Monthly Archives: March 2018

Check Your Facebook Data and Settings.

29 Thursday Mar 2018

Posted by in Internet, Internet Safety, Marketing, Social Media

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How to Download Your Facebook Data, by Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, PCWorld

https://bit.ly/2pIYmGC

How can I download a copy of my Facebook data? posted by Facebook Help

https://www.facebook.com/help/302796099745838

Do you use Facebook personally or as a marketing tool? Unless you have lived under a rock, you have heard about the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal. If not, just Google it. You will find plenty of recent posts. It will make you think twice about taking all those personality tests you find frequently on Facebook.

This is not the only Facebook glitch, if glitch is the proper word. Hacked lately? By that I mean, has someone sent posts to your “friends” pretending to be you?

Hopefully, you have checked your safety settings. That will help, but the type of data you share online may negate your efforts.

Hopefully, you do not share that you plan to attend an event (a feature Facebook provides), photos of your vacation while you are on vacation, or post that you are – at that very moment – at a specific location away from home.

Hopefully, you do not post photographs of your children with your child wearing a school t-shirt or jersey, the front of your house with the house number, or a photo with your vehicle’s tag number in the background.

You get the idea. If you want to use Facebook, whether for personal or business use, Facebook – and others – I suspect you already know they know more about you than you realize.

It will not hurt to look at your Facebook data and re-check your Safety Settings at https://bit.ly/1j7xk0x. I recommend another Google search (yes, search engines, news media, and other social media are tracking you, too) to find more ways to update your Facebook settings. Please look at the date of whatever you find. You want the newest version. The newer, the better. -CCE

Historical Supreme Court Cases Now Free Online.

27 Tuesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Appellate Law, Case Law, Federal Law, Library of Congress, Research, United States Supreme Court

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Historical Supreme Court cases now online thanks to Library of Congress (and Hein & Co.), by Joe Hodnicki, Law Librarian Blog

https://bit.ly/2GeSxLG

According to the press release, ‘More than 225 years of Supreme Court decisions acquired by the Library of Congress are now publicly available online – free to access in a page image format for the first time. The Library has made available more than 35,000 cases that were published in the printed bound editions of United States Reports. … The digital versions of the U.S. Reports in the new collection were acquired by the Law Library of Congress through a purchase agreement with William S. Hein & Co. Inc. The acquisition is part of the Law Library’s transition to a digital future and in support of its efforts to make historical U.S. public domain legal materials freely and easily available to Congress and the world.’ You can access the collection here.”

Find Bills and Amendments and Who Sponsored Them.

25 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by in Government

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How to Locate the Bills and Amendments a Member of Congress has Sponsored or Cosponsored in Congress.gov, by Robert Brammer, In Custodia Legis, Law Librarians of Congress

https://bit.ly/2I1mESZ

This looks handy. -CCE

One of the questions we are frequently asked is how to locate a bill or amendment that a member of Congress has sponsored or cosponsored. There are a few ways to do this on Congress.gov.

  1. Visit a member profile page

Locate a member you are interested in and open their member profile page. Next, you can use the filters on the left-hand side of the screen to narrow down your results. For example, if you are only interested in legislation that the member sponsored or cosponsored in the 115th Congress, under “Congress”, click on “115”. You can also use the filters in combination with one another to further narrow down your results.

If you are looking at a member profile page for a current member of Congress, note that you can click “get alerts” at the top, left-hand side of the screen to sign up to receive an email each time that member sponsors or cosponsors legislation.

Continue reading →

Witness Preparation – The Classics.

19 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by in Depositions, Discovery, Trial Tips and Techniques, Witness Preparation, Witness Preparation, Witnesses

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Witness: Top 10 Posts, by Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm, Persuasive Litigator™

http://bit.ly/2DFr8fI

Have you ever prepared witnesses or clients for a deposition or trial? If you have, then you know these rules or techniques are the classics. Tried and true. If you haven’t, here is some of the best advice you will ever get. This is a “must bookmark.” -CCE

USSC Has A New App for 2016 Sentencing Guidelines.

18 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by in Criminal Law, Sentencing Guidelines

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United States Sentencing Commission Launches A New Guideline App

http://bit.ly/2IzSlUt

The new App gives you access to:

  1. 2016 Guidelines Manual;
  2. Statutory Index Search;
  3. Sentencing Tables;
  4. Appendix – Amendments;
  5. Guideline Range;
  6. Drug Quantity; and
  7. Drug Equivalent.

It also includes Frequently Used Tables and the Archive. -CCE

 

Federal Research Honey Pot.

14 Wednesday Mar 2018

Posted by in Federal Law, Legal Analysis, Legal Writing, Research, SSRN, Statutory Interpretation

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Comparing Methods of Statutory Interpretation Used By The Lower Federal Courts and The Supreme Court, by Joe Hodnicki, Law Librarian Blog

http://bit.ly/2pd4k2t

Joe Hodnicki calls this article “recommended,” which means we just found a honey pot for those who research federal case law and statutory interpretation. -CCE

“Here’s the abstract for Aaron-Andrew P. Bruhl’s very interesting Statutory Interpretation and the Rest of the Iceberg: Divergences between the Lower Federal Courts and the Supreme Court, Duke Law Journal, Forthcoming:

‘This Article examines the methods of statutory interpretation used by the lower federal courts, especially the federal district courts, and compares those methods to the practices of the U.S. Supreme Court. This novel research reveals both similarities across courts and some striking differences. The research shows that some interpretive tools are highly overrepresented in the Supreme Court’s decisions while other tools are much more prevalent in the lower courts. Another finding, based on a study of forty years of cases, is that all federal courts have shifted toward more textualist tools in recent decades but that the shift was less pronounced as one moves down the judicial hierarchy.

The divergence between the interpretive practices of different federal courts has implications for both descriptive and normative accounts of statutory interpretation.’ . . .” Continue reading →

Paralegal Checklist for Trial.

11 Sunday Mar 2018

Posted by in Litigation, Technology, Trial Notebooks, Trial Tips and Techniques

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What Does A Paralegal Do At Trial: Six Things Your War Room Must Have, by Christina Roberts, CP, Digital Paralegal Services (with permission from author and website)

http://bit.ly/2IkFXb5

This excellent post highlights important steps to prepare for trial. This is especially helpful when your trial is out of town.

I like the emphasis on the trial notebook. Your lead counsel may specify something similar. Regardless, it is your job to make sure they have whatever works for them. Still, this trial notebook is ideal, and is an excellent model to follow.

Some quick words about using technology in the courtroom. Visit the courtroom ahead of time. Write down the location of all electrical outlets. Take a lot of duct tape. Use duct tape to secure all wires and cords.

Ask the judge’s staff whether the judge has a preference or pet peeves. Perhaps the judge has local rules for technology in the courtroom?

If you got to trial often, you likely have your own stories of technology attempts that didn’t work. That could be a post all by itself. Mainly, my best advice to you is that, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. Anticipate it, and be ready with a back-up plan. -CCE