United States

How to read a legal opinion: a guide for new law students

Electronic article providing guidance on reading legal opinions written by Orin S. Kerr who is a Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School. The article was published in the Green Bag: an Entertaining Journal of Law in Autumn 2007 and is aimed at new law students in the United States. There are sections explaining what a judicial opinion is and looking at the caption, the case citation, who wrote the opinion, the facts of the case, the law of the case, concurring or dissenting opinions, common legal terms and types of disputes.

World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists

Website of the World Society of Mixed Jurisdiction Jurists (WSMJJ) an organisation made up of law faculties, individuals and international organisations whose aim is to study jurisdictions with mixed legal systems (including both civil law and common law traditions) around the world. These include South Africa, Scotland, Israel, Quebec, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. The site gives contact details for officers and members, information on conferences and events held by the Society and publications produced by WSMJJ. 

FTC guide to antitrust laws

Online guide to the antitrust laws of the United States produced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and made freely available on the FTC website. The site gives an overview of the three core federal antitrust laws- theSherman Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Clayton Act. There are also sections dealing with the bodies responsible for enforcing the law, monopolies, mergers, price discrimination and competitor collaboration including practices such as price fixing, market division and bid rigging. Each section can be viewed in HTML and as a PDF factsheet.

LXBN: the LexBlog Network

The LXBN website brings together recent posts from a large number of legal blogs, arranged by area of law, from Administrative to Technology. The site also acts as a portal to each individual blog. Probably the majority of the blogs are US-based, but some are based elsewhere and/or have a global focus. The site is searchable or browseable, and popular posts are highlighted on the home page. LXBN was set up by Kevin O'Keefe of LexBlogs, a US company that builds and supports blogs for lawyers.

A little grafting of Second Life into a legal research class

Online article on the use of the Second Life virtual world in the teaching of legal research skills written by Rob Hudson who is Head of Information Services, Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center - Law Library & Technology Center in Florida. The article was published in May 2008 in the features section of LLRX.com. The author describes the various ways in which he incorporated Second Life in the teaching of his International Legal Research Skills class.

Civil Rights Digital Library

The Civil Rights Digital Library is maintained by the University of Georgia. It aims to provide a portal to enable users free access via the web to key materials relating to the history of the United States African American civil rights movement in the 1950s-1960s. These include links to books, documents, news films, photographs, articles, bibliographies, cartoons and other ephemera available via US websites. The site may be browsed by theme, person and event.

NBER Law and Economics Program

This web page forms part of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) website providing information on their Law and Economics program. The NBER is based in the United States and is described as being the "nation's leading nonprofit economic research organization". Contact details for program members and a list of working papers can be accessed from this page. The papers focus on topics such as legal process, corporate law, regulation and employment systems. Abstracts of papers are made freely available and the full text can be purchased online.

VictimLaw

Website of VictimLaw an online information source on victims' rights in the United States provided by the National Center for Victims of Crime. The site provides access to a database of full text federal and state laws, tribal laws, constitutional amendments, court rules and court decisions relating to victimsã rights. The database uses a guided search facility where the user can search by topic (the nine core victims' rights), jurisdiction, keyword or citation.

Keeping up with class actions: reports, legal sites and blogs of note

Online guide to free and subscription resources providing information on class actions written by Scott Russell who is Reference Librarian at Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P in the United States. The guide was published in May 2008 in the features section of LLRX.com. The author provides an introduction to class actions including background information, guidance on alternative terms and where to find details of these cases. Resources referred to in the guide are arranged under the following headings: subscription based services; legal sites; blogs; regional and other sites.

Copyright Renewal Database

Website providing access to Stanford University's Copyright Renewal Database containing copyright renewal records for books published in the United States between 1923 and 1963. During this period renewal registration was required to prevent the expiration of copyright. The records are held by the US Copyright Office and have been included in this searchable, browsable database. Records can be browsed by year, title or author and searched by keyword or using an advanced search option.

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