June 4, 2006

Welcome to Issue #235 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!

This will be the last issue for a few weeks. Next week I'll be in Toronto planning for next year's ABA TECHSHOW. The week after that I'll be in rehearsals for Bar None, the great show we put on here in June.

Bar None is a follies-type show, with Dallas-area lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals singing, dancing, and generally making fools of them(our)selves. We have a great time, and all the funds raised go to charity. This year's show is titled "The Chronicles of (Bar) Nonia: The Liar, the Snitch, and the Dark Robe." Our performances are June 21, 22, 23, 24 at the Greer Garson Theatre on the SMU campus -- if you're in the Dallas area on those dates, visit www.barnoneshow.com to buy your tickets.

Create a Graph
Here's another extension of the Web 2.0-type Office products we've seen a lot of lately -- Create a Graph is a product of the National Center for Education Statistics -- so it's for kids and students, but that doesn't mean we can't use it, too. You can create 2-D, 3-D, or drop-shadow graphs, and you can export them to PDF, JPG, or other image formats. Just fill in the blanks with your data, and you're off.

Easily Plan that Global Conference Call
If you're like me, you have a heck of a time scheduling international conference calls. Okay, so I never schedule international conference calls. If I did, I'm sure I'd have a heck of a time doing it. Thank goodness the World Clock Meeting Planner would be there to help me out. All I would have to do is enter the date of the meeting, and up to four locations around the world. Then I'll get a listing of times for that day, where it's easy to see which times are during waking hours. Not sure what I'd do if I had to schedule *five* locations, but it's still a useful site.

Blawgs of the Week
As usual, another great crop of law-related weblogs this week. Here are a few of them:

I don't often use the Footnote/Endnote function in Microsoft Word, but it undeniably useful to provide additional information in a compact and efficient way. To add a footnote in a Word document, just place your cursor where the note should be placed, then click the Insert menu and select Reference, then Footnote. Make sure the Footnote button is selected, unless you want to make it an Endnote. Adjust the format to your liking, and click OK.

If you want to easily add a footnote, the shortcut is ALT+CTRL+F. For an endnote, the shortcut is ALT+CTRL+D.

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!

American Diabetes Association
About 7% of the U.S. population have diabetes. This site is designed to provide research information, as well as helpful information for diabetics. There are sections on Nutrition and Recipes, Weight Loss and Exercise, and Diabetes Prevention. The Diabetes Research section will give you access to databases and some great research materials; the Diabetes Dictionary is also a great resource. Of course you're able to donate money through the web site, or find diabetes-related activities in your community.

The Center for Jury Studies
Part of the National Center for State Courts, the CJS engages in research to identify practices that promotes broader participation in the jury system, and respects and utilizes jurors' contributions to the justice system. Subscribe to the Jur-E Bulletin, a weekly newsletter with news of happenings in the "jury world," or just review research on various jury topics such as Jury Management, Innovations, Decision-Making, Jury Selection, Outreach, and more.

Corporate Crime Reporter ($$)
The CCR is a legal print newsletter, and here you'll find highlights from the publication. The newsletter is read by prosecutors, white-collar and corporate crime defense law firms, trial lawyers, major corporations, law libraries, and large media outlets. The home page also contains reports on corporate crime and news interviews, all of which are available for free. Subscriptions range between $595-$795/year.

DOMA Watch
DOMA stands for the Defense of Marriage Act, and with the administration readying a new push for a marriage amendment, this area of law is particularly topical. Here you can read about current laws and litigation involving Defense of Marriage Acts, as well as those states expected to pass marriage amendments in 2006. You can search by state, circuit, or view the latest news on the subject.

DivorceInfo
Lee Borden is a lawyer and divorce mediator living in Birmingham, Alabama. His simply-designed site provides useful, practical information on divorce and its consequences. Good information here for lawyers who don't practice family law, as well as family law clients wanting to know more about the process.

I have mentioned GetHuman before, but the site has expanded and improved in the past year or so. GetHuman is for everyone who hates waiting on the phone for customer support; just find the company you're trying to call, and GetHuman will provide you will directions for getting to a human operator, with much less hassle.

Well, that’s it for Issue #235 – 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.

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Questions? New websites? Just want to talk? Send me an e-mail at tom(at)inter-alia(dot)net.