Associate Professor Knott Contributes to Books on Librarianship

Associate Professor Christopher Knott has recently been asked to contribute to two important projects. Professor Knott has been asked to contribute a chapter to an Aspatore/Thomson West book called Inside the Minds: The Changing Role of Academic Librarianship, which will be written by several academic law library directors. He also has been asked to contribute an article on teaching advanced legal research for a Legal Reference Services Quarterly symposium issue on the role of librarians in the law school curriculum. Both the book and symposium issue are scheduled for publication later this year.

In addition, Professor Knott was recently asked by the ABA to join the group of faculty members serving as ABA site team members for law schools undergoing the sabbatical accreditation process; he will serve as a site team member beginning in Fall 2008.

Hepler Article Published

Christine Helpler's article "Researching Initiatives and Referenda: A Guide for Maine" was recently published in Legal References Services Quarterly. The article discusses the history of the initiative and referendum processes in Maine, and provides a detailed bibliography of research materials on the Maine initiative and referendum processes.

A New Search Engine to Find Attorneys On The Internet

There is a new attorney-search resource available on the Internet. Avvo launched yesterday and like FindLaw and LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, it offers users search tools to find lawyers in different categories and in different locales.

According to Avvo CEO Mark Britton, there is still room on the internet for Avvo’s services because there still isn’t an online service that provides sufficient ratings, reviews, search tools and processes that will “hold consumers' hands through the process of researching and choosing the right lawyer.”

Avvo has developed a three step process to guide users through the task of choosing an attorney and has its own unique ranking system for individual lawyers. To formulate its rankings, Avvo has created an equation that brings in ratings from users, other lawyers and publicly available databases such as state bar associations. Right now, Avvo contains records from ten states currently, and in about 110 practice areas. The attorney rankings are based on experience, education, or any slaps on the wrist they may have received while practicing.

Furthermore, Mr. Britton claims that his database includes the disciplinary history for every lawyer for ever state Avvo covers and eventually will have disciplinary history for for every lawyer in the country. Another interesting feature of this database is that lawyers are allowed to go in and add information about themselves to bolster their listing and also feed into the rating they get. Lawyers will be able to do this on Avvo by registering with a credit card, vouching for their own identity and then populating their profiles with anything they think will lend credence, trustworthiness, or marketing benefit to their profiles.

Source: Search Engine Watch

Ask.com Releases Ask3D

Ask.com®, has released Ask3D, a redesigned version of Ask.com. According to the company's press release, "Ask3D includes powerful new search technology, an innovative three-panel design, and unique new features that give people what they need, faster. With the new version of Ask.com, people get the most relevant and customized information they need from the best range of content available, including videos and music clips, and makes it all immediately accessible on one page. Ask3D replaces the previous version of Ask.com and is now available at www.ask.com." Check it out.

Source: beSpacific

7th Circuit Wiki

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has created a wiki for court business. Anyone wanting to edit pages needs to supply their real name and confirm their email address. Their wiki provides a link to the Practitioner's Handbook and a detailed discussion of the appealability of a decision. There isn't a great deal of information available at this time but it should be interesting to watch how this develops and whether other courts will follow the 7th Circuit's lead. Check it out.

LLRX All New

Law Library Resources Exchange has updated its website. The best of the old site, like the Court Rules Forms and Dockets database remains the same but the new site is now part of an open source content management system, Drupal, providing enhanced layout, navigation and usability. The new LLRX also provides more options for accessing many of the source materials that are hallmarks of the site. This is accomplished via drop down menus that appear on the top navigation bar, topical navigation choices that consistently appear on the far right hand side of each page, and by employing the new Google Custom Search so that readers may query for content on LLRX and beSpacific (the author, Sabrina Pacifici's blog on law and technology news), or for results from the legal web. Also, a "printer friendly" option has been added to make it easier to read articles once you have printed them.

Authors may submit an article directly to Ms. Pacifici at time.

Source: beSpacific

Climate Change in the Northwest Atlantic

The Center for Law and Innovation wrapped up its conference Climate Change In The Northwest Atlantic this weekend. The purpose of this conference was to discuss how climate change affects living resources and fisheries governance in the Northwest Atlantic. The attendees were scientists, economists, policymakers, and journalists who discussed the challenges of public communication and public policy in the face of scientific uncertainty and unpredictable change.

