Mississippi College Law Library Blog

Minor Library Construction

2010-07-29T05:59:00.001-07:00

The library will be undergoing some minor renovations over the next day or two and will not be the quite place with which you are familiar. We are installing some power outlets in the floor on the 2nd floor of the library ease of patron access. We ask that you please excuse the mess and noise during this progress.

Bar Studying Extended Hours

2010-07-06T10:58:00.001-07:00

O.k., breaking news is a bit of overkill but the library is going to stay open with some slightly extended hours on the weekend - 12-6 on Saturday and Sunday - the weekends of July the 10/11, 17/18, and 24/25 for bar exam studiers.

Pig Book

2010-07-02T06:37:00.000-07:00

Today we pass along a non-"official" source that is from the Citizen's Against Waste. The Pig Book is a 60 page or so accounting of Congressional spending as determined by their editors.

As part of sharing this resource it is important to remember the value and possible issues with unofficial sources. They can often be a place to find statistics, compilations, and materials not to be found elsewhere but use extreme caution when citing and do your best to verify the information from a more official source.

New Books to the MC Law Library

2010-06-30T08:27:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the new books to our collection. These items may be checked out by all approved library users.

AUTHOR: Zamir, Eyal.
TITLE: Law, economics, and morality / Eyal Zamir, Barak Medina.
CALL #: K 487 .E3 Z36 2010

AUTHOR: Guzmán, Andrew T.
TITLE: How international law works: a rational choice theory / Andrew T. Guzmán.
CALL #: KZ 3410 .G89 2008

AUTHOR: Bosco, David L.
TITLE: Five to rule them all: the UN Security Council and the making of the modern world / David L. Bosco.
CALL #: JZ 5006.7 .B67 2009

AUTHOR: Brenner, Susan W., 1947-
TITLE: Cyberthreats: the emerging fault lines of the nation state / Susan W. Brenner.
CALL #: K 5250 .B74 2009

AUTHOR: Rule, James B., 1943-
TITLE: Privacy in peril / James B. Rule.
CALL #: JC 596 .R85 2007

AUTHOR: Pfander, James E.
TITLE: One Supreme Court: supremacy, inferiority, and the judicial power of the United States / James E. Pfander.
CALL #: KF 5130 .P48 2009

TITLE: The Constitution in 2020 / edited by Jack M. Balkin, Reva B. Siegel.
CALL #: KF 4550 .C576 2009

AUTHOR: Sulmasy, Glenn M., 1966-
TITLE: The national security court system: a natural evolution of justice in an age of terror / Glenn Sulmasy.
CALL #: KF 9223 .S85 2009

AUTHOR: Collier, Charles W., 1950-
TITLE: Meaning in law: a theory of speech / Charles W. Collier.
CALL #: K 3253 .C65 2009

AUTHOR: Painter, Richard W., 1961-
TITLE: Getting the government America deserves: how ethics reform can make a difference / Richard W. Painter.
CALL #: KF 4568 .P35 2009

AUTHOR: Epstein, Richard Allen, 1943-
TITLE: Supreme neglect: how to revive constitutional protection for private property / Richard A. Epstein.
CALL #: KF 562 .E67 2008

AUTHOR: Jackson, Vicki C.
TITLE: Constitutional engagement in a transnational era / Vicki C. Jackson.
CALL #: K 3165 .J3253 2010

AUTHOR: Kent, Meaghan Hemmings.
TITLE: An associate's guide to the practice of copyright law / Meaghan Hemmings Kent, Joshua J. Kaufman.
CALL #: KF 2994 .K46 2009

AUTHOR: Englard, Izhak.
TITLE: Corrective and distributive justice : from Aristotle to modern times / Izhak Englard.
CALL #: B 105 .J87 E54 2009

AUTHOR: Susskind, Richard E.
TITLE: The end of lawyers?: rethinking the nature of legal services / Richard Susskind.
CALL #: K 87 .S865 2008

AUTHOR: McDorman, Ted L.
TITLE: Salt water neighbors: international ocean law relations between the United States and Canada / Ted L. McDorman.
CALL #: KZA 1450 .M33 2009

AUTHOR: Carolan, Eoin.
TITLE: The new separation of powers: a theory for the modern state / Eoin Carolan.
CALL #: KDK 1227 .C37 2009

TITLE: Lessons from the identity trail: anonymity, privacy, and identity in a networked society / edited by Ian Kerr, Valerie Steeves, and Carole Lucock.
CALL #: K 3264 .C65 L47 2009

AUTHOR: Lindquist, Stefanie A., 1963-
TITLE: Measuring judicial activism / Stefanie A. Lindquist, Frank B. Cross.
CALL #: KF 8742 .L56 2009

AUTHOR: Gallacher, Ian, 1956-
TITLE: Coming to law school: how to prepare yourself for the next three years / Ian Gallacher.
CALL #: KF 283 .G35 2010

AUTHOR: MacCormick, Neil.
TITLE: Rhetoric and the rule of law : a theory of legal reasoning / Neil MacCormick.
CALL #: K 213 .M284 2005

New Books to the MC Law Library

2010-06-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the new books to our collection. These items may be checked out by all approved library users.

AUTHOR: Sullivan, E. Thomas.
TITLE: Proportionality principles in American law: controlling excessive government actions / E. Thomas Sullivan, Richard S. Frase.
CALL #: K 247 .S85 2009

AUTHOR: Fox, David L.
TITLE: U.S. patent opinions and evaluations / David L. Fox.
CALL #: KF 3120 .F69 2010

TITLE: Contemporary bioethics: a reader with cases / [edited by] Jessica Pierce, George Randels
CALL #: QH 332 .C658 2010

AUTHOR: Naidu, B. David.
TITLE: Biotechnology & nanotechnology: regulation under environmental, health, and safety laws / B. David Naidu.
CALL #: K 3925 .B56 N35 2009

TITLE: Legal republicanism: national and international perspectives / edited by Samantha Besson and José Luis Martí.
CALL #: K 3184 .A6 L44 2009

AUTHOR: Bank, Steven A., 1969-
TITLE: From sword to shield: the transformation of the corporate income tax, 1861 to present / Steven A. Bank.
CALL #: KF 6464 .B36 2010

AUTHOR: Wrightsman, Lawrence S.
TITLE: Oral arguments before the Supreme Court: an empirical approach / Lawrence S. Wrightsman.
CALL #: KF 8748 .W752 2008

TITLE: Legal aspects of carbon trading : Kyoto, Copenhagen, and beyond / edited by David Freestone and Charlotte Streck.
CALL #: K 3593.5 .C37 L44 2009

AUTHOR: Raz, Joseph.
TITLE: Between authority and interpretation: on the theory of law and practical reason / Joseph Raz.
CALL #: K 231 .R39 2009

AUTHOR: Williams, Robert F. (Robert Forrest), 1945-
TITLE: The law of American state constitutions / Robert F. Williams.
CALL #: KF 4530 .W538 2009

Streaming Music

2010-06-24T12:13:00.000-07:00

A great many of our library users stay plugged into to their laptops and listen to music while studying. In attempting to assist with this I want to pass along a UBlog article of the 10 Best Streaming Music sites. The only one I am personally familiar with is Pandora (and I am a huge Pandora fan) so if you use one of these feel free to leave something in the comments.

New Books to the MC Law Library

2010-06-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the new books to our collection. These items may be checked out by all approved library users.

