Features and Columns — September, 2013

CongressLine: Running for Congress

Paul Jenks recounts how for the past two years he has run marathons and monitored Congress at the same time, describing how the two experiences are very similar. — Published May 9, 2008

LLRX Book Review by Heather A. Phillips - A Guide to HIPAA Security and the Law

Heather A. Phillips reviews Stephen S. Wu's book whose focus is coming into compliance with the recent and complex new HIPAA requirements. — Published May 7, 2008

Conrad Jacoby's E-Discovery Update: Attorneys, Experts, and E-Discovery Competence

Conrad J. Jacoby focuses on two recent cases that emphasize the credibility problems counsel can face in the context of e-discovery - and suggest that outside assistance may be the only way for some counsel to demonstrate that these materials are being managed in a competent and trustworthy way. — Published May 7, 2008

FOIA Facts - My Proposal: FOIA Litigation Reporting Requirements

Scott A. Hodes makes the case that there should be a reporting requirement for all FOIA lawsuits requiring agencies to inform a central FOIA Office the outcome of FOIA lawsuits. — Published May 7, 2008

April, 2008

Criminal Law Resources: Fingerprint Evidence Challenges

Ken Strutin's article includes selected resources published on the web concerning the reliability and admissibility of fingerprint evidence. Links to guides, standards and related materials are listed to provide some background on the processes and application of this identification technique. — Published April 4, 2008

The Social Networking Titans: Facebook and MySpace

With this article, librarians Deborah Ginsberg and Meg Kribble raise awareness about the different features provided by these services, and their respective impact on students, lawyers, public users, fellow professionals, and other patrons. — Published April 4, 2008

The Personal Information Trainer

Stuart Basefsky documents how the Personal Information Trainer can become a unique employee benefit written into the employment contract of key individuals deemed to be essential to the success of a firm or institution. This concept is useful to human resource managers, libraries, and the institutions they serve. This article provides the fundamental concepts and constructs necessary to implement such a program with an emphasis on why and how this should be done. — Published April 4, 2008

Update to Choosing Law Librarianship: Thoughts for People Contemplating a Career Move

From the perspective of several decades in the profession, Mary Whisner provides advice and specific data on what new law librarians should know about salaries, career opportunities, job responsibilities and challenges. — Published April 4, 2008

Living With the Asus Eee PC

Conrad J. Jacoby who wrote this review about the Eee, on his Eee, details the strengths and weaknesses of this popular lightweight PC, including its range of software applications, overall functionality, networking and connectivity, and the rationale for keeping his laptop. — Published April 4, 2008

Doing Legal Research in Canada

Ted Tjaden's comprehensive guide provides information and links to print and online resources and is aimed primarily at researchers outside of Canada needing an overview of Canadian legal research. — Published April 4, 2008

The Tao of Law Librarianship: If the Books Go, Will They Still Want Us?

Connie Crosby's column returns with an insightful clarion call about the work in which we must engage now, collectively, to clarify, market and invigorate our profession. — Published April 4, 2008

Conrad Jacoby's E-Discovery Update: Minimizing E-Mail Archive Data Conversion Issues

According to Conrad J. Jacoby e-mail conversion is done without a second thought in many e-discovery projects, and the results are often satisfactory to both producing and requesting parties. However, each major e-mail archive architecture uses a fundamentally different method for storing information about e-mail messages, and sometimes some collateral damage will occur. — Published April 4, 2008

Reference from Coast to Coast: Making A Federal Case Out of It

This month Jan Bissett and Margi Heinen review the expanding world of federal case law sources available free on the web. They also highlight the new feature of searching slip opinions that is now available on a number of sites. — Published April 4, 2008

FOIA Facts: Increasing the Quality of FOIA Releases

Scott A. Hodes contends that FOIA Office personnel are often inadequately trained and overworked, resulting in responses that reflect inconsistent quality and that are often not timely. His recommendations include thorough training programs and the creation of a specific FOIA job category. — Published April 4, 2008

