Novalawcity

Stop the Hate: Join LAMBDA United Rock Out Loud on April 6

Despite the fact that homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted in television and print media (see e.g. Kurt and Blaine’s kiss on Glee last week), culturally and socially homosexuality is far from accepted in certain communities.

Last October, during a string of suicides and hate crimes due to homosexuality, two gay teenagers and a 30-year-old gay male were beaten tortured by nine friends who called themselves the Latin King Goonies. The group beat and sodomized one teenager to force him to admit to having the 30-year-old as his lover and then went and picked up the second teenager who they not only beat and sodomized, but forced to assist in torturing the 30-year-old. The 30-year-old was also forced to consume the 10 cans of Four Loko (the equivalent of roughly 50 cans of beer) that he had brought with him, thinking he had been invited to a party, over the course of the torture. At the time, the formula of Four Loko also contained an energy drink and caffeine, leading to the drink subsequently being banned in several states for being a “blackout in a can.”

Fortunately, none of the men involved in this incident died, though others did earlier that year because of their sexuality. However, this heinous act is proof of the extent to which people will go to abuse homosexuals. The public needs to be educated on the abuses that homosexuals are enduring so that the abuse and hate can end.

LAMBDA United, a student-run organization in the law school, is taking a stand against hate crimes such as this. We are dedicated to educating the public about hate crimes and raising awareness about the harms that are still occurring. On April 6, 2011 from 11:00 AM-1:00PM LAMBDA United will be hosting its annual Rock Out Loud that raises awareness about hate crimes.

This year activist-singer Es Oh (follow her on Facebook) will perform and candidate for Oakland Park City Commissioner John Adornato is scheduled to be the guest speaker. The funds raised from this event will go toward a non-profit organization, Fight Out Loud which is a national organization that aims at educating the public to fight discrimination and hate.

(guest post by Martavis T. Clarke, LAMBDA United VP)

2011 Sunshine Week Webcast at Noon Today

For anyone interested in open government, there is afree webcast being sponsored by OpenTheGovernment.org and the American Association of Law Libraries that will take place at the Center for American Progress today at noon (EST).

Watch the webcast at http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2011/03/sunshine.html/streaming.html.  Viewers will also be able to submit questions during the program so please join us.

Walk for the Animals 2011 on Saturday, March 5th!

Enjoy taking a walk with your pals --  with or without fur?  Then please join members of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) for tomorrow's Humane Society Walk for the Animals 2011.  The 1.25 mile walk starts tomorrow at 10:00 AM at Huizenga Plaza in downtown Fort Lauderdale (Southeast Corner of Las Olas and Andrews Avenue). 

Per SALDF President Jason Manocchio, participants will meet in the law school parking lot at 9:15 AM to carpool to the event location.  Dogs are welcome so please bring your favorite canine(s).  If you are unable to attend, please consider sponsoring a participant.

All proceeds will benefit the Humane Society of Broward County and help support the thousands of animals HSBC rescues every year.   Come eat, drink, and be merry while enjoying live performances by Sundanz and Pro Am dance studios as well as Purina's Incredible Dog Team.  Other attractions include live music, sponsor booths, and a free pancake breakfast courtesy of IHOP!

I know my girls will be especially interested in the last activity. ;)

  

 

Paws & Laws Correction

Hello again!  Many thanks for all the positive comments re: my previous post on animal law.  However, Professor Phyllis Coleman has kindly pointed out two factual errors in said post.  Namely that Professor Kundawala is a former co-advisor of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund while Professor Coleman is the current sole advisor for SALDF.  Also, while Professor Coleman remains an active member of the Florida Bar's Animal Law Committee, she is not a former Chair of said committee. 

My apologies for the oversight!

Paws & Laws: Animal Law Events & Resources

Animal law is a dynamic field of law, one in which countless Shepard Broad Law Center students, faculty, and staff take a lively and heart-felt interest.  As many of our good readers may know, the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund (SALDF) is a robust student organization at our school, with its members working tirelessly for the betterment of non-human animals through fundraising and speaking events.

SALDF is currently sponsoring its annual Valentine's Day toy drive for homeless animals.  Please visit the organization's table in the atrium to pick up a goody bag ($3) for the four-legged friends in your life.  Donations of all sizes are welcome with proceeds going to Death Row Dog Rescue, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving dogs from abandonment and euthanasia. 

SALDF will also host a presentation by Ms. Karen Delise, Founder and Director of the National Canine Research Center (NCRC) on Thursday, February 24th at noon in the Faculty Study.  This presentation will explain the process of demonizing dogs, including some of the modern sociology and behavioral science that supports Delise's analysis in her book The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression. It will also focus on the legal implications that have and continue to result from this demonization.  Please join us.

Other notable animal law activists here at the law school include Professor Ishaq Kundawala and Professor Phyllis Coleman.  Professor Kundawala acts as co-advisor to SALDF while Professor Coleman not only teaches animal law, but is the founder and active member (former Chair) of the Florida Bar's Animal Law Committee. 

As always, the Law Library & Technology Center (LLTC) strives to support the passions of its animal rights advocates and scholars by acquiring resources that support their endeavors in fighting the good fight.  In the March 2006 issue of the Book Docket, Donna Struthers, Assistant Head of Technical Services, provided a list of library resources and websites on animal law.  In addition to the resources cited therein, the LLTC has continued to expand its holdings.  Recent acquisitions include...



Animal Law in a Nutshell (2 copies)

Animal Rights: What Everyone Needs to Know  by Paul Waldau

In Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier by Thomas I. White

The Pit Bull Placebo: The Media, Myths and Politics of Canine Aggression by Karen Delise.

