We've moved!

All of our blog posts have moved! We are now at http://libguides.law.loyno.edu/blog - now you can find the blog, research guides, and A-Z database list all in one place!!

Tax Law: Electronic Resource(s) of the Month

Interested in tax law? 

Did you know that the Law Library provides two great tax resources online that provide more tax materials than you could ever imagine? Examples include legislative history compilations, editorial content, and every IRS publication you could think of. The Bloomberg/BNA Tax & Accounting Center and the Intelliconnect CCH OmniTax Library can give students and faculty access to all those materials and more.

Go to http://law.loyno.edu/library/online-resources to connect to these databases. Both resources are only available to Loyola Law faculty and students; they can be accessed while connected to the Loyola internet or off-campus using your Loyola username and password. 

The IntelliConnect legal research platform provides users with access to all our CCH/Wolters Kluwer legal resources, including the CCH OmniTax Library, with its collection of state and federal tax materials.

The Bloomberg/BNA Tax & Accounting Center is a specialized legal research portal for tax professionals that bundles together all of BNA's tax resources, such as the Daily Tax Report and the Tax Management Portfolios, and provides access to the Internal Revenue Code, Treasury Regulations, and federal tax cases.

When citing these resources according to the Bluebook, you might have to read several rules. Be sure to take a look at Rule 14 (administrative materials), Rule 19 (services), Table 1.2 (federal administrative materials), and Table 15 (services). 

Fuel for Finals starts tomorrow and ends on Wednesday!

Each day we'll be giving away a little something in an effort to provide a small break during this stressful finals season. You can find everything near the circulation desk on the first floor of the Law Library. Best of luck to all our students!

Monday, May 2: Swag.

• School supplies provided by Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg. We've got highlighters, notepads, USB drives, pens, pencils, post-its - even some headphones. 

Tuesday, May 3: Coffee and donuts.

• Lexis and Westlaw are providing Krispy Kreme donuts and free coffee pods. We try to pace the donuts throughout the day, but supplies tend to run out quick.

Wednesday, May 4: Snacks. 

• Come enjoy snacks, fruit, and some small candies courtesy of Bloomberg, Lexis, and the Law Library. We've got a wide variety a granola bars, a little bit of candy, and even some cookie packs. 

In addition to the items listed above, we've printed out some coloring sheets to give you a creative outlet. If you return your sheets to the tray provided on the first floor, we might display some of your artwork around the library.

Here's one our coloring sheets available from sheknows.com. Hope to see you there!

Using Your Databases

Struggling with navigating the huge amounts of information on your Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg accounts? We just published "Wexisberg: Quick Tips for Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg" - http://libguides.law.loyno.edu/wexisberg! The guide provides a page for each service, then lets you know how to contact the service for help and gives research information for each system.

We hope to highlight things you don't already know about these products. For example, Bloomberg has extensive guidance for navigating court dockets and documents. And did you know that Lexis has a series of YouTube videos on utilizing Shepard's (and everything else)?

Kickstarter Research Guide for Conflict of Laws (a.k.a. choice of law) in Maritime Cases

Here is a small research guide on a narrow point of law. As always, if you have any questions about this or other research that you're conducting, please let us know. 

Choice of law generally means “the question of which jurisdiction’s law should apply in a given case.” (Black's Law Dictionary (10th ed. 2014)). When a court is faced with this issue, it will apply conflict of laws rules – a procedural analysis.

“Specifically, a court seeking to reconcile the varying principles of different legal systems must (1) determine that it has jurisdiction over the matter, (2) apply either its own jurisdiction's rules or those of another legal system involved in the litigation, and (3) decide whether any foreign judgment already issued is to be followed.” (Id.) 

This may include an analysis of foreign law. See the research guides Basics of Foreign and International Law and Where to Find It: Foreign Law. 

