Monthly Archives: March 2011

Tahrir Documents Project (Egypt)

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Tahrir Documents

http://www.tahrirdocuments.org/

The Project as described by the editors and staff of Tahrir Documents:

We are pleased to announce the launch of Tahrir Documents, an ongoing project to archive and translate printed discourse from the 2011Egyptian revolution and its aftermath. The website presents a diverse collection of materials — among them activist newspapers, personal essays, advertisements, missives, and party communications —- incomplete English translation alongside reproductions of the Arabic-language originals. The site will be updated regularly, frequently, and indefinitely as new writings appear in response to post-revolution developments, and as we locate earlier materials. The assembled documents address a variety of contemporary concerns including Muslim-Christian relations, constitutional amendments, moral conduct, revolutionary strategy, and the women’s rights movement. Some of the highlights of the collection:

 

* A defense of protestors’ continued sit-in at Tahrir Squarereleased on March 9th, the same day on which their encampment wasdestroyed by thugs

* Guidelines for personal behavior after the revolution

* Numerous denunciations of sectarian violence

* The announcement of new political parties and presidential candidates.

* Numerous articles debating the constitutional amendments passedlast week

* Selections from Gurnal and Revolutionary Egypt, activistnewspapers founded after the revolution

 

We invite you to examine the website, and to return regularly as we post communications and commentaries from the post-Mubarak era. We believe the archive indicative of the diversity of political thought and action in contemporary Egypt, and hope that this diversity is ofinterest to anyone following the country’s transforming situation. The archive is searchable. Tahrir Documents is the work of volunteer translators in Egypt and abroad. It is not affiliated with any of those authors or groups whose works appear in translation on the website, nor with any organization foreign or domestic.

 

For more information please write to the editorial board at

tahrirdocuments@gmail.com.

 

We invite the submission of materials for translation and publication on the website.

 

 

Citation Advantage of Open Access Legal Scholarship

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“Citation Advantage of Open Access Legal Scholarship”

UGA Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11-07

JAMES M. DONOVAN, University of Kentucky College of Law Library
CAROL A. WATSON, University of Georgia Law School

To date, there have been no studies focusing exclusively on the impact of open access on legal scholarship. We examine open access articles from three journals at the University of Georgia School of Law and confirm that legal scholarship freely available via open access improves an article’s research impact. Open access legal scholarship –  which today appears to account for almost half of the output of law faculties – can expect to receive 50% more citations than non-open access writings of similar age from the same venue.

Databases and Dynamism

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In his article, “Databases and Dynamism,” Michal Shur-Ofry writes: “By highlighting the dynamic dimension of databases, this article calls for a more cautious and conscious approach toward copyright protection of selections and arrangements.  It further hopes to form a starting point for further discussion that will shift at least part of the focus of the copyright-databases debate from access to information to selection and arrangement”

Databases and Dynamism
Author: Michal Shur-Ofry
44 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 315 (2011)

Abstract:

Databases are generally perceived in legal scholarship as static warehouses, storing up valuable facts and information. Accordingly, scholarship on copyright protection of databases typically concentrates on the social need to access their content. This Article seeks to shift the focus of the debate, arguing that the copyright-databases debate is not merely a static “access to information” story. Instead, it is a dynamic story of relations, hierarchies, and interactions between pieces of information, determined by database creators. It is also a story of patterns, categories, selections, and taxonomies that are often invisible to the naked eye, but that influence our perceptions of the world in manners of which we are seldom aware.

Relying on socio-psychological literature and communication theories concerning complexity, categorization, and stereotyping, this Article examines the dynamic dimension of databases. It argues that this narrative should direct legal attention toward the protection afforded by copyright not to contents of databases, but rather to their “selection and arrangement”-an element which has been largely ignored by legal scholarship. While the Article does not advocate a complete expiry of copyright in “selections and arrangements,” it does hope to spark a discussion with respect to their social and economic role, and add a new dimension to the copyright-database debate.

Databases and Dynamism
Author: Michal Shur-Ofry
44 University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform 315 (2011)

 

 

Libraries in Japan – Save The Library

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Our friends in Japan are dealing with more pressing problems, but librarians in Japan have created a Web site  called “Save The Library” to help libraries impacted by the earthquake and tsunami.

The Wiki is posting information on disaster management, recruitment of volunteers, and expedited ILL, among other topics. Most postings are in Japanese.

Save The Library

http://www45.atwiki.jp/savelibrary/

Hat tip to Takako Okada.

The State of Sentencing 2010: Developments in Policy and Practice

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A February 2011 report of The Sentencing Project — “a national organization [founded in 1986] working for a fair and effective criminal justice system by promoting reforms in sentencing law and practice, and alternatives to incarceration” — titled ” The State of Sentencing 2010: Developments in Policy and Practice,” by Nicole D. Porter, is available here.

The first paragraph of the report states soberingly (and staggeringly):

Today, 7.2 million men and women are under correctional supervision. Of this total, five million are monitored in the community on probation or parole and 2.3 million are incarcerated in prisons or jails. As a result, the nation [i.e., the United States] maintains the highest rate of incarceration in the world at 743 per 100,000 population.

Areas of focus include:

A number of policy recommendations are also included.

Hat tip to DocuTicker.com.

