The Gavel

Chief Judge Robert Henry of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to Become OCU President

2009-12-11T10:30:00.005-06:00

Chief Judge Robert Henry of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit has announced that he will step down from the bench in 2010 to become the President of Oklahoma City University.

OCU's press release regarding Henry's selection details his past affiliation with OCU, including his service as the Dean of OCU Law School from 1991-1994.

Additional coverage is available from How Appealing, NewsOK, and National Law Journal.

Tiger Woods and Exams?!

2009-12-10T09:44:00.002-06:00

Have you heard enough about Tiger Woods? Well, maybe you should keep listening.

Eric Turkewitz of the New York Personal Injury Law Blog writes that Tiger Woods is a “One Man Bar Exam” because of the breadth of his legal difficulty. Click here to see Turkewitz’s list of Tiger’s legal troubles, exam topics, and a terribly photoshopped image of Tiger Woods.

(Article found on Above the Law.)

OCU Law School Wins with Maps 3

2009-12-09T14:25:00.000-06:00

According to the Daily Oklahoma, Maps 3 passed yesterday with a vote 40,956 yes, 34,465 no. This continuation of a one cent sales tax over the next seven years is slated to improve the downtown area. It includes the construction of a new convention center, a 70-acre park, and aquatic health centers for senior adults. It also provides for repairs and improvements for sidewalks, walking trails, the fairgrounds, and facilities on the Oklahoma River.

OCU Law School also possibly benefits from Maps 3 passing. The passing of Maps 3 is one the primary conditions for moving the Law School downtown. In fact, the introduction of public transit to the downtown area including streetcars and a possible commuter rail will make it possible for law students to travel to a downtown law school without exorbitant cost in parking.

Click on the following links to read the news coverage on this issue:

http://www.newsok.com/changes-in-downtown-oklahoma-city-steer-plans-for-ex-model-t-plant/article/3418328

http://www.journalrecord.com/article.cfm?recid=105118

http://newsok.com/oklahoma-city-voters-say-yes-to-maps-3-proposal/article/3423715?custom_click=lead_story_title

http://www.okcu.edu/law/blog/index.php/2009/11/19/ocu-law-considering-a-plan-to-move-downtown/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+oculaw+%28Oklahoma+City+University+School+of+Law%29

A Little Less Bah-HumBug: Good News on Student Loan Payment and Forgiveness

2009-12-07T12:58:00.002-06:00

It is a good thing to hear good news during the holidays… especially good news about money.

As summarized here, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act helps in regard to student loan payment in three ways: (1) It will bring down loan interest rates down to 3.4% in 2011. (2) Beginning July 2009, borrowers can repay their loans with an income based repayment plan. (3) If the borrower has a Federal Direct Loan, they can participate in Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Under these stipulations, the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program will forgive the loans of those who work with “public interest legal services” for over ten years. This includes “prosecutors, public defenders and legal advocacy on behalf of low-income communities at a nonprofit organization” Visit http://edlabor.house.gov/college-cost-reduction-and-access-act/index.shtml and http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml for additional information regarding public service loan forgiveness.

Social Networking (Facebook) Helps Exonerate Teen

2009-12-05T12:25:00.006-06:00

Evidence collected from social networks has been increasingly used to obtain convictions. Recently, however, evidence collected from Facebook resulted in the dismissal of robbery charges against a New York teen. According to the a posting on eWeek.com, defense attorneys were excited to hear of "a Brooklyn teenager's acquittal over robbery charges when it was learned the teen had posted a status update on Facebook from his home computer during the crime. " While the facts related in a New York Post story vary slightly, it does appear that Facebook was used to support the teen's "alibi".

As the eWeek.com posting indicates. Location features of social networking services, such as Google Latitude, may be utilized as "legal tool[s]" in the future. However, members of organizations such as Electronic Frontier Foundation have cautioned about the privacy risk of location features, particularly those that have a location history function.

