This Week's Featured Book

The Featured Book of the Book is Judges and Their Audiences: A Perspective on Judicial Behavior by Lawrence Baum and published by Princeton University Press.

“What motivates judges as decision makers?.. The conventional scholarly wisdom holds that judges on higher courts seek only to make good law, good policy, or both. In these theories, judges are influenced by other people only in limited ways, in consequence of their legal and policy goals. In contrast, Baum argues that the influence of judges' audiences is pervasive. This influence derives from judges' interest in popularity and respect, a motivation central to most people… Judges and Their Audiences uses research in social psychology to make the case that audiences shape judges' choices in substantial ways. Drawing on a broad range of scholarship on judicial decision-making and an array of empirical evidence, the book then analyzes the potential and actual impact of several audiences, including the public, other branches of government, court colleagues, the legal profession, and judges' social peers. Engagingly written, this book provides a deeper understanding of key issues concerning judicial behavior on which scholars disagree, identifies aspects of judicial behavior that diverge from the assumptions of existing models, and shows how those models can be strengthened.” - Book Description

“An original contribution to the study of judicial politics that draws from the field of social psychology to suggest a radically new approach to the study of decisional behavior.”- Sheldon Goldman, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Judges and Their Audiences will be available to borrow after Friday, October 19, 2007

This Week's Featured Book

The Featured Book of the Week is The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything: Evolution, Intelligent Design and a School Board in Dover, PA by Gordy Slack and published by John Wiley & Sons.

“A compelling eyewitness account of the recent courtroom drama in Dover, Pennsylvania that put evolution on trial. Journalist Gordy Slack offers a riveting, personal, and often amusing first-hand account that details six weeks of some of the most widely ranging, fascinating, and just plain surreal testimony in U.S. legal history—a battle between hard science and religious conservatives wishing to promote a new version of creationism in schools. During the Kitzmiller vs. Dover Areas School Board trial, the members of the local school board defended their decision to require teachers to present intelligent design alongside evolution as an explanation for the origins and diversity of life on earth. The trial revealed much more than a disagreement about how to approach science education. It showed two essentially different and conflicting views of the world and the lengths some people will go to promote their own. The ruling by George W. Bush-appointed Judge John Jones III was unexpected in its stridency: Not only did he conclude that intelligent design was religion and not science and therefore had no place in a science classroom, he scolded the school board for wasting public time and money…” - Book Description

“Gordy Slack's beautifully written The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything should be on absolutely everyone's must read list. Although Slack does not conceal his own evolutionary commitments, he is balanced and fair, showing above all that this is a cultural battle and not simply one of science versus religion. The book is a terrific read.”- Michael Ruse, Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University

The Battle Over the Meaning of Everything will be available to borrow after Friday, October 12, 2007

Featured Book of the Week

After a short break, the Featured Book of the Week is back. This week's Featured Book is The Myth of Judicial Activism: Making Sense of Supreme Court Decisions by Kermit Roosevelt III and published by Yale University Press.

“This carefully considered book is a welcome addition to the debate over “judicial activism.” Constitutional scholar Kermit Roosevelt III offers an elegantly simple way to resolve the heated discord between conservatives, who argue that the Constitution is immutable, and progressives, who insist that it is a living document that must be reinterpreted in new cultural contexts so that its meaning evolves. Roosevelt uses plain language and compelling examples to explain how the Constitution can be both a constant and an organic document. Recent years have witnessed an increasing drumbeat of complaints about judicial behavior, focusing particularly on Supreme Court decisions that critics charge are reflections of the Justices’ political preferences rather than enforcement of the Constitution. The author takes a balanced look at these controversial decisions through a compelling new lens of constitutional interpretation. He clarifies the task of the Supreme Court in constitutional cases, then sets out a model to describe how the Court creates doctrine to implement the meaning of the Constitution. Finally, Roosevelt uses this model to show which decisions can be justified as legitimate and which cannot.” - Book Description

“A graceful and compelling account of constitutional decision-making. Roosevelt shows how judges shape workable legal rules from constitutional meanings when reasonable minds can and do disagree. As learned as it is accessible, this book is a welcome antidote to today’s overheated constitutional rhetoric.”- Jack M. Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment, Yale Law School