AUTHOR: Klarman, Michael J.
TITLE: Unfinished business: racial equality in American history / Michael J. Klarman.
CALL #: E 185 .K545 2007

AUTHOR: Bloom, Lackland H., Jr.
TITLE: Methods of interpretation: how the Supreme Court reads the Constitution / Lackland H. Bloom, Jr.
CALL #: KF 8742 .B585 2009
AUTHOR: Moore, Michael S., 1943-
TITLE: Causation and responsibility: an essay in law, morals, and metaphysics / Michael S. Moore.
CALL #: K 579 .C34 M66 2009

AUTHOR: Levesque, Roger J. R.
TITLE: Adolescents, media, and the law: what developmental science reveals and free speech requires / Roger J.R. Levesque.
CALL #: HQ 799 .M35 L48 2007

AUTHOR: Dershowitz, Alan M.
TITLE: Is there a right to remain silent?: coercive interrogation and the Fifth Amendment after 9/11 / Alan M. Dershowitz.
CALL #: KF 9668 .D47 2008

AUTHOR: Brand-Ballard, Jeffrey.
TITLE: Limits of legality: the ethics of lawless judging / Jeffrey Brand-Ballard.
CALL #: KF 8779 .B73 2010

AUTHOR: Rhode, Deborah L.
TITLE: The beauty bias: the injustice of appearance in life and law / Deborah L. Rhode.
CALL #: KF 478 .R48 2010

AUTHOR: Phillips, Douglas E.
TITLE: The software license unveiled: how legislation by license controls software access / Douglas E. Phillips.
CALL #: K 1443 .C6 P48 2009

AUTHOR: Carrier, Michael A.
TITLE: Innovation for the 21st century: harnessing the power of intellectual property and antitrust law / Michael A. Carrier.
CALL #: KF 3116 .C37 2009

AUTHOR: Noam, Eli M.
TITLE: Media ownership and concentration in America / Eli M. Noam.
CALL #: P 96 .E252 U664 2009

New Books to the MC Law Library

2010-06-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the new books to our collection. These items may be checked out by all approved library users.

TITLE: Criminal law conversations / edited by Paul H. Robinson, Stephen P. Garvey, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan.
CALL #: K 5018 .C753 2009

AUTHOR: Tushnet, Mark V., 1945-
TITLE: Out of range: why the Constitution can't end the battle over guns / Mark V. Tushnet.
CALL #: KF 3941 .T872 2007

AUTHOR: Strauss, David A.
TITLE: The living constitution / David A. Strauss.
CALL #: KF 4550 .S78 2010

AUTHOR: Packer, Ira K.
TITLE: Evaluation of criminal responsibility / Ira K. Packer.
CALL #: RA 1151 .P33 2009

AUTHOR: Kim, Scott Y. H.
TITLE: Evaluation of capacity to consent to treatment and research / Scott Y.H. Kim.
CALL #: RA 1151 .K56 2010

AUTHOR: Cutler, Brian L.
TITLE: Evaluating eyewitness identification / Brian L. Cutler and Margaret Bull Kovera.
CALL #: KF 9672 .C867 2010

AUTHOR: Patry, William F.
TITLE: Moral panics and the copyright wars / William Patry.
CALL #: K 1420.5 .P376 2009

AUTHOR: Vermeule, Adrian, 1968-
TITLE: Law and the limits of reason / Adrian Vermeule.
CALL #: K 212 .V47 2009

AUTHOR: Stone, Christopher D.
TITLE: Should trees have standing? : Law, morality, and the environment / Christopher D. Stone.
CALL #: KF 5505 .S86 2010

AUTHOR: Wacks, Raymond.
TITLE: Understanding jurisprudence: an introduction to legal theory / Raymond Wacks.
CALL #: K 230 .W29 A38 2009

AUTHOR: Parisi, Francesco, 1962-
TITLE: The economics of lawmaking / Francesco Parisi, Vincy Fon.
CALL #: K 3316 .P37 2009

New Books to the MC Law Library

2010-06-16T08:24:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the new books to our collection. These items may be checked out by all approved library users.

AUTHOR: Buckley, F. H. (Francis H.), 1948-
TITLE: Fair governance: paternalism and perfectionism / F.H. Buckley.
CALL #: JC 571 .B763 2009

AUTHOR: Greenberg, Karen J.
TITLE: The least worst place: Guantanamo's first 100 days / Karen Greenberg.
CALL #: HV 6432 .G734 2009

AUTHOR: Raustiala, Kal.
TITLE: Does the constitution follow the flag?: The evolution of territoriality in American law / Kal Raustiala.
CALL #: KF 413 .J87 R38 2009

AUTHOR: Pommersheim, Frank.
TITLE: Broken landscape: Indians, Indian tribes, and the constitution / Frank Pommersheim.
CALL #: KF 8205 .P63 2009

AUTHOR: Klabbers, Jan.
TITLE: The constitutionalization of international law / by Jan Klabbers, Anne Peters and Geir Ulfstein.
CALL #: KZ 4850 .K578 2009

TITLE: The rule of recognition and the U.S. Constitution / edited by Matthew D. Adler and Kenneth Einar Himma.
CALL #: KF 4552 .R85 2009

AUTHOR: Markel, Dan.
TITLE: Privilege or punish: criminal justice and the challenge of family ties / Dan Markel, Jennifer M. Collins, Ethan J. Leib.
CALL #: K 5001 .M37 2009

TITLE: The impact of behavioral sciences on criminal law / edited by Nita A. Farahany.
CALL #: K 5028 .I48 2009

AUTHOR: Domnarski, William, 1953-
TITLE: Federal judges revealed / William Domnarski.
CALL #: KF 372 .D66 2009

AUTHOR: Cuddihy, William J. (William John), 1945-
TITLE: The Fourth Amendment: origins and original meaning, 602-1791 / William J. Cuddihy.
CALL #: KF 9630 .C83 2009

TITLE: Extreme speech and democracy / editors, Ivan Hare, James Weinstein.
CALL #: K 3254 .E97 2009

New Books to the MC Law Library

2010-06-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the new books to our collection.

TITLE: Fraud examination.
CALL #: HV 6691 .A43 2009

AUTHOR: Pedneault, Stephen, 1966-
TITLE: Fraud 101: techniques and strategies for understanding fraud / Stephen Pedneault.
CALL #: HV 6769 .D38 2009

AUTHOR: Coenen, Tracy, 1972-
TITLE: Expert fraud investigation: a step-by-step guide / Tracy L. Coenen.
CALL #: HV 6691 .C54 2009

TITLE: Handbook of frauds, scams, and swindles: failures of ethics in leadership / edited by Serge Matulich, David M. Currie.
CALL #: HV 6695 .H28 2009

TITLE: Punishing corporate crime: legal penalties for criminal and regulatory violations / James T. O'Reilly ... [et al.].
CALL #: KF 9351 .P86 2009

AUTHOR: Tribe, Laurence H.
TITLE: The invisible constitution / Laurence H. Tribe.
CALL #: KF 4550 .T7865 2008

AUTHOR: Ribstein, Larry E.
TITLE: The rise of the uncorporation / Larry E. Ribstein.
CALL #: KF 1361 .R53 2010

TITLE: The anatomy of corporate law: a comparative and functional approach / Reinier Kraakman ... [et al.].
CALL #: K 1315 .A53 2009

AUTHOR: Bollinger, Lee C., 1946-
TITLE: Uninhibited, robust, and wide-open: a free press for a new century / Lee C. Bollinger.
CALL #: KF 4774 .B654 2010

AUTHOR: Jackall, Robert.
TITLE: Moral mazes: the world of corporate managers / Robert Jackall.
CALL #: HF 5387 .J29 2010

New Books to the MC Law Library

2010-06-09T08:22:00.000-07:00

Over the next few weeks I will be posting some of the new books to our collection. These items may be checked out by all approved library users.

