Analysis of the Passage of Prop 8 by the California First Amendment Coalition

The California First Amendment Coalition has posted a commentary on the passage of Proposition 8 and what it means for the California Supreme Court here.

Top 25 Legal Films

"Earlier this year, the ABA Journal asked 12 prominent lawyers who teach film or are con­nected to the business to choose what they regard as the best movies ever made about lawyers and the law. We’ve collated their various nominees to produce our jury’s top picks. Together these films represent 31 Oscar wins and another 85 nominations as befits the best work of some of the greatest actors, writers and directors of their time." (http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/the_25_greatest_legal_movies/)

The results of this poll were published in the August issue of the ABA Journal. We purchased most of these films (a couple were not available in DVD) for the law library.

So, for your viewing pleasure, check out one of the following:

12 Angry Men
A Civil Action
A Few Good Men
A Man for All Seasons
Amistad
Anatomy of a Murder
And Justice for All
Breaker Morant
Chicago
Compulsion
Erin Brockovich
In the Name of the Father
Inherit the Wind
Judgment at Nuremberg (the classic version with Spencer Tracy)
Kramer vs. Kramer
My Cousin Vinny
Philadelphia
Presumed Innocent
Reversal of Fortune
The Paper Chase
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Verdict
Witness for the Prosecution

Law students and faculty may check out a movie for 24 hours. Enjoy your weekend!

OPAC Down Time Notice

Down Time Notice - GGU Library online catalog will be down to perform network upgrades during the following time: Monday, November 17, from 9:00 p.m. through Tuesday, November 18 at 5:00 a.m. During this time access to online databases listed on University and Law Library web sites will not be available. Please plan your work accordingly.

FIRST FLOOR IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

The first floor renovation, including the new reading room, is complete and we hope you are as delighted with it as we are! The reading room is a large, well-lit, VERY QUIET study space. Open reserve is now on the first floor as well, along with all staff offices.

The BASEMENT level is open and accessible from the first floor, down the hallway and taking either the stairwell or the elevator. The basement level lab is open. And if your files are on a flash drive, we also have a plug & print station set up next to the photocopier on the first floor.

The PLAZA level is now closed for renovation and is scheduled to re-open at the start of the Spring semester. It will host additional group study rooms, additional study carrels, and a new computer lab.

Thank you all for your patience during this construction time, but we think you'll agree that the results are well worth it!

Construction Update and Scheduled Closures

Renovation of the first floor level continues on schedule and we will be moving upstairs the weekend of October 18-19. Toward that end, the law library will CLOSE on Friday, October 17 at 3pm and will remain closed all weekend. Monday morning, October 20, we will open at 7:30am with the new entrance on the first floor. We are all very excited about the new space, and you will love the new reading room! Reference, Open Reserve, California practice materials and staff offices will be re-located to the first floor.

The PLAZA LEVEL will then be CLOSED from October 17 at 3pm until the beginning of the spring semester. The plaza level will be renovated with new carpeting, shelving, additional study carrels space, two additional group study rooms, and a renovated computer lab. We will move the most-used California materials to the first floor during this time, but please be aware that California case reporters and legislative materials will be in storage for approximately 8 weeks. We will help you find necessary documents online or from another source if needed.

The BASEMENT LEVEL remains open during this time, and will be accessible via the stairwell or elevator.

Thank you for your patience during this time of construction. The noise will soon be over and forgotten as you study in our fresh, new areas.

Journal of private international law

We now have access to this journal online through the publisher. Just search for the title, "Journal of private international law" through our online catalog: http://library.ggu.edu and click on the link provided.

US State and City Administrative Codes

Code City links to US state and city administrative codes. Most are safety, building and energy codes. A great resource if you need the New Mexico Building Code, for example.

BOOKS FOR SALE

From time to time the Law Library offers used or recycled books for sale for $2. The sale cart is now available in the reference area on the Plaza level.

SPECIAL HOURS

We are getting closer and closer to the opening of the Law Library Reading Room on the first floor. We do need to take some time to move offices and books, so the schedule for the law library during moving days is:

Friday, October 17: We will close at 3:00 pm.
Saturday & Sunday, October 18-19: We will be CLOSED ALL DAY.
Monday, October 20: The new entrance to the Law Library will be open on the first floor!

Please ask if you have any questions. Thank you.

Welcome New & Returning Students!

Fall classes are set to begin. Welcome to GGU, or welcome back, as the case may be. Please remember that your reference librarians are here to help, and we relish (indeed, relish!) your questions. We live to serve!

Homeland Security Digital Library

As a member of the Federal Depository Library Program, we now have access to the Homeland Security Digital Library. "The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) is the nation's premier collection of documents relating to homeland security policy, strategy, and organizational management. The HSDL supports federal, state, local, and tribal analysis and decision-making needs, and assists academics of all disciplines in homeland defense and security related research."

You can access the HSDL here, or here and scroll down to the HSDL.

HeinOnline Continues to Dazzle!

Updates from HeinOnline:

This month marks the completion of the U.S. Congressional Record Bound Volumes into HeinOnline. HeinOnline is now the first and only online database to contain the complete Congressional Record Bound Volumes.

