UHLC Nota Bene

Each semester the law library presents a series of presentations covering legal research topics . These presentations are held at 12 noon (see schedule below for the dates of the presentations). All presentations will take place in Room 4 BLB. We will be offering the following sessions for the Spring 2017 semester : 1. International and Foreign Law Research Tuesday, 1/31, Wednesday, 2/1 Dan Donahue, International and Foreign Law Librarian 2. Researching Texas Agency Regulations Tuesday, 2/7, Wednesday, 2/8 Emily Lawson, Reference and Research Librarian 3. Texas Legislative History Research Wednesday, 2/15, Thursday, 2/16 Robert Clark, Reference and Research Librarian 4. Researching Oil & Gas Law Tuesday, 2/21, Wednesday, 2/22 Chris Dykes, Reference and Research Librarian 5. Resources for Legal Practice Tuesday, 2/28, Wednesday, 3/1 Katy Badeaux, Reference and Research Librarian

Each semester the law library presents a series of presentations covering legal research topics. These presentations are held at 12 noon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will take place in Room 115 BLB (except for Federal Administrative Law Research on Wednesday, October 12, which will be held in 113 BLB). We will be offering the following sessions for the Fall 2016 semester (click here for more details): 1. Federal Legislative Research Tuesday, 9/27, Wednesday, 9/28 Robert Clark, Reference and Research Librarian 2. Power Searching on Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law Tuesday, 10/4, Wednesday, 10/5 Katy Badeaux, Reference and Research Librarian 3. Federal Administrative Law Research Tuesday, 10/11, Wednesday, 10/12 Dan Donahue, International and Foreign Law Librarian 4. Empirical Legal Research Tuesday, 10/18, Wednesday, 10/19 Mon Yin Lung, Associate Director of the Law Library 5. Advanced Databases Search Strategies Tuesday, 10/25, Wednesday, 10/26 Emily Lawson, R...

Each semester the law library presents a series of presentations covering legal research topics. These presentations are held at 12 noon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and will take place in Room 1 BLB (except for Texas Legislative History Research, on Wednesday, February 17, which will be held in Room 115 BLB). We will be offering the following sessions for the Spring 2016 semester (click here for more details): 1. Texas Administrative Agency Research Tuesday, 2/2, Wednesday, 2/3 Emily Lawson, Reference and Research Librarian 2. Researching Oil & Gas Law Tuesday, 2/9, Wednesday, 2/10 Chris Dykes, Reference and Research Librarian 3. Texas Legislative History Research Tuesday, 2/16, Wednesday, 2/17 Robert Clark, Reference and Research Librarian 4. Resources for Legal Practice Tuesday, 2/23, Wednesday, 2/24 Katy Badeaux, Reference and Research Librarian 5. International and Foreign Law Research Tuesday, 3/1, Wednesday, 3/2 Dan Donahue, International and Foreign Law...

Each semester the law library presents a series of presentations on legal research topics. These presentations are held at 12 noon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Room 4 BLB. We will be offering the following sessions during the Fall 2015 semester: 1. Bluebook Update: Welcome to the 20th Edition! Tuesday, 9/29, Wednesday, 9/30 Katy Badeaux, Reference and Research Librarian 2. Federal Legislative Research Tuesday, 10/6, Wednesday, 10/7 Robert Clark, Reference and Research Librarian 3. Federal Administrative Law Research Tuesday, 10/13, Wednesday, 10/14 Dan Donahue, International and Foreign Law Librarian 4. Researching Federal Income Tax Law Tuesday, 10/20, Wednesday, 10/21 Chris Dykes, Reference and Research Librarian 5. Power Searching on Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law Tuesday, 10/27, Wednesday, 10/28 Emily Lawson, Reference and Research Librarian

The University of Houston Law Center Convocation will take place tomorrow, May 16, at 2:00 in the Hofheinz Pavilion.   Justice Eva Guzman of the Supreme Court of Texas will be the convocation speaker.   A celebration will follow at the Law Center.   Congratulations and best wishes to the graduating class.

The People’s Law School will be returning to the University of Houston Law Center tomorrow.   The People’s Law School is a biannual program in which volunteer lawyers, judges, and law professors teach registered attendees courses on specialized legal topics designed for members of the general public.   The O’Quinn Law Library will also be participating in tomorrow’s activities: law librarians will be teaching the class Finding the Law , an introduction to legal research. See the official announcement for the People’s Law School here .

Tomorrow is National Voter Registration Day, which falls on the fourth Tuesday of September every year. Although it is not a national holiday, National Voter Registration Day is supported by a wide range of organizations that help to promote voter registration around the country. Here in Houston, a number of registration drives will be held all over the city, including one at the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work. To find out more about registering to vote, or to register online, visit the National Voter Registration Day website. This year, election day falls on November 4. In this midterm election, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives will be contested, as well as 33 of the Senate’s 100 seats. If you would like to see your Senator or Representative’s voting record, you can find it at www.govtrack.us . For more information about what’s on the ballot in Texas, see this website provided by the Texas Secretary of State. 

