Top 10 Research Skills: Getting Background on Your Topic

Imagine you are in your first "real world" summer or full-time job and you are asked to write a memo for the partner, supervising attorney, or judge. The problem is, you don't know anything about the topic or legal issue, and you don't know where to begin.

What should you ask? Where do you start? What are the best resources for background information and how can you get it without wasting your employer's time and money?

"Getting Background on your Topic" is part of a special series of workshops presented by the law librarians and designed to cover the "Top 10 Research Skills" that employers really want new attorneys to know. This 50-minute workshop will be presented twice over the next two weeks at the following times:

Thursday, February 28, 3:10 - 4pm in Room 242
Tuesday, March 4, 4:10 - 5pm in Room 238 (repeat session)

Like the other workshops, it is open to all Hofstra law students and there is no need to sign up in advance.



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Sweatshops in America

New York Fashion Week is over and I am still purring over the latest looks. However, as I reflect on the fantastic fabrics and designs, I have to wonder where all of our clothes come from. Sadly, I know that sweatshops in America have a long history.

To raise awareness of sweatshop labor, the National Museum of American History has created an online exhibit entitled Between a Rock and a Hard Place: A History of American Sweatshops 1820-Present. The exhibit provides a good amount of information on the subject and offers insight into "the forces that promote sweatshop production".


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Top Ten Research Workshops Schedule

Check your email and read about the latest workshops in the Library's 21st Century Library workshop series. The full schedule is listed below.

Top 10 Research Skills: What Employers Really Want New Attorneys to Know

Week 1
1. “Know the Basics. Civics 101"
• Monday, February 25, 5:10-6pm in Room 242 and repeated on
• Wednesday, February 27, 1:10-2pm in Room 243.

2. “How to Use the Basics”
• Tuesday, February 26, 4:10-5pm in Room 238 and repeated in Week 2

3. "Getting Background on your Topic"
• Thursday, February 28, 3:10-4pm in Room 242 and repeated in Week 2


Week 2
2. “How to Use the Basics”
• Monday, March 3, 5:10-6pm in Room 242.

3. “Getting Background on your Topic”
• Tuesday, March 4, 4:10-5pm in Room 238.


4. “Strategic Searching”
• Wednesday, March 5, 1:10-2pm in Room 243 and repeated in Week 3

5. “Smart Searching”
• Thursday, March 6, 3:10-4pm in Room 243 and repeated in Week 3


Week 3
5. “Smart Searching”
• Monday, March 10, 5:10-6pm in Room 242

4. “Strategic Searching”
• Tuesday, March 11, 4:10-5pm in Room 238

**6. “Cost Efficient Research and other Law Practice Survival Tips”**
• Wednesday, March 12, 11:10-1pm in Room 205

Presented by Kathy Greco, Librarian/CLE Coordinator, Rivkin Radler LLP
and Jim Murphy, Reference and Continuing Education Librarian, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP



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Blog: Free Government Information

From the site: The future of government information is in peril from many economic and political forces. Free Government Information was initiated in order to raise public awareness of the importance of government information and create a community with various stakeholders to facilitate an open and critical dialogue.

It is an interesting site discussing information issues and other current events.

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Summer Associate Response Time

As reported by the National Law Journal, the National Association for Law Placement has mandated that next fall, students with summer employment offers will need to reply within 45 days. Under the old guidelines it was possible for students to hold offers for up to four months before replying.



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Positively Presidential

Presidents' Day weekend is a great time to look at some of the digital treasures from the inaugurations of Washington, Lincoln and other American presidents in "I Do Solemnly Swear...Presidential Inaugurations." This wonderful collection, part of the Library of Congress American Memory project, features inaugural invitations, handwritten drafts and final texts of inaugural addresses, eyewitness accounts, photos and other images, videos, and other special facts and documents associated with taking the Oath of Office. The George Washington and Abraham Lincoln pages are representative of these fascinating windows into presidential history.

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Presidents' Day

The Library is open and I will be prowling with an occasional pounce from 10am - 6pm on Presidents' Day, Monday, February 18th. Enjoy the three-day weekend.



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CQ Voting and Elections Collection (Online Resource)

The CQ Voting and Elections Collection, available via the Axinn Library online databases, is a timely addition to our blog.

CQ Voting and Elections integrates data, analyses, explanations, and historical material. The database offers research and reference tools that deal with the American voter, major and minor political parties, campaigns and elections, historical and modern Congressional races, the presidency, and governorships. This Web site is organized into six categories (descriptions are from the Web site):

1. Presidential Elections includes explanations of the presidential electoral process, analyses and data for historical and modern presidential elections, modern voting behavior, key events and issues, and biographies.
2. Congressional Elections provides explanations of the congressional electoral process, including reapportionment and redistricting; data for historical and modern congressional elections; analyses of modern congressional elections; modern voting behavior; modern district profiles; key events and issues; and biographies.
3. Gubernatorial Elections presents explanations of the gubernatorial electoral process and data for historical and modern gubernatorial elections.
4. Campaigns and Elections explores the American system of voting and elections, electoral process and reform, media, interest groups, and the impact of money.
5. Political Parties covers the party system in America, including party strength and control, and profiles Democratic, Republican, and third parties.
6. Voters and Demographics covers expansion of voting rights, voter turnout, voting behavior, modern county census data, and modern district profiles.

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Sentencing Law and Policy Blog

If you are interested in criminal law, take a look at the Sentencing Law and Policy blog. The blog has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal and Lawyer's Weekly, and according to this, is the first blog to be cited by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Speaking of sentencing, I discovered that a movie called Punishment Park (1971) will be screening at the Museum of Modern Art in February and March. The movie is a "fake documentary" in which members of the counterculture (this was the 1970's) are sentenced to run across the California desert while being chased by law enforcement. I have heard it is a fascinating movie.


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International Law in Domestic Courts

For those engaged in transnational/international legal research ILDC brings you a regularly updated repository of domestic cases in international law from over 60 jurisdictions. The cases are selected by local reporters in conjunction with our editorial board and feature expert commentary, full texts of judgments in their original language and translations of key passages of non-English judgments into English.

No, this is not all foreign case law; however, as you may know obtaining a foreign judgment in English is often difficult if not impossible. This subscription database is a good start to filling that need. International Law in Domestic Courts may be found through the Law Library's website under online resources. ILDC is under both International and Foreign Law - Court Decisions and International and Foreign Law - General Sites.



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