Also this month, with the addition of our new feature "Articles that Cite this Article" in the Law Journal Library, we have been able to gather data that gives us insight into the most cited journal titles and articles in HeinOnline. We have created a list of our top 30 most cited journal titles, along with a list of our most cited journal articles. Click here for list.


We are excited to announce the release of our newest research tool, MyHein. Check out the features of this new tool below.

• Bookmark articles and search results
• Create tags for your results
• Save search queries to quickly run the same search next time you're logged in
• Easy to use with several help guides available

Law Journal Library - Browse & Search by Subject/U.S. State/Country

Researchers will find an exciting new enhancement, subject searching, in the Law Journal Library. This new tool will give researchers the ability to search or browse journal titles by subject, country, or state. There are more than 80 subjects to choose from, with many of the journals classified into multiple subjects. For help using this new feature, visit our "How To" help guide.

Searchable PDFs

Searchable PDFs are now available in 21 HeinOnline libraries. Researchers will now find this enhancement in: American Association of Law Libraries, Association of American Law Schools, Foreign Relations of the United States, Harvard Research in International Law, U.S. Federal Legislative History Library, U.S. Presidential Library, U.S. Statutes at Large Library, U.S. Supreme Court Library, Treaties and Agreements Library. Please take a moment to watch a quick video on the benefits and advantages of using searchable PDFs. Click Here For Video.

White House emails do NOT fall under FOIA rules

"Today, D.C. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued an opinion in CREW v. Office of Administration, finding that the Office of Administration (OA) is not an agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). In May 2007, CREW sued OA for records regarding missing White House e-mail and the office’s assessment of the scope of the problem. After initially agreeing to provide records, OA changed course and claimed it was not an agency and, therefore, had no obligation to comply with the FOIA. OA made this claim despite the fact that even the White House’s own website described OA as an agency and included regulations for processing FOIA requests." Judge Kollar's biography is here.

CCH Pension Library

The law library now subscribes to CCH's Pension library. Just go to http://www.ggu.edu/lawlibrary/virtual and click on CCH Internet Research Network: Pension Library. You will be prompted for your email address, then just click on the "Pension" tab. The database is available to law students, faculty and staff.

The ~In re. Marriages~ case

The official citation for this case is 43 Cal. 4th 757. Just so you know...

Law Library Construction Update

Construction has begun, and progress will be reported here from time to time. Above is a floorplan for the first floor law library expansion, which we expect to open to staff and patrons toward November, 2008. The new first floor will consist of a large reading room, seating about 100, with nearby circulation and reference areas, as well as more efficient technical service staff space, on the left of this drawing.

There will be two restrooms on this floor, near the elevator, and the circular stairs shown in the left hand middle of this drawing will be used to travel from the first floor down to the plaza and basement levels.

Once the first floor is complete, we will move, and the plaza level will be closed for its upgrade. The plaza area office space, behind what is now the Circulation Desk, will be replaced with about 73 student carrels. The plaza, and therefore the entire law library, should be completed by late December, 2008.

Entering the Plaza Level Lab

Visitors to the P-90 lab will enter an empty ante-room, which will remain empty, until plumbing, hvac, and other fixtures are installed in the ceiling above, for service on the first floor.

Law Library Construction News

We are delighted to announce that the Plaza Level Computer Lab, P-90, re-opened for out patrons on May 27, 2008, the first day of summer classes. Those visiting P-90 will notice that there are now 13 personal computers instead of 15, and the Macintoshes have gone. New Macintoshes are on the way, and will reside in room B-2, in the law library basement, until construction is complete.

New White Paper from "Human Rights First"

In Pursuit of Justice: Prosecuting Terrorist Cases in the Federal Court, is a new paper from the organization Human Rights First.

This paper presents "some much-needed practical information on how the U.S. criminal justice system has worked in the past and should work in the future... This White Paper gives a detailed demonstration of the strengths and capacities of the federal criminal justice system to try individuals accused of terrorism and other threats to national security."

On the 100 Most Creative Moments in American Law

Thinking About Law and Creativity: On the 100 Most Creative Moments in American Law, by Robert F. Blomquist, Valparaiso University School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series. Draft article is available here: http://abajournal.com/files/100CreativeMoments.pdf

From the abstract: "In most cultural contexts creativity is viewed as an unalloyed virtue. Law is different: given the inherently conservative and slow-moving pace of legal evolution, innovation in the law is viewed by many observers as problematic. Yet American revolutionaries, constitutionalists, legislators, chief executives, judges, administrators, scholars and activists have creatively changed the law for over two centuries in mostly positive ways with some admittedly questionable innovations. This article makes a bold new proposal - the articulation and ranking of America's most creative legal moments - designed to energize and clarify our synoptic thinking about the nature of legal creativity."

California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban

The article may be found here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080515/ap_on_re_us/gay_marriage
and here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/15/BAGAVNC5K.DTL

The case is In re Marriage Cases, S147999 and the ruling is here: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S147999.PDF, all 172 pages of it.

