Monthly Archives: October 2015

Oyez, Oyez, Happy Halloween

HalloweenOn October 31, 2005, during oral arguments in the case of Central Virginia Community College v. Katz, 546 U.S. 356 (2006), a light bulb blew out and made a gunshot-like sound. A lively exchange among the Justices ensued, according to the transcript of the oral arguments on Oyez, Chicago-Kent’s free law project that makes the US Supreme Court accessible to everyone. Oyez, which is available in Brooklyn Law School’s SARA Catalog, has transcript-synchronized and searchable audio, plain-English case summaries, illustrated decision information, and opinions. It also provides detailed information on every justice throughout history and offers a panoramic tour of the Supreme Court building, including the chambers of several justices.

The spirited exchange that afternoon was the only time a sitting US Supreme Court Justice said “Happy Halloween” from the bench. The comments from the transcript are below:

SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR
A light bulb exploded.
JOHN G. ROBERTS, JR.
I think we’re… I think it’s safe.
STEPHEN G. BREYER
A light bulb went out.
JOHN G. ROBERTS, JR.
It’s a trick they play on new Chief Justices all the time.
[Laughter]
ANTONIN SCALIA
Happy Halloween.
John G. Roberts, Jr.
We’re even… yeah, we’re even more in the dark now than before.

Hat Tip to Victoria Sutton author of Halloween Law: A Spirited Look at the Law School Curriculum.

National Pro Bono Week Oct. 25 – Oct. 31

Pro Bono Celebration Week, sponsored by the American Bar Association Standing Committee Volunteering-SVGon Pro Bono and Public Service, is a national event that takes place every year in late October with events all over the country.  It is an opportunity to spotlight the difference lawyers can make in their communities, to recruit and train more pro bono volunteers and to acknowledge the partnerships that form the basis for many successful pro bono efforts.

Although national in breadth, the Celebration provides an opportunity for local legal associations across the country to take the next step in their efforts to provide high quality legal services to those living on the social margins.

The need for legal services among the poor is overwhelming. According to an American Bar Association study, at least 40% of low and moderate-income households experience a legal problem each year. Yet studies show that the collective civil legal aid effort is meeting only about 20% of the legal needs of low-income people.

Interested in volunteering and want to find out more about what opportunities are available?  Check out the NYS Pro Bono Opportunities Guide.  The Guide is a database of organizations that lawyers, law students and paralegals can search in order to find volunteer opportunities.

The New York State Pro Bono Opportunities Guide is a joint project of The City Bar Justice Center, the New York State Bar Association, Pro Bono Net and Volunteers of Legal Service.

 

The

Reinventing the Library

libraryReinventing the Library, a NY Times Op-Ed by Argentine-born Canadian anthologist, translator, essayist, novelist and editor Alberto Manguel is worth reading for anyone interested in the future of libraries. Recognizing that the dismantling of libraries occurs in periods of economic crisis when cutting funds to culture seems so easy to some, the author envisions a future as more than a simple matter of economics. He states:

Libraries are resilient. Intent on surviving in an age where the intellectual act has lost almost all prestige, libraries have become largely social centers. Most libraries today are used less to borrow books than to seek protection from harsh weather and to find jobs online, and it is admirable that librarians have lent themselves to these very necessary services that don’t traditionally belong to their job description. A new definition of the role of librarians could be drafted by diversifying their mandate, but such restructuring must also ensure that the librarians’ primary purpose is not forgotten: to guide readers to their books.

Libraries have always been more than a place where readers come to read. The librarians of Alexandria no doubt collected things other than books: maps, art, instruments, and readers probably came there not only to consult books but also to attend public lectures, converse with one another, teach and learn. And yet the library remained principally a place where books, in all their various forms, were stored for consultation and preservation.

The Op-Ed article notes that libraries are forced to take on functions that society is too miserly  to fulfill, and meeting those obligations diminishes funds for buying new books and argues that in changing the role of libraries without preserving the centrality of the book, we risk losing something irretrievable. But libraries deal with more than Books. They also offer Information. A bibliocentric view of libraries stresses the importance of printed texts and ignores the expanding nature of library services. Such a view may contribute to library image problems. Increasingly, libraries offer information services not just printed books. Brooklyn Law School Library provides both. Recently, BLS Library hosted its Fourth Annual Library Databases Research Fair. This week and next, BLS Library Director Janet Sinder scheduled Bluebooking for Success workshops on using the Blue Book geared to first year students and others. Where possible, BLS Library purchases books in eBook format. This means users can access books online through home computers, library computers and mobile devices. It is not just printed books that “show us our responsibilities toward one another, help us question our values and undermine our prejudices, lend us courage and ingenuity to continue to live together, and give us illuminating words that might allow us to imagine better times.”

