INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
December 4, 2005
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #216 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!
A new feature for my readers: if you're interested in reading my posts on Inter Alia, but don't quite get this whole RSS thing, I've just made it easier for you -- you can subscribe to my posts via e-mail! Just head to the site and enter your e-mail address in the box on the left that says "Get Inter Alia by E-Mail!" Each day you'll receive an e-mail with my latest posts. Best of all, it's free! Give it a try.
Gosh, it's a meta-search tool
Has anyone tried GoshME? It's a new meta-search tool (or, as they put it, "search assistant") that's still in beta. Just enter your query, and check off up to five categories of interest (why limit it to five?), and GoshME will show you the databases that contain your query terms. Give it a try.Blawgs of the Week
Another week, another crop of law-related weblogs: first, Deborah McMurray is a marketing expert from right here in Dallas, and she's sharing some of her wisdom at the Deborah McMurray Associates Weblog. Boot Straps and Lawyers features "a Texas Aggie's look at B.S. and everything that is law school." Isn't that redundant? Here's another blawg from Portugal -- disLEXias features legal information from a lawyer in Lisbon. Skunkworks Creative Group is a Vancouver marketing agency for lawyers (among other industries), and the folks there are providing news resources, and opinion on Canadian law firm branding, marketing and advertising at Legal Marketing Canada. The Online Guide to Mediation is published by Boston-area lawyer Diane Levin, and it provides information, news, and commentary on the mediation and conflict management field. Stephen Holzer is an environmental lawyer at Parker, Milliken in L.A., and he's blogging about developments in environmental law at Environmental Law Blogs. Finally, Naked Law presents "UK technology law laid bare by Cambridge lawyers." It's written by lawyers of Mills & Reeves, and they're talking about computer crime, privacy, software and hardware, Internet and e-commerce, and intellectual property issues.
Have I mentioned Roboform lately? It's a terrific program that remembers your login and password information for web sites. It will also fill in registration forms with your name, address, and other information. There's a free version, and a more powerful version for $29.99. If you're following my advice and keeping different passwords for all your web sites, you'll no doubt have some trouble remembering them all. Roboform is a great program that will do that work for you.
Do you have a question about searching the Internet or your computer in general? Drop me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)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
National Organization of Social Security Claimants' Representatives
This is a VERY basic site, from the organization of over 3,300 attorneys and paralegals who represent Social Security and Supplemental Security Income claimants. In addition to membership information, you'll find links here to some great resources -- articles, proposed disability regulations, caselaw topic summaries, Internet resources, and much more.PhD Weblogs
For those of you who think that weblogs are only for people who want to discuss their favorite restaurants or movies, this site should convince you otherwise. Here you'll find links to (currently) 355 weblogs written by Ph.Ds, in topics such as social sciences, computer science, language and culture, history and archeology, and various multidisciplinary topics.Project Diana
A project of Yale Law School, this is an online human rights archive. The offerings are pretty simple; there's a page of cases, a page of documents, and links to the Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal and the Avalon Home Page. That's it. Lots of great information here, condensed into a relatively small space.Roll Call ($$)
This is the online presence of the venerable Capitol Hill newspaper. You'll have access to the latest news, opinions by political commentators, gossip, and lots more. Unfortunately, you'll have to pay for it -- it'll set you back $265/year for the online version.Search Portfolio ($$)
Search Portfolio wants you to "Stop Searching and Start Finding." This is a set of search tools that have been hand-selected by Internet research professionals, designed to help you get to good, relevant information more quickly. It's a subscription-based service, ranging from $49 (US) for individuals, up to $349 for enterprise editions. A service that provides quality research sites sounds great, but I'm a little skeptical; one screen states that "Search Portfolio provides new and exciting ways to find the best free information." Sure, but why should I have to pay to find free information?
Finally, a few fun and useful sites to start off your week:
Thermal fuse on your dryer on the fritz? Instead of driving around trying to find a replacement, check out PartSelect, which features appliance parts for hundreds of major appliances.
Check out Hyperframe, a great game from Shockwave.
Well, that’s it for Issue #216 – 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 me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net, or visit Inter Alia and sign up there! If you no longer want to receive the newsletter, just click on the link at the bottom of this newsletter.
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 tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net.