Today’s course, just completed, was on “professional business communication.” Pointers, according to Hensley, included: Avoiding distracting nonverbal communications, e.g. playing with your hair or mustache, and avoiding such verbal tics as “like” and “you know.” Continue reading Teaching etiquette in lawschool…
Keeping your life in order
August 28, 2008 at 2:36 pm | In Tech Side of Things | Leave a CommentTags: online resources
Anyone in the law field, whether a student or a professional, surely has a packed schedule. If you feel you can’t keep everything going on in your life in order, try using a digital calendar to keep all your appointments, classes and meetings organized. Check out this link from lifehacker.com and never miss anything important again!
Thanks to ALA for this link.
New Books
August 28, 2008 at 11:34 am | In New Books | Leave a Comment
Here is a list of new items added to our collection this week. If you need help locating any of these items, please see a librarian for assistance and we will be happy to assist you.
One Man Out: Curt Flood versus Baseball
(Robert M. Goldman)
KF228 .F57 G65 2008
Social Stratification: Class, Race and Gender in Sociological Perspective, 3rd ed.
(David B. Grusky)
HM821 .S65 2008
Forced Federalism: Contemporary Challenges to Indigenous Nationhood
(Jeff Corntassel and Richad C. Witmer)
E98 .T77 C67 2008 Continue reading New Books…
Protecting Mickey Mouse
August 28, 2008 at 10:28 am | In Law in the News | Leave a CommentTags: copyright, intellectual property
Without a question, Mickey Mouse is the most popular rodent in our culture. But, how exactly is his image protected by copyright laws right now as we speak? Click hereto see what the Los Angeles Times is reporting.
What’s the answer?
August 28, 2008 at 10:24 am | In Just for Fun | Leave a CommentTags: 1L, law school
From the Volokh Conspiracy: Advice for 1Ls: What If You Don’t Know the Answer?
Many first-year law students worry about being called on in class. What might happen if the professor asks a question that the student just can’t answer? Here are a few thoughts on what to do, depending on the nature of the question.
1) Reciting the case. Sometimes a professor asks a question about the facts or the analysis in the case. They’re trying to get students to identify and wrestle with the key parts of the opinion, and they’re asking the student to remember what the opinion said. As a student, sometimes you just can’t answer: You read the case earlier on, but you don’t remember the part your professor has in mind.
What to do? If you really don’t know the answer, I think you should just say so. You might say, “I don’t recall that from the opinion” or just “I don’t remember that.” The alternative is to pretend that you know the answer. You could just guess, or you could start scanning the opinion in the unlikely chance you’ll see the point in a second or two. But these alternatives usually don’t work. If you guess incorrectly you’ll probably look a bit silly, and everyone can tell when a student is staring at the page for a long time. Just be straightfoward and acknowledge politely that you don’t know the answer.
2) Applying the rule. Sometimes a professor will ask students how a legal rule would apply to a hypothetical case. You know the rule and you understand the facts, but you’re just not sure how the facts would apply.
What to do? I think you should explain your uncertainty. To the extent you can, articulate why you’re unsure. You might say, “I’m not exactly sure how the rule would apply. On one hand, it seems that the rule would apply like this [fill in details]. But on the other hand, there’s a detail that seems to point the other way because [fill in details].” Articulating why a hypothetical is hard is a really essential skill: It’s the same skill you’ll need to show on an exam to get a high grade. Continue reading What’s the answer?…
Outsourcing Legal Work
August 28, 2008 at 10:17 am | In Law in the News | Leave a CommentTags: legal ethics, outsourcing, professionalism
From bespacific: ABA Ethics Committee Opinion Detailing Lawyer Responsibilities When Outsourcing Legal Work Domestically or Internationally
News release: “U.S. lawyers are free to outsource legal work, including to lawyers or nonlawyers outside the country, if they adhere to ethics rules requiring competence, supervision, protection of confidential information, reasonable fees and not assisting unauthorized practice of law.
Those are the conclusions of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, which describes outsourcing as a salutary trend in a global economy. Many lawyers do outsource work, using lawyers or nonlawyers as independent contractors, hiring them directly or through intermediaries and on temporary or ongoing bases, says the committee.
Outsourcing can reduce client costs and enable small firms to provide labor intensive services such as large, discovery intense litigation, even though the firms might not maintain sufficient ongoing staff to handle the work, according to a new ethics opinion issued today. Ethics Opinion 08-451 details ethics obligations of lawyers and firms that do elect to outsource legal work.
A few new gift books:
August 26, 2008 at 2:24 pm | In New Books | Leave a CommentTags: New Books
Basic Course for Prosecutors III
KFN6144 .A75 B37 1978 v. 1 and v. 2 (gift)
Evidence, 2nd ed.
(George Fisher)
KF8934 .F57 2008 (gift) Continue reading A few new gift books:…
Return those books…
August 26, 2008 at 1:15 pm | In Just for Fun | Leave a CommentTags: fines
From the Law Librarian Blog: In this case a Wisconsin woman, Heidi Dalibor, was arrested and booked for failure to pay library fines (and failure to appear in court when summonsed on the charges). The grand total to get her out of the clink was around $200 (numbers seem to vary) for unreturned copies of Angels & Demons (a personal favorite of this blogger) and White Oleander.
On the bright side I bet the Graphton Library has more returns on time this month than ever before and the young lady seemed in a pretty good mood during her mug shot.
Negative political campaigning.
August 25, 2008 at 4:00 pm | In Just for Fun | Leave a CommentTags: political campaigning
So you think this year’s campaigns got ugly? Take a look at what cnn.com is reporting as some of the most dirty and negative campaigns in our nation’s history.
Teaching etiquette in lawschool
August 25, 2008 at 9:48 am | In Just for Fun, Legal Scholarship and Professional Development | Leave a CommentTags: law school, professionalism
From the WSJ Law Blog: Aspiring lawyers take note: It’s not enough to be a gifted speaker or crack researcher, you also need to mind your P’s and Q’s. Saint Louis University School of Law realizes as much. Starting today, it is offering students a three-part class on course etiquette. Anne Hensley, a career counselor at the school who teaches the course, gives today’s law students a B-/C+ on manners. “I’m in my 60s, and I learned so much [about manners] my freshman year in college in Idaho,” she says.
Dangers of Online Research
August 25, 2008 at 9:38 am | In Legal Research 101 | Leave a CommentTags: online research
From the Law Librarian Blog: “With the vast amount of information available online, the case method (copy and steal everything) is a temptation that many students cannot resist. In a recent Washington Post article An Education in the Dangers of Online Research, Susan Kinzie examines the dangers and consequences of relying too heavily non-authoritative resources and stresses the importance of proper research and writing skills.”
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