INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
April 14, 2002
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #67 of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, a newsletter that delivers relevant and timely legal research information, and other fun stuff, to your inbox every Sunday. If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to do the same! To subscribe, all you have to do is send an e-mail to ilrw-subscribe@topica.com. It’s free!
Sorry folks – busy doings this weekend, so I’m just doing a grab bag of websites – maybe next week, too. Enjoy!
And away we go…..
News Update
Google Corrects Your Spelling, Too
If you use Google, you’ve probably seen that if you misspell a word, it will ask you, “Did you mean….?” and then the correct spelling of the word. Now, if the incorrect spelling doesn’t return any results, Google will automatically resubmit your search with the correctly spelled word.
(From the Google Weblog)LLRX Taps into the Minds of Law Librarians
For years, the Law-Lib mailing list has allowed law librarians to share knowledge and information with each other – now you can search that database of their collective experience, with the help of the recently-reviewed SurfWax. You can get to it by going to LLRX and clicking on “Law-Lib Search” in the left column. Or, you can go straight to the search page at Surfwax.
Finally, an e-mail from last week. C.W. from Wisconsin reminded me that there’s another program out there that can help you destroy your temporary internet files and other sensitive information. It’s called TweakUI, and its “Paranoia” setting allows you to specify the automatic removal of particular information. There are two versions of TweakUI: one for Windows XP users, and one for other versions of Windows. For the other version, you'll have to go to the Microsoft site and poke around.Help Desk
This week, let’s clean up that Start Menu. Do you want to change the look or feel of your Start Menu? Do you have too many programs in your list? If you want to add or remove programs, folders, or documents, it’s a snap to fix. Just right-click on the taskbar and select Properties – then you’ll get some options for customizing your Start Menu.
Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me a line at tmighell@swbell.net– I’ll post your question (don’t worry, I won’t use your real name) and try to get an answer for you!
Legally Relevant – Sites on the Internet
Newspaperlinks.com
Self-Described as “A Gateway to Your Local Newspaper,” Newspaperlinks.com is a terrific resource. Just choose the type of newspaper you’re looking for on your left; you can choose U.S. daily or weekly papers, Canadian and international papers, college papers, newspaper groups and associations, and more. You can even search specific sections of newspapers. For example, say you want to check out business headlines in newspapers in Delaware. Just select Daily and Weekly Newspapers, then Business, then Delaware – you’ll get a listing of Delaware newspapers with Business sections. When you click on a paper, you’ll go straight to that section. A great research tool!Law in Popular Culture Collection
Question: Why are lawyers buried 36 feet instead of 6 feet? Answer: Because deep down, lawyers are really good. Okay, maybe that’s not the best lawyer joke, but you’ll find it and others in this collection of fun links from UT-Austin’s Tarlton Law Library. Explore such categories as “Law, More or Less,” Law on the Fringe, Legal Fictions (scripts and television shows), and other general popular culture sites. A cool place to find something funny about lawyers – as if you needed the encouragement.Copyright and Fair Use
From the Stanford University Library comes this nice collection of links on copyright law, with a focus on fair use. You can access primary materials such as statutes, opinions, regulations, and treaties, or search for current legislation on the topic. There are also links to Internet copyright resources and sites that can give you an overview of copyright law. This is a useful place to get a good general education on the subject matter.Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
The EEOC doesn’t have a new website, but I thought it deserved a mention anyway, because it certainly deserves to be a part of your employment law research folder. The home page is pretty simple – most of it is taken up with new items posted on the site during the past week or two. You can access other parts of the site from the column on the left. There are places for both employers and employees to start, with information on how to file a claim, mediation, training, Freedom of Information Act, and more.BusinessLaw.gov
Another site from our federal government, this time sponsored by the Small Business Administration. The site is designed “to provide legal and regulatory information to America’s small businesses.” And boy, does it deliver a lot of information. There are “Plain English” guides on starting and running a business, and you can search for business information by state. Also available are Federal regulatory information, tools on finding legal help, and the latest small business news.ETOH
Yet ANOTHER federal government site. This site hosts the Alcohol and Alcohol Problems Science Database, provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Here you’ll find over 110,000 journal articles, books, dissertation abstracts, conference papers, and more on the subject of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. The breadth of the topics covered is impressive: medicine, psychology, sociology, prevention, education, criminal justice, public policy, and that’s just the beginning. Another Invisible Web resource worth knowing about.Virtual Law Partner ($$)
The Virtual Law Partner appears to be designed for the solo or small firm lawyer – just sign up for the service and you can take advantage of the Desqtop (get it – Esq.?). The VLP is affiliated with CaseMatch and other legal matchmaking services, so most of what you’ll receive on the site deals with responding to requests for legal work. CaseMatch attempts to send clients looking for your services direct to your “Desqtop,” and the VLP helps you manage these contacts. The service is $295 to join and $199 to renew; reduced services are available at lower prices.Crimes against Children Research Center
This site is provided by the University of New Hampshire, and is concerned with crimes against children, child abuse, child-on-child violence, and even indirect victimization of children. Most of the
information here is contained in papers and projects prepared by the members of the research committee, but it appears to be well-organized and pretty substantial. Give it a look.RealCorporateLawyer.com
RR Donnelly Financial describes itself as an “around-the-world and around-the-clock provider of financial data, printing, and content management, integrated solutions and distribution services to the capital market, investment company and healthcare communities.” So where does the “lawyer” stuff come in? In the Cyberlaw center you’ll get lists of frequently asked questions in such categories as analyst communications, direct public offerings, proxy fights, shareholder proposals, voting, website liability, and much, much more. You’ll also get access to SEC guidelines and EDGAR database resources. Sign up for the site’s free monthly e-zine, covering the latest in corporate and securities law.State Alcohol Laws
We head back to the subject of alcohol for our last site this week – it’s a collection of links to the alcohol laws of each state for 1998 through 2000. You can search by state, the category (including
advertising, drinking and driving, retail sales, and others), or by date. From your search results you can select abstracts of the various laws, and see full-text versions of them if you like. This is a fantastic specialized resource!Finally, a useful site for those of you who spend more time at the computer than is healthy for you – it’s HealthyComputer.com! Find out the causes of those aches and pains you feel after working on your computer for a long time, and learn tips and tricks to avoid pain in the future. There’s a lot of great information here. Check it out.
Well, that’s it for Issue #67– I hope you liked it! If you did, pass this along to anyone you think might be interested, and encourage him or her to subscribe. Also, feel free to drop me an e-mail any time if you have questions, or if you have websites or other topics you want included in a future issue.
Tom Mighell
Subscription Information: If you want to keep on receiving issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly, send an email to tom@inter-alia.net, or visit Inter Alia sign up there! If you no longer want to receive the newsletter, just send me an e-mail at tom@inter-alia.net and I'll remove you from the list.
Archives: Miss an issue? You can read previous issues of the Internet Legal Research Weekly in the Archives.
Questions? New websites? Just want to talk? Send me an e-mail at tmighell@swbell.net.