Law in the Age of COVID-19

UW Law is going to have a special topics class on Law in the Age of COVID-19. To support that class—and anyone else who's curious about the legal impact of the pandemic—the library has put together a new research guide. It will grow over the next several weeks, but there's a good start now.

If  you're the sort of person whom a pandemic inspires to read about great epidemics of the past, there's a page listing ebooks that are available through the UW Libraries.

Terrorism and the Law: Books and Articles at the Gallagher Law Library

In 2005, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan stated at the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism, and Security that terrorism is a direct attack on the core values of the United Nations: "the rule of law; the protection of civilians; mutual respect between people of different faiths and cultures; and peaceful resolution of conflicts." In fighting terrorism, he continued, "human rights and the rule of law must always be respected." (UN.org, Mar. 10, 2005)

Following the deadly attacks in Paris on November 13, 2015, news outlets worldwide have questioned the effectiveness of current international law in preventing and addressing terrorism. In the past several months, several nations have put forth new laws in attempts to counter these kinds of attacks, but many of these laws have been criticized as too broadly defining terrorism or too harshly treating perpetrators of these acts.

Free CALI eBooks--Federal Rules, IP Statutes, and More

Nothing suits a thrifty student's budget better than CALI eBooks: they're free! Most are available in a variety of formats--e.g., PDF, Kindle, or Word (great for copying and pasting into your outlines).

CALI eBooks includes texts prepared by faculty for use in class (e.g., The Ethics of Tax Lawyering, by UW Law Professor Michael Hatfield), sets of statutes and rules, and some classics of law and literature.

Rules and Statutes

If you frequently need to refer to, say, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or the Copyright Act, download a set:

• Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure
• Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure
• Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
• Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
• Federal Rules of Evidence
• United States Bankruptcy Code
• United States Copyright Law
• United States Patent Law
• United States Securities Law (statutes and regulations)
• United States Trademark Law
  

Constitution and Related Documents

• The Foundational Documents of the American Legal System (Constitution, Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, and more) 
• The Federalist Papers
  

Law and Literature

• Charles Dickens, Bleak House
• Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
• Franz Kafka, The Trial
• Herman Melville, Billy Budd
• William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice
• Sophocles, The Oedipus Cycle

Free Advice: Succeeding in Law School

Who doesn't want to do well in law school? No one! But there's a lot to figure out, from how to manage your time to how to tackle exams. Law School Materials for Success, by Barbara Glesner Fines, is a short (89 pages in PDF) book that is packed with tips and advice. Even better: it's free, from CALI! (It's free in various ebook formats. You can buy a paperback copy for $5.14.)

The first year of law school is, for many people, one of the most significant transitions of their adult life. Law school demands a lot as it helps you make the transition from your prior identity as student (or as some other occupational role) to your new identity as an attorney. To meet the demands of law school, it is often helpful to have the big picture before you begin – a sense of what it is you are trying to do as you prepare for classes, participate in those classes, review and prepare for exams, take exams, and then begin the cycle once again.

Law School Materials for Success is designed to give you the essentials of that process. It is purposefully brief – most law students do not have the time for an extensive examination of the study of law school. Rather, they need a source for some basic, critical advice and some pointers on where to go for more if necessary. That is what this book and the accompanying podcasts are designed to provide. 

The podcasts are available from Lawdibles.Classcaster.net

Diverse Judicial Biographies and Autobiographies

Did Wednesday's panel on Diversity on the Bench get you interested in judges' lives? Consider adding a judicial biography or autobiography to your summer reading list. Here's an assortment:

• Disrobed: An Inside Look at the Life and Work of a Federal Trial Judge
  Frederic Block
  Classified Stacks (KF8775 .B56 2012)
  Publisher page 
• Louis D. Brandeis: A Life
  Melvin I. Urofsky
  Good Reads (KF8745.B67 U749 2009)
  Publisher page 
• Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion
  Seth Stern & Stephen Wermiel
  Classified Stacks (KF8745.B68 S74 2010)
  Publisher's page  
• Henry Friendly, Greatest Judge of His Era David M. Dorsen
  Classified Stacks (KF8745.F75 D67 2012)
  Publisher's page 
• Henry Frye: North Carolina's First African American Chief Justice Howard E. Covington (2013)
  Online access
  Publisher's page 
• Thurgood Marshall: Race, Rights, and the Struggle for a More Perfect Union Charles L. Zelden
  Classified Stacks (KF8745.M34 Z45 2013)
  Publisher's page 
• Equal Justice Under Law: An Autobiography
  Constance Baker Motley
  Classified Stacks (KF373.M64 A34 1998)
  Publisher's page 
• Sandra Day O'Connor: Justice in the Balance
  Ann Carey McFeatters
  Classified Stacks (KF8745.O25 M34 2005) and online
  Publisher  
• Reflections on Judging
  Richard A. Posner
  Classified Stacks (KF9050 .P55 2013)
  Publisher's page  
• Duke Slater: Pioneering Black NFL Player and Judge
  Neal Rozendaal (2012)
  Online access
  Publisher's page 
• American Original: The Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
  Joan Biskupic
  Good Reads (KF8745.S33 B57 2009)
  Publisher's page  
• My Beloved World
  Sonia Sotomayor
  Classified Stacks (KF8745.S67 S68 2013)
  Publisher's page  
• Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir
  John Paul Stevens
  Classified Stacks (KF8745.S78 S74 2011)
  Publisher's page 
• My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir
  Clarence Thomas
  Classified Stacks (KF8745.T48 A3 2007)
  Publisher's page 
• Elbert Parr Tuttle Chief Jurist of the Civil Rights Revolution
  Anne Emanuel
  Classified Stacks (KF373.T9 E46 2011) and online
  Publisher's page

