Daily Archives: May 16, 2008

Bloomberg Law Ramp-Up

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Bloomberg, a widely-known provider of business and financial news data, has been ramping up its proprietary BLAW (Bloomberg Law) product — described as an “all inclusive tool providing in-depth legal analysis, filings, opinions, real-time and archival news, indexes, rankings, company and biographical information, research and streaming live trial coverage on a single, integrated desktop platform” — to compete with Westlaw and LexisNexis.

As part of an educational initiative, Bloomberg has been rolling out BLAW to certain law schools. Stanford was one of the first law schools to receive a Bloomberg Law terminal.

One of the new BLAW legal search tools going head-to-head with Westlaw’s KeyCite and LexisNexis’ Shepard’s Citations is BCIT, the Bloomberg Law Citator.

Bloomberg is also building up its a collection of links to law blogs in its LAWB news and monitoring tool, including practice area blogs (such as securities law, mergers & acquisitions, and antitrust); legal interest blogs (such as individual law firm blogs); and general interest law blogs (such as SCOTUSblog and the Volokh Conspiracy).

-George Wilson

FCC Hearing at Stanford

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Our archivist Sarah Wilson has put together an impressive compilation of testimony transcripts, statements, press releases, news clippings and other items from the FCC public en banc hearing on Broadband Network Management Practices, held here on April 17, 2008.

The document is available as part of our Legal Research Paper Series.

Lawyer2Lawyer Podcast with Carl Malamud on Caselaw in the Public Domain

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From Law Librarian Blog:

Carl Malamud, founder of Public.Resource.org, discusses caselaw in the public domain with Professor Thomas F. Bruce, Director of the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University Law School, and Andy Martens, Thomson West’s Senior Vice President of New Product Development, in a recent Lawyer2Lawyer podcast (also available for download from Law Librarian Blog).

-George Wilson

Tools of the Trade: Some of my favorite websites/databases, part I

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We all have them, our go-to, must view websites and databases that make life on the reference desk a bit easier.  In what I hope will become a weekly posting, I will highlight some of those that I have come to rely on for their timely updates and superb content.

With the teaching and study of constitutional law one of the focuses of scholarly life at SLS, keeping on top of the Supreme Court’s docket is a daily function of the reference desk.  Key to our ability to get copies of decisions as soon as they appear and track down amicus briefs filed at any stage of a case, is SCOTUSblog.  This website, spearheaded by Tom Goldstein and Amy Howe*, is one stop shopping for everything Supreme Court related.  Recently added to the site is their SCOTUSWiki, with previews, recaps, and analysis of cases before the Court.

I’ve made checking this blog a morning ritual and have come to think of it as an indispensable tool of the trade.

*(as full disclosure, please note that Tom Goldstein and Amy Howe have both been lecturers at SLS)

Vietnamese Law: A Guide to Sources and Commentary

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“Vietnamese Law: A Guide to Sources and Commentary“

Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2007
U of Melbourne Legal Studies Research Paper No. 328

PENELOPE NICHOLSON, University of Melbourne – Law School

QUAN HIEN NGUYEN, Swinburne University of Technology

This bibliography aims to assist legal practitioners, students and researchers navigate the diverse sources relevant to the Vietnamese legal system in the 21st century. Its focus is on secondary sources and does not include specific reference to Vietnamese laws. While the secondary sources listed are predominantly in English, consistent with the leadership of this journal, guidance on how to access Vietnamese laws and Vietnamese secondary sources has also been included.

This five-part bibliography includes a limited listing of bibliographies; secondary sources on Vietnamese law published in Vietnam; secondary sources in English on Vietnamese law across 18 legal categories; guidance on how to access Vietnamese laws and a listing of Vietnam law-focused internet sites, including those that canvas law reform issues. Each of these categories is preceded by a short analysis of the material included.

In particular, the authors suggest readings to enable new researchers to navigate the field quickly. With the exception of the ‘history section’, the emphasis in each category is on contemporary writing. The sources have been identified during the course of the authors’ research and teaching on the Vietnamese legal system at the Asian Law Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia.

Source:  LSN Asian Law Vol. 6 No. 13,  05/16/2008