The Myth of Judicial Activism will be available to borrow after Friday, September 28, 2007

ASU Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog and Podcast Launched

News from former SIU Law Library Reference/Web Services Librarian Diane Murley:

We have launched the Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog and podcast. You can visit the Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog at http://lawlibnews.blog.asu.edu/ or subscribe to our feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/Ross-BlakleyLawLibraryBlog. In addition to library news and announcements, we will post research tips, reviews of legal information sources, library podcasts, online tutorials, animal photos of the week, and more. See our About page for more information.

You can find previous podcast episodes and subscribe to our podcast, the Ross-Blakley Law Library Channel, on iTunes or our feed at http://ross-blakley_law_library_channel.classcaster.org/blog/. Future episodes of the podcast will introduce you to the people who work in the law library, share research tips and tools, and cover library services and events.

BlawgWorld 2007

It seems like ages ago that I submitted a couple of my Law Dawg Blawg posts for inclusion in this eBook. BlawgWorld 2007 with TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide is now available for download at http://www.technolawyer.com/r.asp?L11470&M1. I hope you enjoy it.

By the way, in case you are wondering why I haven't posted here in so long, I have moved to Arizona to take a position at the Ross-Blakley Law Library, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, at Arizona State University.

Featured Book of the Week

The Featured Book of the Week is A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America by Saul Cornell and published by Oxford University Press.

“Americans are deeply divided over the Second Amendment. Some passionately assert that the Amendment protects an individual's right to own guns. Others, that it does no more than protect the right of states to maintain militias. Now, in the first and only comprehensive history of this bitter controversy, Saul Cornell proves conclusively that both sides are wrong. Cornell, a leading constitutional historian, shows that the Founders understood the right to bear arms as neither an individual nor a collective right, but as a civic right--an obligation citizens owed to the state to arm themselves so that they could participate in a well regulated militia. He shows how the modern "collective right" view of the Second Amendment, the one federal courts have accepted for over a hundred years, owes more to the Anti-Federalists than the Founders…A Well-Regulated Militia not only restores the lost meaning of the original Second Amendment, but it provides a clear historical road map that charts how we have arrived at our current impasse over guns. For anyone interested in understanding the great American gun debate, this is a must read.” - Book Description

“A provocative alternative in the debate over the historical meaning of the Second Amendment. Anyone interested in how the right to bear arms was thought about in the early republic will need to take this book into account.” - Keith E. Whittington, author of Constitutional Interpretation

A Well-Regulated Militia will be available to borrow after Friday, August 17, 2007

This week's Featured Book is People, Property, or Pets? edited by Marc. D Hauser, Fiery Cushman, and Matthew Kamen and published by Purdue University Press.

“What's the difference between owning a painting, a dog, or a young child? For starters, you can't own a child, but you are legally responsible for their care. You can own a painting and a dog; both fall under the jurisdiction of the law and in particular, property rights. But why should a dog, man's best friend, an animal with a mind and emotions, fall under the same general category as a painting? Juxtaposed in this way, the question seems silly. How could the law be so foolish? Can't lawyers see the difference? Why shouldn't dogs end up in the same category as young children, a category of living things that require our care? If the law recognized dogs, along with cats, cows, mice, monkeys, birds, and flies as requiring legal guardianship, this would have radical consequences for how we live our lives. We couldn't keep animals in zoos, couldn't eat them, use their fur to keep warm, or test them with drugs to improve our own health. Their lives would be different, and so would ours. This book explores these issues, but does so in a fresh new way. Rather than engage the debate from the perspective of a single voice, or the combination of voices from different experts, we present a set of essays from a lawyer philosopher, biochemist, psychologist, and animal scientist, together with a group of educated students engaged in the debate. The essays are set up to present both sides, some adopting arguments in favor of a shift to legal guardianship, while others support their status as property. Experts in the field will be engaged by the subtle issues surrounding this debate, while educators will find the student essays refreshing and of interest in class room seminars.” - Book Description

People, Property, or Pets? will be available to borrow after Friday, August 10, 2007

This Week's Featured Book

The Featured Book of the Week is Courting Failure: How Competition for Big Cases is Corrupting the Bankruptcy Courts. Lynn M. LoPucki authored the book and The University of Michigan Press published it.

