This semester, two of the faculty in my liaison group, Professors Stacy Caplow and Maryellen Fullerton, offered me the opportunity to co-teach Directed Study in International Refugee Law.  Under supervision, the upper-level students in this seminar research and draft legal documents to support the Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre.  HKRAC describes itself as “the only dedicated provider of pro bono legal aid to refugees seeking protection at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Hong Kong.”  BLS alumnus Brian Barbour is the Executive Director of HKRAC.

Below is a link to a web guide that I created to assist these students.  I think that sections of this guide, such as the tab “COI” (country of origin data), will also aid participants in the BLS Safe Harbor Clinic.

Sources To Support Directed Study in International Refugee Law

Episode 052 – Conversation with BLS Prof. Aliza Kaplan.mp3



This podcast is of a conversation with Professor Aliza Kaplan, Brooklyn Law School’s resident award-winning documentary film producer. Beside teaching legal writing and representsing asylum seekers through the Law School’s Safe Harbor Project, Professor Kaplan sits on the National Advisory Committee of Equal Justice Works, the nation’s leading public interest law fellowship program. She is the former Deputy Director of the Innocence Project, a not-for-profit that uses DNA evidence to exonerate wrongfully convicted prisoners. In addition to representing inmates in their efforts to obtain DNA testing, she coordinated the Innocence Project’s media and fundraising events.

For more on the award-winning film, read the Brooklyn Law School News & Events page Professor and Producer: Aliza Kaplan’s Post-9/11 Film, “The Oath,” wins Sundance Award. Before serving as Co-Producer for The Oath, she was Co-Producer for My Country, My Country (2006), Advisor for After Innocence (2005), Advisor for Deadline (2004), Consultant for the PBS documentary, Burden Of Innocence (2003) and Consultant for Court TV’s Stories of the Innocence Project.



Prof. Kaplan talks about her role as co-producer for Laura Poitras’ latest film The Oath, the second in a post-9/11 trilogy. The film is a portrait of two brothers-in-law, both former associates of Osama bin Laden: Abu Jandal, who became bin Laden’s bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, who was his driver. Jandal left before 9/11 but Hamdan stayed and was captured and later was the subject of the landmark Supreme Court case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. This video of an interview with Laura Poitras, director of The Oath, shows some clips of the film.

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The librarians at Brooklyn Law School have long promoted cost-effective legal research to patrons and to students in their Advanced Legal Research classes. In academia, students enjoy free access to Westlaw, LexisNexis and Bloomberg databases to facilitate their research. That changes when law school students start their first clerking positions and when graduates start as firm associates. In the practicing world, firm economics limit the resources available to clerks and associates. Learning about the firm’s pricing plans for its LexisNexis or Westlaw subscriptions, as well as the firm culture for use of either service is important. Pricing plans involve these components

• Transactional or per search charges depend on the file you select – the larger the file, the higher the fee. Start with the smallest file that you need, then conduct a broad search, using Focus or Locate commands to narrow results within search results to avoid a new search charge.
• Hourly fees for searching each file depends on its size and complexity. Start with the smallest file needed, print off a cite list, and view results offline.
• Flat rate – Some of the databases may be outside the contract and incur additional fees for access. Be sure to understand the applicable restrictions and firm policies for searching.
• Printing and Retrieval – Both services assess additional fees for printing and downloading (per document or per line) as well as retrieving using the Get A Document or Find commands, and conducting Shepard’s or KeyCite searches.

Pricing changes for legal databases are likely now that Westlaw is offering its new interface, WestlawNext, and LexisNexis is planning its own revamped platform, New Lexis. The promise of new and improved searching on legal databases may require more thought about cost-effective techniques according to Three Geeks and a Law Blog’s post, WestlawNext Pricing – Up To $3400 Per Hour!! WestlawNext’s results are comprehensive and come from all of the WestlawNext databases, whether or not they are in the firm’s contract. If a user clicks on one of those results and views a document that is out of contract, ancillary charges are assessed. A first-year associate that clicks on a 50-State Survey and reads it online for an hour or two will likely incur hefty charges that will draw unwanted attention from superiors. Thomson Reuters document “WestlawNext: Pricing Guide for Commercial Plans” has generic pricing from February 8, the launch date of the new product and is subject to change. The importance of becoming educated on cost is paramount especially with new products such as WestlawNext.