The basic resources listed are designed to help you get a handle on the terminology of maritime and conflicts and a general grasp of the issue. The specific secondary sources listed below will guide you through maritime-specific issues. They will have general sections on jurisdiction and chapters covering other areas of maritime law. 

Important: there may be some differences on conflicts of law over criminal and civil matters, plus there may be maritime-specific rules. Because maritime is such a specific field, you may want to consult maritime-specific resources first. 

Specific secondary sources:

• Benedict on Admiralty is a “go-to” maritime treatise. Available in print (KF 1104 .B4) or Lexis Advance. Start typing in “Benedict on admiralty” in the main search box. You can either select the name to search all content from there or select the image next to the name, which will bring you to the table of contents. In addition to the usual treatise materials, it also includes a wealth of historical information and copies of treaties and related materials. The “Desk Reference” provides a guide to legal research and quick summaries of the main ideas.

• Law of Seamen. Available on Westlaw. § 1:29 is on choice of law generally and discusses the leading case Lauritzen v. Larsen, 345 U.S. 571, 1953 A.M.C. 1210 (1953). Other chapters focus on specific substantive areas such as criminal offenses, wages, and piracy.

• International Conflict of Laws: Common, Civil, and Maritime (1994). Available in print (K 7449 .T47). Looks primarily at trade and commerce issues. Focuses on laws from the U.S., U.K., France, Canada, Australia, and the European Union, but does include summaries of conflicts provisions in 41 different countries. 

• William Tetley, The Law of the Flag, “Flag-Shopping,” and Choice of Law, 17 Tul. Mar. L. J. 139 (1993). Available on HeinOnline or in print (K 24 .U416). 

Basic resources:

• For a list of maritime quick references: see Study Aids on the Maritime Law Research Guide written by the Loyola Law Library. Includes: 

• Admiralty in a Nutshell (2010). KF 1105 .M34 2010 (reserve)

• Admiralty and Maritime Law (2012) (hornbook). KF 1104 .S36 2012 (reserve)

• Very basic admiralty information online: Admiralty, Legal Info. Instit., https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/admiralty (last visited Apr. 3, 2016).

• Conflicts in a Nutshell (2005). KF 412 .S5 2005 (reserve)

• Quick practice-oriented introduction to conflicts of laws: International Litigation: Applying Foreign Law in US Litigation. You can find this on Westlaw by searching the title in the main search box. This is a very short guide. A similar resource on Westlaw is Litigation of International Disputes in U.S. Courts. If you type that title into the main bar on Westlaw, I would recommend selecting the Index to search for maritime-specific material.

For further consideration:

• Legal encyclopedias:  

• For criminal matters: 21 Am. Jur. 2d Criminal Law §§ 442-446, Westlaw (database updated Apr. 2016): discuss maritime jurisdiction, offenses on high seas, and offenses on territorial waters. This is available on Westlaw – type in American jurisprudence 2d in the search box. Find criminal on the list (you may also want to browse conflicts of laws). Select Part One General Principles; VII. Personal and Subject matter jurisdiction; B. place offense is committed; 2. Extraterritorial Jurisdiction. 

• For civil matters: Restatement (Second) of Conflicts of Laws § 56, Westlaw (database updated Mar. 2016).

• Maritime Criminal Acts – Draft Guidelines for National Legislation, Int'l Mar. Org. (Aug. 15, 2007), http://comitemaritime.org/Maritime-Criminal-Acts/0,2766,16632,00.html. This publication from the Comite Maritime International (the leading private maritime international organization) proposes draft guidelines for national legislation on maritime criminal acts. 

Electronic Resource of the Month: Immigration Law & Policy in the U.S. on HeinOnline

From January to May, we are focusing this series on some of the collections available via HeinOnline. All HeinOnline resources can be accessed here or through our complete database list. The collections are available to Loyola Law faculty and students, and it can be accessed while connected to the Loyola internet. Check back each month for updates!

