maps for core and elective subjects for an LLB in the UK, as well as compulsory subjects for the UK Legal Practice Course (LPC). The maps are available in both PDF and either .MMP or .MMAP format. All work on www.lawmaps.org is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence.
David says: "We would love people to download the maps and use them, and we would be thrilled if people shared back improved and updated versions of our maps." So check them out!
This year's SIU Intramural Moot Court Competition was won by Wade Shimer and Timothy Ting. Natalie Gregory and Jennifer Kelly came in second.
The award for Best Brief went to Shimer and Ting, with second-place brief going to Luke DeSmet and Jamie McCarthy. The award for Best Oralist went to Timothy Ting, second place to Glenn Katayama, and third place to Joe Roark.
Well done, everyone.