University of Houston Law Center’s Class of 2014 graduated this past Saturday.   Congratulations to all of the new graduates!   For any former students who are not still celebrating, the following resources may be useful for new doctors of law as they move on to the next stage of their legal careers: Information on the upcoming Texas Bar Examination is available from the official website .   A very basic summary is available here . When the Bar Exam is over, examinees may be interested a series of free presentations introducing new lawyers to the legal profession; this collection is specifically intended for new graduates waiting for the results of the Texas Bar Exam. The State Bar of Texas’ offers a collection of resources for new lawyers .   The American Bar Association offers a similar collection less focused on Texas practice. Information on Texas CLE requirements is available for consultation; guides to local (Houston area) CLE opportunities are availa...

The Law Center’s own Professor Michael A. Olivas is an expert in more than higher education law and immigration law. He is also an expert on rock and roll. A lifelong lover of rock music, he has combined his expertise in law and music to create a brand new NPR show, The Law of Rock and Roll . The show will debut on Friday, January 24 at 8:30 am, Mountain Time. The show will be broadcast on Albuquerque, New Mexico’s NPR affiliate, KANW 89.1. The show grew out of Professor Olivas’ wildly popular continuing legal education course of the same name and his long running listserv, Michael’s Rock and Roll Posse, where he comments on all things rock and roll The programs, at about three minutes long, feature both popular and lesser known rock and roll tunes, and the true stories of the legal entanglements found by rock musicians of all varieties. Topics include adhesion contracts, backup singers, auxiliary delivery systems, and music by deceased performers. Interspersed through these bri...

Each semester the law library presents a series of presentations on legal research topics. These presentations are held at 12 noon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Room 4 BLB. We will be offering the following sessions during the Fall 2013 semester: 1. Power Searching on Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law Tuesday, 10/1, Wednesday, 10/2, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Katy Stein Badeaux, Reference and Research Librarian 2. Federal Legislative History Research Tuesday, 10/8, Wednesday, 10/9, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Dan Donahue, International and Foreign Law Librarian 3. Researching Federal Income Tax Law Tuesday, 10/15, Wednesday, 10/16, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Chris Dykes, Reference and Research Librarian 4. Federal Administrative Law Research Tuesday, 10/22, Wednesday, 10/23, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Mon Yin Lung, Associate Director of the Law Library 5. Advanced Databases Search Strategies Tuesday, 10/29, Wednesday, 10/30, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Emily Lawson, Reference and Research Librarian

Seminar from the Fort Bend County Bar Association The Fort Bend County Bar Association will host a unique seminar on September 13, 2013, 11:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., titled   How to Practice in Fort Bend County . The speakers slated for the event include judges from all district courts and county courts at law. Judges are expected to cover a variety of topics related to practice in their respective courtrooms, which will include discussion of local rules and office management procedures as appropriate. Anyone who currently practices in Fort Bend County, or who plans to in the future, is likely to benefit from such a practical and comprehensive CLE. The seminar is available to both members and non-members of the Fort Bend County Bar Association. The deadline to register is September 10, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. For registration and membership information,   visit the event webpage . If you are unable to attend the seminar in person, the Fort Bend County Bar Association plan...

Each semester the law library presents a series of presentations on legal research topics. These presentations are held at 12 noon on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in Room 4 BLB. We will be offering the following sessions during the Spring 2013 semester: 1. Laws & Sausages: Texas Legislative History and Bill Tracking Tuesday, 2/5, Wednesday, 2/6, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Matthew Mantel, Reference and Research Librarian 2. International and Foreign Law Research Tuesday, 2/12, Wednesday, 2/13, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Dan Baker, International and Foreign Law Librarian  3. Texas Administrative Law Research Tuesday, 2/19, Wednesday, 2/20, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Emily Lawson, Reference and Research Librarian 4. Environmental Law Research Tuesday, 2/26, Wednesday, 2/27, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Chris Dykes, Reference and Research Librarian 5. Researching Insurance Law Tuesday, 3/5, Wednesday, 3/6, 12:00-12:45 P.M. Katy Stein, Reference and Research Librarian

On April 15 we reported on Nota Bene about the  Library free CLE Workshop to be held at April 28.   I am glad to report that the workshop went well.  Titled "Essential Legal Information & Technology for Texas Lawyers", it included three sessions. Library Director Spencer Simons talked about Texas bill tracking, legislative history, and administrative agency research. Associate Director Mon Yin Lung discussed free and low cost online resources for lawyers. Reference & Research Librarians Chris Dykes and Emily Lawson's presentation introduced attendees to special mobile device applications for lawyers. The free program, approved for three hours of CLE credit, was targeted at recent graduates and solo and small firm practitioners. It was much appreciated by the twenty-eight attendees.