To locate more animal law resources, search NovaCat, our online catalog, by author, title, or keyword.  You can also search using Library of Congress subject headings such as Animal rights, Animal welfare -- Law and legislation and Animals -- Law and legislation.  If there is an animal law that you think the Law Library should acquire, please e-mail your suggestion to me at [email protected].  Peace.

This post is dedicated to Diamond and Jade, my Pool Pups 

Resource of the Day: The Bluebook Online

Today's resource of note is the interactive online version of the gold-standard citation tool The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation.  Not only does the Law Library & Technology Center keep several print copies of the current edition in Reserve readily available for patron use (see Novacat entry for holdings), the LLTC also maintains an organizational subscription to online versions of the 18th (2005) and 19th (2010) editions. 

Easy to navigate and updated to reflect immediate changes, the online Bluebook provides users with great search functionality and allows them to bookmark often-used sections.  To learn more, visit http://www.legalbluebook.com/Public/Tour.aspx.



Access is restricted to Shepard Broad Law Center faculty, students, and staff.  Please contact your friendly neighborhood Law Librarian for the login details.

Freedom of Information Law: Opportunity and Threat?

A New York Times article this last weekend described a novel use of freedom of information law. The new owners of CourseRank.com (a course information website for college students like ratemyprofessors.com), requested aggregate grade data by course and professor from some 533 colleges nationwide, including Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, and the University of Florida. (Nova Southeastern University is included on the website, but does not seem to include grade distributions, which makes sense since it is not subject to Florida open-government law.)

Lisa A. Phillips, the author of the New York Times story and a SUNY New Paltz journalism professor, has ethical qualms about the impact this will have on grade inflation. She quotes experts who say both that it will contribute to grade inflation, by directing students to classes and professors with “better” grade distributions, and discourage it, but revealing which professors grade too leniently.

But what I (and my most excellent colleague Becka Rich, who brought this to my attention) think is more interesting are the implications of this.

First, there are the ethical issues, some of which are raised above. Second, there is the conflict with FERPA. The second question Becka asked me was, “Could this happen in Florida?” We now know that the answer is “Yes.”

This type of open-records request can be used in public-policy research: see Richard J. Peltz, From the Ivory Tower to the Glass House: Access to “De-Identified” Public University Admission Records to Study Affirmative Action, 25 Harv. BlackLetter L.J. 181 (2009). It has also been used by mainstream journalists, as with a recent Chicago Tribune series on politically preferential admissions at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (see all Chicago Tribume articles about the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign).

Non-profit financial research--a blog post by Becka Rich

My most excellent colleague Becka Rich, Faculty Services/Reference Librarian, is one of the bloggers on the American Association of Law Libraries Research Instruction and Patron Services Special Interest Section blog, http://ripslawlibrarian.wordpress.com/.

 

She just posted her second blog post, on researching nonprofits using their IRS tax forms (which in most cases are required to be available). It’s very useful to know, whether you’re planning your holiday donations, representing a nonprofit--or suing one.

The blog post is at: http://ripslawlibrarian.wordpress.com/2010/12/10/how-much-do-they-spend-on-their-mission-a-guide-to-non-profit-financials-research/.

Law School Exam Tips: A Followup

As a follow-up to my post about exam tips, a quotation from an article about law school education I had intended to use to introduce my previous blog post:

"Studies have shown that the best way to learn is to have frequent exams on small amounts of material and to receive lots of feedback from the teacher. Consequently, law school does none of this."

 -- James D. Gordon III, cited in Lynn C. Herndon, Help You, Help Me: Why Law Students Need Peer Teaching, 78 UMKC L. Rev. 809 (2010).

Law School Exam Tips

Two 1Ls here at NSU asked me the other day for tips for dealing with exams. I felt like I didn’t have a lot of insight. Law school was a long time ago for me, and I didn’t deal with exams too well myself.

So I consulted my awesome colleague Becka Rich, the NSU law library’s new Reference/Faculty Services Librarian. She provided some links and some advice, which I am passing on here.

First, some blog links to blog posts about exams.  Most of the posts (the first post is a collection of links) are very short, so don’t stress over reading them:

CALI’s Law School Exam Advice Post -- CALI gives a list of links to essays and podcasts on how to do well on both essay and multiple choice law school exams.  There’s also a lot of great advice from good sources linked to.

A Common Law School Exam Mistake -- The Volokh Conspiracy blog is helmed by a number of very down-to-earth law professors.  This post talks about how to organize your exam answers and how not to organize them.  If you’re only going to read one link, Becka suggests this one.

Law Career Blog’s Exam-Taking Advice:  Law Career Blog provides a list of their own best advice and a couple of other links. Very short, but helpful.

Lawyerist’s Tried and True Advice for Law School Exams: This is a round-up of their best posts on taking different types of law school exams.

Jurist’s Law School Exams page: The Jurist has a round-up of advice from law professors while noting that the best advice on your exam will come from your professor.

Beyond IRAC: Law School Exam Taking Tips (Law Profession Blog):  Advice from a law professor grading exams on how to write law school exams.  

University of Washington Law Library Law School Exam Page: Includes a bibliography of exam prep sources.

Law Crossing: Grade A Advice on Acing Law School Exams:  A recent grad shares law school exam tips.

Becka also said that candy and toys (which she and Carol Yecies, library associate director, both have) are useful if you need to sit and play for a minute. “But in all seriousness.... Tell them to take a deep breath, if they’ve been paying attention all semester it’s not that bad.  Eating and sleeping and showering are as important, if not more so than studying.  Get some exercise.  I meant it about the sleep.“

So, break a leg on your exams--and don’t stress or obsess!