HeinOnline in the Legal Research Spotlight

Did you know that the Hamline Law Library Website is an excellent portal to a number of informative legal research sources? There are many, many sites that will allow you to quickly and efficiently find the legal information you need. Periodically, Material Information at Hamline will put one of these legal research sites in the spotlight.

HeinOnline is an excellent resource for finding legal periodicals, but its libraries contain much more. The HeinOnline database has collections that include the Law Journal Library, the Federal Register Library, the Legal Classics Library, the Treaties and Agreements Library, and the U.S. Supreme Court Library.
The Law Journal Library contains PDF format versions of over 600 law journals. For most journals, coverage starts with the first issue published, which means that HeinOnline is an excellent resource for finding PDF copies of early issues of law journals. When you enter the Law Journal Library, you choose a journal from the alphabetical list. Once in the Journal, you choose the volume and then an article or articles from that volume. From there you can choose a specific article and read it, print it, or search the text of the article for specific text (law review cite checkers, take note!). You are also able to do basic keyword searches, as well as author/title searches on one or more titles.
The Federal Register Library is a collection, again in PDF format, of the Federal Register from 1936 to June, 2005 (viewing these documents online is more convenient than using the microfiche versions), Federal Register Indexes from 1939-1995, the Compilation of Sections Affected from 1949-2000, the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents from 1965-2004, and the Administrative Procedure Act from 1944-1946.
In the Legal Classics Library you will find an assortment of law treatises and books with early publication dates (late 19th and earth 20th century). Some of these books may not available to circulate because of their age, so having a PDF version of the text is convenient. The arrangement of the books is alphabetical by title, but you can change the arrangement to sort by author name. Search and print options are the same as in the Law Journal Library.
The Treaties and Agreements Library contains a comprehensive collection (over 18,000 records) of PDF images of treaties and other international agreements. Also included are unpublished treaties and agreements and treaties that are no longer in force.
In the U.S. Attorney General Opinions Library you will find the Opinions of the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice from 1977-1996, the Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States from 1791 to 1982, and the Digest of the Published Opinions of the Attorneys-General, & of the Leading Decisions of the Federal courts, with Reference to International Law, Treaties, and Kindred Subjects (1877).
Finally, the U.S. Supreme Court Library contains U.S. Reports from 1754-2002, U.S. Reports Preliminary Prints from 2002-2004, and U.S. Reports Slip Opinions from 2002-To Date); Guide to the Early Reports of the Supreme Court, Vol. 1 (1995); and The Supreme Court Economic Review (Vols. 1-6, 1982-1998) and The Supreme Court Review (1960-1999), both periodicals on the Court.
ACCESSING HeinOnline is quick and easy. From any computer in the law library, just go to the Law Library Website and choose “Find Periodical Articles” from the left menu. Then choose HeinOnline from the list of displayed databases. If you want to access HeinOnline from off-campus, simply type in your Hamline Username and Password when prompted (use the name and password you use to access your Hamline email account).

HeinOnline is a very useful and powerful research tool—it is worth exploring.

Gifts for Graduates

As graduation draws nigh, here's an idea about what to tell your family and friends what you want for graduation. Ernie the Attorney posted about a site called "The Billable Hour," which sells clocks and watches with faces marked in six minute increments. See it at http://www.thebillablehour.com/

New Face in the Law Library

Randy Snyder joins the Law Library Staff as Head of Public Services on February 23. He comes to us with a lot of experience in law libraries, including government, academic, and judicial. Most recently, Randy was the Librarian at the National Judicial College in Reno, Nevada. Be sure to say "hi" and welcome him to the Hamline community!

Gentle Reminders

There is a free internet service that will email you to remind you of things you have to do. Useful for busy law students and others, HassleMe will tell you when you need to go to the dentist, call your Mother, or write the next version of your brief. Go to http://www.hassleme.co.uk/ to see what it's about.

Thanks to Barclay Blog for this information.

Regulation Plus Now on Westlaw

Westlaw has added Regulation Plus to its databases. This feature will allow users to
- quickly locate applicable CFR sections using the Regulation Plus Index
- link to prior versions of sections
- find statutory authority for a CFR section
- look at related materials

More on Appellate Work for One-L Students

Jim Calloway's Law Practice Tips Blog has a link to a collection of appellate practice tips from the North Dakota courts web site. It includes some useful information about oral argument, as well. Here's the link: http://www.ndcourts.com/court/filing/tips.htm

For those of you planning to write your brief in English, there is a web site from Washington State University devoted to Common Errors in English. This site will not help you with grammar, but it will help you use the right words (and spell them correctly). Thanks to LawDawgBlawg for this tip.

How to Write An Appellate Brief

One-L students are in the midst of their appellate brief writing assignment and may want to look at this link http://www.appellate.net/articles/gdaplbrf799.asp for additional information on the process of writing appellate briefs.

Great Lakes Water Quality

I ran across the fact that the Great Lakes Governors Council has been taking steps to protect the water and water quality in the Great Lakes through a series of agreements. For anyone interested in learning more about this issue, go to http://www.cglg.org/projects/water/annex2001Implementing.asp.

Federal Courts Glossary

The Federal Courts website has a glossary of legal terms that is worth looking at: http://www.uscourts.gov/library/glossary.html

The Trial of Saddam Hussein

Everything you ever wanted to know about the trial of Saddam Hussein! The Law Library of Congress has begun a new web site called "The Trial of Saddam Hussein". Here you will be able to get up-to-date information about the proceedings, as well as links to other materials about the trial. To see this site go to: http://www.loc.gov/law/public/saddam.

Material Information has moved

Material Information has moved to a new host server, blogspot.com, and has a new name--Material Information at Hamline.