Episode 056 – Conversation with BLS Professor Robert Pitler.mp3

The New York Law Journal article, No-Fault Companion Bill on Maintenance Raises New Concerns discusses the recently enacted New York no-fault divorce bill. The NY State Assembly website has a summary of the bill. Gov. David Paterson signed thea bill making New York the last state to enact some version of no-fault divorce, do that people trying to leave a marriage will be spared the painful task of attacking their estranged spouse in court.

The NYLJ article refers to Brooklyn Law School Professor of Law Robert M. Pitler in his role as the Chairman of the New York State Law Revision Commission and its study on the setting of maintenance levels statewide to determine if courts are failing to take into account financial factors that could unfairly disadvantage one spouse or another. Prof. Pitler, in this podcast, talks about the work of the Commission and his appointment as a Member of the Commission in 1988. He has served as its Chair since 1992. He is a Professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School where he teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Evidence. Before joining the Brooklyn Law School Faculty in 1988, he was Counsel to the New York County District Attorney and Chief of the Office’s Investigations Bureau and Appeals Bureau. He has also taught at the University of Syracuse Law School and the University of Colorado Law School.

In the podcast, Prof. Pitler also discusses the classes he will teach this fall for incoming students and upper class members.

With a new school year starting at Brooklyn Law School, law students are likely getting a great deal of advice from family, friends and other students about how to succeed, survive and manage in law school. Lawyerist—the lawyering survival guide, an online site published by Sam Glover and Aaron Street and a team of other writers, claims to be the leading law practice blog. Lawyerist provides advice on a range of topics from law firm marketing, practice management, technology, career development, law school success, legal ethics, to starting a law practice.

Among the law school topics of interest to incoming students, returning students and recent graduatesare are these Lawyerist posts from 2010:

• Starting Law School this Fall?
• Make Friends in Law School
• Back to School Checklist for 2Ls
• Back to School Checklist for 3Ls
• Smartphone Optimization for Law Students
• De-Stressing After the Bar Exam
• No Summer Clerkship? You Still Have Opportunities

Welcome to the incoming Classes of 2013 and 2014 and the returing Classes of 2012 and 2011.

Brooklyn Law School’s Anita and Stuart Subotnick Professor of Law Anita Bernstein has posted on SSRN her most recent article Reparations, Microfinance, Gender: A Plan, With Strategies for Implementation) on SSRN. Professor Bernstein co-authored the article with Hans Dieter Seibel, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Cologne. The abstract of the article which will be published in the Cornell International Law Journal, Vol. 44, No. 1 (2011) reads:

In separate writings the authors have argued that nations planning reparations for human rights violations ought to consider microfinance as a mode of pecuniary transfer. Joining a symposium on gender and violence and responding to calls from readers for more detail on how to install and fund such a plan, this article presents microfinance-based reparations as policy for a national government to consider. It addresses several strategic and practical considerations that an implementing gvernment would face.

Converting benefit payments into shares and deposits and beneficiaries into shareholders of microfinance institutions turns former victims into active partners of aid and owners of sustainable local entities. It also has gender-progressive effects. In many countries, women are already playing a prominent role in self-help groups, informal savings and credit associations, and other types of microfinance institutions on which a reparations plan can build to achieve economic as well as moral-reparative gains following a humanitarian crisis.

A local news item reports that a Brooklyn federal jury in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York found internet radio host and blogger Harold (Hal) Turner, of North Bergen, NJ, guilty of threatening three Chicago federal judges. In June 2009, US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office in Chicago charged Turner with threatening judges Frank Easterbrook, Richard Posner and William Bauer in website postings because of their June 2009 ruling upholding handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois. The case was moved from Illinois to Brooklyn to ensure a fair trial. Two earlier trials in Brooklyn ended with hung juries in March and December. The jury in the latest trial, where US District Judge Donald E. Walter presided, deliberated less than two hours before rendering its decision.