TITLE: Fraud casebook: lessons from the bad side of business / edited by Joseph T. Wells.
CALL #: HV 6691 .F737 2007

TITLE: Fraud examiners manual.
CALL #: HV 8079 .F73 2009
*2 Volume Set

TITLE: Fraud examiners manual [electronic resource].
CALL #: CD-ROM HV 8079 .F738 2009
*1 CD-ROM with Guidebook

AUTHOR: Fox, Lawrence J., 1943-
TITLE: The ethics of representing organizations: legal fictions for clients / Lawrence J. Fox, Susan R. Martyn.
CALL #: KF 306 .F687 2009

TITLE: Korean business law: the legal landscape and beyond / edited by Jasper Kim.
CALL #: KPA 78 .B87 K67 2010

AUTHOR: Magat, Joan Ames.
TITLE: The lawyer's editing manual / Joan Ames Magat.
CALL #: KF 250 .M34 2009

AUTHOR: Atwood, Barbara Ann, 1947-
TITLE: Children, tribes, and states: adoption and custody conflicts over American Indian children / Barbara Ann Atwood.
CALL #: KF 8210 .C45 A98 2010

AUTHOR: Butler, William Elliott, 1939-
TITLE: Russian law / William E. Butler.
CALL #: KLB 68 .B88 2009

AUTHOR: Hyland, Richard, 1949-
TITLE: Gifts: a study in comparative law / Richard Hyland.
CALL #: K 898 .H95 2009

AUTHOR: Dunnewold, Mary L.
TITLE: Judicial clerkships: a practical guide / Mary L. Dunnewold, Beth A. Honetschlager, Brenda L. Tofte.
CALL #: KF 8807 .D86 2010

Federal Judge Recusal and the BP/Gulf Oil Spill

2010-06-07T19:55:00.000-07:00

the AP National Investigative Team has put out an article, linked here by Yahoo, concerning how many (as in more than half) of the Federal judges who might hear the Gulf Oil Spill claims have interests in oil companies.

Now I cannot say this is suprising as Federal judges are not exactly poor and investing in oil companies is a normal part of many peoples investment strategy (including mine) but it does bring about some interesting recusal issues.

Gulf Oil Spill Legal Article

2010-06-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Wanted to share a Fortune article about the legal implications of the BP Oil Spill some of you might be interested in.

Hein Online

2010-06-03T06:37:00.003-07:00

Short post this week to remind our patrons of HeinOnline.

Hein contains a multitude of resources with the most popular being pdf versions of law reviews and often greater coverage than you will find on Westlaw or Lexus.

To get to HeinOnline go the the library Web site: law.mc.edu/library , click on Online Resources, and then HeinOnline . To log in click on the neon green bar at the top, if on campus you will automatically log in. If you are off campus you may use your Novell username and password to gain proxy access.

Additionally, Hein has recently announced they have updated their Senate Treaty Documents and Digital Session Laws libraries.

Regular Summer Hours

2010-06-01T06:43:00.000-07:00

Our regular Summer Hours begin June 1, 2010. They are:

Monday - Thursday : 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Saturday: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Sunday: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Bar Prep Smartphone Apps

2010-05-24T02:23:00.000-07:00

the ABA Magazine had an interesting and timely article I wanted to pass along to our recent graduates entitled: "Bar Exam? There's an App for That". The article discusses how BAR/BRI, BarMax, and Emanuel all have some sort of an app to try and help bar takers. An interesting trend for you technology minded grads (and for you soon to be grads who may be looking at which system to go with). The online version of the article even has a sort video showing the use of one of the apps.

Hours for the First Summer Intercession

2010-05-17T08:44:00.000-07:00

May 17 - May 31

Monday - Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Saturday & Sunday: CLOSED

Monday, May 31st (Memorial Day): CLOSED

The Next Supreme Court Justice

2010-05-05T13:06:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to be making any predictions but I thought some of our readers might be interested in the intrade.com poll that currently has Elena Kagan as the favorite. Remember this is not scientific polling but it is kind of interesting.

Interesting Oil Spill Resource

2010-05-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

Link to the NOAA map of oil spill location forcasting up to May 3rd.

50 Worst of the Worst (and Most Common) Job Interview Mistakes

2010-04-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

Not sure where I found this (it is not original) but I wanted to share with as many students will soon be undergoing the interview process.

1. Arriving late.
2. Arriving too early.
3. Lighting up a cigarette, or smelling like a cigarette.
4. Bad-mouthing your last boss.
5. Lying about your skills/experience/knowledge.
6. Wearing the wrong (for this workplace!) clothes.
7. Forgetting the name of the person you're interviewing with.
8. Wearing a ton of perfume or aftershave.
9. Wearing sunglasses.
10. Wearing a Bluetooth earpiece.
11. Failing to research the employer in advance.
12. Failing to demonstrate enthusiasm.
13. Inquiring about benefits too soon.
14. Talking about salary requirements too soon.
15. Being unable to explain how your strengths and abilities apply to the job in question.
16. Failing to make a strong case for why you are the best person for this job.
17. Forgetting to bring a copy of your resume and/or portfolio.
18. Failing to remember what you wrote on your own resume.
19. Asking too many questions.
20. Asking no questions at all.
21. Being unprepared to answer the standard questions.
22. Failing to listen carefully to what the interviewer is saying.
23. Talking more than half the time.
24. Interrupting your interviewer.
25. Neglecting to match the communication style of your interviewer.
26. Yawning.
27. Slouching.
28. Bringing along a friend, or your mother.
29. Chewing gum, tobacco, your pen, your hair.
30. Laughing, giggling, whistling, humming, lip-smacking.
31. Saying "you know," "like," "I guess," and "um."
32. Name-dropping or bragging or sounding like a know-it-all.
33. Asking to use the bathroom.
34. Being falsely or exaggeratedly modest.
35. Shaking hands too weakly, or too firmly.
36. Failing to make eye contact (or making continuous eye contact).
37. Taking a seat before your interviewer does.
38. Becoming angry or defensive.
39. Complaining that you were kept waiting.
40. Complaining about anything!
41. Speaking rudely to the receptionist.
42. Letting your nervousness show.
43. Overexplaining why you lost your last job.
44. Being too familiar and jokey.
45. Sounding desperate.
46. Checking the time.
47. Oversharing.
48. Sounding rehearsed.
49. Leaving your cell phone on.
50. Failing to ask for the job.

Easter Hours Reminder

2010-03-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

The MC SOL Law Library has special Easter Hours for this upcoming weekend.

The library will be open:

Friday, April 2nd: 9-5
Saturday, April 3rd: 9-9

The library will be closed Sunday, April 4th.

Regular hours will resume Monday, April 5th opening at 7:30 a.m.

Billing Time Redux

2010-03-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

Legal Movie Time

2010-03-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

Wanted to pass along this interesting list by National Jurist of 20 Must See Legal Movies. My personal favorite might be Twelve Angry Men but My Cousin Vinny runs a close second.

