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Take 2: Hal Abelson:

The notes I made the other day skipped over some major points of the discussion at the Boston Public Library on the Google Books Project and Settlement proposal. For instance, I did not cover Professor Hal Abelson, who, not being a librarian, had some pretty interesting things to say. As I mentioned in my first blog post, none of the speakers really got to turn loose, and it was obvious that they had lots more to say than they had time to speak. It was a little frustrating in that way, and it would be a wonderful symposium program at some upcoming meeting (hint, hint!) to pull these speakers back together and give each of them more time to talk. Maybe have round tables so that each of them could host audience members to talk, because the audience members also had interesting things to contribute to the discussion.

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There has been a lot of talk in California about the possibility of legalizing marijuana and taxing the states biggest cash crop to help pull the state out of its’ current financial mess.
The California tax board says that the state could reap about $1.4 billion dollars by the tax, but there are doubts about the [...]

The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 22, 2009, reports in a story by Marc Beja, that the dean of the U.C., Berkeley, Law School, Christopher Edley, Jr., recommends opening a new, electronic campus for the University of California. Due to severe budget cuts, the system may not be able to enroll as many students as before. Apparently, system president Mark Yudof (another former law dean!) has listened with great interest to the proposal. Here are the main points from the interview that Dean Edley gave to the Chronicle, but it’s worth reading the article in full, which (alas) requires a password and subscription.

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Debate continues over Health Care reform. Co-hosts J. Craig Williams and Bob Ambrogi welcome Dr. David Orentlicher, professor and co-director of the Center for Law and Health at Indiana University Schools of Law and Medicine and Attorney Joel L. Michaels, the partner-in-charge of the Health Law Department in McDermott Will & Emery LLPs Washington, D.C. office, to discuss legal issues surrounding healthcare reform, its impact on businesses, hospitals, and individuals and the role of federal government in the marketplace of health care insurance.

There has been a growing wave of coordinated cyberattacks against our government from unknown sources in the past month, and a shortage of cyber specialists in our Federal agencies is threatening our national security.
“The study describes a fragmented federal cyber force, where no one is in charge of overall [...]

I went to the program hosted at Boston Public Library last night, titled, Expanding Access to Books: Implications of the Google Books Settlement Agreement.

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In this episode of Legal TIPS, 2008-2009 TIPS Vice-Chair Ginger Busby highlights TIPS diversity interests in a wide range of practice law areas and to make the point co-host Attorney Gilda Mariani interviews trusts and estates attorney Peggy Hoyt about forming a Pet Trust.

NextGov has a nice graphic presentation entitled “Best Practices for Government Web Sites.” It focuses on five agencies–NASA, the Library of Congress, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Social Security Administration, and the Transportation Security Administration–and presents their sites, pointing out ways in which they meet the needs of their users. It gives those of us involved in Web design–as most librarians are these days–a lot of good ideas to improve our libraries’ sites. The short accompanying article makes the point that the five sites highlighted are not necessarily the best federal sites out there, but all do employ “best online practices” for Web design. “They don’t all make use of the latest and greatest in Web 2.0 technology or sport cutting-edge designs, and that, we’ve learned, can be a good thing.” The sites also provide options for users who do not have access to the most up-to-date computers. What all five agency sites have in common is that they “paid careful attention to what their users wanted to see and do online.” That seems like the basis of any good Web site, no matter who is responsible for it. Read the rest of this entry »

Public interest law advocate Diana Philip’s commentary focuses specifically on the multifaceted, complex and challenging issues that encompass the dichotomy between reproductive health care and rights available to adult pregnant women and pregnant minors. Diana’s position includes references to seminal legal cases as well as to selected scholarly literature in the field of juvenile reproductive health.

LegalMatch.com is a new free web service that offers a matching service for folks who need to find a lawyer. I get these from the home page: You, as the legal consumer send information about your legal problem and location. The system will send your notes to pre-screened attorneys who practice the type of law you need, in the area you need. You will be contacted with offers from the lawyers, and can choose from the offers, knowing ahead of time what the lawyer will charge you. There is no obligation to hire a lawyer through the service. You don’t disclose any personal information until you have made a decision about selecting a lawyer. You don’t pay anything to the website, only after you have agreed on terms with your lawyer. And all the lawyers are in good standing with their relevant bar associations, and pre-screened by the website. Legal Match offers a consumer rating system from previous users, as well, and allows you to rate your own experience.

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