The series of Lunch & Learn Wednesday workshops for this spring have been canceled due to a lack of registrants. However, two Bloomberg Law sessions will be re-scheduled for April. Details will be posted shortly.

The library is again offering a series of Lunch & Learn Workshops for Spring 2010. All of the workshops will be held in room 113M of the Library from 1:00pm to 1:50pm on Wednesdays. Lunch will be provided. Sign up at the first floor Reference Desk.

Wednesday, March 17: Bloomberg Law: Perfect Your New York Practice with BLAW

Wednesday, March 24: Bloomberg Law: Perform Seamless Legal Searches with Unmatched Precision

Wednesday, April 7: Bloomberg Law: Cite-Check More Efficiently

Wednesday, April 14: Covering Congress: Sources of Congressional Information

Wednesday, April 21: Administrative Law

Episode 051 – Conversation with Matthew Handler, Class of 2010.mp3

Today’s podcast features Matthew Handler, Brooklyn Law School Class of 2010. Matt won first place in the 2009 Chief Justice John B. Doolin Writing Competition sponsored by the Oklahoma Supreme Court for his article, “Tribal Law and Disorder: A Look at the System of Broken Justice in Indian Country and the Steps Needed to Fix It” published in the Oklahoma Supreme Court Sovereignty Symposium Compendium (2009). The article also appears in Volume 75, Number 1 of the Brooklyn Law Review (2010).

In this conversation, Matt talks about what led him to write the article, the first section of which has an historical overview of Indian Law. He also discusses difficulties in law enforcement arising from the tribal/federal dichotomy and analyzes the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2008 with suggestions to deal with crime in Indian country most effectively. For more information about Matt and his article, see the Brooklyn Law School News & Events page Matthew Handler ’10 Wins First Place in Oklahoma Supreme Court Writing Competition.

The Journal, which began in 1975, publishes three issues per year. Since its inception, the Journal’s commitment to publishing substantive, scholarly articles has made it one of the top ranked international journals in the nation. Brooklyn Law School Professor Claire R. Kelly serves as the faculty advisor for the Brooklyn Journal of International Law.

Today’s post on the Law Librarian Blog discusses how professors in schools hit hard by the recession are using Twitter as an inexpensive solution to the growing problem of increasing class sizes and to improve class participation. The video about University of Texas at Dallas Professor of History Dr. Monica Rankin’s Twitter Experiment shows how Twitter helps her reach more students and involve them in class discussions both in and out of the classroom.

The Social Media Law Student’s post, How Law Schools are Using Twitter, reports that law schools are now catching on to how thousands of colleges and universities have been using Twitter to communicate with students and the rest of the world stating that “Twitter also promotes law school websites. Most law school websites are updated frequently but no one can keep track of all the updates. However, a law school’s Twitter feed can update simultaneously with the school’s website updates thus providing a central place for law schools to communicate with students and the community about the law school.” The post has a list of Law Schools Using Twitter.


The Brooklyn Law School Library has been using Twitter this past year. Follow Us on Twitter.

crimlawchart

Originally uploaded by BLS Library

As I walked past c35 in the cellar of the Library last night, this fabuous avant garde art work on the blackboard caught my eye. Did we have a budding Jackson Pollack on our hands? Upon closer inspection, I was able to discern that while we may have an artistic genius in house, that genius was more likely studying crim law.

In this rather scattered chart, you can make out the important hallmark terms of criminal law. Terms like:
– Recklessness
– Involuntary
– Malice Aforethought

Obviously one – or a group of students – was taking advantage of the writing space in c35 to study. This isn’t the only room in the library that has writing space on the wall. Room 113M has a white board. White boards require special markers to write on them, but students are free to use the markers left in the room.