“A sobering chronicle of our broken bankruptcy-court system, Courting Failure exposes yet another American institution corrupted by greed, avarice, and the thirst for power. Lynn LoPucki's eye-opening account of the widespread and systematic decay of America's bankruptcy courts is a blockbuster story that has yet to be reported in the media. LoPucki reveals the profound corruption in the U.S. bankruptcy system and how this breakdown has directly led to the major corporate failures of the last decade, including Enron, MCI, WorldCom, and Global Crossing. LoPucki, one of the nation's leading experts on bankruptcy law, offers a clear and compelling picture of the destructive power of "forum shopping," in which attorneys choose courts that offer the most favorable outcome for their bankrupt clients. The courts, lured by power and prestige, streamline their requirements and lower their standards to compete for these lucrative cases. The result has been a series of increasingly shoddy reorganizations of major American corporations, proposed by greedy corporate executives and authorized by case-hungry judges.” - Book Description

"This book is smart, shocking and funny. This story has everything-professional greed, wrecked companies, and embarrassed judges. Insiders are already buzzing." – Elizabeth Warren, Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Courting Failure will be available to borrow after Friday, August 3, 2007

"How to Bring Associates Into the Law Library"

William P. Atkins, a partner in Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman's McLean, Va., office, recently wrote an article for Legal Times commenting on the decline of use of the law library in firms by summer associates and young associates and the increased dependence of online legal research resources. In the article he voices his concerns and notes researching solely with electronic tools may lead to a myopic research strategy. He states, “in relying so heavily on a singular case found electronically, the researcher adopts a view ironically constrained by technology, its boundaries set by what a keyboard and mouse can deliver to us, not by the totality of information out there.”

Although Mr. Atkins shows an appreciation for print resources, he is by no means “an embittered Luddite.” He admits to being addicted to his Blackberry and is “a big fan of online research,” but conditions their usefulness as being tools.

In concluding his article, Mr. Atkins describes his firm’s answer to “how to bring associates into the law library.” The solution is “Summer Associate Research Challenge” which was created by Mr. Atkins and Kevin Kramer, another partner, about six years ago. The goal of the contest is to answer the most legal research questions in 90 minutes or less by only using print resources and providing photocopies of the answers. Regarding the challenge, Mr. Atkins remarks, “this fun, page-flipping fury shows that our field will always benefit from a broad understanding of the law first. That means we need to keep a healthy level of familiarity and faith in books, versus continually leaving research to cyberspace.”

Featured Book of the Week

Albeit belated, this week's Featured Book is The Spirit of American Law. It was edited by George S. Grossman and published by Westview Press.

“An anthology of introductory readings on the roots, current practice, and future of American law - This collection of readings is intended as a broad introduction to the roots, practice, and future of law in America. Compiled from the recommended reading lists for first-year students from over eighty law schools, the selections in this anthology were chosen to explore broad subjects rather than specific niches of law. The readings have been selected largely from books with appeal to the general public; only the concluding section contains articles from legal periodicals. Professor Grossman has chosen readings that illustrate the defining characteristics of America's legal profession, the philosophical issues that underlie the day-to-day practice of law, and the social consequences of sometimes abstract legal decisions. The organization is largely chronological-thirty-three readings divided into sections on the roots, growth, and future of an American institution.” - Book Description

“This is an excellent collection that every law student and practitioner can dip into at their leisure and find an appreciation of our legal system.” - Bimonthly Review of Law Books

The Spirit of American Law will be available to borrow after Friday, July 27, 2007

Today in Legal History blog

What to know what happened on this day in law or government? If so, check out Today in Legal History blog. Today in Legal History is a collaboration between FindLaw and Justice Talking.