Hat tip to Equal Justice Works E-Clips

New Books: November 2009

2009-12-02T15:22:00.003-06:00

Each month, the OCU Law Library's website features the new books added to the collection. You can use the library catalog to search for new books or review the list on the website. Check out the new books acquired in November 2009.

Finals Time is Here!

2009-12-02T09:24:00.003-06:00

Studying for final can be a daunting experience, but the OCU Law Library is here to help.

#1 We provide you with the ability to reserve a study room for your next big study session. We are now booking rooms up to a week in advance. Come by the circulation desk. Available times are quickly disappearing. When you come, bring a list of those you are sharing the room with. We need to add them to the list as well.

#2 OCU Law Library also has longer hours beginning Thursday, December 3. We will be open from 7:30am-1am weekdays until December 17th. On the weekends, we will be open 9:00am-1:00am on Saturday and 1:00pm-1:00am on Sunday.
However, on December 18th, we close at 6pm, and our hours will be limited through December 22. Then, our doors will be closed December 20th and December 23rd through January 2nd. So if you are graduating, return all of your books early!

#3 The Law Library posts many practice exams online. Find them on StarNet- http://starnet.okcu.edu/Academics/OCULaw/LawLib/Practice Exams/Forms/AllItems.aspx. Check this website often. Just recently, librarians have uploaded new exams from several professors. If you have difficulty logging on, remember to use “ocu\username.stu” and then your password.

#4 Coffee!! This tradition lives on. The Law Library provides coffee for finals-weary students on December 5th, 9th, 13th, and 16th. We’ll keep it piping hot for you.

Best wishes on your studying and exams.

Fantasy League for the Legally-Inclined

2009-12-01T15:14:00.001-06:00

FantasySCOTUS.net is a new fantasy league that allows those of us who are legally inclined (as to perhaps sports inclined) to compete to determine who has the greatest ability to predict the outcome of Supreme Court cases.

The site, a brainchild of Josh Blackman -a George Mason law grad, explains the rules of the leagues as follows:

For each case the Supreme Court grants cert, predict:

-The Outcome of the Case (Affirm or Reverse the lower Court)

-The Split (9-0, 8-1, 7-2, 6-3, 5-4, 4-1-4, or fragmented)

- The Justices in the Majority, and the Justices in the Dissent

At the end of the Term, the Associate Justice who predicts the most cases correctly will be confirmed as the Chief Justice of the Fantasy Supreme Court League, and win a to-be-determined prize.

The League is intended to allow those who compete "to play like the Tenth Justice."

Source: WisBlawg - From the Univ. of Wisconsin Law Library

Need Assistance With Citations? Bluebook Tips May Help

2009-11-24T14:24:00.004-06:00

Bluebook Tips is a compilation of brief answers to questions regarding proper citation format received by the editors of the Uniform System of Citation (Bluebook) editors. The most recent tips may be browsed or tips on a specific category of citations (cases, statutes, periodicals, quotations, etc.) may be viewed.

The editors also encourage submission of additional questions. "Send your questions to editor@legalbluebook.com. If our answer is useful to Bluebookers generally, it may be formulated into a new tip..."

Hat tip to Law Librarian Blog and the Cleveland Marshal Law Library Blog.

Thanksgiving Law Library Hours

2009-11-24T11:24:00.000-06:00

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, November 25, 26 & 27- the law library will be CLOSED for Thanksgiving.

Extended Hours will run from 12/3 to 12/17. During this period the law library will be open as follows:

Monday- Friday, OPEN 7:30am-1am
Saturday, OPEN 9am – 1am
Sunday, OPEN 1pm – 1am

Legal Research on the Bar Exam?

2009-11-22T11:18:00.001-06:00

Within 3-5 years is is likely that legal research will be included as part of the bar examination, according to Erica Moeser, President of the National Conference of Bar Examiners. What the questions will look like is still open to debate. A program at the 2009 American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting covered the topic. Steven Barkan's thought provoking article tries to answer how legal research could be tested on a bar exam.

