Prof. Wexler chose Bryce Gray as the winner of this year’s Library poetry contest.  Here is his winning entry – a poetic synopsis of Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, 14 Q.B.D. 273 (1884):

“Why Dudley and Stephens
Did manage to escape!
After their yacht sank
Off of the Cape.”

“Pray tell me, Sir,
Just how did they survive?”

“Why, they stabbed the cabin boy, Brooks,
and feasted on his hide.”

“How absolutely atrocious!
That’s murder, I’m sure.”

“Indeed the result is unfortunate,
But is it murder de jure?

They have killed poor Brooks,
No one doubts that it’s true.
But they’d run out of turtle,
Now, what would you do?”

“It matters naught whether
I’d choose my own life to protect.
The law is the law and”
It demands our respect.”

To read some of the other entries please click on the following:

Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U.S. 483 (1955) by Alex P. Garens

Nahrsteadt v. Lakeside Village Condominium Assoc. Inc., 33 Cal. Rptr.2d 63 (Cal. 1994) by Christine Han

Regina v. Dudley and Stephens, 14 Q.B.D. 273 (1884) by Hyun Clive Lee

Abdul-Jabbar v. GMC, 85 F.3d 407 (9th Cir. 1996) by Max Lee

Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893) by Christopher Mireles

Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) by Scott Moore

In a project is sponsored by American Heritage and the American Association for State and Local History a National Portal to Historical Collections has been created.  The National Portal aggregates data from historical institutions as provided by their curators, registrars or archivists. At present, data is exported from collection management systems and transferred to the National Portal’s servers. Automated systems for harvesting data are currently under construction.  This is not a digital collection, but rather a catalog to what is available from various historical collections.

LATCamp Deadline extended

Too busy prepping for finals and let the registration deadline for LATCamp pass you by?  Good news – we’re extending the deadline another two weeks!  You now have until Friday, May 6 to submit your registration form.  We’re halfway to maximum capacity of 75 and would love to top it off!  Wondering who else will be there?  Check out the Participants page to read brief biographies.  Also, keep an eye on the Session Proposals page, as it will be populated by participants in the coming weeks.  Don’t miss your chance to participate in the inaugural LATCamp, which is sure to be filled with energizing and thought-provoking discussions about the intersection of legal information and technology.

Two customers filed suit against Apple for collecting location-data on iPhones and iPads. The plaintiffs allege that Apple violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2)(C) as well as the Unfair or Deceptive Acts of each state. View the complaint at Wired.com.

See Bloomberg and Wired.com for more news regarding the case.

Justia.com is now providing opinion summaries. Subscriptions are free. To receive the summaries by email, it is easy to create an account or use an existing account.

 There are two types of summaries: daily summaries of cases by federal or state jurisdiction and weekly summaries of cases by practice area. Federal jurisdictions include all circuit courts of appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. State options include the highest courts for 35 states (not yet for Massachusetts) and select other courts, i.e., the Delaware Court of Chancery and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Dozens of practice areas are covered–e.g., Class Actions, Drugs & Biotech, ERISA and M & A.

Justia states that all opinions are written by attorneys. Each summary includes a link to the full text of the opinion.

Beatrice Tice, of U.C. Irvine School of Law, has written a terrific article called The Academic Law Library in the 21st Century: Still the Heart of the Law School.  It appears in the inaugural issue of the U.C. Irvine Law Review.  Take a look!

UPDATE: The cite is 1 U.C. Irvine L. Rev. 159 (2011).

In order to receive the Certificate in Research Skills for Practice, you need to complete six assignments from attended classes. Assignments for the Treaties Certification class are due by tomorrow (4/22) evening.

Good morning!  Just a reminder that the make-up certification class on Finding the Best Way will be held TODAY at 1pm in room 334.

Hope to see you there!

UPDATE 1: The handout for the class is here.

The Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has issued its final report, Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of Financial Collapse. This 650-page report is “the product of a two-year, bipartisan investigation … into the origins of the 2008 financial crisis.”

From the introduction:

Using internal documents, communications and interviews, the Report attempts to provide the clearest picture yet of what took place inside the walls of the financial institutions and regulatory agencies that contributed to the crisis. The investigation found that the crisis was not a natural disaster, but the result of high risk, complex financial products; undisclosed conflicts of interest; and the failure of regulators, the credit rating agencies and the market itself to reign in the excesses of Wall Street.

Good morning!  Just a reminder that the make-up certification class on Finding the Best Way will be held tomorrow at 1pm in room 334.

Thank you!