If you want to know more about the proceedings, the conference blog is online at http://lawandinnovation.blogspot.com/.

Lecture by Harvard Professor Lucie White

On Wednesday April 11, the University of Maine School of Law will host a lecture by Harvard Professor Lucie White, entitled "Hewing Stones of Hope: African Lawyers Reclaim Human Rights To Challenge Global Poverty." This lecture will take place at 4:00pm in the Middle Classroom at the University of Maine School of Law.

This lecture will explore the new African human rights movement, highlighting how it is creating a new paradigm of human rights theory and practice, one that has far reaching implications for social justice advocacy across the globe.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact Jenna Adley in the Dean's Office.

2007 MAPIL Auction

The Maine Association of Public Interest Law (MAPIL) will hold its annual auction on Thursday April 5, from 5:00pm to 8:00pm at the Abromson Center on the Portland Campus of the University of Southern Maine. There will be both a silent auction as well as a live auction.The proceeds of the auction will fund summer fellowships enabling law students to do important public interest legal work in the community. If you would like to make a donation or if you have any questions, you can contact MAPIL at 207-780-4385. Hope to see you there!

Law School Rankings Are Out--Where is Maine Law

The US New & World Report rankings of law schools is out. The complete list can be found at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/lawindex_brief.php. Check out where UMaine is!

Supreme Judicial Court Announces New Opinion Publishing Procedures

In order to provide greater predictability in the publication of Law Court opinions, and to make it easier for the public to know when to look for opinions, the Supreme Judicial Court will publish opinions two days per week, beginning October 31, 2006. Opinions will be published at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Source: Maine Judicial Branch website http://www.courts.state.me.us/news/index.html

A New Way to Stay Current--Law In 10

Here’s an interesting way to stay current on the latest legal issues. California Western School of Law has created Law In 10, 10 minute podcasts on current legal issues. The show is divided into two segments, each featuring a different legal expert and topic of interest. Listeners are able to receive a free weekly subscription using RSS feeds, with aggregators such as iTunes, Google, and Yahoo. Listeners may also listen to podcasts directly from the California Western Web site.

Source: Law Librarian Blog

Same day availability of USSC Oral Arguments Available on Court's Website

The court reporter of the United States Supreme Court has made transcripts of the oral arguments available on the Court's website on the day of the argument. These transcripts are considered "official" but subject to final review. The transcripts are available for cases from the October 2000 term forward.

AALL has commended Chief Justice Roberts for making these available on the day of the argument, saying it is evidence of his desire to take advantage of the technology available and to promote greater access to Court information.

Click here to explore Court's database.

Click here to read AALL President Sally Holterhoff's letter to the Chief Justice.

United States Supreme Court Rules on Use of Unpublished Opinions

The Supreme Court adopted a rule change that will allow lawyers to cite unpublished opinions in federal courts starting next year.

Here is the article from law.com.

Finding Better Results on Google

From Google Librarian comes a downloadable document that provides tips and tricks to help Google users get better search results. You may be familiar with some of these, like putting phrase in quotation marks to search on the exact phrase. But some of them were new to me. For example you can find the meaning of words by typing define: followed by the word you would like defined. You can search for web pages that link to a specific page by typing link: followed by the web address of the page you are interested in.

Check it out and try some of the searches!

http://www.google.com/librariancenter/librarian_download.html.

Source: Google Librarian Newsletter

You can subscribe to the Google Librarian Newsletter by going to
http://www.google.com/librariancenter/index.html

Looking for New Things To Try

In his most recent column, 43 Things I (or You) Might Want To Do This Year, Steve Abrams, writes about the website 43 Things which allows you to put your "To Do" list online, edit it and check things off as you do them. You can keep your list private or have it available for the public to see. If you can't think of 43 things to do, Mr. Abrams makes suggestions.

The URL for 43 Things is http://www.43things.com. Check it out!

You can read Mr. Abrams article at http://www.sirsi.com/Pdfs/Company/Abram/InfoTech_Feb2006.pdf

Enjoy!