100 Great Google Docs Tips for Students & Educators

2010-03-01T07:55:00.000-08:00

Found this blog post at Accredited Online Colleges.Org and thought it was too valuable not to share:

For students and teachers, the Google Docs collection provides a streamlined, collaborative solution to writing papers, organizing presentations and putting together spreadsheets and reports. But besides the basic features, there are lots of little tricks and hacks you can use to make your Google Docs experience even more productive. Here are 100 great tips for using the documents, presentations and spreadsheets in Google Docs.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Navigate your documents and screen a lot faster when you use these keyboard shortcuts for formatting and more.

1. Ctrl+Home: Get back to the top of your doc.
2. Ctrl+B: Bold.
3. Ctrl+E: Center alignment
4. Ctrl+L: Back to left alignment.
5. Ctrl+M: Insert comment.
6. Ctrl+H: Replace.
7. Ctrl+End: Go to last cell in data region.
8. Ctrl+Home: Go to first cell in data region.
9. Shift+spacebar: Select entire row.
10. Ctrl+Z: Undo.
11. Ctrl+Y: Redo.
12. Ctrl+spacebar: Select entire column.
13. Ctrl+J: Full justify.
14. Ctrl+Shift+L: Bulleted list.
15. Ctrl+Shift+Space: Insert non-breaking space.
16. Page Down: Move down one screen.
17. Ctrl+K: Inset link.
18. Ctrl+Shift+F: Full screen.
19. Page Up: Move up one screen.
20. Ctrl+Space: Remove formatting.
21. Ctrl+: Heading style 1. Change the "1" to any number 1-6 and get the corresponding header.

Productivity Hacks

These hacks will make your Google Docs experience even more efficient and streamlined.

22. Templates: Use Docs’ 300 templates to get started on different types of documents.
23. Work offline: View and edit documents even when you don’t have access to an Internet connection.
24. Create shortcuts: Create shortcuts and bookmarks for new documents, Google Docs home and more frequently visited pages.
25. Save as different file types: Instead of converting docs to different file types, you can simply change it to HTML, RTF, PDG, ODT and more whenever you save it.

Features and Tools

Make use of features and tools like Docs Translation or CSS Editing to customize your docs and make them work for you.

26. Polyline: Draw shapes and lines in Google docs to make graphs, images and examples.
27. Docs Translation: Find the docs translator under Tools.
28. Snap to Guides: With this Edit feature, you can line up shapes in your doc automatically.
29. Reference tools: Google docs comes with access to a dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia that you can use within the document.
30. CSS Editing: Change the display of your doc by manually plugging in your CSS text.
31. HTML tags: Docs supports, or partially supports, some HTML tags, shown here.

Collaboration

One of the best things about Google Docs is that you get to share and collaborate on projects with others. Learn how to make the most of these features here.

32. Shared foldersCreate shared folders and drag-and-drop items from other folders.
33. Privacy: You can choose to have documents published publicly or privately.
34. Share, don’t email: Instead of emailing docs back and forth, type in email addresses of people you’d like to share your Google document with, and they’ll be sent an editable, web copy.
35. Make changes at the same time: You and your classmates can log into the same document at the same time to make edits.
36. Share a folder: Share entire groups of documents saved in a single file with coworkers and students.
37. Invite mailing lists as collaborators: You can share a document with all members of your email mailing lists with this function.
38. Make a presentation in real-time: Invite others to view a presentation you’ve made as you see it too.
39. Data validation: Make sure everyone is entering data into the spreadsheet the same way by controlling data validation settings.
40. Allow people to edit without signing in: This means anyone, even if they don’t have a Google account, can sign in and edit your piece.
41. Remove collaborators: If you want to take someone off a project, click None next to the name of the person you want to remove.
42. Forum: If you get stuck with a docs problem, you can head over to the forums and find help from other users.
43. Change ownership: Switch ownership of Google docs as project leaders change.

Files, Folders and Filters

Find out how to use files, folders and filters for optimum organization and a clearer display.

44. View and unviewed: You can mark new shared documents as viewed or unviewed, like an inbox.
45. Create subfolders: Make subfolders for better organization. Create, then choose to move it wherever you want.
46. Drag-and-drop folders: Drag-and-drop folders and docs to spreadsheets, documents and presentations.
47. Tag: Tag items with certain keywords instead of going to the trouble of moving them to a folder.
48. Star: You can also star documents, like you would in Gmail.
49. Upload multiple files: Click "select more files" to upload multiple files in Google Docs.

Organization

These hacks are designed to organize your Google Docs, from starting a new assignment to sharing and publishing.

50. Color code folders: Color-code the names of folders.
51. Insert bookmarks: Insert a link to another part of your document, like in a table of contents.
52. Zip archive: Export Google docs, spreadsheets and presentations in a single ZIP archive.
53. Block quote: Use this setting to automatically indent and set aside a long quote in your document.
54. Minimize: Star only the docs you want to see at one time, and minimize everything in the left pane for a minimized view.
55. Annotate with footnotes: Insert annotations as footnotes to your document easily.
56. Preview templates: Preview a template before committing to it.

Edits

With these editing tools, you’ll track comments, save editing history and more.

57. Color-code comments: You can color-code live comments in Google Docs.
58. Revision pruning: When you have too many revisions, they’ll automatically collapse, or prune, but can still be viewed in revision history.
59. Track edits and changes: In Google Docs you can go back and forth between edits that you or collaborators made.
60. Revision history: View older versions of your document, and choose to "revert to this one" if you choose.
61. Find and replace: This version of find and replace lets you match cases, match whole words, find previous words, and more.

Synchronization

Make your Google Docs work with other tools too.

62. Preview docs in Gmail: You can preview Google docs attachments in Gmail.
63. Google Finance: Enter information from Google Finance into spreadsheets with this formula Syntax: =GoogleFinance("symbol"; "attribute").
64. Sync with Office Documents: With Syncplicity, you can sync Google Docs with Microsoft Office.
65. Sync with your server: To work offline, your documents will have to be synced to your server.
66. Google Mobile: Use Google Mobile to access docs on your phone.

Search

Google Docs uses Google search to find documents and more.

67. Search PDFs: There’s a search box in the upper right corner of your PDF document.
68. Search for docs using keywords: If you don’t remember the title of a doc, type in keywords from the document instead.
69. Advanced search: Find documents by selecting who you’ve shared with, keyword, title, and more.
70. Search the web: Highlight a word and search the web for matching websites and images.
71. Search operators: Search operators will help you find starred, hidden and other documents quickly. Example: [is:starred]

Presentations

Learn how to make and present projects with videos, images and more.

72. Embed a presentation in a website: Add your class presentations to your website or blog by publishing and pasting the HTML code that is revealed.
73. Insert tables: You can insert tables into Google Presentations, too.
74. Sequentially reveal objects on a slide: Bullets and text boxes will be revealed one at a time if you select this option.
75. Custom colors: You can choose custom colors to add to your presentation.
76. Hide the gray bar: In presentation view, click on the icon in the upper-right corner of the gray bar at the bottom of your screen to make it disappear.
77. Chat: Chat with your audience in view presentation mode. You’ll need Adobe Flash Player 8 or above.
78. Insert videos: You can add videos to your presentation, minimize and maximize it, and move it around your screen.
79. Hide chat: Keep everyone quiet during your presentation by clicking the left side of the chat module.
80. Organize slides: You can reorder slides, make duplicate slides, and insert new slides wherever you want.
81. Replace image and video placeholders: Depending on your presentation’s template, you can replace placeholders with an actual image or video.