An ABA Journal article Posner Admirers Crowd Trial Over Blogger’s Online Rant Against 7th Circuit Panel reports that Brooklyn Law School student Kevin Turton, Class of 2012 and a summer intern in the Brooklyn federal court was in the courtroom to listen to Judge Posner’s testimony. Having read one of Posner’s books (the BLS Library’s catalog lists 53 items for which Judge Posner is author), Turton said “He has somewhat of a celebrity status to us. I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see him in person, to see him react in a courtroom setting as a witness.”

Turner’s blog posting included statements such as “Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed. Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty. A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions.” Prosecutors claim Turner wrote approvingly on his blog of the February 2005 slaying of US District Judge Joan Lefkow’s husband and mother by a disgruntled litigant. He wrote on his blog “Hope you think your job was worth what it seems to have cost you. Every other federal judge should take a good hard look. White people are tired of being pushed around by this government. We are slow to anger, but when we reach our limit, it isn’t pretty.”

At trial, Turned testified that he served as an FBI informant from 2003 to 2007 and had alerted the government to threats against President Barack Obama. Turner said the FBI explained to him how far he could go in his speech without violating the law. Defense lawyers focused attention on his long and complicated relationship as a paid informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Prosecutors portrayed Turner as a dangerous white supremacist who suggested that three judges deserved to be killed. His conviction under 18 U.S.C. 115(a)(1)(b) subjects him to imprisonment for not more than 10 years under 18 U.S.C. 115(b)(4) and a fine of not more than $250,000 is available as an alternative or supplementary sanction.

The new academic year is fast approaching and Brooklyn Law School is set to welcome the incoming 1Ls. The welcome begins with First-Year Students Welcome BBQ Party taking place today at 5:00 PM in Geraldo’s Café, Feil Hall, 205 State Street. Next is First Year Appreciation Day on Saturday, August 14 at 10:00 AM at 1 Boerum Place, 3rd Floor where new students get a 10% discount on all school apparel. On Sunday, August 15 at 6:00 pm BLS holds its annual Convocation at the New York State Supreme Court, 320 Jay Street. A reception will follow in the Eastern District of New York Court Building at 225 Cadman Plaza East.

Brooklyn Law School Library Director Victoria Szymczak, Associate Librarian Linda Holmes and reference librarians Jean Davis, Karen Schneiderman, Harold O’Grady and Rosemary Campagna will welcome the new students at a series of thirteen library orientation sessions. They will be held in the Professor Joseph Crea Reading Room on the second floor of the library. (Librarian Kathy Darvil will be away on maternity leave.) Most of the sessions will take place in the daytime during the week of August 23 when the fall semester classes begin. There will be several addtional sessions scheduled during evening hours for part-time students.

The librarians will introduce the incoming Class of 2013 and the Class of 2014 to SARA the library’s online catalog and the library website. They will also discusss study aids that are in the library collection as well as the 1L Resources Tips and Tools Libguide. In addition, incoming students will receive handouts on Case Law, Researching Statutes, Federal Rules and Regulations, Looseleafs & Databases, Law Reviews & Journals, and American Law Reports.

This week, at its annual meeting in San Francisco, the American Bar Association through its House of Delegates passed Resolution 111 which “RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges state, territorial, and tribal governments to eliminate all of their legal barriers to civil marriage between two persons of the same sex who are otherwise eligible to marry”. Among the groups sponsoring the resolution were the New York State Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. NYSBA President Stephen P. Younger says that the resolution passed overwhelmingly, with only one speaker voicing opposition during debate. The ABA’s approval comes days after Judge Vaughn Walker’s Order in Perry v. Schwarzenegger which struck down California’s voter-approved same-sex marriage ban. Younger says the timing of the ABA’s vote is a coincidence.