With libraries changing from print to digital repositories and information centers, consider two recent Second Circuit Court of Appeals decisions:  Authors Guild, Inc. v. Google and Authors Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust, 755 F.3d 87 (2d Cir. 2014). Both decisions expand access to collections available in libraries, making material accessible in new ways to researchers and readers and providing access for print-disabled persons. Court opinions validating book scanning shows how libraries are changing. They must now deal in information that it is used and produced in diverse new ways. All libraries, both public and private, are adjusting. Libraries remain as important as ever to information literacy and the preservation and of culture and learning.

NYC Landmarks Law at 50

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Landmarks Law of New York City, which was enacted on April 19, 1965 when Mayor Robert F. Wagner signed it beginning an era of historic preservation. Since then, almost 1,400 individual landmarks, 115 interior landmarks, 10 scenic landmarks, 109 historic districts, and 10 historic district extensions located throughout all five boroughs have been designated. The Landmarks Law established the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the mayoral agency responsible for identifying, designating, preserving, and regulating New York City’s architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings and sites. The Landmarks Law is found in Chapter 74 of the New York City Charter.

On Wednesday, October 21 at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn, a panel of land use experts in a session called Preserving our Architectural History: The Business Case for Landmarks Preservation will discuss the economic impact of historic preservation in New York City. Another event marking the anniversary of the Landmarks Law is scheduled on  Monday, October 26, 2015 at the New York City Bar Association. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design will host History in the Making: The New York City Landmarks Law at 50, a full-day conference at the Bar Association offices at 42 West 44th Street, New York, NY.

landmarkOn the subject of historic sites, the Brooklyn Law School Library has in its collection Landmarks Preservation and the Property Tax: Assessing Landmark Buildings for Real for Real Taxation Purposes by David Lisotkin (Call #KF6535 .L58 2012). The book examines the growing importance of historic preservation. Communities across the country have established designation programs whereby individual buildings or districts of historical-architectural significance are accorded landmark status. It focuses on New York City in considering the effects of historic status on property value and in evaluating assessment practices. Its findings are transferrable to other communities because the base conditions are similar. Many other cities have designation programs modeled on New York City’s. In addition, New York’s property-tax system and administrative processes resemble those found in communities across the nation. To enhance the transferability of this study’s findings, Listokin refers to the national experience and literature, typically on a side-by-side basis with the New York City counterpart.

Supreme Court To Decide If and When RICO Reaches Extraterritorially

On October 1, 2015, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to the Second Circuit decision in European Community v. RJR Nabisco, 764 F.3d 129 (2d Cir. 2014). In granting review, the Court will determine whether or not RICO has extraterritorial reach. In examining this issue, the Court may also rule on how to decide whether RICO claims involving multinational parties are domestic ones, and how to determine whether it is an improper or proper extraterritorial claim.

If you would like to learn more about the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO), check out the library resources below.

Research & Citation Review Workshops

In anticipation of the first year Research and Citation Quiz, the Library will offer two review workshops.

180px-The_Bluebook_18th_ed_CoverThe workshop on Bluebooking with Success will be offered twice; you may attend either session.  Please bring your Bluebook!

Tuesday, October 20, 2015, 4:00pm – 5:00pm, Room 601

Thursday, October 22, 2015, 5:00pm – 6:00pm, Room 503

 

ContentImage-6275-95126-shutterstock_108141146You may bring your research questions to this Question & Answer Workshop.  We will also go over some sample quiz questions.

Monday, October 26, 2015, 5:00pm – 6:00pm, 7th floor Moot Court Room

 

Looking forward to seeing you at these timely and helpful research & citation review sessions.

Episode 095 – Conversation with Prof. Lawrence Fleischer

Episode 095 – Conversation with Prof. Lawrence Fleischer.mp3

In this podcast, Brooklyn Law School Adjunct Professor Lawrence Fleischer talks about his Criminal Law, Procedure, Evidence and Film Lore Workshop, which he has been teaching for the past five years, initially with the late Professor Robert Pitler and now by himself. In the first part of the interview, Prof. Fleischer relates how the workshop uses movies to teach criminal trial evidence by requiring students to view legal films and give presentations to address current criminal law related matters. Prof. Fleischer, who serves of counsel to the New York law firm of Gotlin & Jaffe, received his B.A. in History Summa Cum Laude from City College of the City University of New York, a Juris Doctorate from American University School of Law, and an LL. M degree from New York University Law School. In addition to teaching at BLS, he teaches at City College of New York and has taught in the CCNY Political Science department, NYU’s School of Continuing Education, Hunter College’s Graduate History department, Brooklyn College’s Graduate department of Political Science, and Seton Hall’s School of Law. In the second part of the conversation, Prof. Fleischer discusses his use in his course of the case of Maria Barbella a/k/a Maria Barberi, the first woman sentenced to die in the electric chair in the US and of the Italian-American countess who came to her aid. The story is told in The Trials of Maria Barbella: The True Story of a 19th Century Crime of Passion by Idanna Pucci (Call #HV6053 .P83 1996) discussed in this site’s most recent blog available at this link.