Source: LLNE News (http://llne.blogspot.com/)

USSC Hears Arguments in S.D. Warren Case

On February 21, 2006, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments in S.D. Warren Company v. Maine Board of Environmental Protection. A brief summary of the facts and the question before the Court follow.

The Facts:

In order to obtain a federal license to operate the dams it owns along the Presumpscot River in Cumberland County, SD Warren was required to obtain a water quality certification from the State of Maine. This certification established conditions to ensure the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of the river and these requirements were incorporated into the federal license that FERC issued to the company. The S.D. Warren Company filed a series of appeals opposing this certification, ending with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, which upheld the Superior Court decision in favor of the State of Maine and the certification requirements.

Question Before The Court

The question before the United States Supreme Court is whether hydroelectric facilities, which block rivers to form reservoirs and divert, channel and release that water through pipes, gates, and canals into the river downstream, result in “any discharge into the navigable waters” within the meaning of Section 401 of the Clean Water Act.

Law Court Opinion & Briefs to the USSC

The opinion of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court can be accessed at http://www.courts.state.me.us/opinions/2005%20documents/05me27sd.pdf


The following links provide access to the briefs in the case.

Brief of Respondent American Rivers and Friends of the Presumpscot River

Brief of Respondent Maine Board of Environmental Protection

Brief for Petitioner S.D. Warren

Amicus Brief from State Attorneys General

Amicus Brief from Former Assistant Admin. of the EPA

Amicus Brief from Senator Jeffers in Support of Respondent

Amicus Brief from Tribes in Support of Respondent

Amicus Brief from Scientists in Support of Respondent MBEP

Amicus Brief from NGO’s in Support of Respondent

Amicus Brief from Anglers in Support of Respondent

Amicus Brief from Edison Electric, et al in Support of Petitioner

Amicus Brief from Western Urban Water Coalition

I was unable to find a free version of the Amicus Briefs from Augusta, Georgia, from the National Association of Homebuilders or from the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power district. They are available on LexisNexis but a password is required to access the briefs.

State Legislative History Guide

The Indiana University School of Law Library has created an online guide to state legislative history research guides available on the Internet. This guide lists states alphabetically and provides links to all available online legislative history guides for that state. It is a simple single page site that is easy to navigate. This site is a great place to start your legislative history research!

http://www.law.indiana.edu/library/services/sta_leg.shtml



Source: InSITE (A Service of the Cornell Law Library) http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library

Traveling Down Memory Lane

David Lara, a Library Assistant II at the Garbrecht Law Library, is soon to be traveling down memory lane. This fall David will travel the country with Buddy Holly impersonator, John Mueller, on the Winter Dance Party Tour. John Mueller is the most well-known Buddy Holly impersonators in the United States. This year David will join the tour as Ritchie Valens. The Winter Dance Party Tour honors the music of Buddy Holly, J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, and Ritchie Valens. All died in a 1959 plane crash, a tragedy immortalized as "the day the music died" in Don McLean’s classic "American Pie."

David began honing his musical talent at age 12 when he bought his first guitar and started teaching himself the music of the 50’s that he performs today. While pursuing a major in Anthropology at Connecticut College and continuing to work on his music, David began a long association with libraries. He started working part-time in the Charles E. Shain Library on campus and continued there through his senior year, working on a wide variety of projects.

After graduation, David moved to Maine and started looking for a job. His four years of experience at the Shain Library made him an excellent candidate for an opening at the Garbrecht Law Library and he was quickly hired. Shortly afterwards, David met Wayne "T-Bone" Smith and the band David Angel & The Memories was born. Since 2002 the band has had great success performing up and down the New England coast.

All the staff of the Garbrecht Law Library at the University of Maine School of Law wish David much success.

Websites of interest:
David Angel & The Memories
http://www.davidangelandthememories.com/

For information about John Mueller
http://www.yourbuddyjohn.com/

Legislative History in Maine and New Hampshire

Are you trying to do legislative history for a Maine or New Hampshire statute? Need some help? Susan H. Paschell's recent article, The State of Online Legislative Research and What Makes a Good Legislative History is now on LLRX. In this article, the author provides information on how a bill becomes a law, finding bill numbers, sessions laws and committee records for each state. This is a great starting point for legislative research in these two states! (Source: LLNE News Blog)