The resolution lacks the force of law but shows that many in the legal profession feel that marriage equality helps meet the ABA’s goals to “Eliminate bias in the legal profession and the justice system” and “Work for just laws, including human rights, and a fair legal process”. The initial report and recommendation for the resolution lays out the arguments for equality asserting that the lack of marriage for same-sex couples “offends our constitutional commitments to liberty and equality.” It invokes many historic civil rights rulings, including Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court ruling that struck down prohibitions on interracial marriage, and Brown v. Board of Ed., which desegregated public schools:

Asserting that separate systems for classes of citizens can satisfy constitutional equality guarantees as long as identical legal rights are conferred invokes the long-repudiated reasoning in Plessy v. Ferguson. In that case, the Court upheld separate railway cars for African-Americans. . . . However, as our constitutional tradition and history has made clear, only full marriage equality comports with our constitutional standards that separate is not equal. See Brown v. Board of Ed., 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

In the past 20 years, the ABA has supported adoption and second-parent adoption rights for same-sex couples, statutes to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in child custody and other areas, and repeal of Section 3 of DOMA (which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages). It also opposed a federal constitutional amendment that would prohibit states from recognizing same-sex marriages.

If you are one of the many students who are writing a law note or seminar paper this semester, you may feel a bit overwhelmed at the moment.  Several questions maybe running through your head such as:  how do I identify a “good” topic; where do I begin researching; when should I stop researching; how do I organize my paper. Well, there is no need to fear.  Listed below are several resources available from the BLS library that can help you research and write your law note or seminar paper.  

General Resources for Legal Research and Writing

• Elizabeth Fajans & Mary Falk, Scholarly Writing for Law Students: Seminar Papers, Law Review Notes and Law Review Competition Papers (3rd ed. 2005).

The quote below is provided by the publisher.

In order to inspire and motivate their readers, the authors have appended a selective list of student notes and comments and a chapter on techniques to help writers narrow their subjects and find theses. The authors added a section on reading for types of legal argument and an exercise to address increasing student concern over plagiarism. Includes a short section on the importance of editorial cooperation and communication. Offers a new chapter on entering writing competitions and publishing.

• Eugene Volokh, Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review (4th ed. 2010).

The quote below is taken from the book’s Foreword, which was written by Court of Appeals Judge for the Ninth Circuit, Hon. Alex Kozinski.

This book fills a void in the legal literature: It teaches students how to go about finding a topic and developing it into a useful, interesting, publishable piece.  It gives detailed and very helpful instructions for every aspect of the writing, research and publication process.  And it comes from the keyboard of someone who has authored articles on a dizzying variety of legal topics and is widely regarded as one of the brightest lights in legal academia.  

• Jean Davis, Paper Topic Development: International and Comparative: A Research Guide (2010), http://guides.brooklaw.edu/developing

This research guide provides links and descriptions of sources to identify articles, dissertations, books, case documents, and treaties when writing an international or comparative law paper.

• Jean Davis, Paper Topic Selection: International and Comparative: A Research Guide (2010), http://guides.brooklaw.edu/selecting

This guide provides links and descriptions of sources to identify developments concerning international law and foreign law.

• Kathleen Darvil, Selecting and Developing Your Seminar Paper Topic: A Research Guide (2010), http://guides.brooklaw.edu/seminarpaper

This online research guide is designed to help law students select and develop a research topic for their seminar paper.

Legal Writing: Style & Grammer

• Bryan A. Garner, Legal Writing in Plain English: A Text with Exercises (2001).

The quote below is provided by the publisher.

In Legal Writing in Plain English, Bryan A. Garner provides lawyers, judges, paralegals, law students, and legal scholars sound advice and practical tools for improving their written work. The book encourages legal writers to challenge conventions and offers valuable insights into the writing process: how to organize ideas, create and refine prose, and sharpen editing skills. In essence, it teaches straight thinking—a skill inseparable from good writing.

• Bryan A. Garner, The Elements of Legal Style (2nd ed. 2002).

 The quote below is taken from the book’s Foreword, which was written by Charles Alan Wright.