To help recently graduated alumni to meet the needs of a demanding legal environment, the University of Houston O'Quinn Law Library will hold a free workshop offering special training in legal research and the application of the latest information technology: two hours of intensive training in advanced Texas legal research and free or low cost online resources for lawyers, and one hour on special mobile device applications for attorneys. This workshop carries three Texas CLE credits. For details please click here .

The coming week, the Mid-America Association of Law Libraries (MAALL) and the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL) will be having a joint meeting in Lawrence, KS . Several staff members of the O'Quinn Law Library will be attending this event and/or helped put it together: • Mon Yin Lung, our Associate Director, is also the current President of SWALL and, as such, co-chaired the Programs Committee. • Chris Dykes, one of our Reference/Research Librarians, was a co-coordinator for a two-part program entitled Navigating your Way through Legislative Research-A Six State Survey . • Emily Lawson, another of our Reference/Research Librarians, also served on the Programs Committee and will also be participating as a moderator and speaker in the two-part, six-state-survey program she co-coordinated with Chris. Finally, I will be presenting my program, The Bluebook , 19th ed.: Changes Every Legal Researcher Should Know , during which I will be discussing what I believe are the mo...

Each semester the O'Quinn Law Library provides five sessions of research skill refresher. Presented by our lawyer-librarians, sessions include advance databases search skill, legislative history, administrative law, and several subject specialties. Each session is about forty-five minutes long. Most of them come with handouts. Please click here for information of this semester's offering. Hope to see you there!

Tomorrow (Aug. 24), the University of Houston Law Center will be celebrating the publication of a new book entitled American Justice in the Age of Innocence: Understanding the Causes of Wrongful Convictions and How to Prevent Them . This book, co-edited by one of our faculty, Professor Sandra Guerra Thompson (a leading criminal justice scholar), with two of her top students, Jennifer L. Hopgood and Hillary K. Valderrama, "explores the circumstances surrounding wrongful convictions" and "examines the most common causes behind breakdowns in the legal system." Interestingly (at least to me), today (Aug. 23) happens to be the 84th anniversary of the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti . Whether one believes they were innocent or guilty, it hardly can be denied that the controversy surrounding the Sacco and Vanzetti case provided the foundation for the modern innocence projects movement . Then Harvard professor, and future Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Felix Frankf...

Each semester the O'Quinn Law Library presents a series of lunchtime presentations on legal research topics. These presentations are held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 12:00-12:45 in Room 4 BLB. This semester we will cover the following topics: Researching Federal Income Tax Law; Texas Legislative History Research; Researching Oil and Gas Law; Alternatives to LexisNexis and Westlaw; Researching Texas Administrative Law. See the brown bag schedule with descriptions at the following link: http://www.law.uh.edu/libraries/Brown%20Bag%20Schedule--current_files%5CSpring%202011%20description.htm .

During the 2010 Fall Semester, the O'Quinn Law Library will offer a series of lunchtime presentations on five different legal research topics. Each session will be given at 12 noon Tuesdays and Wednesdays. For for more information click the following link: http://www.law.uh.edu/libraries/publications/brownbags.htm . The Fall 2010 schedule is as follows: 1. Advanced Search Strategies for Lexis and Westlaw Tuesday, 9/28, 12:00-12:45, Wednesday, 9/29, 12:00-12:45 (room 4 BLB) Lauren Schroeder, Reference and Research Librarian 2. Researching Foreign and International Law Tuesday, 10/05, 12:00-12:45, Wednesday, 10/06, 12:00-12:45 (room 4 BLB) Saskia Mehlhorn, Visiting Foreign and International Law Librarian 3. Bluebook Update: Welcome to the 19th Edition Tuesday, 10/12, 12:00-12:45, Wednesday, 10/13, 12:00-12:45 (room 4 BLB) Dan Baker, Reference and Research Librarian 4. Researching Federal Legislative History Tuesday, 10/19, 12:00-12:45, Wednesday, 10/20, 12:00-12:45 (room 4 BLB) Emil...

The census taker. Despite the fact that Texas already exceeded the 2000 Census reply rate, Houston is far behind with an approximate reply rate of 40%. While there are a number of people who never received the form, the majority might have forgotten to reply or was under the impression that they don’t have to. This seems to be especially true for college students. But, according to the Census Bureau , students living away from their parents home while attending college have to be counted in the city where they attend college, even if they are staying with their parents during semester break or vacation.