Thursday, February 25, 2010

Google Employees Convicted in Italian Court

The Italian trial of four Google employees has resulted in a conviction of three of the charged individuals. As originally reported on Jurist, the indictment was for criminal defamation; however, subsequent reports noted that the indictment included charges for violation of the Italian Privacy Code.
According to a post on the Official Google Blog, "In late 2006, students at a school in Turin, Italy filmed and then uploaded a video to Google Video that showed them bullying an autistic school mate. The video was totally reprehensible and we took it down within hours of being notified by the Italian Police." However, the according to an NPR report, Italian prosecutors argued that because of the popularity of the video, which remained on the site for two month and was included on the most entertaining videos for the Italian site, Google should have been aware of and removed the video sooner.
Google asserts that "European Union law was drafted specifically to give hosting providers a safe harbor from liability so long as they remove illegal content once they are notified of its existence ... If that principle is swept aside and sites like Blogger, YouTube and indeed every social network and any community bulletin board, are held responsible for vetting every single piece of content that is uploaded to them ... then the Web as we know it will cease to exist, and many of the economic, social, political, and technological benefits it brings could disappear." As a result, Google stresses that it will support a vigorous appeal of the convictions.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Is the Virtual Law Office the Future for Legal Services?

Witnesses at the ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 suggested that clients are increasingly turning to web-based vendors to meet their legal needs. According to several experts, virtual offices, because of their accessibility and affordability are growing in popularity. Further, according to Stephanie Kimbro, co-founder of Virtual Office Technology, LLC, virtual office arrangements can benefit lawyers "by accommodating better work/life balance, producing economies for routine work, helping prevent malpractice, reducing overhead and expanding the potential client base."

To read more, click here to access the ABAnow article.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Fastcase Launches iPhone Application


Access to the desktop version of Fastcase is free for members of the Oklahoma Bar Association (OBA). Fastcase allows OBA members to search federal and state case law and statutes. However, law students, because they are not yet members of the bar, have not had access to Fastcase. Law students, as well as bar members, may now access free Fastcase using a new App for the iPhone and iTouch. This is an excellent opportunity to become familiar with the Fastcase research tool.

Click here for additional information and the link to download the Fastcase App.

New Portal to Mexican Statutes and Regulations

Justia has launched LeyMx, a portal that provides access to primary law, including the Mexican Constitution, state and federal laws, codes, and regulations. The site provides content in both image and text formats. As you might anticipate, content is provided in Spanish; however, using Google language tools or Yahoo's BabelFish will allow conversion to a readable English translation.


Hat tip to Wisblawg - From the UW Law Library

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Buzz on Google Buzz

According to Google, Google Buzz is a service built into the Gmail service
as a "new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting." However, the roll out of Google Buzz has prompted numerous complaints that Google has violated the privacy rights of Gmail users. Additional discussions about the privacy issues raised by Google Buzz are available from Jurist and NPR.

Facebook and Privacy

Concerned about potential employers using Facebook to "spy" on you? The New York Times has published an article about the three Facebook settings that every Facebook user should check.

Thanks to Law Librarian Blog

Post authored by Tim Gatton, Student Reference Assistant

Current Events Displays In the Library


There are a number of events occurring in February. February is Black History Month. President's Day (Washington's Birthday), Valentines and Mardi Gras are celebrated in February. The world is working to provide aid to Haiti. Finally, athletes are competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics. The Law Library is displaying materials related to all of these events.
Visit the displays and find some material of interest.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Justice Neil Gorsuch, Jurist-in-Residence

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, will visit OCU LAW February 9-11, 2010. Justice Gorsuch will appear as a special speaker in OCU LAW classes, meet with students and faculty, and deliver a public lecture, titled "But My Client Made Me Do It: The Struggle of Being A Good Lawyer and Living A Good Life" at 5 p.m. Wednesday, February 10 in the Homsey Family Moot Courtroom.

In 2008 OCU LAW partnered with McAfee & Taft to create the McAfee & Taft Jurist-in-Residence program. Justice Gorsuch is the 2010 McAfee & Taft Jurist-in-Residence. If you would like to review some of Justice Gorsuch's publications, please visit the display in the Law Library.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Innocence Project

Oklahoma City University Law School is working to establish an Innocence Project.

Based at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the Innocence Project established in 1992 by Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld is marking a significant achievement, the exoneration of its 250th client. To commemorate the occasion, the New York based project released 250 Exonerated, Too Many Wrongfully Convicted on Feb. 4, 2010. The report details each one of the 250 DNA exoneration cases and includes statistics on common causes of the wrongful convictions.

Hat tip to Law Librarian Blog

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Are You Using Zotero?

Zotero is a free Firefox extension that helps you organize and bluebook your sources. To get started, read this Quick Start Guide from BU Law Library and download Zotero.

WestlawNext

Curious about the new Westlaw interface? Take a look at WestlawNext and provide your feedback to West.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

January Acquisition List

A list of the OCU Law Library's acquisitions during the month of January is now available on our website. See what new books are available for you!


http://www.okcu.edu/law/lawlib/library_geninfo.php#MonthlyAcquisition.