Criminal Law Library BlogFor week ending December 19, 2008.
Top Ten Stories:
Law Firms Law Prof Predicts More Big Law Firms Will Collapse in ’09
Articles Posted in Publication Announcements and Reviews
Book Review: Anatomy of a Trial: Public Lessons Learned from The People vs. O. J. Simpson
TITLE: Anatomy of a Trial SUBTITLE: Public Loss, Lessons Learned from The People vs. O.J. Simpson AUTHOR: Jerrianne Hayslett PUBLICATION DATE: December 2008 PUBLISHER: University of Missouri Press PAGE COUNT: 256 pp.
ISBN: 978-0-8262-1822-3 PRICE: $29.95
The author was the information officer and media liason for Los Angeles Superior Court during the 1995 criminal trial of Orenthal James Simpson, a retired NFL running back and actor, on charges of murdering his ex-wife and her boyfriend in June of the previous year. Hayslett examines how an ordinary felony murder trial was turned into a public spectacle of excessive and outrageous proportions by the outlandish and, at times unprofessional, conduct of prosecutors, defense attorneys and, unfortunately, the presiding judge, Lance Ito. As she was present daily both in the courtroom and Ito’s chambers, the author delivers an insider’s account of how the judge went from a paragon of judicial stature and competence to a celebrity aspirant devoid of talent or stage skill. Frequently criticizing the judge for being too deferential to the demands of Simpson’s attorneys, Hayslett provides more than just a captivating tale of an aberrational trial and its consequences. Her account includes an essential blueprint for what the media and judges can do in the future to avoid sideshows and to fulfill their responsibilities to the public. Recommended for public, academic, and law libraries.
ABA Book Announcements December 11, 2008
THE FEDERAL INFORMATION MANUAL: How the Government Collects, Manages, and Discloses Information under FOIA and Other Statutes
By P. Stephen Gidiere III
“Disputes about access to federal information arise in numerous contexts, from corporate transactions and administrative rulemaking to Congressional subpoenas, civil litigation, and national security. The Federal Information Manual provides a comprehensive guide through the powerful Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as well as the varied and often obscure statutes, cases, regulations, judicial decisions, executive orders, and policies that govern federal information.”
ABA Publication Announcement: The Electronic Evidence and Discovery – Forms, Checklists and Guidelines
By Sharon D. Nelson, Bruce A. Olson, and John W. Simek
E-Discovery and the use of electronic evidence has increased dramatically over the past few years, but many lawyers still struggle with the complexities of dealing with electronic information. This comprehensive book provides lawyers with the templates they need to develop an effective E-Discovery strategy, and to frame appropriate E-Discovery requests. In addition to the ready-made forms, the authors also supply helpful information and commentary to bring you rapidly up to speed in the electronic discovery field. This title has been drafted in accordance with the new Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure so you can be assured it’s up to date. The accompanying CD-ROM features over 70 forms in Word format including…
Interrogatories – Basic to Advanced
Plum Book: United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions
The United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, commonly known as the plum book is published every four years just after the Presidential elections. It is publisned, alternately, by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Below is a list of major categories of positions discussed and the Table of Contents:
MAJOR CATEGORIES:
Publication Announcement: Comparative Criminal Procedure: History, Process and Case Studies
By: Raneta Lawson Mack
“This NEW work from William S. Hein & Co., Inc. will take readers one step further than other texts on the market. Most other comparative works in the area of criminal justice are primarily dedicated to the issue of reforming criminal procedure. This work, on the other hand, forgoes a reform-oriented analysis in favour of clarifying the criminal process in other countries as they exist today. Mack offers readers a deeper look into five international legal systems: France, Russia, Spain, Germany and England. This work is unique and distinctive as it provides readers with a retrospective launching point from which to understand and compare current processes. Comparative Criminal Procedure is not just another criminal procedure casebook!” Continue to brochure.
List Price: $95.00 Published: Buffalo; William S. Hein & Co., Inc.; 2008
ABA Publication Announcement: Science for Lawyers
From the ABA Science and Technology Section:
Science for Lawyers
By Eric York Drogin, Editor
U.S. Federal Register Announces Launch of New Electronic Public Information Desk
The Federal Register has announced the launch of a new Electronic Public Information Desk to Provide free public access to public documents.*
To view these documents, go to www.federalregister.gov (link opens in a new window). See “View Documents on Public Inspection” (link opens in a new window) on the left hand side. This new desk grants the public access to documents that will be published in the next day’s Federal Register as early at 8:45 a.m. EST. Previously, such documents could only be seen by viewing the documents physically located at the Office of the Federal Register in Washington, DC.
See Press Release at: http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2009/nr09-06.html
LLAGNY / AALL Program: Authentic Legal Information in the Digital Age: Is Online Legal Information Trustworthy?
On Thursday November 6, 2008 the Law Library Association of Greater New York (LLAGNY) presented in conjunction with the Electronic Legal Information Access and Citation Committee of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) a program at the New York County Lawyers Association in New York City regarding how findings of the 2007 authentication report published by AALL and its ELIAC Committee can be adopted in the State of New York.
The program consisted of a panel of representatives of AALL, its Electronic Legal Information Access and Citation (ELIAC), and two agencies of New York state government, the New York State Reporting Bureau and the Office of General Counsel of the New York State Department of State discussing the AALL Authentication Report, published in 2007 and approaches, strategies, and challenges to adopting its findings to authenticating and otherwise validating in accordance with accepted standards New York State primary source legal information published on the web.
The following are links to the opening remarks of the moderator, David Badertscher, Slides frm the presentation of Mary Alice Baish,and a summary of the program kindly provided by Theodore Pollack, Senior Law Librarian at the New York County Public Access Library, who attended the program, and to the program announcement from LLAGNY. Other links will be added if they become available.