UHLC Nota Bene

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently published the second volume of its EDGAR Filer Manual , which describes the process for submitting a filing with the SEC. EDGAR stands for Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval. It is a publicly accessible database that provides investors with information on SEC-registered companies. For more information on EDGAR, click here .

The Free Law Project has announced that they have collected every free written order and opinion that is available in PACER, the online hosting source of federal court opinions and case documents. They are now available at  free.law  and are completely searchable.  The  Free Law Project  reports that this collection contains  "approximately 3.4 million orders and opinions from approximately 1.5 million federal district and bankruptcy court cases dating back to 1960." The project required the scanning and implementing OCR for more than  "four hundred thousand of these documents . . .  amounting to nearly two million pages of text extraction." This archive of opinions and orders is available for search  here . In addition to common search categories (judge, nature of suit, etc.) it also has advanced search capabilities including field search, as well as proximity and fuzzy search capabilities.  The Free Law Proje...

The ABA has recently published Drones Across America: Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Regulation and State Laws ( KF2406.N55 2017 ) by Dr. Sarah Nilsson . This book begins with a discussion of the definition of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) as well as the different categories. Chapter 2 analyzes regulation at the federal level with a discussion of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FMRA) , proposed legislation, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulatory action and relevant court cases. Chapter 3 explores commercial UAS rules, in particular focusing on relevant FMRA provisions, federal regulations such as 14 CFR Part 107 dealing with small unmanned aircraft, and state laws throughout the country. Rules pertaining to public aircraft operations as well as model aircraft are also covered. This is now available on the law library's new titles shelf (across from the reference desk).

In February of last year, the United States Government Publishing Office (GPO) launched the beta version of govinfo.gov , which will eventually replace the Federal Digital System (FDSys) as the GPO’s free, searchable repository of government documents. Last week the GPO announced the addition of several new features to govinfo. Here are some of the highlights: New links allow you to click through from Congressional Records details pages directly to related bills.  Thumbnails are now displayed in the search results for applicable documents (which is very helpful if you are searching for photos).  RSS feeds are now available for bills and statutes, budget and presidential materials, congressional committee materials, judicial publications, and several other types of government publications. To learn more about these and other recently added features, see the latest release notes .

Carolina Academic Press has recently published, Mastering Negotiation , by Michael R. Fowler . The author discusses choosing the best approach to negotiation including the positional bargaining and interest based negotiations. Pre-negotiation issues such as preparing for the negotiation, organizing preparation, and identifying goals are covered in Chapter 2. This book also looks at matters related to initiating talks such as setting an agenda and an constructive tone for the negotiation. There are other chapters that focus on working with interests, ethical negotiations, problem solving, closing the deal, and analyzing alternatives, leverage, and power, among other topics. This book is now on the law library's new titles shelf (located across from the reference desk) ( K2390.F69 2017 ).

The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) recently published its 2016 Internet Crime Report . Here are a few interesting facts from the document:  In 2016, the IC3 received 298,728 complaints of internet crimes, with reported losses of over $1.3 billion. Non-payment/non-delivery was the most widely reported category of crime, with 81,029 victims. In this type of crime, a person either fails to pay for goods received (non-payment) or takes payment for goods that are never delivered (non-delivery).    Texas was ranked second in the number of victims per state (21,441) and fourth in the amount of losses per state ($77,135,765). California was first in both categories.  The report features sections on “hot topics” in internet crime, including business email compromises, ransomware, tech support fraud, and extortion. It also contains an appendix defining the various types of internet crime.       The IC3 was established in May 2000 ...

Should some PACER filings be blocked to ensure the safety of witnesses and informants? Possibly, according to a recently published a survey of federal judges, prosecutors, defenders and probation officers by the Federal Judicial Center. Originally reported in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required/ available via Lexis Advance), recent survey (PDF) of federal judges, prosecutors, defenders and probation offices by the Federal Judicial Center found that nearly 700 witnesses and informants perceived as snitches had been threatened, wounded or killed over a three year period. According to the Wall Street Journal article, "Federal inmates are restricted from accessing PACER themselves, but it is easy for them to ask people outside the prison to search the online system and report the information back into the prison by phone, according to judges." Inmates are becoming more sophisticated at decoding available criminal findings within the case filings, leading to a substant...