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Church versus State issues are the basis for some very interesting U.S. Supreme Court cases. In this first edition of the Boston University School of Law podcast, host and media veteran, Dan Rea of WBZ-Radio 1030 gets beyond the legal documents and summary judgments in a conversation with BU Law Professor Jay Wexler, who brings those cases to life in his book, Holy Hullabaloos: A Road Trip to the Battlegrounds of the Church/State Wars. You will hear about the people and places involved in serious and sometimes funny cases involving religion and the law.

Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corporation, owner of the Wall Street Journal and The Times, among other newspapers, is a vocal critic of Google. He accuses Google of stealing content from newspapers and making it available through its search engine without any payment to the publisher. The Telegraph is reporting that in response to complaints from Murdoch and other publishers, Google has launched a new initiative–the First Click Free program–”that lets … [Google] index website content but prevents Web surfers from having unrestricted access once they reach the online locales.” Google now offers publishers the ability to “‘limit users to no more than five pages per day without registering or subscribing.’” What this means is that “Google users may start seeing registration pages pop up when they click for a sixth time on any given day at websites of publishers using First Click Free … .”

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Kathy Biehl’s guide to online corporate and business filings available provides links to and descriptions of services available from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as selected commercial services. It is the most comprehensive, reliable web resource available on the topic.

In this edition of the Legal ToolKit host Dean Whalen, General Counsel for Catuogno Court Reporting and Sten-Tel Transcription Services will call on the experts to talk more about the Massachusetts Data Breach Notification Law: 201CMR 17.00 and complying by March 1, 2010. In the first segment, Dean welcomes Charlie Christianson, President of Peritus Security Partners, LLC, to discuss the key elements of the compliance process and how to secure your business. Attorney Jared Corriea, advisor at The Law Office Management Assistance Program , will discuss the red flag rule, compliance and the upcoming Massachusetts Information Security Summit.

As of January 1, 2010, there will be new rules pertaining to Medicare compliance. In this edition of Ringler Radio, host Larry Cohen welcomes Attorney Benjamin M. Basista from the law firm of Burns, White & Hickton, to look at the new rules regarding Medicare compliance and how they relate to the railroad industry. Larry and Ben will explore the Medicare reporting process, the issue of medical liens and how it all relates to the railroad industry.

Last spring, ALA and ARL together issued a letter to the co-chairs of the Congressional Joint Committee on Printing, Senator Charles Schumer and Congressman Robert Brady. Here is the letter: Read the rest of this entry »

There was a very powerful story in the Chronicle of Higher Education issue dated November 25, 2009, under Advice, “Mental Illness in Academe,” by Elyn R. Saks. The title is rather bland, actually, and does not begin to describe the dynamite within the short essay. She begins by recalling a psychotic break she endured while teaching an upper level class in law school in September, 1991. Professor Saks was diagnosed ten years earlier with chronic paranoid schizophrenia with acute exacerbation, a devastating mental illness, which would prevent most people from any kind of productive work life. Instead, she is justifiably proud: Read the rest of this entry »

To ascertain the current use of social websites/media in law firms, a survey was conducted among Law Librarians entitled Computer Use in Your Organization. In addition to the responses from law firm Law Librarians, several Law Librarians from law schools and county/state government law libraries also responded as did an independent Law Librarian. The opinions of Law Librarians was sought since they are typically among the first professionals in the legal environment to explore, use and recommend new computer innovations and trends useful to attorneys, judges and legal scholars regarding information gathering, information sharing, electronic legal research and current awareness. Part 1 of the Survey details the responses of fifty-six Law Librarians regarding computer use in their organizations. Part 2 will review the responses and take a close look at the implications of the responses and what, if any, patterns can be predicted for 2010.