Spreadsheets

With spreadsheets, you can create forms, reports, invoices, portfolios, and other docs that solve problems, save email addresses and more.

82. Google search inside your spreadsheet: Highlight a word, right click, and select Search the web.
83. Print as PDF: Choose to print your spreadsheet as a PDF if you want all formatting to stay intact.
84. Live lookup: Use the following formula in a cell to ask Google to look up quantitative information: Syntax: =GoogleLookup("entity"; "attribute").
85. Roman function: Have numbers displayed as Roman numerals with this formula =ROMAN(number, form).
86. Create forms: Google Spreadsheets has various templates for forms you can create and have people fill out.
87. Edit forms: Add section headers to make it easier to divide up forms and make them easier to fill out.
88. List view: Select list view to load spreadsheets faster, view from your mobile phone and access basic editing features.
89. Protect sheet: Select Protect sheet to prevent certain collaborators from editing it.
90. Automatically add email addresses: If you have Google Apps, the email addresses of the people who fill out the form will automatically be saved.
91. Scientific notation: Adjust spreadsheets so that cells display in scientific notation.
92. Solve: Maximize and minimize values when you solve problems in your cells.
93. Add and delete comments: You can add, delete and edit comments in spreadsheets too.
94. Freeze columns and rows: Freeze rows and columns to stop editing.

Tasks

These tasks, from printing to tracking tournaments, are examples of other ways you can use Google Docs.

95. Print as a webpage: You can print your doc so that it displays as a web page.
96. Insert mathematical equations: Insert Equation makes an equation editor dialog box appear to add an equation to your doc.
97. GoogleTournament: Create brackets, and let Google automatically update data according to the Men’s and Women’s NCAA Division I Basketball Championship.
98. Enable offline access: You can install offline access for Google Docs to edit existing documents anywhere.
99. Track analytics: Track visits to published documents.
100. Update posts: You can republish posts that are already on your web page if you want to make edits and support an updated version.

Don't Tase Me - NEWS

2010-02-25T09:44:00.000-08:00

As the joke that was "Don't Tase Me Bro" a couple of years a go this story was passed along to me by one of our students and I thought I would share. The 9th circuit has determined that officers may be held liable for injuries to a person suffered after being tasered. There is a dividing line between immediate threat and passive resistance but for those details I refer you to the article and the opinion of the court.

Coming to Law School ?

2010-02-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

If you are a soon-to-be lawstudent and are interested in a little preparation before you get to campus I recommend this page from Lexis Nexis which gives primers on how to read and brief cases, an introduction, some links and study aid recommendations.

Steve Martin on Success

2010-02-15T07:53:00.000-08:00

I thought some of you readers might find this blog post from Study Hacks interesting as it talks a bit about how comedian Steve Martin talks about making it big.

Another Resource

2010-02-12T12:44:00.000-08:00

If you are reading this libraries blog I figure you might be techy enough and informationally interested so I wanted to point you to HeinOnline's page of Education Resources. This page has links to their wiki, their blog, their YouTube Channel, their Facebook, and their Twitter pages.

Top Lawyers Education

2010-02-08T11:09:00.000-08:00

National Jurist has an interesting article discussing where the nations "top lawyers" went to law school. Now why I might debate who is a top or super lawyer the idea is interesting.

Bad Lawyers

2010-02-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

Lawyers are bad everywhere but this story from Louisiana I wanted to pass along as a cautionary tale. 2 attorneys reportedly had given approximately $20,000 over 10 years to Federal Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr. under the idea of helping out a friend in need.

As lawyers know and law students will soon find out the legal community is very, very small and many of your friends may very well be counsel opposite or the judge ruling on your case. HOWEVER, when you loan/give/lend them money stories like this arise.

Top 10 .gov Web Site of 2009

2010-01-28T12:52:00.001-08:00

GCN (Government Computer News) has put out a list of the top 10 .gov Web sites of 2009. Wanted to share some of these (mostly) new pages that many have never heard of.

A funny moment at the U.S. Supreme Court

2010-01-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

From NMiss Commentor

From the oral argument transcript today in Briscoe v. Virginia, a funny moment in the argument of University of Michigan law professor Richard Friedman:

MR. FRIEDMAN: I think that issue is entirely orthogonal to the issue here because the Commonwealth is acknowledging -
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: I’m sorry. Entirely what?
MR. FRIEDMAN: Orthogonal. Right angle. Unrelated. Irrelevant.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Oh.
JUSTICE SCALIA: What was that adjective? I liked that.
MR. FRIEDMAN: Orthogonal.
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Orthogonal.
MR. FRIEDMAN: Right, right.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Orthogonal, ooh.
(Laughter.)
JUSTICE KENNEDY: I knew this case presented us a problem.
(Laughter.)
MR. FRIEDMAN: I should have — I probably should have said -
JUSTICE SCALIA: I think we should use that in the opinion.
(Laughter.)
MR. FRIEDMAN: I thought — I thought I had seen it before.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Or the dissent.
(Laughter.)
MR. FRIEDMAN: That is a bit of professorship creeping in, I suppose.

Infringement Suit

2010-01-18T07:57:00.000-08:00

I can't help but smirk at the puns to be made when addressing law suits and clothing manufacturers but this ABA Journal article discusses trademark infringement by the company "The South Butt" which is clearly in my mind making fun of and gaining notoriety off of "The North Face" line of products.

I can also, for better or worse, attest to having seen a "South Butt" jacket over the Christmas break. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments sections.

Law Library Closure

2010-01-12T06:36:00.000-08:00

The law library is closing today at 8:30 a.m. due to the lack of water and restroom facilities. We plan on being open 7:30 a.m. tomorrow.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Scalia speech

2010-01-11T07:53:00.000-08:00

I was remiss in not speaking about Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia coming to speak at MC Law. Here is an article from the Jackson Free Press that discusses some highlights of his speech. The primary emphasis of the speech was on the use of foreign legal materials in American jurisprudence.

Thanksgiving Hours

2009-11-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

Open 7:30 - 5:00 - Friday, Nov. 20
Closed - Saturday & Sunday Nov. 21-22
Open - 7:30 - 5:00 - Monday & Tuesday, Nov. 23 - 24
Closed - Wednesday - Saturday, Nov. 25-28

Google News Timeline

2009-11-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

Google News Timeline - http://newstimeline.google.com/ - is a new Google lab service that you might want to check out, it provides a synopsis of news in a unique way for searching. The first thing that comes to mind for usefulness is knowing something happened, say the first week in October but you cannot remember the day. Pull up the timeline and you can scroll from day to dat while having some search features also available.

Hmmm, maybe scratch Colorado off the list

2009-11-05T11:24:00.000-08:00

For those of you about to graduate (or those looking to the future) the employment stats in Colorado look especially bleak. Above the Law is talking about a 35% unemployment at graduation rate for U of Colorado Law grads. And remember these are people who have been in state and hopefully have developed some network in their time in law school.

Not to say things are a whole lot better here in Mississippi but the 35% number jumped out when reading it.

Another Consideration

2009-10-26T11:34:00.001-07:00

The Clarion Ledger, today, discusses how budgetary restraints are now influencing the type of cases they will be trying in the D.A.'s office. Specifically referenced is how fewer capital cases will be tried due to their expense with regards to both jurors and experts that are required.

