Digital Commons

The Law Library is pleased to announce the availability of our new institutional repository: "Digital Commons: The Legal Scholarship Repository @ Golden Gate University School of Law". Our new Digital Commons is hosted by BePress, the premier vendor for this type of academic project.

The purpose of the Digital Commons is to archive and make publicly available the intellectual work produced by GGU School of Law faculty, students, clinics and programs. It is not a substitute for a web page and although the interface makes it look like a web site, think of it more as a database - one that is searchable via Google.

So far we have loaded faculty publications for which we have received the publisher's permission, papers produced by the clinics and conferences, and some of the LLM and SJD student theses. We have loaded all issues of the GGU Environmental Law Journal and are in the process of loading the 40 volumes of the GGU Law Review. If you are aware of other publications, speeches or documents that you believe are appropriate for this archive, please let me know.

Going forward, we will populate all the areas of our Digital Commons as we are able to digitize the materials, as well as add new faculty publications as they become available. Please don't hesitate to ask a law librarian if you have any questions about this project. We are very excited about this project, and believe it will enhance the visibility and reputation of the GGU School of Law.

Faculty Scholarship Updates

Updates from a post by Prof. Eric Christiansen:

First of all, I want to congratulate the many faculty members who made (and are still making) significant progress on publishable scholarship this summer. Your work directly benefits the school and our students and some of you have even told me you are enjoying it! So thanks and congratulations to Mark Yates, Leslie Rose, Wes Porter, Chester Chuang and everyone else who spent the summer arguing with sources, questioning the sanity of the citation system and advancing our thinking about the law. I mention the names above only because those are folks I have talked to directly. But thanks and "great work" to all of you.

Reaching back a few months, congratulations to Susan Rutberg who was convinced to share her skill and knowledge in two presentations: "Best Practices in Supervising Law Students" on May 26th at the SF District Attorney's office, and "Cultural Competency and Low Income Clients" on May 27th for the BASF's Homeless Advocacy Project's Legal Intern Training.

Also several weeks ago (and as a follow up to their Spring presentation to GGU real property alums) articles were published by Jon Sylvester and Roger Bernhardt on the supreme court's recent decision on illusory contracts in CEB's Real Property Law Reporter.

Since many of us were teaching or writing (or both) this summer, I want to make sure to highlight that the inaugural publication of The IP Law Book Review, a new electronic publication from the GGU IP Law Center, was made available online this summer. The IP Law Book Review aims to become a premiere journal of reviews of current books focusing on IP law and policy--primarily scholarly and academic press books, but also high-quality, practice-oriented books. Reviews are authored by leading law professors and lawyers around the country. This is a tremendous resource for IP lawyers, practitioners and students -- and a huge boon to the reputation of the GGU IP Law Center and the Law School! Thanks so much to Bill Gallagher and Chester Chuang (the editors) and to everyone else who made it a reality. Very impressive!

In related news, the IP Law Center's website at http://gguiplc.com/home is fantastic and I encourage everyone to take a look at it. Among the highlights, links to the very professional and insightful substantive law blog by our own Marc Greenberg (see it also at http://ipbuzz.blogspot.com/ ). The IP Law Center is strong evidence of the strength of the IP program here at GGU and we should all be proud of it. In other news, Marc also presented "Recapturing Copyright for Gold and Silver Age Comic Book Creators" at last month's Comics Arts Conference, a part of the humongous San Diego ComicCon event. (Fun gig, Marc!)

Later this week the Water Law Symposium (for which Paul Kibel has been a faculty advisor since its inception in 2004) will receive the "Student Program of the Year" award from the American Bar Association's Section on Environment, Energy and Resources. Just one of the many ways GGU will get to "shine" (That's for you, Dan!) at the ABA conference this week.

And Dru Ramey will be featured or present at innumerable events at this week's ABA conference. I'd particularly like to highlight 1) her participation in the Perceptions of Justice Program (here at GGU at 2:00pm this Thursday), 2) her delivery of the keynote speech at the National Conference of Women’s Bar Associations day long event, Transforming Law, Transforming Lives, and 3) her participation on the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession Program: From Generation to Generation: Remarkable Women Leaders. (Something that describes her perfectly!) Please remember there will also be a GGU reception at 5pm Friday at the Marriott (Sierra Suite, Fifth Floor) on Fourth Street.

Last week, Rachel Van Cleave was a star on the Chicago Public Radio discussion of laws related to sexual violence prosecution. It is a fascinating discussion and a wonderful performance by Rachel: http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/Program_WV.aspx?episode=43453 Thanks, Rachel--very professional and insightful.

Susan Rutberg published a very erudite opinion piece regarding the upcoming judicial election in last Friday's Daily Journal and it also appeared in Monday's Recorder. An excellent counterpoint to the argument that sitting judges should not be challenged electorally.

Finally, good news from Leslie Rose, who received the printed copies of her excellent Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy article, "The Supreme Court and Gender-Neutral Language," and to Eric Christiansen, who received copies of his Journal of Gender, Race & Justice article, "Transformative Constitutionalism in South Africa." I know either one of us would be happy to provide you with a copy! Let us know.