Stanford China Law & Policy Conference May 6 & 7, 2011

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The Inaugural Stanford China Law & Policy Conference

Law and the Chinese Transformation

May 6-7, 2011

Stanford Law School

About the Event:  The Stanford China Law & Policy Association is hosting the inaugural China Law & Policy Conference that will take place on May 6-7, 2011.  The title of the conference is “Law and the Chinese Transformation.”  This event is co-sponsored by the Rock Center for Corporate Governance.

 

The Conference brings together prominent experts on Chinese law, politics, and business to begin productive conversations about the most pressing issues in Chinese legal, political, and corporate governance reform.  Dean Larry Kramer will give opening remarks.  Dr. Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State, will deliver the keynote speech.  GAO Zhansheng, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco, will deliver a special luncheon speech.

 

Confirmed panelists and moderators from China include:

Honorable WANG Yanfang, IP Tribunal of the Supreme People’s Court of China

SHEN Weixing, Vice Dean of Tsinghua University Law School, China

WANG Xixin, Vice Dean of Peking University Law School, China

Jeff Lehman, Founding Dean of the Peking University School of Transnational Law, China

XIAO Wei, Managing Partner, Jun He Law Offices

 

Confirmed panelists and moderators from the US include:

Brad Berenson, Partner, Sidley Austin

Nancy Boswell, President and CEO, Transparency International – USA

Juan Botero, Rule of Law Index Director, The World Justice Project

Brian Cabrera, General Counsel, Synopsys

Carmen Chang, Partner, Wilson Sonsini

Chuck Comey, Partner, MOFO

Marc Fagel, Regional Director, SEC in San Francisco

Mei Gechlik, Lecturer, Stanford Law School

Paul Goldstein, Professor, Stanford Law School

Joe Grundfest, Professor, Stanford Law School

Mike Klausner, Professor, Stanford Law School

Larry Kramer, Dean of Stanford Law School

David Lee, Partner, Orrick

Yabo Lin, Partner, Sidley & Austin

Paul Marquardt, Partner, Cleary Gottlieb

Ken Nguyen, Stanford Law School

John Quinn, Managing Partner, Quinn Emanuel

Joe Simone, Partner, Baker McKenzie

Laura Stein, General Counsel, Clorox

Alan Sykes, Professor, Stanford Law School

Bill Treanor, Dean of Georgetown University Law Center

Honorable Clifford Wallace, Ninth Circuit

 

The conference will hold six panels discussing the various legal implications of a rising China.  These panels include:

I.             Legal Education in China and the US

II.            The Development of Rule of Law in China

III.           IP protection and Enforcement in China

IV.          Cross-border Acquisitions and Investments

V.            Foreign Corruption Practice Act and its Applications to Business Operations in China

VI.          Opportunities and Challenges for the Legal Profession

 

Registration Information:

Registration is free, but required for all participants.  Please register at http://www.stanford.edu/dept/law/forms/chinalaw_participants.fb

CLE credits will be offered to practicing attorneys for attending the conference.

Questions?  If you have any questions, please contact: Sandy Yao at sandyyao@stanford.edu or Michelle Yuan at yyuan1@stanford.edu.

 

E-book lending sites

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From today’s Wall Street Journal (p. B8):

Digital Media

E-Book Lending Takes Off

New Online Clubs That Let Readers Share Have Drawbacks but Worry Publishers

By Stu Woo

. . .

In the past few months, online clubs with such names as BookLending.com and Lendle.me have proliferated. The sites, some of which have gathered thousands of users, allow strangers to borrow and lend e-books for Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble Inc.’s Nook free.

Book on French Legal Information

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Stéphane Cottin, French lawyer and librarian,  has published a new book on legal information in France.

La gestion de la documentation juridque (Management of Legal Information)

Stéphane Cottin and Cédric Manara

L.G.D.F. Lextenso éditions, 2011

The book not only covers how to find legal resources, but also indicates how legal information is produced and disseminated in print and online.

Written for students and legal professionals.

Table of contents available here:

http://www.lextenso-editions.fr/ouvrages/document/229885

Book preface available here:

http://www.cedricmanara.com/reprint/preface-du-livre-de-stephane-cottin-la-gestion-de-la-documentation-juridique-lextenso-editions/

Group of Libraries Launch eBook Lending Program

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The Internet Archive and a group of 150 libraries have recently announced development of a collection of over 80,000 eBooks (of mostly 20th century titles) that will extend traditional library lending.

Please see:

In-Library eBook Lending Program Launched

Hat tip to ResourceShelf.com.

Cross-posted on Law Library Blog.

Roman Legal Tradition Journal

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Roman Legal Tradition

http://www.romanlegaltradition.org/

From the journal description:

Roman Legal Tradition is a peer-reviewed journal published online by the Ames Foundation and the University of Glasgow School of Law. ISSN 1943-6483.

The journal aims to promote the study of the civilian tradition in English. The editors welcome contributions on any aspect of the civilian tradition in ancient, medieval, and modern law.

All articles and reviews published in Roman Legal Tradition are available from this site free of charge. In addition, all articles and reviews are also available to subscribers of HeinOnline. We encourage readers to use and distribute these materials as they see fit, but ask readers not to make any commercial use of these materials without seeking the consent of the editors and relevant authors.