Improving Research Skills

2009-11-19T11:13:00.000-06:00

As you consider your spring schedule I urge you to think about taking Advanced Legal Research. Research is a fundamental skill that lawyers are called upon to do day in and day out. If you have questions about the class come see me. In the meantime consider Professor Bowman's idea that legal research skills should be taught across the entire law school curriculum. (abstract below - full text here).

In the ever growing movement to integrate skills and values across the law school curriculum, research instruction cannot be overlooked or forgotten. Research serves as the fulcrum upon which "skills and values" such as ethics and practical application of doctrinal studies, rests. Therefore, research instruction cannot be limited to what the students learn in their first-year legal research and writing classes. A concentrated effort must be made in all classes to ensure that what the students learn in the first-year research and writing classes will be further developed, refined, revisited and reinforced. This Article, Research Across the Curriculum: The Road Must Continue Beyond the First Year, offers a new paradigm for how research instruction should change in the upper-level classes from requiring all students to take Advanced Legal Research courses, for example, to integrating research instruction into specialized areas such as international law and tax courses.

OCU officials plan to move law school downtown

2009-11-18T11:52:00.002-06:00

Read about it here.

The Uniform Bar Exam

2009-11-16T11:12:00.000-06:00

Did you know that 10 states will implement a uniform bar exam in 2010? This would allow scores to be applied across state lines without having to take another exam. Read more here.

Is Mining Metadata Ethical?

2009-11-13T11:10:00.000-06:00

Professor Andrew Cavo explores this question in a recent article available here. The abstract is here:

Imagine the following extreme scenario: you represent the defendant in a contract dispute. A junior associate at the plaintiff’s firm sends you a Microsoft Word document that purports to represent the plaintiff’s final, pay-it-or-we-go-to-trial settlement demand: $10 million. But you believe the plaintiff would actually be willing to settle for far less. So, in a frenzy of zealous representation, you 'mine for metadata'; that is, you deliberately search that document’s hidden or embedded information. A few mouse clicks reveal a wealth of information: when the document was created, who worked on it, for how long…a few more clicks and…what’s this?! You are now looking at the same document, but it suddenly includes comments in the margins, made during the document’s editing process! One of those comments is from the partner overseeing the case and it reads, 'We’ll tell them $10 million for now, but that’s just to feel them out. Our actual bottom line is $750,000.' Armed with that information, you counteroffer for $500,000 and eventually settle the case for exactly $750,000. The few minutes it took you to 'mine for metadata' (combined with your opposition’s failure to 'scrub' the document) saved your client millions! Is what you did ethical? The American Bar Association (ABA) says yes. But the New York County Lawyer’s Association (NYCLA) Committee on Professional Ethics disagrees. In recent opinions on the ethics of 'mining for metadata,' the ABA and NYCLA come out on opposite sides over whether attorneys may ethically seek such a strategical advantage. Part II of this paper will define 'metadata,' explain its significance, and describe potential pitfalls for the unwary lawyer. Part III will discuss the conflicting ABA and NYCLA opinions, their underlying rationale, and ways that other states have addressed the ethics of 'mining.' Part IV offers practical tips to prevent attorneys from ending up on the wrong side of an inadvertent metadata disclosure. Part V provides a quick and dirty guide on just how to “mine for metadata.” Part VI is a brief conclusion.

New LexisNexis iPhone App

2009-11-10T13:28:00.000-06:00

LexisNexis recently rolled out a free iPhone app called "Get Cases and Shepardize." You can download it in iTunes here. It will prompt you to enter your user id and password once you install the app. It is a handy application but I don't think I will be reading many cases on my iPhone!

JOTWELL - Providing Reviews of New Legal Scholarship

2009-11-10T09:56:00.003-06:00

Michael Froomkin, University of Miami School of Law professor, serves as the editor of JOTWELL, the Journal of Things We Like (Lots). However, Section Editors, who are "distinguished scholars" from schools, including Harvard and Georgetown Law Schools, are the primary contributors of JOTWELL's content. 3L Student Editors from the University of Miami also participate in the work of the Journal.

