Billable Hours Broken Down

There have been multiple posts this week talking about what it takes to reach the usual annual target of 1800 billable hours. This analysis, done by Yale Law School's Career Development Office, breaks down the number of hours you have to work to reach 1800 billable hours. Something to think about as you get ready to interview for those law firm jobs. See it here.

Source: FSU College of Law Library Blog; Moritz Legal Information Blog and Law Dawg Blawg

Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Alternatives

Some states have what's become known as "I'm Sorry Laws" which allow a physician or other medical practitioner to apologize to a patient for mistakes made during treatment. The apology generally is not admissible in a lawsuit if one follows. For a list of states that have enacted this type of law, see the March 23, 2006 posting at the Law Librarian Blog: http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/law_librarian_blog/2006/03/im_sorry_legisl.html

For a survey of what patients are willing to forgive in terms of medical errors, see the The Sorry Works! Coalition website at http://www.sorryworks.net/media7.phtml.

Source: Law Librarian Blog

Statutes At Large Available Online

Statutes at Large from the 108th Congress are now available online at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/statutes/index.html. You can also access this information, and much more, through Hamline Law Library's Web page. Choose Do Legal Research Online>General U.S. Federal>GPO Access.

Web Browser Comparison

Wikipedia has posted a chart comparing over two dozen web browsers. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers . Thanks to beSpacific, who notes that the information on Wikipedia is subject to verification because it is a collaborative, open source publication.

More on Saddam Hussein Trial

You may have already looked at the Grotian Moment Blog featured on the Library's web site, but have you looked at some of the links? The links will take you to photocopies of documents admitted into evidence (each is preceded by a description in English), a fascinating psychological profile of the man who has been referred to as the "Madman of the Middle East," a biography of the former leader of Iraq, and numerous documents relating to the trial.

Future Solo Practitioners

There is a web directory that is chock full of information about opening a law practice. The directory contains links to articles about starting a law practice, checklists for opening a law office, and much more. Although much of the information is geared towards starting a practice in Oklahoma (where Jim Calloway, whose office is responsible for the directory, is Director of the Oklahoma Bar Association Management Assistant program), there are links to similar sites in other states and much of the information contained in the articles is applicable to starting a practice in any state. Thanks to Jim's Law Practice Tips Blog for this information. Here's the link: http://www.okbar.org/members/map/practice.htm

Westlaw Makeover!

Westlaw will unveil it's "new look" on March 11. Here's a synopsis of the changes:

Sign-On Page: The sign-on page will have larger boxes for the password and client ID, and the entire page will have a more "modern" look. Links to frequently used sites and tools, as well as to new features, will be on the right-hand side of the page.

Internal Pages: "My Westlaw" has been replaced with "Add/Remove Tabs". The "More" drop down menu has been replaced with a "Site Map" link. This feature is designed to be more user-friendly than the "More" drop down menu was. "Options" has been replaced by "Preferences". If you want to see a 90 second Flash demo of how these features will look and work, go to http://west.thomson.com/westlaw/newlook

Graphical Statutes: This new feature will present a flow chart of the history of statutory sections. Included in the display will be:
- Current, prior, and future versions of the statute
- Enacting and amending public laws
- Legislative history documents
- Cases that negatively impact a statute
- Legislation enacted but not codified
All of these will be hyperlinked to the text.

You may access Graphical Statutes from a displayed statute section by clicking Graphical Statutes on the Links tab. For now, Graphical Statutes will be available for USCA, California, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. More states will be added later in the year. Coverage for USCA begins in 1996, and for the states listed either 1999 or 2000.

If you have any questions about the new look of Westlaw or how the new features work, ask a reference librarian or one of the Westlaw student reps.

Using Graphics in Microsoft Word

If you have ever wanted to enhance a Word document with graphics, Microsoft Office Online has a course that will show you how to do it. Find it at http://office.microsoft.com/training/training.aspx?AssetID=RC010264821033, and thanks to Barclay Blog for this tip.