Congratulations, Andrew R. Roszak

Andrew R. Roszak, J.D. / M.P.A. Candidate - Class of 2008, sent us this good news:

His paper — The Legalities of Legislatively Mandated Automated External Defibrillators in Educational Settings — was selected for presentation at the Education Law and Policy Forum conference in Athens, Georgia in September, and for publication in the third volume of the Education Law and Policy Forum in October.

Congratulations, Andy!

This week's SIU Law Dog is Roccer (rhymes with saucer). Aaron Call (class of 2007) sent us this photo that was taken when Roccer was a puppy and Aaron was a 1L student. Now Roccer is a full-grown Great Dane at 140 lbs., and Aaron is a graduate.

The SIU Law Dogs and Cats of the Week will appear only intermittently until we receive more photos. Thanks to everyone who contributed. If you are an SIU School of Law student, professor, staff member, alumnus, or friend of the law library, see our Call for Photos for instructions on submitting your dog or cat photo. To see photos of all previous Law Dogs and Cats of the Week, visit our Gallery of SIU Law Dogs and Cats, which you can find under Related Links in the sidebar.

The Featured Book

Due to the AALL (American Association of Law Libraries) conference, Just Words: Law, Language, and Power will be the Featured Book for the next two weeks. Just Words was written by John M. Conley and William M. O'Barr and published by the University of Chicago Press.

“Is it "just words" when a lawyer cross-examines a rape victim in the hopes of getting her to admit an interest in her attacker? Is it "just words" when the Supreme Court hands down a decision or when business people draw up a contract? In tackling the question of how an abstract entity exerts concrete power, Just Words focuses on what has become the central issue in law and language research: what language reveals about the nature of legal power. Conley and O'Barr show how the microdynamics of the legal process and the largest questions of justice can be fruitfully explored through the field of linguistics. Each chapter covers a language-based approach to a different area of the law, from the cross-examinations of victims and witnesses to the inequities of divorce mediation. Combining analysis of common legal events with a broad range of scholarship on language and law, Just Words seeks the reality of power in the everyday practice and application of the law. As the only study of its type, the book is the definitive treatment of the topic that will be welcomed by students and specialists alike.” - Book Description

"From their careful analyses of discourse in legal settings as diverse as rape trials and divorce mediations, Conley and O'Barr demonstrate convincingly that power relationships pervade legal process. Just Words is both an engaging introduction to the study of legal anthropology, and a model for how such work should be done." – Lawrence M. Solan, Brooklyn Law School

Just Words will be available to borrow after Friday, July 20, 2007

Improve Your Legal Writing

Wherever you are in your legal career, you can always improve your writing. But how can you find the time? Wayne Schiess has some suggestions for improving your writing, at his blog, Legalwriting.net. Prof. Schiess wrote the suggestions for busy lawyers, and you can use them too.

I have a couple of suggestions to add to those offered by Prof. Schiess. First, read blogs about writing. Besides Legalwriting.net, I recommend the (new) legal writer, Manage Your Writing, and the Illinois Trial Practice Weblog. Manage Your Writing is about business writing, but the principles apply just as well to legal writing. Evan Schaeffer writes on a number of practical topics, including legal writing, on his Illinois Trial Practice Weblog. Reading blogs about writing will take only a few minutes a day, and you will gain many helpful tips.

My second suggestion, if you are a law student, is to use Prof. Schiess's CALI lessons, Punctuation and Grammar Basics for Law Students and Punctuation and Grammar: Advanced. Your use of punctuation and grammar says a lot about you, especially if you use them poorly.

You cannot afford to submit a poorly-written document to a court, another attorney, a client, or a potential client. Do something to improve your writing now.

This Week's Featured Book

The Featured Book of the Week is The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries that Defined America by Jeffrey Rosen and published by Times Books.

