Native American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

In recognition of National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, the McKusick Law Library's latest display features items from its Native American Law collection. The display includes general Native reference resources, such as William N. Thompson's Native American Issues, and Jerry D. Stubben's Native Americans and Political Participation. Also included are books focused on more specific geographical and societal themes, such as Donald Craig Mitchell's Sold American: The Story of Alaska Natives and Their Land, R. David Edmund's Enduring Nation: Native Americans in the Midwest (the Native experience in the Great Lakes region), and Christopher Vecsey's Handbook of American Indian Religious Freedom. In addition, the display contains one of the Library's copies of the South Dakota Humanities Council's 2012 One Book South Dakota title, Dammed Indians Revisited, authored by Michael Lawson. These books are only a few of the books concerning Native history and heritage that are available to be checked out from the Law Library.

(This entry was originally written and posted by Marsha Stacey)

Tips for Writing Law School Exams

Are you a first year law student and overwhelmed by the thought of writing your first three hour (or more) law school exam? Are you a second or third year law student who would like to improve his or her exam skills? I have listed below some online and print resources that may help you. If you are short on time, I also have suggested the most useful pages within those resources.

1. A Really Short Read: American Bar Association, How to Survive the First Year of Law School, pages 14-16. Click Here.

2. Another Really Short Read: Carolyn Nygren, Confronting Your Final Exam - Torts. Click Here.

3. Best Instruction and Practice, and well worth your time: William R. Andersen, Writing the Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure. Skip to page 21 and look at pages 21-60 - 4 Essentials, pages 61-92 - expanding the 4 Essentials and Examples, and pages 93-98- 3 Practice Problems. You can write your answers to the practice problems online and compare them to the sample answer. Click Here.

This is a CALI Lesson. If you have forgotten how to log in to CALI, or have lost your card, please see us at the circulation/reference desk of the McKusick Law Library for assistance.

4. These books are found on the "New Books" shelf to the right of the main floor entrance to the McKusick Law Library. See our Blog Post for Friday, October 26th.

My choice for the best examples and exercises: Ruta K. Stropus & Charlotte D. Taylor, Bridging the Gap Between College and Law School: Strategies for Success, pages 101-140.

Tracey E. George & Suzanna Sherry, What Every Law Student Really Needs to Know: An Introduction to the Study of Law, pages 143, 145-147.

Shana Connell Noyes & Henry S. Noyes, Acing Your First Year of Law School: The Ten Steps to Success You Won't Learn in Class, pages 115-137.

Michael Hunter Schwartz, Expert Learning for Law Students, pages 243-250.

Good luck on your exams!

(This entry was originally written and posted by Marsha Stacey)

"Stick It in Your Brief" Wins FLS Trivia Competition

On Monday afternoon, November 26th, USD's first year law students battled it out in a Fundamental Legal Skills Trivia Competition! Teams of four and five students competed by answering twenty questions about legal research, legal writing, grammar and Blue Book citation. The teams "Stick It in Your Brief" and the "Blue Barracudas" tied for first place and continued into a thrilling, sudden death final round of questions. The bruised and battered, but still smiling winners of that round, Chauncey Moulding, Chad Boelhower, Jessica Dybing-Jorgensen, Haleigh DeBoer, and Roy Haberstick of Stick It in Your Brief, each took home a bag of valuable prizes. Last, but not least, the team "Malice A-Five Thought" won best team name.

(This entry was originally written and posted by Marsha Stacey)

Federal Judge Orders Apple to Reveal to Samsung Details of Apple's Settlement With HTC

On Wednesday, November 21, 2012, a federal judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California ordered Apple to disclose a copy of its settlement agreement with HTC to Samsung Electronics. HTC and Apple announced earlier this month that they had reached a global settlement dismissing all patent lawsuits between the two companies. Samsung hopes that the settlement details will assist Samsung prepare for a December hearing concerning Apple's bid for a permanent US sales ban on eight Samsung smartphone models and one tablet computer. Samsung has also requested that the court add to its patent infringement claims Apple's iPod Touch 5, iPad 4, and iPad mini devices. For more, including a link to the order, see the University of Pittsburgh School of Law Jurist website, http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/11/federal-judge-orders-apple-to-reveal-details-of-htc-settlement.php

(This entry was originally written and posted by Darla Jackson)

Mozilla Leads Icon Experiment To Simplify Information About Website Privacy Policies

Meeting at Mozilla headquarters Friday, November 16, "experts" read through privacy policies of 235 websites and assigned icons that will summarize their content. For example, if a site has a privacy policy which allows it to sell users’ personal data to third parties, the site is assigned an icon that consist of an orange circle with a dollar sign in the middle and an orange arrow pointing up, suggesting caution. In comparison, a website privacy policy that indicates the site will not sell such information gets a green circle and dollar sign. For additional information on the initiative see the New York Times Bits Blog, http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/building-an-iconography-for-digital-privacy/

(This entry was originally written and posted by Darla Jackson)

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) IPhone/IPad App

SSRN, the Social Science Research Network, recently launched version 2.0 of its iPhone/iPad app. The app is available for free download in itunes. For a preview of the app see https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/issrn/id334702612?mt=8

SSRN is a repository of scholarly research for social sciences and humanities scholarship, including law. Authors, including some USD Law School professors, contribute scholarship to SSRN. The SSRN app allows users to search over 260,000 research papers in the SSRN electronic library. The papers can be emailed or viewed right on the device. Hat tip to WisBlawg - from the UW Law Library.

(This entry was originally written and posted by Darla Jackson)

Highlights from the MAALL Annual Meeting

Several of our USD Law Library staff members recently attended the Annual Meeting of the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries (MAALL) in St. Louis, Missouri. USD Law Library Director Darla Jackson gave a presentation on recent initiatives prohibiting the application of foreign and international law by state courts (anti-sharia laws). Assistant Director Marsha Stacey and Acquisitions Librarian Gordana Filipovic were also attendees. The meeting provided opportunities to connect with other law librarians, learn about new trends in law libraries, and explore the sights of St. Louis. Highlights of the conference included roundtables on eBooks and Institutional Repositories, programs on new presentation software platforms such as Xtranormal and on methods and principles of instructional design, a reception at the Old Courthouse in downtown St. Louis, and a visit to the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Inside the Old Courthouse in Downtown St. Louis

Display at the Old Courthouse in Downtown St. Louis 

Statue Outside the Saint Louis Art Museum

View of St. Louis Arch

(This entry was originally written and posted by Sarah Kammer)