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April 26, 2013

Law Day 2013

May 1st is Law Day and is being marked by a number of events across Wisconsin. Do you have plans for Law Day?

This year is the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. To salute this milestone, the American Bar Association (ABA) has designated this year's theme as Realizing the dream: equality for all:
"This year’s theme recognizes the inextricable link between freedom and equality, the importance of living up the promise of equality under the law enshrined in our nation’s founding documents, and the challenges that remain in realizing that ideal."

Information for teachers and students can be found on the ABA website. For more information and links to additional resources, visit the ABA Law Day 2013 page.

On Wednesday, May 1st, the Dane County Bar Association (DCBA) is putting on a day of programming at the Dane County Courthouse. Events include 3 free CLE programs, a Pro Bono Fair, a demo of the DCBA's new website, and mock trials. The full agenda can be viewed by clicking on the image below.
Click to enlarge flyer

The Milwaukee Bar Association is celebrating law day on Saturday, May 4th. More information and locations can be found on their law day flyer.

April 22, 2013

National Park Week

This week is National Park Week - that wonderful week when admission to national parks is free! Even if you don't have plans to travel out to any of our 401 national parks, you can be an armchair tourist through the National Park Service website.

I did my own armchair tour of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The official page has all the travel information and photos you could want.

However, for a more personal and timely touch, I recommend visiting the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Facebook page. Here you can look at current pictures and videos - and even read a poem!

For those wishing to learn more about the laws that created these parks, the National Park Service maintains a page of legal history. This page links to laws on:
  • Archeology
  • Historic Preservation
  • Maritime
  • Museums & Archives
  • National Park Service
  • Native Americans & NAGPRA
  • Tax Incentives for Historic Preservation
  • Transportation
The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore was established by Public Law 91-424 on September 26, 1970. The lakeshore was created to "conserve and develop for the benefit, inspiration, education, recreational use, and enjoyment of the public certain significant islands and shoreline of the United States and their related geographic, scenic, and scientific values ... in Ashland and Bayfield Counties, Wisconsin." You can read the originating act which created the lakeshore in our library or use HeinOnline to research remarks in the Congressional Record. Statements you'll find include the following summary of the lakeshore:
"The area is an excellent one for a national lakeshore, containing beautiful beaches, 20 islands in the lake on which many animal species live, and much geological evidence of the glacial period, including caves, caverns, and arches carved out thousands of years ago." (116 Cong. Rec. 31210 (1970))

The Gaylord A. Nelson Apostle Islands National Lakeshore Wilderness Act can be read online, as part of Public Law 108-447. You can also read the current law for the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore online.

Happy Earth Day!

The 2013 theme for Earth Day is the face of climate change. How do you plan to celebrate? 

If research is on your agenda, head to our Environmental Law page for links to a number of agencies and guides relevant to environmental law.

Image source: By John McConnell, via Wikimedia Commons
On this page we list a number of library resources that may be of interest as well, including:

April 14, 2013

WSLL Recommends: Law of Electronic Commerce

As the volume of trade accomplished through electronic means continues to skyrocket, this area of the law is also developing and evolving at a staggering rate. To help practitioners keep pace with new cases, statutes, regulations, proposals, commentaries, and model laws, authors Jane Kaufman Winn and Benjamin Wright provide guidance on the implications of communications technology for both consumer and commercial transactions, as well as in the workplace.

The fourth edition of The Law of Electronic Commerce has been completely revised to reflect the explosive growth of the internet and the one-to-many network model that has replaced older forms of electronic commerce. Readers will find practice pointers and in-depth analysis of:
  • Electronic contracting
  • Electronic payments and lending
  • Intellectual property rights and rights in data
  • Privacy and collections of data
  • E-business regulation, including antitrust, trade practices, securities, and banking
  • Taxation of electronic commerce
  • Computer crime and computer security
  • Electronic records in litigation, including authentication and the best evidence rule
  • Employer liability with regard to electronic communications and devices in the workplace
  • Developing a records management program
  • Liability of service providers
Author Wright also maintains both a blog and a Google+ page. His recent posts include:
  • How to Confiscate a Mobile Device
  • Attorney-Client Confidentiality: Data Security Breach
  • Taxes, Regulation and E-Commerce Innovation
  • Corporate E-mail Archives: Unwanted Liability or Searchable Asset?
  • Negotiating By Way of the Cloud Gathering Mobile Legal Evidence

April 8, 2013

WSLL at Your Service: April 2013

Get the scoop on our National Library Week events in our latest newsletter, now online. We announce a new mid-April CLE class, highlight updated and useful legal research books, and talk about our new in-library WestlawNext access.

Visit our National Library Week events page at http://wilawlibrary.gov/special/connect/index.html

April 7, 2013

BadgerLink Scheduled Maintenance

BadgerLink databases, like Academic Search Premier and Newspaper Source Plus, may be unavailable between Sunday (4/7) at 5 p.m. and Monday (4/8) at 4 a.m. During this time, scheduled server maintenance may make databases unavailable for one to two hours.

This maintenance will not affect access to the Hein Online Law Journal Library or LegalTrac. For a list of all databases available with your library card, see our Articles & Journals page.

April 2, 2013

In a Nutshell

A recent blog post on popular idioms from the OxfordWords blog brought up the origin of the phrase in a nutshell. This idiom for summing up something concisely, they explain, has history back to the late sixteenth century where:
"Shakespeare's Hamlet uses it to mean something compact when he says, 'I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams'."
Good ol' Shakespeare!

At the law library, we're very used to seeing this idiom in the context of the the popular Nutshell series. Nutshells are intended to provide a short summary of the law and pertinent resources on particular topic areas.

Some of our most checked out Nutshells are currently:
Some of our newest Nutshells include: 

April 1, 2013

Vote April 2nd!

Don't miss election day on Tuesday, April 2. The offices of Supreme Court Justice and Superintendent of Public Instruction are on the ballot throughout the state. Locally, many areas are holding elections for local official and school board offices.

Check MyVote.WI.gov to find your polling place location and to see a sample of your local ballot.

Photo ID is currently not required to vote. Check the Government Accountability Board's website for more information about this month's election.

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