INTERNET LEGAL RESEARCH WEEKLY
April 13, 2003
Tom MighellWelcome to Issue #108 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 visit Inter Alia and fill out the subscription form -- it's free!
I'll be out of town for the Easter weekend, so look for the next issue of the ILRW on April 27. Until then, stay tuned to Inter Alia!
And away we go…..
Because there was no issue last week, there's a LOT of news to catch up on --but I can't put it all here. Visit Inter Alia to read the rest of the stories -- there are THIRTY stories on the website you won't read here!
Changes over at Ixquick
Metasearch tool Ixquick is experimenting with clustering its search results, a la Vivisimo. Give it a try.Get a magnifying glass for your browser
Check out Popout Prism, a nifty, free utility that emphasizes critical elements in web pages -- just enter the terms you're looking for, and Popout Prism highlights them in an "enhanced thumbnail" overview. Pretty cool.You can never learn too much about search engines
Search engines are changing every day, and it pays to keep up with the latest innovations in search technology. Of course, learning the basics of search engines is a must, and where better than Search Engine Watch? Yesterday's SearchDay provides a guide to Search Engines 101.You want historical documents? We got historical documents!
The National Archives is making more than 50 million historical documents available online. This is not just an index, folks -- these are the actual digitized documents for your review, and they are searchable to boot. The documents range from the Civil War to immigration records for people conducting genealogy research. The National Archive did not correct typographical errors or misspelled names in these documents to maintain their integrity, so keep that in mind while conducting your research.Poetic Justice?
Back in August I mentioned a new anti-spam tool called Habeas. This utility places a trademarked haiku poem into an e-mail header, which allows the e-mail to pass through spam filters unmolested. This week, Habeas filed suit against five entities that allegedly used the trademarked poem without permission. These lawsuits will be the first attack on spam using trademark law, so it will be interesting to see what happens.Wha...?
Let me get this straight -- pay-for-performance search company Overture purchased Alta Vista and FAST Search -- both respected companies, so not a bad move. But Gator? Overture has signed a deal to display its sponsored search listings on ads that pop up under those of rival and partner web sites. Gator has been the subject of several lawsuits lately for this same practice. I don't get it.Do your part for LookSmart
Search engine LookSmart wants to use your computer to index the Web. Through its new service Grub, LookSmart will provide your PC with a screensaver that crawls the Internet when the computer is idle. The search engine hopes this type of distributed computing will greatly improve the freshness of its index.Are press releases news?
Google News seems to think so -- the news search engine has started listing press releases in its search results. The Register is not happy about it.When you're #1, everyone's gunning for you...
First it was Microsoft, now Yahoo! The company is rolling out a souped-up search engine, in an attempt to dethrone the current search champion.Visualize your Thesaurus
Check out the Visual Thesaurus, which provides a graphic display of words and their connections. This is a cool utility.Who's spying on you?
PC Magazine's cover story this month is Spyware: It's Lurking on Your Machine. You'll find lots of helpful information here on learning about spyware and how to remove it from your PC. For even more information, check out the Spyware Guide -- it's a resource describing which software applications can detect and defeat spyware, an extensive database of all known spy ware applications, and contact information.A New Look for Law.com
It seems Law.com got tired of all the blacks and browns, and has settled on a soothing blue as its new theme. Check it out.New Batch of Blawgs
As usual, not a week goes by without someone launching a law-related weblog. Here are some of the notables:Wendy Seltzer, a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, has a new weblog -- Legal Tags. Next up is Tales from the Shark Tank, from Indiana state government lawyer Alisa. Screaming Bean is a brand-new blog from a so-far unidentified law student. Another student blogger is Mr. Blawggie, a law and business student who recently moved to Israel from the United States. JDedman, a newly-minted lawyer (and former associate editor of the Daily Texan), talks about a little bit of everything at his weblog. And UK Librarian Paul Pedley introduces the Information Law Weblog, concentrating on legal issues affecting the information profession, including copyright, data protection, and freedom of information.
Here's a tip for you Excel users -- if there ARE any of you in this crowd. Here's how to turn a title into a vertical banner spanning a number of cells in the first column:
- Select the cells you'd like your text to span
- Select Format, then Cells, and then select the Alignment tab
- Under Orientation, type 90 degrees
- Put a checkmark in the box next to Merge Cells, then click OK
- Type your text in the new cell block.
- Click on some other part of the spreadsheet. You're done!
Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail– 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
FindLaw's Modern Practice
A relatively new offering from FindLaw, this is the site's law practice and technology magazine. Each month there's a new topic, with articles in categories including 20 Questions, Ask the IT Guy, Tools of the Trade, Websites that Work, Top Ten Marketing Ideas, Courtside, and others. This month Modern Practice features an interesting series of articles on knowledge management.Census of Governments
This PDF file was issued in December 2002, and is a 105-page report published every 5 years on three major subject areas -- government organization, public employment, and government finances. There's way too much information to tell you about it in a few sentences -- you can find statistics on general-purpose local governments by state, special district governments, public school systems, and local governments in individual county areas. This report is chock full of good stuff if you're looking for statistics.Jones Day Publications
Part of the website of worldwide firm Jones Day, browse around this page for interesting articles and other publications on a variety of legal subjects -- antitrust, construction and engineering, securities litigation, and much more. You can search by keyword, or look at all the publications in the library. In my opinion, the "virtual libraries" of law firm websites are often overlooked by the legal researcher.American Legal Ethics Library
I have mentioned this site before, but it has so much great information you need to hear about it again. The American Legal Ethics Library is maintained by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell, and contains both the codes or rules setting standards for the professional conduct of lawyers and commentary on the law governing lawyers, organized on a state by state basis. In addition, eighteen law firms have provided commentary on the ethics laws of their particular state. For each state, you can find links to disciplinary rules of conduct, judicial conduct, ethics opinions, and bar admission information. This is a terrific site.National Tribal Justice Resource Center
Established by the North American Indian Court Judges Association in 2000, the NTJRC assists tribes in strengthening their methods of self-government and improve the climate within tribal lands for economic prosperity by offering tools to enhance tribal justice systems. There's a ton of great information here, but the most useful links take you to tribal courts, legal research sites, and information on legal issues confronting native Americans. Unfortunately, many of the links say "Coming Soon" -- I hope they provide this information soon, because it would make all the difference for this site.palawlibrary ($$)
If you're frustrated looking up Pennsylvania statutes and opinions on the state's court sites, you might want to check out palawlibrary. A joint project of the terrific Jenkins Law Library and American Lawyer Media-PA, this site provides access to Pennsylvania cases/opinions, legal news archives, verdicts and settlements, case digest, court rules, trial listings, and suits filed. The pricing ranges from $37-$57 monthly, and $396-$636 for a year's subscription. There's also a free 30-day trial subscription so you can try it out.SmartJury ($$)
SmartJury wants to bring "jury selection into the 21st Century" by computerizing the voir dire process. SmartJury doesn't actually alter the way you question potential jurors, but it helps you to easily capture the information you learn from them. The software is designed to be used by paralegals, who input the data into your laptop or PC; the program uses demographic profiling to quickly determine the types of jurors who answer favorably or unfavorably to your questions. SmartJury also has an alliance with Accurint (my favorite background search company) that allows you to instantly learn the background of any potential juror. You can try it out for free for 3 days; a year-long license will cost you $995.Philippine Law and Jurisprudence Databank
This site is a project of the Arellano Law Foundation, a Philippine organization. Here you have easy access to the Philippine Constitution, statutes, executive issuances, jurisprudence, courts, and administrative agencies. Many of the other pages are not available or contain outdated information. Further, I'm not sure how current the statutory links are. If you're in need of Philippine law, this might be a good place to start, but double check with another source just to be safe.Valuation Information ($$)
I like the concept here: focusing solely on business valuation and damage computation. The company's primary service is the publication of customized newsletters, designed to be of interest to attorneys who specialize in the niche areas of gift & estate taxation, family law, and business litigation. I'm not sure how much the services cost here; you can purchase a year-long subscription to the Valuation Case Digest for $125, but individual articles cost between $1.95 and $3.95.Working in the 21st Century
The Bureau of Labor Statistic provides this site, which gives "a portrait of the U.S. workforce at the beginning of the New Millennium: a set of charts and related information about subjects ranging from education levels to retirement plans." You can view a slideshow of the chartbook, or see the individual reports as PDF documents. Topics include the growing age of the labor force, women, minorities, immigrants, education, temporary help, mothers, alternative employment, and much more.
Finally, for some fun and useful sites of the week:
An Easter site for you, because I won't be around next week -- but not the Easter eggs you're used to getting. Those of you who are computer-obsessed like me may know that "easter eggs" are amusing games or other tidbits hidden inside ordinary computer programs. The trick is learning how to find them. Eeggs.com can help with that, having collected over 6,000 Easter eggs so far. Have fun hunting!
It's Saturday afternoon, you're preaching at three church services tomorrow, and you're sermon's unwritten. What to do? Thanks to Last Minute Sermons, you can rest easy. 42 ready-made sermons are available at 8 Pounds (about $12.50) each.
Who knew? Read selections from the poetry of D.H. Rumsfeld.
Well, that’s it for Issue #108 – 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
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