Now on the New Book Shelf

2009-10-21T07:58:00.000-07:00

We have just gotten in some new books and these are a sampling of what has been added to the New Book Shelf (located on the first floor by the stairs)

- Green Building and Sustainable Development
- Tribal Contracting: Understanding and Drafting Business Contracts with American Indian Tribes
- In the Court of Public Opinion: Winning Strategies for Litigation Communications
- How Good Lawyers Survive Bad Times
- Selling in Your Comfort Zone: Safe and Effective Strategies for Developing New Business
- Virtual Incorporation: A Lawyer's Guide to the Formation of Virtual Corporations

Very Cool SCOTUS resource

2009-10-16T08:13:00.000-07:00

It seems like there are new resources popping up all over the place and we will try and bring some here to you. Today I want to mention C-Span's new site that has an excellent series of videos on the U.S. Supreme Court. Some pretty cool stuff is there so check it out.

Quick Mention

2009-10-12T08:09:00.000-07:00

Many of our current students might appreciate knowing that Prof. Chris Lund who left us this past summer to go to Wayne State Law had a blog post of his mentioned on the nationally known SCOTUSblog. Click here to see the SCOTUS posts that links to Chris' entire post.

It makes me think of one of Dr. Royce's normal lines during graduation (in what I am sure is a poor paraphrase) "as your reputation is enhanced, so is that of Mississippi College" and so is the value of your degree.

the e-book alternatives

2009-10-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

This isn't something the MCSOL Library necessarily has content for but we realize that many of our patrons like to read and are technologically savy. That being said e-book readers such as the Kindle from Amazon are a giant step in the right direction for those that want to take their library with them. Recently, the LibraryBytes blog had this blog post which I want to pass along that discusses the current state of e-book readers and the coming competitor to the Kindle by Microsoft called "The Courier".

Oh, and if you are wanting an update to the Kindle removing some books without asking story, Kindle has returned your purchases free of cost after rethinking their previous strategy.

Dress for Success

2009-10-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

As a note to the students we pass along this story about how a judge disallowed a complaint by a lawyer to be allowed to wear jeans and a ballcap in the courtroom. The "suit" continues. This case is based not on the content of the attire but purely the ability to wear such attire in a courtroom. For more on this story see here.

Fun reminder of library etiquette

2009-09-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

The West Case Processing System

2009-09-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in how the West process works for receiving, annotating, and publishing (online and in print) cases please watch this YouTube from West:

Law School Musical

2009-09-11T20:53:00.001-07:00

Many of you will find humor in this:

Notice

2009-09-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

The library computer lab will be closed most of tomorrow due to a CLE. It will reopen around 4:00 p.m. Other library services should not be affected.

Economic Outlook for Grads

2009-09-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

I wanted to highlight this New York Times article that may be of interest to some of you readers. The article discusses the legal job market in regards to the economic downturn.

Government Websites

2009-09-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to what GCN considers the Top Government Websites for 2009. Really a pretty good list IMO. It includes:

USASpending.gov
Transit.511.org - a San Fran example of public transportation usefulness
FD Sys - a GPO website for digital submissions

(and more)

H1N1 News

2009-09-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

MC law now has announcement about the H1N1 flu that I want to link to: http://www.law.mc.edu/news/h1n1.html

H1N1 News

2009-08-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

I know some people think the H1N1 is overblown and others think it something to rightly be afraid of but this post is to try and just let you know what is out there for MC folks.

Recently launched is this website: MC Alert that will notify of information is something is to spread at MC (both main and law campuses) like has been reported at some other places.

Also please try and stay aware of your surroundings and take normal care or slightly more so to watch out for sneezing and other cold symptoms and wash those hands thoroughly. I ask because while I don't think it will kill you (hopefully) no one wants to feel poorly during law school.

iPhone Black's Law Dictionary

2009-08-20T05:57:00.000-07:00

iPhoneJD has a review of the Black's Law Dictionary app that I thought some of you might be interested in as I see more iPhones floating around the school every day. This could be a handy alternative to the large version purchased in the bookstore or even (heaven forbid) you using the copies in the library.

Welcome

2009-08-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

The library welcomes the class of 2012 and all of our returning students back to school today. As a reminder the reference desk should have a librarian on duty from 8 am - 9 pm Monday - Thursday and 8 am - 5 pm on Fridays.

Library Construction !!!

2009-08-13T10:38:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to alert readers that the computer lab will be closed until Tuesday morning due to some construction in the lab. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Debt keeps man out of the bar

2009-07-20T10:37:00.001-07:00

The Law Librarian Blog brings this tale of how a law grad seeking admissions to the New York State Bar has been declined because of his outstanding amount of debt.

WHAT?, you say

I know many of you probably have lots of debt but this guy had over $400,000 in debt and the Court felt he didn't have the general character and fitness for an attorney. I know, knowing how some attorneys can be one has to wonder how low that bar really is but nonetheless Mr. Bowman appears to be sitting this one out for now.

Just say no (unless you are too far gone)

2009-07-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

What's that, you want to be a lawyer?

This page gives a humorous (but all too truthful IMO) rendition of 8 reasons not to go to lawschool.

Noise

2009-07-13T07:07:00.001-07:00

For those of you who have been chased out of the library due to noise over the past few weeks I offer the good news that the constuction and installation of the new windows is done and we should be back to our quiet ways to facilitate your studying for the bar.

SCOTUS stats

2009-06-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

This is a really good link from SCOTUS Blog concerning the just ended term of the Court with stats and graphs based on voting patterns.

Interested in the Special Session?

2009-06-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

Here is the MPB link to the camera on the floor of the MS House of Representatives.

Become a G-Mail Ninja

2009-06-23T10:35:00.001-07:00

This page has some pretty good tips for really controlling g-mail which is the host of our new email service

The easiest way to use this is to click on "printable version" in the middle of the page

Jackson Muni Court amnesty

2009-06-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

Wanted to point out to the students who may be working in firms this summer that the Jackson Municipal Court amnesty period begins Thursday, tomorrow, morning. So if you have a client who could be helped by this let them and/or your boss know. Hopefully, none of you yourselves have outstanding violation. - See this CL article for more

A Little Friday Fun

2009-06-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

New Student Email

2009-05-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

While the new email program is not tied in with the library I feel the need to try and pass along the word from computer services. Below is an email I received from them today:

