INTERNET LEGAL
RESEARCH WEEKLY
May 7, 2006
Tom
Mighell
Welcome to Issue #231 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!
Podcasting on Podcasting
The second episode of The Kennedy-Mighell Report is up, and this one is a live recording of our presentation Podcasting for Lawyers, at the 2006 ABA TECHSHOW. Dennis used a little portable microphone, so the quality is not perfect, but you can still get the gist. We had a good time giving this presentation. The next episode should be up later this week -- yes, another TECHSHOW-related podcast. After that we'll talk about other stuff, we promise.Blawgs of the Week
Here's a selection of some of the best law-related weblogs I mentioned on Inter Alia this week:
- The Nutritional and Dietary Supplement Law Blog is devoted to litigation and regulation of dietary supplements and the law. It's brought to you by Joel Rothman, a litigation and intellectual property attorney with the Boca Raton firm of Rutherford Mulhall.
- Human Law is the blog of Justin Patten, a Solicitor in the United Kingdom. He's talking about law, technology, and people there.
- Christina Imre is publishing the Appellate Strategist, which she intends as "a platform for sharing information and emerging information of note relating to appellate law and punitive damage awards."
In April 2005, the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, otherwise known as BAPCPA, was passed in Congress. David Rosendorf's BAPCPA Blog will follow the implementation of this legislation as its provisions are interpreted and applied by the courts.- And Ben Cowgill, who has already been blogging away at Ben Cowgill on Legal Ethics, wasn't content with just one blog. So he's "advancing the oldest traditions of independent law practice, using the newest advances in information technology" at his new SoloBlawg.
- The BC Criminal Law Blog is brought to you by the folks at Stern and Albert, a British Columbia firm practicing, as you might expect, criminal defense law.
And from the Crime Attorneys, a nationwide law firm working exclusively in criminal defense, comes the Embezzlement Lawyer Blog, featuring news on this specific area of criminal law.
Help DeskI was planning on finishing up my series on Spring Cleaning this week, but I came across this nifty site -- so one more week of cleaning tips for you:
Keeping a Clean Desk(top)
It's happened to me innumerable times -- I'm looking over the shoulder of a colleague, looking at the computer screen, and he/she reduces all programs to the taskbar, exposing the desktop -- which is cluttered with so many icons I can't even begin to see the wallpaper behind. At this point I'm glad I'm standing behind, so the person cannot see me wince in pain.
You know who you are -- you like to keep downloaded files and lots of other shortcuts at hand, so you can easily access them. I am not one of these people. I like to keep as clean a desktop as possible; it's just one of my things.
If there's a neat freak inside you just bursting to get free, there's hope. Just follow the 4 Steps to Desktop Zen, and soon you'll be saying, "hey -- I didn't know I still had that picture as my wallpaper!"
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
Oyez -- U.S. Supreme Court Multimedia
Developed by some folks at Northwestern University and others, Oyez, is a multimedia guide to the U.S. Supreme Court. It contains over 2000 hours of Supreme Court audio, from cases dating back to 1995. Here you'll find info on the cases being argued before the Supremes, as well as links to other authoritative Supreme Court sites. Oyez makes good use of other Supreme Court resources, like the Supreme Court Podcast, memos from Mayer, Brown & Platt, and Justia's Supreme Court Center.Public Library of Science -- Biology
The Public Library of Science publishes this peer-reviewed, open-access journal on the biological sciences. The most recent stories are listed on the main page, with article highlights and links to the archives also being available. If you want to be notified when new articles are posted, subscribe to the site's RSS feed -- or if you're still stuck in 20th-century technology, you can receive e-mail alerts. :-)Public Papers of the Presidents
This is only one small part of the Government Printing Office site, but it's worthy of a mention all on its own. Here you can read the writings, addresses, and remarks of Presidents back to 1991. You can perform a quick search with keywords, or you can browse by President. The resources include a photographic portfolio in addition to the document index.Social Security Online
Okay, so I'm on a government kick this week -- but they have some great sites, so sue me if you don't like it. The Social Security site is no exception. Most of the links on the home page will take you to answers to questions about Social Security, divided into topics like Retirement, Medicare, Disability, Widows, Widowers and other Survivors, and more. The Resources area contains a number of useful links, including an e-newsletter and information on forms and publications. There's also a link for Attorneys, Representatives and Health Professionals that can get you relevant information in a hurry.Statute of Limitations by State
Edgar Snyder is a Pennsylvania lawyer, and his web site is quite extensive. One page is devoted to explaining the tort law statutes of limitation on a state-by-state basis. Just click on a state, and you'll learn how long you have to file a wrongful death, personal injury, medical malpractice, or products liability suit there.
Finally, a few fun and useful sites to begin your week:
Want to take more of an active role in taking care of your computer? PC Mechanic can help, with great articles and other resources on working with your PC.
Blueprint is a fun, addicting Flash game.
Well, that’s it for Issue #231 – 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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