The Immigration Law & Policy in the U.S. collection from HeinOnline provides a wealth of information for issues related to immigration. It combines laws, legislative hearings, acts, legislative histories, academic articles, and administrative decisions. From the publisher:

This monumental collection is a compilation of the most important historical documents and legislation related to immigration in the United States as well as current hearings, debates and recent developments in immigration law. This first comprehensive database includes BIA Precedent Decisions, legislative histories, law and policy titles, extradition titles, scholarly articles, an extensive bibliography, and other related works.

Print Resource of the Month: Handbook on Louisiana Evidence Law

From January to May, we are focusing this series on Louisiana-specific materials intended to be helpful for practice (or that are just really interesting). Check back each month for updates!

This month we're utilizing Handbook on Louisiana Evidence Law. Although there is a lot of great guidance for evidence law, even specific to Louisiana, that is available electronically, this is a great resource because it is an all-in-one handbook - so much so that it may be even more convenient than other online sources (gasp!). 

Here are some reasons why you might want to take a look:

• Extensive overview of legislative history from the 1988 passage of the Code and subsequent amendments
• Easy comparison of Louisiana Code and Federal Rules of Evidence
• References to commentary dealing with more specific issues - Daubert decisions, DNA testing in paternity cases, rules of evidence in family law, choice of law, automotive recalls. 
• Important provisions re evidence from the US and Louisiana Constitutions, US Code, Civil Code, Code of Civil Procedure, Code of Criminal Procedure, Children's Code, and Revised Statutes
• Excerpts from the Rules of Professional Conduct and Louisiana Supreme Court Rules

Note that the text of the Code of Evidence is included twice - in the first half of the book with only the language of the Code and in the second half with official comments and extensive authors' notes. (This second part is where the real goodness lies.)

You can find this book in the Reserve Collection on the first floor or in Reference on the second floor of the library at KFL 540 .H36. New editions are typically printed every year with updates reflecting amendments, new cases, and new commentary.

Where to Find It: Louisiana Law

On our new website designed to assist in your research, http://libguides.law.loyno.edu/, there is a guide specifically for finding Louisiana legal materials. Called “Where to Find It: Louisiana Law”, it’s a guide for finding Louisiana law and related materials, with preference given for Bluebook citation standards. There’s so many places to find information online that it can often be difficult to know what is reliable. This guide is designed to lead you to reliable sources, and also help alleviate some confusion that the Bluebook can cause.

You can visit the guide here, http://libguides.law.loyno.edu/findit_LA and then explore some of the other materials the LibGuides page has to offer.

Electronic Resource of the Month: Session Laws Library on HeinOnline

This week we are combining HeinOnline collections and the Legislative Session! All HeinOnline resources can be accessed through http://libguides.law.loyno.edu/az.php. The collections are available to Loyola Law faculty and students, and it can be accessed while connected to the Loyola internet. Check back each month for updates!


The HeinOnline Session Laws Library gives Loyola students and faculty access to:

1. Legislation for all 50 states, Canada, Australia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and the D.C. Register from inception to present day
2. Compilations of historical state statues
3. Historical statutes and/or acts for the US, Canada, Bahamas, and Australia
4. Collection of various related historical documents, including Laws of the Northwest Territory and many colonial compilations.

The coverage for each depends on the particular resource.

Louisiana acts from 1804-2012 are included, which also covers the Territory of Louisiana (1804-1812).

There are also many historical compilations of laws, official texts and annotations, including:

• 1808 Digest
• 1825 Civil Code
• 1856 Revised Statutes
• 1870 Digest

Select “State Statues” on the top menu to search these collections.

Although we have many of these items in print, HeinOnline provides the convenience of electronic searching. Select “Advanced Search” at the top of the page, and you can narrow by state, collection, years – there’s even a full text search for all documents.