Coming June 1, 2009

~~~~WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT~~~~

You will no longer have a Novell and a GroupWise password. As it is, if you changed your GroupWise password, your Novell password did not change since it is a separate password. When we move to MCmail, you will only have one password for everything. This will make changing passwords and remembering them a bit easier.
On June 1, everyone's password will be reset to the original four-word password that weinitially issued to you. If you do not remember the original password, you can visit https://www.mc.edu/computerservices/mcnet/account_lookup.php to look up the information again.
On June 1, your current MC email account will be deleted. If you want to keep your current emails, it is recommended that you visit https://www.mc.edu/computerservices/kb/articles/article.php?id=40 to find out how to back up your current emails to upload into your new MCmail account. Once the accounts are deleted on June 1, emails on the old system will NOT be retrievable, since the old system will be shut down.
Gmail does not have a feature that will allow us to upload our MC address book for all students to access. You will need to use the online address book at http://www.mc.edu/about/phonebook.php to look up email addresses, etc.

For more information, visit

http://www.mc.edu/computerservices/kb/articles/article.php?id=36

********************************************

MCnet Support support@mc.edu 601.925.3939

Library Summer Hours

2009-05-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

With the beginning of the summer semester the library also begins its summer hours. These hours are:

Monday - Thursday: 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Friday: 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday: 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

The only interruption for this schedule this summer should be the Fourth of July weekend when the library is closed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Quiet Hours

2009-04-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

Quiet Hours are now in effect for all 3 floors of the Law Library.

Additionally our finals hours have started which means we stay open until midnight every night (including Friday and Saturday) until May 14th (when we will close at 4:30) after the last exam is ended.

GPO - YouTube Style

2009-04-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

As part of 1L Legal Research you might have heard a librarian mention GPO more than once or twice. GPO is the Government Printing Office and the point of this post is to share with you this link, http://www.youtube.com/user/gpoprinter, to their YouTube site. Almost everyone prefers videos to reading so spend a little time watching and gain a better perspective on the GPO.

Special Easter Hours

2009-04-10T05:17:00.001-07:00

The MCSOL Library has special hours this Easter Holiday
Passover Friday, April 10th - 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Saturday, April 11th - 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Easter Sunday, April 12th - CLOSED
Monday, April 13th - 7:30 a.m. - midnight (return to regular hours)

Young Lawyers Blog

2009-04-07T11:41:00.000-07:00

I was recently introduced the Young Lawyers Blog and wanted to pass along the link. I think so of you students might be interested in it.

Courtroom Attack

2009-04-03T06:55:00.000-07:00

Here at the MC Law Library Blog we aren't above videos, below is Florida courtroom footage of a criminal "acting out" by going after a witness who testified against him.

Peep Time

2009-03-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

As many of you have realized it is almost Easter time. As part of this I thought you might enjoy this photo gallery that shows the making of peeps.

A fun video to share

2009-03-18T05:48:00.000-07:00

A many of you will remember this song from your youth and so understand the premise of this video

Spring Break Hours

2009-03-10T06:01:00.001-07:00

The MCSOL Law Library will be open at the following times as influenced by Spring Break:

Friday, March 13 - 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 14 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 15 - CLOSED
Monday - Thursday, March 16-19 - 7:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday, March 20 - 21 - 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 22 - 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Monday, March 23 - Back to regular hours

Humor Titles

2009-03-04T05:54:00.000-08:00

As I continue to hear grumbling among the student body of being burned out and generally tired of law school I thought it might be appropriate to point out that Amazon has come out with a list of Hot New Releases for Humor Books. Included in the list are: I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell , The Complete Peanuts 1971-1972 , and Freedom's Just Another Word for People Finding Out You're Useless from Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert).

Stress

2009-02-24T12:14:00.001-08:00

Just the other day I listened to a student complain about the amount of unneeded stress that law school was causing him. His complaint was that it could be so much easier and not effect the actual learning process.

This is probably true on some level, BUT, I think that part of what law school is trying to teach you is not simply the books or enough to pass the bar exam but the more valuable tools of how to think critically, how to find things you don't know, and perhaps most importantly how to grind it out (which is what much of the practice of law is). Unfortunately, the practice of law is not often the sexy side you see on television. All this lead up to recommending this article intro (and article is linked) by the ABA Journal

Judicial Elections Gone Bad?

2009-02-17T09:32:00.000-08:00

USAToday has an article out today that discusses how a corporate CEO heavily backed (through a intermediary) a candidate for the West Virginia Supreme Court only to have that same judge be the deciding vote on a multi-million dollar case three years later. The story is quite interesting and the decision regarding the propriety of this action has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court and if found improper could very well impact beyond this single case and influence judicial election law and selection across the country (including Mississippi).

Email Text Messages to Phone

2009-02-16T05:26:00.000-08:00

Most of you MCSOL students have texting but some have limits and almost everyone has a computer by now so when you get up against that limit use the web for free text. See this article from TechnoBlog that provides the following post:

Each major cell phone carrier has a domain name for just this purpose. And each cell phone’s number–with the area code but without parenthesis or dashes–is the first part of an email address.

For instance, Verizon’s texting domain isvtext.com. If my phone number was 415-555-1234 (which it isn’t), you could text me by emailing to 4155551234@vtext.com .

Here are some other domains:
AT&T: @txt.att.net
Alltel: @message.alltel.com
CellularOne: @mobile.celloneusa.com
Cingular: @cingularme.com
Nextel: @messaging.nextel.com
Omnipoint: @omnipointpcs.com
Qwest: @qwestmp.com
Sprint: @messaging.sprintpcs.com
T-Mobile: @tmomail.net
Virgin Mobile: @vmobl.com

Legal Research Fellows Schedule

2009-02-02T08:08:00.000-08:00

For all that help with your legal research class the Fellows are back and at your assitance

Monday - 12:30 to 5:00

Tuesday - 8:30 to 1:00; 2:00 to 5:30

Wednesday - 2:30 to 5:00

Thursday - 2:00 to 5:30

Exploited Students?

2009-01-30T06:24:00.000-08:00

I wanted to pass along this ABA Journal article that centers around the Dean of the New York Law School saying that law schools are exploiting students for monetary gain.

Thoughts? Agreement? Disagreement

Interesting Title

2009-01-27T06:29:00.000-08:00

On occasion I highlight a new title I think you students might like, we are putting on the shelf today a book entitled: "Maximize Your Lawyer Potential: Professionalism and Business Etiquette". This book is kept in the Law Career Collection, Call # KF 277. M46 2009.

It speaks to many different things including networking, interviews, debt, and correspondence in a pretty easy to read manner.

Suggestion for the new President

2009-01-23T06:19:00.000-08:00

Slate has a good recap I thought you might be interested in of Ten To Toss: The top Bush executive orders that Obama should scrap immediately.

Regardless of which side of the aisle you support these are 10 things you should know about as an informed citizen and attorney. The one that sticks out to me personally is the one regarding stem cell research but this blog isn't about me, it is about you, but feel free to come talk to me about that or any of the other topics as I'm always up for discussion.

A picture says a thousand words

2009-01-20T12:24:00.001-08:00

Wanted to let y'all know that we now have some pictures of the MCSOL Library on Inauguration day up on our Flickr page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28357626@N05/sets/72157611117209885/

Announcement

2009-01-16T11:39:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, Janurary 20th at 10:30 the MCSOL Library will be showing the Inauguration on the second floor of the library for those that are interested.

Copyright Infringement

2009-01-15T13:37:00.000-08:00

I wanted to pass along an article from the WSJ I found that discusses copyright infringement and piracy/use primarily by students. I know personally of several of you who post YouTube videos and this article can speak directly to what some others have run into in this area of law.

Spring Hours

2009-01-02T13:30:00.000-08:00

Regular Spring Hours begin January 14th.

Mondays - Thursdays: 7:30 a.m. - midnight
Fridays: 7:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Saturdays: 9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sundays: noon - midnight

Exceptions to this occur for Martin Luther King Holiday, Spring Break, Easter, and the Exam Schedule. Those exceptions will be posted later.

Interim Hours

