Category Archives: Law Libraries

Tax Research Program At Your Fingertips

PLI and LLAGNY recently sponsored a program entitled An Introduction to Tax Research in the Library: The Crossroad Between Information & Practice.  It was presented by Jennifer A. Lawton, Tax Librarian, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP; Russell Switzer, Tax Librarian, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP; and tax attorney, Erin M. Collins, Manager, Tax, KPMG.  The program explained the types of authority in federal tax research, the sources to look for answers to your tax research questions, as well as the sources to consult for legislative histories.

Erin M. Collins is also the author of the Internal Revenue Service Practice and Procedure Deskbook.  This title is a valuable resource for any tax library.  The title is available here.

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Please note this program has expired.  If you are interested in current PLI Library Programs, please visit www.pli.edu/libraryaudiobriefings.

Antitrust Settlement Reached

It was reported that an agreement was reached between Department of Justice  (DOJ) and Visa and Mastercard on the fees that these companies charge merchants.  This is good news for customers and store owners because the DOJ estimated that the fees cost merchants $35 billion and that those costs were passed on to customers.  In addition the DOJ announced that they filed an antitrust suit against American Express. 

Interested in learning more about antitrust issues?  Every year the PLI holds the Antitrust Insititue and publishes the accompanying course handbook by the same name.  The Antitrust Institute 2010 course handbook is available here.

Keeping Up With Dodd-Frank

Since the Dodd-Frank Act was passed this summer, everyone is trying keep up with it.  Librarians and practitioners need to understand what the legislation means to their organization.  Here at PLI, our program attorneys have created a series of 1-hour briefings on the Dodd-Frank Act.  If you are looking for timely and up-to-date information you should check out these briefings.

Also, our PLI Securities Law Practice Center has been providing valuable insight.  For example, the Dodd-Frank Act increases whistleblower protections and outlines the bounty a whistleblower may receive.  This will encourage citizens to report wrongdoing and help shield them from retaliation.  The plan models similar IRS whistleblower protections which have proved successful.  Interested in learning more?  PLI’s Securities Law Practice Center blog addressed this topic.

POM & Advertising

Federal regulators sued the makers POM Wonderful LLC , which is the pomegranate fruit drink that comes in a distinctive double-bulb shaped bottle.  The government has been taking a hard look at the health benefits touted in food advertisements.  Over the past year, there were a series of actions taken to rein in cereal makers who seemed to imply their products were a bit more than just cereal.  But in those cases, the companies mostly ceded to the warnings.

 In the POM case, the makers are claiming the lawsuit is a violation of their constitutional rights, specifically their first amendment rights.  

While watching this case unfold, I was immediately reminded of PLI’s treatise on the subject.  Advertising and Commercial Speech: A First Amendment Guide is a treatise that examines the origin, meaning, and legal evolution of the Supreme Court’s commercial speech doctrine, focusing on how this central doctrine’s rights and restrictions affect advertising in nearly 50 industries and professions.  It’s a title that answers the questions:

When are advertisers especially vulnerable to lawsuits?

What legal protections do they enjoy?

What is the prevailing law in this volatile area?

If you are interested in learning more, there is a sample chapter available.  To order the title, click here or email libraryrelations@pli.edu.

Protecting Books

Oregon law contained two sections that make it a crime to furnish children and teens with sexually explicit materials.  Yesterday the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law was too broad.  The sections were deemed too far reaching and would block age-appropriate books instead of specifically hard-core pornography, which the state said was the intention.  The law could be applied to libraries and bookstores that provide sex education books and novels that contain sexually explicit material.

You can read more here.

Midyear Law Firm Review

The Law Firm Group at Citi Private Bank released its midyear review of law firms.  Click here for the article in The American Lawyer entitled Trench Warfare: Citi’s Midyear Law Firm Review.

It is an interesting read.  For example, in the first half of 2010 revenue was flat compared to the same period in 2009.  Also, it’s notable that firms are accepting alternative billing methods.

Superman’s Day in Court

What are the rare books librarians at Yale University up to these days?  Showing us how much fun archives really can be. 

The library has a show on called “Superheroes in Court!  Lawyers, Law, and Comic Books.”  The exhibit shows  images of courtroom drama and congressional inquiries from comic books.

The New York Times wrote about the exhibit here.

Exhibit information: “Superheroes in Court! Lawyers, Law and Comic Books”, curated by Mark S. Zaid, Esq., and on display Sept. 4-Dec, 16, 2010 in the Rare Book Exhibition Gallery, Level L2, Lillian Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School

Teachable Moments

As a librarian, don’t you just love a “teachable moment?” We all learned a major lesson  in library school—beware of internet sources.  The internet is a great place to find information, but it must be verified.  Well, apparently that’s a lesson Rush Limbaugh and his research staff recently learned.  The radio show was profiling Judge Roger Vinson.  The judge’s Wikipedia entry had false information in it which was reported on air according to the New York Times article here.   The judge took the incident in stride so there was no harm done and everyone learned a valuable lesson on source checking.

A Justice in His Own Words

Making Our Democracy Work, A Judge’s View, by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was released yesterday.  NPR reviewed the book and supplied an excerpt, click here to read it.  The book is a “combination of history and legal philosophy. It argues that there are no easy, color-by-the-numbers answers to many legal questions and that to suggest there are is an illusion.”  The book also delves into the difference of legal opinions that Breyer has had with Justice Antonin Scalia.

Interested in learning more about the Supreme Court and their significant cases?  Every year PLI holds its Supreme Court Review and publishes the accompanying course handbook by the same name.  The 12th Annual Supreme Court review will be published on October 30, 2010.  Click here to learn more.

FREE 1-Hour Briefing on Tax Research in the Library

PLI is holding a 1-hour briefing that looks at tax research in the library.  This briefing, entitled An Introduction to Tax Research in the Library: The Crossroad between Information and Practice, is free to all who register in advance.

This program reviews what  librarians, attorneys, and allied professionals need to know about tax research in order to support tax practice and aid other consumers of library reference services.  This course will shed light on sources that will help librarians, attorneys, and legal researchers find and navigate IRS pronouncements, tax news and secondary materials (both print and online, published and unpublished).  As an added bonus for the legal librarians who also have their JD and research attorney’s, CLE credit is available.

When: September 29, 2010

When: 1:00 – 2:00 pm

Format: Audio only

For additional information, or to register click here.

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Please note this program has expired.  If you are interested in current PLI Library Programs, please visit www.pli.edu/libraryaudiobriefings.