Louisiana Constitutional Materials

Louisiana is on its tenth Constitution since 1812 and had a limited constitutional convention as recently as 1992. Those who vote in Louisiana are also aware that we amend the state constitution frequently. As of 2003 there were 111 amendments to the most recent 1974 Constitution, and there have been several amendment votes since that time. For a full listing, see Voting on Louisiana Proposed Constitutional Amendments 1978-2015, Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana, http://www.parlouisiana.com/explore.cfm/conhistory/ (last visited Mar. 3, 3016).

Thanks to this long history, the Law Library has compiled a large selection of LA constitutional documents. We have copies of the majority of the constitutions, compilations that compare versions, delegate proposals, records for the constitutional conventions in 1921, 1973, and 1992, and more. The records of the conventions may include calendars, journals, and transcripts. Here you can see just of bit of what we have on the shelves.

Louisiana Legislative Session

The Louisiana Legislature will convene for the 2016 Regular Session on March 14, 2016 at noon. During March, we'll focus on publications related to LA legislation and have a post on compiling LA legislative history.

To learn about current bills and committee information, visit the Legislature's website at http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/home.aspx. From there, you can see bill text versions, committee agendas, watch committee meetings online, view votes, and find logistical session information.

The Legislature is scheduled to adjourn sine die by 6pm on June 6, 2016.

New Research Resource from the Law Library

The Law Library is happy to introduce our new website to help with your legal research. At http://libguides.law.loyno.edu/, you can view research guides written by our librarians and search for all electronic databases you have access to as Loyola students and faculty (over 60!). The website will be continuously updated so check back often!

Advanced Search on Lexis Advance

LexisNexis has updated their advanced search features giving us even more search tools and shortcuts! Take a look at the quick video below for an overview, or sign in to your Lexis Advance account. You can explore the advanced search from the homepage. 

Electronic Resource of the Month: U.S. Presidential Library on HeinOnline

From January to May, we are focusing this series on some of the collections available via HeinOnline. All HeinOnline resources can be accessed through http://law.loyno.edu/library/online-resources. The collections are available to Loyola Law faculty and students, and it can be accessed while connected to the Loyola internet or off-campus using your Loyola username and password. Check back each month for updates!

The U.S. Presidential Library on Hein includes over 261 titles including: 

• Public Papers of the Presidents (1929-2011)        
• Messages and Papers of the Presidents (1789-1929)
• CFR Title 3 (Presidents – Executive Orders, Proclamations, Reorganization Plans)
• Daily and Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents

HeinOnline provides PDF scans of the official versions of these documents. This means that all documents pulled from here can be cited as if to the official, authentic print source. See T1.2 Executive Office of the President, page 243-244 in the 20th ed. of the Bluebook for citation conventions. 

Print Resource of the Month: Louisiana Civil Jury Instruction Companion Handbook

From January to May, we are focusing this series on Louisiana-specific materials intended to be helpful for practice (or that are just really interesting). Check back each month for updates!

Last month’s post discussed Trial Handbook for Louisiana Lawyers , a book that provides a wide range of information related to practice in LA district courts. The resource this week focuses on one aspect of courtroom practice: jury instructions.

Louisiana Civil Jury Instruction Companion Handbook is a great resource for practicing attorneys because usually lawyers write and submit jury instructions without pattern instructions to follow. This book compiles jury instructions that were actually given in particular cases with additional notes to serve as a guide for practitioners. It is designed as a “companion handbook” to work in conjunction with another popular treatise on LA jury instructions, Louisiana Civil Law Treatise, Civil Jury Instructions (available in print KFL 542.6 .J64 and on WestlawNext).

Andrea Beauchamp Carroll, Louisiana Civil Jury Instruction Companion Handbook (2014-2015 ed. 2014). (KFL 542.6 .L68)

Finding Legal Topics

Have to write a paper for a seminar or journal assignment? Here are a few resources that can help you find recent law topics on a variety of subjects.