Visualizing relationships between concepts is a long time favorite study technique among law students. Afterall, a picture is worth a thousand words! And, let’s admit it, we all like to graffiti on the black/white board. It’s fun! Even in this serious review of criminal law, you can find funny entries – like “Mitch smells” – if you look hard enough.

Marking the end of Black History Month, the Black Law Students Association (BLSA) is celebrating the life and legacy of Percy Sutton this Friday, February 26th, 6pm – 9pm at the Subotnick Center on the 10th Floor of 250 Joralemon Street. He passed away at the age of 89 on December 27, 2009. Sutton, who graduated Brooklyn Law School with the Class of 1950, was a pioneering civil rights attorney, political leader and one of the nation’s most influential African-American leaders. The son of a slave, he became a Tuskegee Airmen in World War II. After graduating Brooklyn Law School, he opened a law office in 1953 and represented Malcolm X and the slain activist’s family for decades. When he served as Manhattan borough president between 1966 and 1977, Sutton was New York state’s highest ranking black elected official. Aside from his law practice, Sutton built a small media empire. In 1971, Sutton and his brother bought WLIB-AM, the first black-owned radio station in New York City. His company Inner City Broadcasting Corp. then acquired WBLS-FM, which became New York’s top-rated radio station. He also had stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit and San Antonio along with Harlem’s landmark Apollo Theater. For more about Sutton’s life, see the National Visionary Leadship Project’s page with links to ten video clips of Sutton discussing aspects of his life. Shortly after Sutton’s passing, President Barack Obama issued a Statement remembering him for his service to the country.

BLS Alum former New York Mayor David Dinkins, Class of 1956, will make the opening remarks. Dinkins was the Mayor of New York City from 1990 through 1993 and was the first African American to hold that office. The Keynote speaker of the evening will be BLS Alum Errol Louis, Class of 2005. Louis is a columnist for the New York Daily News and is also on the editorial board, and also hosts a radio program on WWRL in New York. He is frequent guest on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight, as well as other CNN news programs as a CNN contributor. In the past, he has been a contributor on many local news programs in New York City.

Dinner will be served with a cocktail hour set to begin at 6pm. Those who want to attend should RSVP to ashleyrallison@gmail.com.

Today’s post on the Official Google Blog, Serious threat to the web in Italy, has background on an Italian court convicting three Google executives in a trial over a YouTube video showing an autistic teenager being bullied. The Google employees were accused of breaking Italian law by allowing the video to be posted online. While the judge cleared the three Google employees of the the defamation charges, he convicted them of privacy violations and imposed suspended six-month sentences. A fourth defendant was acquitted. Google claimed that pre-screening all YouTube content was impossible. The video was posted on YouTube in 2006 shortly before Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion in an all stock transaction.

Italian prosecutors argued that Google violated Italian privacy law in not obtaining the consent of all the parties involved before allowing it to go online. Google’s lawyers said that the video was removed as soon as it was brought to its attention and that it provided information on those responsible for posting it, four students who were later expelled from their school in Turin.

The NY Times article Google Loses in Italian Privacy Case has more detail on the facts of the case. Google plans to appeal the findings of the Italian court. More than the fate of these three employees are at stake. It seems that Italy may pursue similar cases against other net giants, such as eBay, Yahoo and Facebook. Broader legal issues are the subject of a post at Concurring Opinions, Google Officials Criminally Culpable for YouTube Video, where the author Daniel Solove suggests that the case go to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) under Article 8 and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Jurist reports that the Italian case is just part of Google’s privacy-related legal troubles. Last week, an internet privacy group filed a complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Google Buzz violates privacy laws. Canada’s Privacy Commissioner also issued a press release asking Google to explain how Google Buzz has addressed privacy issues since its recent launch. The privacy concerns about Google Buzz are spelled out in detail in a Jurist post Google’s “Buzz” should have required consent for secondary use of private information. The new product has led to inadvertent disclosures of personal information to unintended people. Google Buzz links to Gmail so that if a new user accepts the default options and does not opt-out or edit this Gmail list during profile creation, the whole list becomes part of the user’s profile available to the public. This video explains Google Buzz.