Prof. Hartnell's Newest Article

Helen Hartnell's new article, Living La Vida Lex Mercatoria, has been published in the XII N.S. Uniform Law Review at 733-760 (2007).

As many of you already know, this journal is the highly regarded bilingual Uniform Law Review / Revue de Droit Uniforme, which is the oldest and most widely read journal in the world on the harmonization and unification of law, published by Rome-based UNIDROIT (i.e., the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law). UNIDROIT is currently an independent international organization, and was founded in 1926 as a specialized agency of the League of Nations.

Prof. Benedetto's New Article

Professor Michele Benedetto has a new article on the immigration court system, Crisis on the Immigration Bench: An Ethical Perspective, 73 Brooklyn Law Review (2008). Here's the abstract from SSRN:

The troubled status of the immigration court system has garnered much attention from scholars, appellate judges, and even the United States Attorney General. This article suggests a new lens through which to examine the acknowledged crisis in immigration courts: judicial ethics. Because the term judicial ethics encompasses a broad array of principles, the article narrows its focus to bias and incompetence on the part of immigration judges in the courtroom.

Immigration judges operate as a unique judiciary under the Executive Branch of government. An examination of the modern immigration court system, including inadequate disciplinary procedures for immigration judges, reveals that the existing structural crisis has substantial implications for judicial ethics. Evidence of biased and incompetent judicial conduct has been found in statistics showing inconsistent decisions and cases reviewed by circuit courts. Recognizing the breadth and severity of the problem, the Attorney General proposed new ethical Codes of Conduct for immigration judges in June 2007. However, the proposed Codes are weakened by their lack of specificity and enforceability. Accordingly, the article recommends reforms designed to encourage unbiased and competent judicial behavior. Implementation of these reforms will initiate the process of restoring the ethical integrity of the immigration bench.

Who Says the Law Isn't Funny?

Check out these cases for a chuckle, and practice your online retrieval skills at the same time:

"Once upon a time, in lands far, far away, lived strange but cuddly creatures that became involved in a struggle for identity." Selmon v. Hasbro Bradley, Inc., 669 F.Supp. 1267 (S.D.N.Y.,1987).

The farting doll case: JCW Investments v Novelty, Inc. Inc., 482 F 3d 910 (7th Circ 2007).

"Who you gonna call?" Stambovsky v. Ackley, 169 A.D.2d 254, 572 N.Y.S.2d 672 (N.Y.A.D.,1991).

U. S. ex rel. Mayo v. Satan and his Staff, 54 F.R.D. 282 (1971).

May Construction Scheduled

To install the two unisex restrooms on the floor above the plaza level, plumbing must be installed this summer.
On Monday, May 5th, the ceiling panels in the back law library staff offices and meeting area will be removed. This should not affect library patrons, as most construction is to take place after hours.
On Monday, May 12th, the plaza level computer lab, Room P-90, will be reconfigured. Five computers will be moved out, and a temporary wall installed, creating a smaller lab. A number of computers and printers will remain, but we anticipate sending overflow lab patrons to the 4th floor computer labs, or to the law library basement computer lab, in room B-4.
The ceiling in the plaza level lab will be removed, and the plumbing installed. The plaza computer lab will return to its original configuration by the end of the year.

Lots of Changes in Store - SOON

The much-anticipated law library expansion is scheduled to take place this year in two major parts, and several minor ones.
From May until the end of October, the first floor, directly above the law library's plaza level, is being emptied and will be refitted to law library needs. When the first floor is open for business in early November, there will be a 100-seat reading room, circulation desk, reference desk, and law library staff offices. There will also be two unisex restrooms, near where the service elevator is located, at the Jessie Street end of the library.
From November 1 until New Year's Eve, the plaza level will be redone. Staff offices will be replaced with about 70 student carrels. Some new shelving will be added, existing shelving will be anchored and expanded, and the carpet replaced. During the plaza level redo, only the first floor and the basement of the law library will be open -- the plaza level will be completely sealed off, to prevent dust from spreading.

Harvard Research in International Law

The Harvard Research in International Law is now available through Hein Online. Go here: http://www.ggu.edu/lawlibrary/virtual and click on "Hein Online" for immediate access.

Lots of Changes in Store!

We’re sure you are aware that the Jesse Street building reconstruction is complete. The offices above the law library on the first floor have moved to their new location in the Jesse Street building. The renovation of the first floor has begun! The heavy work—drilling, pounding, hammering, pounding, and more pounding is mostly scheduled for the night shift so there should be minimal disturbance during law library hours.

We are very excited about the new space. The main entrance to the law library will move to the first floor and we are sure you will be delighted with the new light and airy reading room and reference area. We expect to open the first floor expansion the first week of November. Once that phase is complete, the Plaza level will then be renovated to upgrade the study space and add additional study carrels.

Welcome to Our New Blog!

The law library has retired our paper/.pdf newsletter, Notes From the Underground, and has joined the 21^st century blogging world. Our blog is currently “read only” and we hope to keep students and faculty up to date on events in a timely fashion as we enter the next phase of the library renovation and expansion.