The Government Domain: Rich Resources from the Librarians of the Fed

Peggy Garvin explores the extensive web resources produced by the librarians of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and relevant to economists, researchers, and others all over the world. — Published April 4, 2008

LLRX Book Review by Heather A. Phillips - Jerome Neu’s Sticks and Stones: The Philosophy of Insults

Heather A. Phillips' reviews Jerome Neu's exploration of the characteristics, purpose, intent and effects of insults. — Published April 4, 2008

Commentary: Waterboarding, Congress and the President

Beth Wellington explores the positions of the President, Congress and the Attorney General in respect to the controversy raging over the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique. — Published April 4, 2008

February, 2008

E-Discovery Update: Resolving Client-Vendor Disputes

Conrad Jacoby documents how recent lawsuit and countersuit between the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell and the e-discovery service provider EED provide a convenient summary of common problems that can arise when processing electronically stored information on a tight timeframe. — Published February 27, 2008

Happ-eee with my Eee PC

Bette Dengel reviews the increasingly popular and sturdy lightweight laptop that boasts a range of preloaded open source applications sufficient to support the needs of frequent travelers. — Published February 27, 2008

Eight Legal Technology Trends for 2008 – Good Times, Bad Times or Hard Times in Legal Tech?

Dennis Kennedy's annual article on legal technology trends takes into consideration the impact of the recession, and reflects a greater emphasis on economic justification for each technology decision. — Published February 27, 2008

Knowledge Discovery Resources 2008

Marcus P. Zillman's annotated guide focuses on a wide range of current, reliable resources for knowledge discovery that are available on the Internet, and includes hundreds of recommendations. — Published February 27, 2008

The Government Domain: What's New in DotGov and Beyond

Peggy Garvin summarizes some interesting developments in the world of online U.S. government information. — Published February 27, 2008

FOIA Facts: The Congressional Role in FOIA Operations

Scott A. Hodes contends that Congress must actively use its oversight role to ensure that the new FOIA law, and the FOIA and other disclosure laws that are already on the books, are actively followed and funded. — Published February 27, 2008

Mexico and its Legal System

This guide by Prof. Jorge A. Vargas provides a general description of the major features and current characteristics of the Mexican legal system, its principal components, and some of its distinct legal institutions, including – as an introduction to what is an eminently descriptive work – a brief historical background and basic information about Mexico as a country, its territory, people, culture, and economy. — Published February 27, 2008

CongressLine: The Budget

Paul Jenks' commentary highlights aspects of the Congressional appropriations process and also describes the budgeting process that is currently underway. — Published February 27, 2008

The Caribbean Court of Justice: A Research Guide

Yasmin Morais's guide is designed to facilitate research on a new court which was inaugurated on April 16, 2005 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. The court is expected to serve as a court of last resort for Caribbean states. The guide traces the court’s history and outlines its mandate and structure, its funding, its justices and recent judgments. — Published February 27, 2008

Burney's Legal Tech Reviews - The Motorola MOTOPURE H12 and the Sennheiser RS 120

This month Brett Burney reviews two new Bluetooth devices - a pair of high quality wireless headphones that enhance the experience of mobile music appreciation, and a nifty headset for use with cell phones. — Published February 27, 2008

More Recommendations from MacWorld 2008

Nicholas Moline follows up on his previous MacWorld 2008 article with more product recommendations, including: a 2 gigabyte Secure Digital memory card that makes short work of uploading your digital photos, a new iPhone compatible stereo headset, and a forthcoming professional recording device that syncs with your iPod. — Published February 27, 2008

Commentary: The Theory of the Unitary Executive and the FY2009 Budget

Beth Wellington focuses on specific issues in the FY2009 Budget including competitive sourcing, tax cuts and defense spending, that may raise questions about use of the budget as a tool for the unitary executive. — Published February 27, 2008

January, 2008

Bella is Bewildered About Blogs

Beverly Butula's primer focuses on demonstrating the value and potential of professional blogs, as well as tools and techniques to monitor them. — Published January 22, 2008