The Ginger (Law) Librarian

It's that time of year - on campus interviews for summer associate positions. As a green law student, I didn't understand the importance of landing a summer associate position and how these positions can set you on the right trajectory for an early successful career. For those lucky enough to land an interview, the Findlaw blog offers  tips for a successful interview: 1. Your Resume - Always bring a few copies of resume to your interview. 2. Ask Questions - Bring a list of questions with you to the interview; during the course of the interview jot questions down as they come to mind. 3. Make Them Feel Special - Just as you would tailor each cover letter to the particular firm you are applying to, be ready to talk about why you want to work at that particular firm. 4. Oldies but Goodies - Be ready to answer interview standby questions like: What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? 5. Keep It Positive - Everything you say in the interview should be positive...

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Vitae blog offered advice to faculty about who they should talk to on campus for optimal student success. The author notes how graduate students are expected to jump into the classroom autonomously once they are hired as faculty. But this autonomy does not mean that faculty should not confer with other professionals on campus to provide a comprehensive educational experience. The first set of professional listed are the librarians: "If you haven't spent a good few hours going over your syllabi with a librarian trained in your subject area, you're shortchanging your course and your students (and yourself). Librarians keep up with the technology in your field. They know the campus holdings and can order better texts for you if they know what you're teaching. Librarians can offer even more help if you give them a heads-up about what your assignments are going to be. They can pull relevant texts from the stacks and hold them...

The digital age is affecting libraries in profound ways. Libraries must negotiate with publishers and distributors to license electronic content  and libraries must also find ways to manage that content . Electronic content is also shrinking the pool of material that libraries can lend. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported on the effect that streaming media has on the first-sale doctrine and the ability for libraries to lend. The article provides the following case-in-point: "In March 2011, the University of Washington’s library tried to get a copy of a new recording of the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing a piece by Gustavo Dudamel, a popular composer, that the library could lend to students. But the recording was available only as a digital download, and Amazon and iTunes forbid renting out digital files. So the librarians contacted the Philharmonic to see if there was some way they could get a copy of the Dudamel album that they could loan out like a compact di...

In today's world, lawyers must be tech savvy. Lawyers need to know how technology intersects with the law for things like eDiscovery and eHearsay purposes. And lawyers also need to know how technology can make their jobs more efficient and cost effective. The NYTimes reported on law schools that are taking an innovative approach to teaching technology. "'Legal education has been stronger on tradition than innovation,' said Joan W. Howarth, dean of the Michigan State law school. 'What we’re trying to do is educate lawyers for the future, not the past.'" "Michigan State professors don’t just teach torts, contracts and the intricacies of constitutional law. They also delve into software and services that sift through thousands of cases to help predict whether a client’s case might be successful or what arguments could be most effective. They introduce their students to programs that search through mountains of depositions and filings, automating t...

When I step into a courtroom, I can't help but scan my surroundings to understand the courtroom demographics. As I scan the room, I think about the subconscious events that are occurring based on extensive reading of various studies on courtroom interactions. Here are a few examples of recent articles: A  NYTimes article mentioned that judges with a daughter are more likely to rule in favor of women's rights. "'Having one daughter as opposed to one son,' the study found, 'is linked to an even higher 16 percent increase in the proportion of gender-related cases decided in a feminist direction.'" Another article at HuffPost noted   the pressure to plead guilty because of judicial vacancies. "Federal judicial vacancies are causing unsustainable courtroom delays, resulting in evidence going stale, witnesses dying before they can testify and, in some instances, people being pressured to plead guilty just to get out of jail faster, according to s...

The Findlaw blog noted that "[a]ccording to the NYTimes, noncompete agreements are on the rise even in industries which have been traditionally light on paperwork. Case in point: a Massachusetts man whose job involves spraying pesticide on laws had to sign a two-year noncompete agreement." From the NYTimes, "[t]he United States has a patchwork of rules on noncompetes. Only California and North Dakota ban them, while states like Texas and Florida place few limits on them. When these cases wind up in court, judges often cut back the time restraints if they’re viewed as unreasonable, such as lasting five years or longer. In most states there has to be a legitimate business interest, and it has to be narrowly tailored and reasonable in scope and duration." Ethics rules generally preclude noncompetes for attorneys , but some states are allowing them within reason. Although noncompetes are popping up everywhere, not all businesses actually need one. To determine if ...

The Chronicle of Higher Education has released its Almanac of Higher Education 2014 . " The Chronicle 's 27th annual collection of data on colleges answers perennial questions like how much faculty make and which colleges are growing the fastest. This year's Almanac also gives you new ways to compare institutions. Which colleges have the most students enrolled in online courses? Which have the highest percentages of nonresident aliens?" A data set that I find particularly interesting is the spending by university research libraries 2012-13 . "Six universities on the Association of Research Libraries' Library Investment Index had more than 500 professional and support staff members in 2012-13, and 19 spent more than $10-million on salaries and wages for their professional staff. Eleven had total library expenditures exceeding $50-million." Those are impressive numbers for library involvement at a major research university. Some examples of data ar...