Goettingen Journal of International Law (GoJIL) Call for Submissions for the GoJIL International Student Essay Competition 2012

Posted on May 10, 2012 by George Wilson

Call for Submissions

The Goettingen Journal of International Law (GoJIL), founded in 2007, is currently seeking submissions for its 5^th International Law Essay Competition. GoJIL is an e-journal of legal scholarship focusing on International Law. It is the first student-run German International Law journal published exclusively in English. The journal is available online and free of charge. If you win, your article will be published online and accessible.

To participate in the GoJIL International Student Essay Competition 2012, follow the following guidelines:

Topic: “The Interplay of International and National Law”
Max. 3000 words
Microsoft Word format
Footnotes, rather than endnotes

The deadline is 15 August 2012.

For further details see the GoJIL website: www.gojil.eu

Chesapeake Digital Preservation Group’s 5th Annual Investigation of Link Rot and Legal Resources on the Web

Posted on May 9, 2012 by George Wilson

The Chesapeake Digital Preservation Group — with participating libraries including the Georgetown University Law Center Library, the Harvard Law School Library, the Maryland State Law Library and the Virginia State Law Library — has recently posted its 5th Annual investigative report

“Link Rot” and Legal Resources on the Web: A 2012 Analysis by the Chesapeake Digital Preservation Group

Some highlights:

Data Show Link Rot in 38 Percent of Online Publications within Five Years

In 2012, 218 out of 579 URLs in the sample no longer provide access to the content that was originally selected, captured, and archived by the Chesapeake Group. In other words, link rot has increased to 37.7 percent within five years.
In 2008, the sample was analyzed for the first time as part of an evaluation of the archiving program, and link rot was found to be present in 48, or 8.3 percent, of the 579 URLs comprising the sample. At the time, a total of 1,266 web-based titles had been captured and archived. A random sample of 579 titles from the archive was generated for the analysis, ensuring results at a 95 percent confidence level and confidence interval of +/- 3.
One year later, in 2009, the sample was analyzed a second time. Link rot was found to be present in 83 out of the original sample of 579 URLs. Within two years of capture, 14.3 percent of the archived titles had disappeared from their original URLs.
By the third year, in 2010, the prevalence of link rot had increased to 160 out of 579 URLs, to a whopping 27.9 percent. Link rot continued to increase in 2011, but by a slower margin, reaching 30.4 percent by the fourth year. The new 2012 data show an increase of 7.3 percent compared to 2011, to 37.7 percent, more in line with our findings of annual increases from 2008 and 2009.

Cross-posted on Law Library Blog.

UNDP: Global Parliamentary Report

Posted on April 3, 2012 by George Wilson

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has just issued:

Global Parliamentary Report: The Changing Nature of Parliamentary Representation

This is the first such report by the UNDP.

Highlights from the executive summary of the report include:

Genuine public influence over the parliamentary deliberations is limited. The promise of greater influence must result in greater influence.
Politicians are obliged to account publicly for their actions more regularly and routinely. a) The role of political parties is changing in many regions of the world. b) A number of institutional changes are limiting the scope within which politicians can operate. c) The desire for greater public accountability from politicians is driving the growth of a new breed of parliamentary monitoring organization (PMO).
Constituency service is an accepted and expected part of the job and appears to be growing in volume, content and complexity.

Summary Conclusions (also from the executive summary):

Parliaments’ resilience reflects their ability to adapt and evolve to public expectations.
However, parliaments need a much more strategic analysis of the causes and sources of pressure for change.
Parliamentary efforts to improve the relationship with voters need to be based on an understanding of how the role of the individual representative is changing.
Compared with 50 years ago, parliaments are, generally, more open and accessible, more professionally run, better-resourced and more representative.

(Also from the executive summary) Three specific challenges stand out:

Reforms need to reinforce the role of the representative and improve public understanding of what MPs [members of parliament] do, inside and outside parliament.
Reforms designed to improve public understanding and political accountability need to ensure that they strengthen the role of parliament rather than undermine it.
Parliaments need to collaborate more fully with external organizations to strengthen links with the public.

Hat tip to DocuTicker.com.

Bloomberg Adds BNA Content to BLAW

Posted on April 3, 2012 by George Wilson

Bloomberg L.P. has added Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) content to the Bloomberg BLAW system.

Please see the Bloomberg BNA press release here.

And additional coverage is here.

Cross-posted on Law Library Blog.

Boing Boing Posting “Liberating America’s Secret, For-Pay Laws”

Posted on March 23, 2012 by George Wilson

Boing Boing, a group blog that started out as a zine, has recently posted an interesting and provocative piece by Carl Malamud of Public.Resource.Org:

Liberating America’s Secret, For-Pay Laws

Cross-posted on Law Library Blog.

Class Action Brought Against West Publishing Corporation for Mass Copyright Infringement

Posted on March 16, 2012 by George Wilson

Following up earlier LegalResearchPlus posts on recently-filed legal actions as to the copying/sale of court filings/lawyers’ briefs and related matters — here, here, and here, West Hartford, Connecticut attorney and lead plaintiff David J. Heinlein on Wednesday 14 March 2012 brought a class action (docket no. 12-00386) against West Publishing Corporation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut — please see:

Article: Attorney Class Claims West Violates Copyright

Class Action Complaint (U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut
Civil Action No. 2:12-cv-00386, March 14, 2012)

American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates Supports Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA)

Posted on February 6, 2012 by George Wilson

The American Bar Association (ABA) House of Delegates has approved a resolution — Resolution 102B — in support of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) of the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws as to the authentication and preservation of laws, court decisions and other legal materials that are published online.

See:

ABA Supports Uniform Law for Online Publication of Court Decisions and Laws

Cross-posted on Law Library Blog.

LexisNexis Launches “Social Media Visibility”

Posted on February 1, 2012 by George Wilson

Online provider of legal research, news and other content LexisNexis, has launched a new service: LexisNexis Social Media Visibility.

According to the press release here, the new service enables solo practitioners and lawyers at smaller law firms to establish a solid, comprehensive, and manageable social media presence.

LexisNexis Social Media Visibility includes creation of an exclusive blog page as well as guidance and assistance in crafting profiles and in generating and posting appropriate content on major social media websites, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Cross-posted on Law Library Blog.