Current Developments

1. Current Legal Topics - Research reports from the Law Library of Congress, you can browse by subject or focus on reports that are recently issued. Subjects range from adoption to war crimes. 
2. Global Legal Monitor - Also from the Law Library of Congress, focuses specifically on issues and developments internationally.
3. ASIL Insights - A product of the American Society of International Law; provides "brief, balanced accounts of the international law issues raised by newsworthy late-breaking events."
4. Law Blog - Published by the Wall Street Journal.

Newspapers

As a student/faculty member of Loyola, you have access to several newspapers in print (Reading Room) and online. Please see a librarian for login credentials. 

1. New York Times
2. Wall Street Journal
3. Financial Times
4. The Economist

News Alerts

Law students and faculty can set news alerts for various subjects through many of the online resources available through the Library. This includes WestlawNext, Lexis Advance, and Bloomberg Law. 

The Federal Lawyer

If you’re interested in federal practice, you’ll probably be interested in The Federal Lawyer. This periodical is a publication of the Federal Bar Association and is published ten times a year. The library has this magazine in print for the use of all patrons (K6 .E285). Electronic subscriptions are included in Federal Bar Association memberships or can be purchased.

“The Federal Lawyer, the official publication of the Federal Bar Association, is the only magazine written and edited for lawyers who practice in federal courts or have an interest in federal law as well as judges who sit on the federal bench. Editorial content covers a broad range of topics including immigration, Indian, antitrust, labor and employment, bankruptcy, criminal, intellectual property, environmental, and other types of law that fall within federal jurisdiction. Through the magazine’s extensive and up-to-date editorial coverage of these legal issues, federal practitioners are able to obtain the latest pronouncements and theories of importance to the federal legal system.”

Electronic Resource of the Month: Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals

From now until May, we will focus this series on some of the collections available via HeinOnline. All HeinOnline resources can be accessed through http://law.loyno.edu/library/online-resources. The collections are available to Loyola Law faculty and students, and they can be accessed while connected to the Loyola internet or off-campus using your Loyola username and password. Check back each month for updates!

The Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP) is a great tool for researchers looking for up-to-date foreign-published periodical material on legal subjects. IFLP is available in print (3rd floor index table near the main elevators) and electronically via HeinOnline.

IFLP indexes articles and book reviews by subject from over 500 legal periodicals published outside the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. There is no limit to the languages included, and the legal subjects range from abandonment to the World Trade Organization. The database can be searched from 1984-present (2014), and the print edition on Hein covers 1960-present.

To search online, you can browse by subject, country subject, region, publication title, or a general search. Search options include: language, author, title of article, title of journal, date of publication, key word, country of publication, etc. A search can be further narrowed by year, the type of material (articles or reviews), and to only include entries where the full text is available on another HeinOnline database. While browsing, entries are in alphabetical order.  

One of the best things about IFLP is that it links to articles listed that are available in HeinOnline. This makes it more of a one-stop-shop than print indexing tools. 

Print Resource of the Month: Trial Handbook for Louisiana Lawyers

From now until May, we will focus this series on Louisiana-specific materials intended to be helpful for practice (or that are just really interesting). Check back each month for updates!



This month we’re highlighting Trial Handbook for Louisiana Lawyers, a publication of the Louisiana Practice Series, written by the Honorable Eldon E. Fallon, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

This practice-oriented book “is designed to be a quick reference for the journeyman trial lawyer who spends his or her life representing clients in trial courts of Louisiana.” There are thirty-four chapters, a table of laws and rules, a table of cases, and an index. The entire range of trial subjects are covered from the role of attorneys, to examination of witnesses and evidence rules, to the verdict and judgment.  

Trial Handbook is available in the stacks, in reference, and in the Reserve Collection at KFL 530 .F34. It is also available online through WestlawNext. 

Eldon E. Fallon, Louisiana Practice: Trial Handbook for Louisiana Lawyers (3rd ed. 2007 & Supp. 2015).