2009-01-02T13:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the previous posts that had the formatting all messed up, I should have checked behind to see what blogger did to it. Here are the Interim Hours

Weekdays: 7:30 - 5:00
Weekends: Closed
January 2nd - January 13th.

We will reopen January 14th, the first day of class, using the Spring Schedule

NewTitle

2008-12-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

I don't always list out new titles on the blog here but we had one come in I thought might draw some pretty good student reaction.

50 Unique Legal Paths: How to Find the Right Job
KF 297 .F87 2008

It is now available in the library. It is in the Ready Reference section so you have to use it in the library but I think some of you might be quiet interested in what it has to say.

Developing Your Practice

2008-12-15T06:52:00.001-08:00

I found this article in the ABA - Young Lawyers Division newsletter that many of you soon to be lawyers might find interesting. Click on the article to see the details but here are the 5 big things to help you reach a quality practice

Avocation as vocation
Mentors
Reputation
Clients
Economics

Job News

2008-12-12T06:35:00.000-08:00

If an effort to help keep a pulse on the job market for the law students who read this blog I refer to two ABA Journal online articles

1 - an article discussing how nationwide over 12,000 jobs have been lost in legal employment

2 - and a not directly related article but certainly tied to the same market is an article discussing how law school grads are at times battling for work formerly reserved for paralegals

Not fun news but it is what is out there is a tough legal and job market

reading list at the U of C Law School

2008-12-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

The ABA Journal also has an interesting note from the University of Chicago where the faculty has compiled a list of books their are reading or recommend. What I found most interesting in the article was this quote from Frank Easterbrook (7th circuit judge and adjunct): "writing is a lawyer's stock in trade, and the best way to learn how to write well is to read well-written literature."

School Rank and GPA Aren’t the Best Predictors of BigLaw Success

2008-11-27T08:55:00.000-08:00

The ABA Journal recently had an article entitled "School Rank and GPA Aren’t the Best Predictors of BigLaw Success" that I wanted to share with you. I have had many a conversation with students about issues such as this and thought you might find it interesting.

Career Related Article

2008-11-25T08:58:00.001-08:00

Wanted to share a good, short ABA Journal article entitled: Is a Law Degree a Liability for Nonlaw Job Seekers?

Mac Buyers

2008-11-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

as I walk through the library I see many students with Mac's and talk to others who want to buy Mac's and here is a handy resource for you: the MacRumors Buyers Guide.

MacRumors is a generally a good place to go for Mac info but now this buyers guide can help you purchase something that is not going out of style.

Election Revisited

2008-11-17T05:56:00.000-08:00

In addition to the state judicial elections what may be next most important regarding the election for readers of this blog are presidential appointments. The Clarion Ledger printed a story this morning that has a good recap of some of the impact a President Obama will have on appointments in Mississippi regarding federal judges and federal district attorneys.

Unpublished Opinions

2008-11-13T06:37:00.000-08:00

Every year in 1L Legal Research we discuss unpublished opinions very quickly and it seems that every year I have an upperclassmen who kind of knows about it but isn't very clear on them. HERE is an excellent blog post from the Law Librarian Blog discussing unpublished opinions in much more detail than we go into in Legal Research and what the book, at least the version we are currently using, goes into. Below are a couple of excerpts:

Q: What specifically are we talking about when we say “unpublished opinions”?
A: “Unpublished opinions” refers to court opinions that the court withholds from formal publication in the official reporter. In the era before official reporters and universal publication of opinions, from about the thirteenth century to the start of the twentieth century, many court opinions went unpublished. These opinions could still be brought to the court’s attention, though, as evidence of the common law and precedent. Then, for much of the twentieth century, commercial publishers endeavored to publish every appellate opinion, which proved expensive, both from the perspective of the judicial time investment in writing opinions and in the storing, indexing, and researching those opinions. So an attempt was made to limit those expenses by creating a class of opinions that would be designated “unpublished.” The federal circuit courts for example enacted rules limiting the citation of these unpublished opinions and (in most circuits) limiting their precedential value.

Q: What about the idea that some cases make law and should be published, and other cases, which only apply law, need not be published?
A: That notion is plainly mistaken. Every case, even one exactly the same as a prior case adds to the body of precedent. It tells the reader that the rule announced is a current one, a robust one, and one that was not the product of an errant judge or panel. It is these “piles” of cases, as Karl Llewellyn called them, that make up the common law. But most cases differ from other cases in at least some small way, and it is the decision as to whether these differences change the outcome that tells us the contours of the law. It is this process of repeated application of the law that Lord Coke viewed as giving weight and ever greater precision to the law. All decisions have some precedential value in establishing the state of the law. In addition, the idea that a court can determine at the time of decision (or under the present system at the time of filing) whether a case would be of precedential value in a future case makes no sense. The value of court’s decision as precedent is a question for a later court considering whether to apply, distinguish, or overrule the precedent. And on top of these jurisprudential problems, there is a practical problem that this ex ante determination hasn’t worked very well in practice. Courts frequently issue unpublished opinions in cases that are not the easy cases, involving the mere application of the law cases. Many such opinions contain concurrences or dissents, are heard by en banc panels, and are reversed on appeal or upheld by opinions that are dissented from. All of which suggests that these are far from the easy cases and that these are decisions that expand or contract the law and ought to be precedent.

FOIA requests

2008-11-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

In the practice of law some of you may find the occassion to submit a FOIA request. Here is a page that serves as guidance for how agencies are supposed to comply with FOIA and redacting. There are even a couple of examples at the end. If they do not substantially comply with this with regards to your request this could be fairly handy with its statutory references and DOJ publication.

Reminder

2008-11-07T06:37:00.001-08:00

The first floor of the library will be off-limits to general patrons tomorrow morning as it is being used to give the Ethics bar tomorrow morning.

We thank you for your understanding in this matter.

Orders now available from the MS Supreme Court

2008-11-06T12:56:00.000-08:00

I'll cut and paste a piece from the MS Bar e-Newsletter you might find interesting:

Orders of the Mississippi Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals filed on or after Sept. 25, 2008, can be viewed via the Internet. Access to copies of court orders is available from the General Docket page on the Court's web site. Go to http://www.mssc.state.ms.us/appellate_courts/generaldocket.html.

Cases are searchable by cause number, party name or attorney name. Point-and-click access to court orders will not be available directly from the weekly hand down lists of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. Gaining access to the full text of orders will require one to pull up the docket sheet for the individual case from the General Docket, then click on the link for the order. Orders will be available via the Internet on the day after they are filed. The web site is updated each evening. Appellate court orders filed from Sept. 25, 2008, forward, will be available as digital images. The Court does not plan to link to orders entered before that date.

Windows 7

2008-11-03T07:59:00.003-08:00

If you are reading this blog as an MCSOL student it probably means you are at least a bit tech savvy so I wanted to share with you news that the new Windows OS is around the corner, below is a post of mine for another blog you might find of interest:

In the ever annoying advertising battle between Apple and Windows it appears that Windows is not spending all that money on advertising as the commercials imply. Some of it appears to have been spent on Windows 7 which is on the horizon and is nearer than many had thought. This Gizmodo article talks about some of the new features and includes screen caps and even a couple of short videos concerning start-up and shutdown timing. I believe this is the same version that has been referred to as Windows Blackcomb in some reports. This release may even hit the market before the late 2009 date that had been discussed earlier this year.

Nod to David Pogue's blog Pogue's Post where I first found this. For those of you who attended the AALL conference in Portland this past year David was the keynote speaker.

Another Tech Tip

2008-10-31T16:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know that was the same title as the last post but it still applies to something new.

As I walk through the library daily it seems that at least 1/2 of our students are plugged into their laptops with their earphones with almost all using iTunes. Autobahn is a way to speed up your iTunes downloads. I am fairly new to it but have not seen anything to be fearful of and Friedbeef Tech seems to recommend it.