“The Supreme Court is the most mysterious branch of government, and yet the Court is at root a human institution, made up of very bright people with very strong egos, for whom political and judicial conflicts often become personal. In this compelling work of character-driven history, Jeffrey Rosen recounts the history of the Court through the personal and philosophical rivalries on the bench that transformed the law—and by extension, our lives. The story begins with the great Chief Justice John Marshall and President Thomas Jefferson, cousins from the Virginia elite whose differing visions of America set the tone for the Court’s first hundred years. The tale continues after the Civil War with Justices John Marshall Harlan and Oliver Wendell Holmes, who clashed over the limits of majority rule. Rosen then examines the Warren Court era through the lens of the liberal icons Hugo Black and William O. Douglas, for whom personality loomed larger than ideology. He concludes with a pairing from our own era, the conservatives William H. Rehnquist and Antonin Scalia, only one of whom was able to build majorities in support of his views. Through these four rivalries, Rosen brings to life the perennial conflict that has animated the Court—between those justices guided by strong ideology and those who forge coalitions and adjust to new realities. He illuminates the relationship between judicial temperament and judicial success or failure. The stakes are nothing less than the future of American jurisprudence.” - Book Description

The Supreme Court will be available to borrow after Friday, July 6, 2007

SIU Law Student Publications

Congratulations to SIU law students Nicole Kaufman (class of 2007), Levi Burkett (class of 2008), and Jennifer Uhles(class of 2008), each of whom had commentaries published in the April–June 2007 issue of the Journal of Legal Medicine.

• Nicole L. Kaufman, The Demise of Medical Malpractice Screening Panels and Alternative Solutions Based on Trust and Honesty, 28 J. Legal Med. 247 (2007).
• Levi Burkett, Medical Tourism: Concerns, Benefits, and the American Legal Perspective, 28 J. Legal Med. 223 (2007).
• Jennifer M. Uhles, Unsound Ultrasounds?, 28 J. Legal Med. 263 (2007).

Current issues of the Journal of Legal Medicine are available on reserve in the law library and on Westlaw (password required).

Alternative Sources of Law-School Rankings

The WSJ.com Law Blog today has entry today on The Alternative Law-School Ranking Scene. They list a number of alternatives to the U.S. News & World Report's law-school rankings, including the following:

• Brian Leiter's Law School Rankings Website, by Prof. Brian Leiter, Hines H. Baker & Thelma Kelley Baker Chair in Law at the University of Texas School of Law.
• Posner, Richard A., "Law School Rankings" (April 2005). Indiana U School of Law Symposium on the Next Generation of Law School Rankings Paper. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=703821.
• Two blogs about law firm placement and law clerk placement that were spotlighted in the Wall Street Journal article, "Law Schools Also Ranked By Blogs Now," by Amir Efrati, which also included a list of other alternatives.

Yesterday, Et Seq., the Harvard Law School Library blog, suggested that prospective law students do their own comparisons using the 2008 Searchable Edition of the ABA-LSAC Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools and the American Bar Association's 2008 "Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools" data.

Grammar Girl to the Rescue

If you would like to improve your writing, but you can't bear the thought of learning all those rules of grammar, Grammar Girl can help. Grammar Girl is really Mignon Fogarty, a professional writer whose podcasts help make learning about grammar fun.

The podcast's home is Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, where you can download or listen to the Grammar Girl podcast episodes, read a transcript of an episode, and subscribe to the podcast. You can also record a question for Grammar Girl.

Grammar Girl has an audio book, Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing, coming out on CD next month. You can download the book now at iTunes or audible.com.

QDnow also has other Quick and Dirty Tips for Doing Things Better, including Mr. Manners' Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Polite Life, Legal Lad's Quick and Dirty Tips for a More Lawful Life, and Money Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for a Richer Life.

Thanks to Prof. Schmitz for the tip.

Duke and Sam Are Law Dogs of the Week

This week's SIU Law Dogs are Duke and Sam. Susan Williams sent us this picture. Duke and Sam are Irish setters who were rescued from the pound when they were small and quite sick. They are now healthy, energetic, and, allegedly, "the terrors of Franklin county."

The SIU Law Dogs and Cats of the Week are on hiatus until we receive more photos. Thanks to everyone who contributed. If you are an SIU School of Law student, professor, staff member, alumnus, or friend of the law library, see our Call for Photos for instructions on submitting your dog or cat photo. To see photos of all previous Law Dogs and Cats of the Week, visit our Gallery of SIU Law Dogs and Cats, which you can find under Related Links in the sidebar.