The stated mission of the JOTWELL is to provide "a space where legal academics will go to identify, celebrate, and discuss the best new legal scholarship." As noted, "[n]ever in legal publishing have so many written so much, and never has it been harder to figure out what to read..." JOTWELL will recommend new scholarship worthy of attention.

Hat tip to WisBlawg, the blawg of the UW Law Library

eBooks for Law

2009-11-08T11:06:00.000-06:00

Professor Eugene Volokh posted an interesting series on ebooks and their applicability to law last month. You can read his posts here. Would you read a 1,000 + page casebook on a Kindle? Could your brain handle it. Check out this recent article in the New York Times Does the Brain Like E-Books

Hat tip to Professor Beveridge for calling the NYT article to my attention.

Law Library's Most Wanted

2009-11-06T13:19:00.005-06:00

Jennifer Pohlman's Law School Library's Most Wanted, in the October issue of the National Jurist, gives an amusing look at those characters who present a challenge to other students desiring to study in the Law Library.

Hat tip to Karen Kalnins, OCU's Reference Librarian, who located the National Jurist article.

Using Facebook in Insurance Litigation

2009-11-06T11:00:00.000-06:00

Another post about facebook. In this post I call your attention to a recent article about the use of social networking sites in insurance litigation. The article is available here. Even if you have managed to avoid creating your own facebook page, you can't ignore social networking as it might relate to your clients.

Be Careful Who You Friend on Facebook

2009-11-02T10:54:00.000-06:00

The New York Law Journal ran an interesting story about the savvy use of social networking sites and their impact in litigation. The article includes examples of good uses of social networking sites and not so good ones. Like the lawyers in Texas who friended a judge on facebook. The lawyer asked the judge for a continuance based on the excuse of a death in the family. The judge later discovered that the lawyer was not at a funeral but instead was posting facebook updates detailing a weekend of drinking and partying. The article is here (free with registration).

SCOTUS BLOG

2009-10-30T08:57:00.004-05:00

Welcome to the Supreme Court of the United State's Blog, or, SCOTUS Blog.

The blog features commentary on current issues that the Supreme Court faces. Written by the below pictured authors, the blog features an archive and search feature.

Here you can also find links to Orders and Opinion, Commentary and Analysis, New Filings, Petitions to Watch, and a Term Tracker tool.

Quinlan Lecture - Oct. 29, 2009

2009-10-29T11:37:00.005-05:00

Yale Law School’s Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law, Reva Siegel, will present the 2009 Quinlan Lecture in OCU LAW’s Homsey Family Moot Courtroom at 5 p.m. Thursday, October 29. Professor Siegel’s lecture is titled "Race Talk and Ricci: The Court and the Confirmation Process.“

To view Reva Siegel's publications, please visit the Quinlan Lecture Display outside the Law Library Reference Offices.

Juveniles and the Supreme Court

2009-10-26T13:40:00.003-05:00

Cases involving criminal charges against juveniles have been around for a long time. Last weeks edition of Newsweek Magazine contained an article penned by a former juvenile offender. Please take a look at it here.

The author, Raphael Johnson, points to two current cases coming before the supreme court that deal with the contentious issue of convicting children to life terms in prison.

The first,

Can be found on,

The second,

Can be found on the SCOTUS Wiki.

Both cases are also mentioned on the webpage of the Juvenile Law Center.

The Results Are In - 2009 Law Library Student Survey

2009-10-21T12:59:00.003-05:00

Thanks to the 196 law students who participated in the library's recent student survey. We are pouring over the results and are learning a lot about how students view the collection and services. We will use the information to improve what we offer students. Some improvements will happen quickly, others will take some planning before we implement them. But we appreciate the strong response from the student body to the survey.

As promised all those who completed the survey will have any fines they owed for overdue materials waived as of the date they took the survey. We are in the process of doing this now. If you owed any fines and took the survey watch for an email soon confirming the waiver of your fines. We also gave away an iPhone to one lucky winner who completed the survey, Keegan Harroz. Her name was chosen at random from the list of all those who completed the survey.