Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog

In 2009 the Law Library won the ABA Journal’s Peeps in Law contest for our 1L Peeps Study Group.  Our winning entry is below.  The Law Library staff wishes you luck studying for your finals.

A diligent group of law student peeps study for their upcoming final exams in the Arizona State University Ross-Blakley Library. All are wannapeep  Peep Masons and Ally McPeeps. They are studying hard, hoping to learn it all before their brains turn to marshmallow. Alas, too late for 1L C. Little – he has had a meltdown! Since … Continue Reading

Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So when one attorney was asked to keep his amicus brief…brief, he used pictures to illustrate his point.

As told by the always entertaining and informative Above the Law:
For anyone who has ever been frustrated by a judge’s imposition of silly page limits, just follow the lead of Bob Kohn. He filed a brief regarding the Justice Department’s proposed settlement in the long-standing e-book (so appropriate, right?) price-fixing case involving Amazon, Apple, and some of America’s largest publishers…

Kohn is the chairman and chief executive of RoyaltyShare and … Continue Reading

The Ross-Blakley Law Library observes a Limited Access Policy. Starting Monday, to enter the main doors of the law library, you must swipe your SunCard at the card reader. (If you’re not an ASU affiliate, we’ll ask you to sign in at the front desk)

Law Students: here are some tips to help you learn about swiping your SunCard at the card reader.

 … Continue Reading

In a zombie apocalypse the two certainties in life, death and taxes, may not be so certain.  Fortunately, College of Law professor Adam Chodorow has recognized that the current estate and income tax laws do not adequately address the tax implications of being undead and has tackled the topic of estate planning for the living dead in his article Death and Taxes and Zombies, to be published in a forthcoming issue of the Iowa Law Review.

The article’s abstract details the subject matter: “This article fills a glaring gap in the academic literature by … Continue Reading

Lacking a legal argument to get out of your traffic ticket?  Try physics.  Dmitri Krioukov, a UC San Diego physicist, submitted a four-page physics paper to a city traffic commissioner arguing that three coincidences occurred at the same time, making a nearby police officer believe that he had seen him run a red light, when really he had not.  Krioukov writes in the paper, “We show that if a car stops at a stop sign, an observer, e.g., a police officer, located at a certain distance perpendicular to the car trajectory, must … Continue Reading

Some people say it with Shakespeare.

Others crank up the sultry Soul songs of Marvin Gaye or Barry White.

But why speak the language of love when you can woo them with the language of law?

At Docracy.com’s Be My Valentine – Lawyer Edition, you can “send a romantic yet legally defensible Valentine’s Day Card to that special someone.”

Hat-tip and Happy Valentine’s Day wishes to former RBLL Reference Librarian Amy Levine!

Lawyer: A Brief 5,000 Year History
By R. Blain Andrus
Law Treatises K183 .A53 2009

R. Blain Andrus opens his book Lawyer: A Brief 5,000 Year History by theorizing how a legal team might have represented Adam and Eve before God, and whether a good lawyer could have “saved” them.  He argues that the Book of Genesis is the best beginning for his romp through legal history, as it is in Genesis that God brought order out of chaos—and what better place to start looking for lawyers than in a swirling … Continue Reading

Ever wondered where the term “rainmaker” came from? Or the origins of “blackmail”?  A new book in the library collection explains how many of the legal terms that we use everyday developed.

Lawtalk: The Unknown Stories Behind Familiar Legal Expressions
By James E. Clapp, Elizabeth G. Thornburg, Marc Galanter, and Fred R. Shapiro
Law Reference KF156 .L39 2011

For those of you familiar with the rules of evidence, this entry may be of interest:

• Hearsay: This term originated in a 16th century textbook on French language that included English translations.  In one of the discussions, a cleric attempts to explain the … Continue Reading
  

Every 1L is familiar with the Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad torts case.  The 1928 New York Court of Appeals decision, written by Judge Benjamin Cardozo, helped establish the concept of proximate cause.  This Lego Law rendition of Palsgraf, created by law students, is a humorous take on the famous case.

Lego Law – Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad

Hat tip to the Law Librarian Blog.

The ABA Journal recently asked its readers whether they could think of any “delightful client malapropisms” they had heard and would be willing to share.  Below are some highlights from the 103 comments posted by attorneys:

• In a rape case, the witness said the woman had the reputation of being a prostitute. The judge asked the witness, “Is she a chaste woman?”  The witness responded, “Yes sir Judge, lots of men chases her.”
• I once heard a witness in a criminal case take the “Fifth Dimension”.
• Defendant had just been sentenced to life in prison with no opportunity for parole.  He turned … Continue Reading