There are often many ways, all of which correct by the rules of usage, in which to express a particular idea.  Making the best choice among the possibilities requires an ear for the language, a good sense of taste and of tactics, and an instinctive feel for what will work best in a particular situation.  These choices are more informed, however, if the writer or speaker is aware of the possibilities and sensitive to the considerations that go into the choice.  Garner provides sound guidance on these matters of style for the legal writer.

TIP: Review the appropriate Bluebook rule(s) for the type of source(s) that you need to check.  Your editors want you to review Bluebook-compliant sources.    

TIP: SARA catalog accepts titles of, or keywords in titles of:  books; journals; various treaty series; statutory compilations; case reports; other types of reports; and websites.   SARA catalog does not permit you to enter the cite to a specific article.  You can, however, enter in SARA catalog the title of a journal (example: Brooklyn Journal of International Law), and, in many cases, retrieve a catalog record for an electronic version of the journal.  When you follow the blue link to an e-journal, you can then try to retrieve an article by citation.

TIP: Always check SARA catalog before creating an ILLiad account and requesting an item through interlibrary loan.  Also, with regard to material needed for a source-check, do not order the material through interlibrary loan unless your editor asks you to do so.  Follow your journal’s instructions for each assignment. 

TIP: Please feel free to approach a librarian at the reference desk for help.  We know that source-checking is a new task for you, and we want to save you time.  

Question: A student asked my colleague, Kathy Darvil, whether the student could provide a journal editor with a copy of a law review article from HeinOnline.

Answer: Yes, the HeinOnline article is a scanned image of the original–it is identical to the text that you would find in a print journal volume.

Question: A student asked me for help in finding the source: I.L.R.

Answer: http://guides.brooklaw.edu/developing > tab: Legal Abbreviations links to the free Cardiff Index of Legal Abbreviations  I advised the student to enter abbreviation: I.L.R. in this Index.  The student discovered the source’s title: International Law Reports.  The student then searched SARA catalog by title: International Law Reports.  BLS Library owns this source in print. It is in the International Collection, call no. K9 .N886. This is not in the overflow area (which contains KZ books), it is in the room that you first walk in to when you enter the basement of BLS Library.  International Law Reports is not available through LN or WL.

Remember: our librarians are here to help you with this new process!

If you are an incoming first year student, the reference librarians and the entire library staff look forward to meeting you in August.

You should have received in the mail an envelope from the BLS Admissions Office which includes your Lexis activation code and your Westlaw password.  Lexis and Westlaw are the two major legal databases that you will have access to as law students.  There will be many other databases available to you as BLS students, but more about those when you get here!

Please make sure you register your Lexis activation code and your Westlaw password before school begins.  The registration instructions were included in the mailing you received, as well as some basic information about both systems.  You will be introduced to Lexis and Westlaw by your legal writing instructors, but the reference librarians will give you a “peek” at both systems during your orientation sessions. 

If you are an incoming first year student and did not get your Lexis and Westlaw numbers in the mail for some reason, please stop by the first floor library reference desk and we will assist you.  See you soon!

Legal researchers interested in UK legislation now have a new online tool as the UK government has launched a website with public access to UK legislation dating back to 1267 providing 743 years of legislation (with a few exceptions) in one database. The new website of the National Archives, the UK government’s official archive, brings together every single piece of UK legislation, from the Magna Carta (1215) to the present day, in one place for the first time free of charge. With 6.5 million PDF documents and original versions of UK legislation covering England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland along with details of any amendments, the site provides an interactive browse facility and timeline.

Oliver Morley of the National Archives described the launch of the site as “a bold statement of transparency”. He said: “By using the latest technology and opening up the raw data underpinning legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives has given global access to the nation’s ‘operating system’. I’m proud to say this website is the only example of its kind in the world. It provides access to an invaluable and historical resource for anyone wanting to know what the law actually says.”

A post at the Resource Shelf has answers to FAQs about the site. Going back to the 13th century, the site makes if easy to view historical Acts of Parliament, such as the Act of Union in 1707, the Libraries Offences Act 1898 and the Public Records (Scotland) Act 1809. New legislation such as the Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2010 is included along with the archived material.