Amazing Investment Opportunity! High Return! No Risk!

Swindles and swindlers are fascinating—and they can have a big impact on their victims, both individuals and institutions.

The Ponzi Scheme Puzzle: A History and Analysis of Con Artists and Victims (2012) is a new book by law professor Tamar Frankel. She draws on accounts (in court cases, news stories, and elsewhere) of hundreds of scams to examine the perpetrators, the schemes, and the victims. She also dips into some psychological studies. The epilogue offers a few tips on how to avoid being scammed. A quick summary: heed the old saying, "If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is."

The publisher's page is here (includes summary, reviews, table of contents).

The catalog record is here. The book is available on campus at HV6691 .F73 2012 in Suzzallo/Allen Stacks.  

Ponzi's Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend (2005), by Mitchell Zuckoff, doesn't try to address hundreds of Ponzi schemes but focuses on just one: the one that gave the scheme its name.

I liked the story of the Carlo/Charles Ponzi, the Italian teenager with rich tastes who immigrated to America in the early 1900s hoping to make it big. He bounced around, working at (and hating) menial jobs, doing time for check forgery, working in a logging camp's office, and more.

With his Securities Exchange Company (which used deposits from later investors to pay the earlier investors), he had a wild run of success in 1920 and lived the elegant lifestyle he'd dreamed of. Thousands of investors (particularly in the Boston area) loved his charm and style—until they realized they'd lost their life savings.

Even though the modern reader knows that Ponzi's "business" isn't sustainable, the author generates suspense as the bank examiner, the state attorney general, and the local district attorney move closer and closer to Ponzi. (Spoiler alert: he's caught and prosecuted.)

The publisher's page is here.

The catalog record is here. The book is available on campus at HV6692.P66 Z83 2005 in the Odegaard Undergraduate Library.

You can also check it out as an e-book from Seattle Public Library (as I did).

How do you do that? I could try to explain it, but there's no need, since a librarian at Seattle U's law library created this terrific guide: Borrow a Seattle Public Library Book on Your Kindle.

(Seattle Public has an audio edition, too).





Graphics: Ponzi's Scheme book jacket from Random House; Kindle from Amazon.com.

E-Book Readers and Privacy

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has released Who'sTracking Your Reading Habits? An E-Book Buyer's Guide to Privacy, 2012 Edition. EFF looked at the policies of Google Books, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo, Sony, Overdrive, Indiebound, Internet Archive, and Adobe Content Server and created a chart with answers to the following questions:

  •Can they keep track of searches for books?

 •Can they monitor what you're reading and how you're reading it after purchase and link that information back to you? Can they do that when the e-book is obtained elsewhere?

 •What compatibility does the device have with books not purchased from an associated eBook store?

 •Do they keep a record of book purchases? Can they track book purchases or acquisitions made from other sources?

 •With whom can they share the information collected in non-aggregated form?

 •Do they have mechanisms for customers to access, correct, or delete the information?

 •Can they share information outside the company without the customer's consent?

Celebrate National Bookmobile Day

Seatle Public Library Bookmobile

Today is National Bookmobile Day! Part of National Library Week, it is an opportunity to support your local library's outreach services. As a child, I was fortunate to live near an excellent public library. Still, nothing compared to climbing the stairs onto the bookmobile when it arrived in my neighborhood. I could think of nothing cooler than a library on wheels.

For communities that are difficult to reach by vehicle, providing library services is a challenge. In Kenya, the Camel Mobile Library was created to improve literacy in rural areas.

Kenya National Library Service's Camel Mobile Library

Another exciting version is OverDrive's Digital Bookmobile. It offers public libraries the opportunity to promote eBooks, audiobooks, music, and video that are available for download. Currently on national tour, it will be in Olympia at the Timberland Regional Library on Friday, May 4. Even without the OverDrive Digital Bookmobile demonstration, you can download OverDrive and other e-books from your local public library – for instance, Seattle Public Library or the King County Library System.

Learn more about bookmobiles here from the American Library Association.

photo credits: Seattle Public Library, BBC News

Scientific Evidence for Judges - and Others

DNA identification, economic estimates of damages, psychiatric evidence of competence to stand trial, engineers' testimony about product defects—there's a lot of scientific testimony in today's courtrooms. How can judges—who are not statisticians, geneticists, economists, epidemiologists, engineers, or psychiatrists—intelligently manage this flood of information?



To address this challenge, the Federal Judicial Center and the National Research Council have published the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. The first edition was in 1994, the second in 2000, and the third edition was released yesterday.

This book would be useful to anyone wanting an introduction to scientific evidence. Chapters include:

• The Admissibility of Expert Testimony
• How Science Works
• Reference Guide on Forensic Identification Expertise
• Reference Guide on DNA Identification Evidence
• Reference Guide on Statistics
• Reference Guide on Multiple Regression
• Reference Guide on Survey Research
• Reference Guide on Estimation of Economic Damages
• Reference Guide on Exposure Science
• Reference Guide on Epidemiology
• Reference Guide on Toxicology
• Reference Guide on Medical Testimony
• Reference Guide on Neuroscience
• Reference Guide on Mental Health Evidence
• Reference Guide on Engineering

The book is available for free reading online; you can also download a PDF of any chapter or of the whole book. And the library will soon order it in paper.

See Science Manual for Judges Updated, Law Technology News, Sept. 29, 2011.

Federal Rules Go Mobile!

Wouldn't it be great to have the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Federal Rules of Evidence, or the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure with you without toting the bound books? Now you can: CALI and the Legal Information Institute have released Federal Rules Ebooks, with the rules and official comments, in a format compatible with iPhone, iPad, and Nook. (Kindle support is coming soon.)

The books are free, but you are encouraged to donate to the Legal Information Institute, a nonprofit based at Cornell that puts a lot of resources into making law accessible.

Google Books Settlement—Not

I haven't been following the whole Google Books issue closely, but last week there was a new development.

The basics (up to last week) are: Several years ago Google, cooperating with a handful of big research libraries, started digitizing millions of books. A group of publishers and authors sued. In 2008 the two sides negotiated a settlement that included a way for copyright holders to opt out of the digitization project—i.e., not to have their stuff in Google's huge digital library. And Google would set up a fund to compensate rights holders whose interests were infringed. Google in turn would get to sell access to millions of books that were out of print.

The new developments (told in headlines):

• Judge rejects Google’s deal with authors and publishers to put books online, Wash. Post, March 22, 2011


• Judge Rejects Google Books Settlement, Wall St. J., March 23, 2011


• Editorial, Online books and copyright law, Wash. Post, March 25, 2011


• The Google Settlement Rejection: What Comes Next? With the Google settlement rejected, parties ponder future, Publishers Weekly, March 28, 2011 ("When it was introduced in 2008, the Google Book Settlement was hailed by its creators as historic. Now, it is history.")


• Press release, Praise for Decision to Stop the Google Books Deal, American Antitrust Institute, March 23, 2011


• Siva Vaidhyanathan, Thank You, Judge Chin: Why the Google Books setback is an opportunity to reassert academic values, Chron. of Higher Educ., March 24, 2011


• Julian Sanchez, Google Books, Fair Uses, and “Copyright” as Misnomer, Julian Sanchez blog, March 24, 2011

Judge Denny Chin's opinion in The Authors Guild v. Google, Inc., No. 05 Civ 8136 (S.D.N.Y. March 22, 2011) is available on Justia.

Seattle Public Library's Law Books in PDF & EPUB

Are you looking for books on legal topics but cannot visit a library in person? If you are a Seattle Public Library borrower, you may find a book in PDF or EPUB format you can simply download to your computer.

Over 100 law-related books are currently available in downloadable formats. These titles are available in PDF or EPUB format:

Arrested: What to Do When Your Loved One's in Jail

The Federalist Papers

Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge's View

Neighbor Law: Fences, Trees, Boundaries & Noise

The Public Domain: How to Find Copyright-Free Writings, Music, Art & More
To learn more about Seattle Public's digital collection and to find instructions on how to download books in these formats and others (such as audio), see the SPL Digital Books & Media page. While there is no cost to download these books, you must have a current SPL library card. Here are instructions on how to get a library card. See the SPL home page for more information.

The King County Library System also offers many law-related books. Browse their downloadable media collection here.

Kaplan Publishing Offering FREE Access to 130 Full Text eBooks (January 4-January 10)

Kaplan Publishing is offering FREE access to 130 ebooks from now through January 10, 2011. Once you download these e-books, it's yours to keep. Click here for more details.

List of legal related titles on offer for free until January 10:

Get Into Law School
Angel of Death Row
Before Roe v. Wade
Geneva Conventions
History in Blue
Memorable Thoughts of Socrates
Mother Accused
Path of the Law and The Common Law
Reaching the Bar
Rising Through the Ranks
Socratic Dialogues
Stumbling Along the Beat
Unbillable Hours
Crime: Its Cause and Treatment
Legally Speaking, Revised and Updated Edition
Lessons from the Courtroom

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