As you begin to prepare for exams, supplement your assigned readings with study aids found in the library. Study aids can clarify confusing concepts and even provide practice questions for your review. A variety of study aids are available and the best one to use depends on your course and individual study habits. Most of these books can be found in the Williams Reading Room Reserve, with older editions in the stacks available for checkout.

• Examples & Explanations (practice questions and answers)
• Nutshells (a broad overview of a subject)
• Hornbooks (in-depth treatment with extensive citations)
• Understanding Series ("concise, yet comprehensive")
• Concepts and Insights (provides a basic theoretical foundation)
• Turning Point (a broad overview similar to Nutshells)

CALI lessons are another useful exam review option. Over 800 interactive lessons prepared by law professors and librarians cover over 30 practice areas of law. Georgetown students can register for immediate online access.

Good luck with your studies!

Please join the Friends of the Law Library, the Georgetown chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild, the Georgetown Criminal Law Association, Georgetown Human Rights Action–Amnesty International, and Human Rights First in welcoming acclaimed filmmaker Eugene Jarecki to Georgetown Law for a screening of his film, The House I Live In, at the latest co-sponsored Law at the Movies event:

     Movie: The House I Live In (2012)
     Date: Tuesday, December 4, 2012
     Time: 6:30pm (refreshments & seating), showtime 7:00pm
     Location: Hart Auditorium, Georgetown University Law Center

Winner of the 2012 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, The House I Live In is a gripping documentary on America’s criminal justice system, examining the politics behind U.S. drug laws, their impact upon race and class dynamics, and the unexpected toll society has paid for the War on Drugs.

After the screening, stay for a discussion of the film and issues it presents with director Eugene Jarecki. A reception will follow.

View the film's official trailer and RSVP on the Human Rights First website. To learn more about the Friends of the Georgetown Law Library program and the benefits of becoming a member, please visit www.law.georgetown.edu/library/visitors/friends.

As we approach Fall Exam period, Georgetown Law Library's exam and limited public access period will be in effect Monday Dec. 3 through Saturday Dec. 22.

During the exam period, the Williams Library will remain open 24 hours and Wolff International Library will continue to close at midnight.

For the benefit of Georgetown students studying for exams, only Georgetown University students, faculty, staff, alumni, members of the Friends of the Library program and public patron card holders will be admitted through the end of exams. Students from other law schools will not be admitted during the exam period.

Details about Circulation Desk and Reference Desk availability is found on our Library Hours Calendar. The hours for today are always current on the Library's Home Page.

1481 imprint of Jodocus of Erfurt’s Vocabularius

Georgetown Law Library recently acquired a 1481 imprint of the Vocabularius Utriusque Iuris [Vocabulary of Both Laws (i.e. – canon and civil law)] commonly attributed to the 15th century jurist Jodocus of Erfurt. Considered the first printed law dictionary by legal historians, the Vocabularius was first published circa 1474 in Basel. Highly esteemed as an authoritative source by early modern jurists, the Vocabularius went through nearly 80 editions over the course of the next two centuries.

The library’s copy is bound together with a 1488 imprint of the Postilla Super Epistolas et Evangelia, a 1437 collection of scripture excerpts appropriate to use in church services. This pairing would seem to indicate ownership by a canon lawyer or church official.

The binding itself is a beautiful contemporary calf with intricate blind stamping, raised bands, intact and functional brass clasps, and decorative brass corner and center pieces. The Vocabularius also has contemporary hand-lettered rubrications in red throughout (as shown in the image above), as well as a few contemporary or near-contemporary annotations.

1567 imprint of Duprat’s Lexicon Juris Civilis

 Another recent acquisition is a first edition of Pardoux Duprat’s Lexicon Juris Civilis et canonici.  Duprat was a 16th century French humanist and official annotator of the laws of Charles IX of France. The most influential of Duprat’s works, the Lexicon would be printed six more times in just 15 years.  In addition to defining and discussing words and terms from contemporary civil and canon law, Duprat also covered some aspects of ancient Greek law. The breadth of Duprat’s scholarship is revealed by his use of not only works of earlier jurists and legal lexicographers, but of noted medical and literary works as well. His definitions go well beyond merely legal issues to discuss relevant lexicographical and philological matters. Georgetown Law Library’s copy is in a contemporary vellum binding fashioned from a scraped manuscript leaf, the partly erased text of which is still visible.

To view these and other recent rare and historical acquisitions, contact Erin Kidwell kidwelle@law.georgetown.edu or Special Collections  specl@law.georgetown.edu, or visit us in Williams 210 M-F from 9am to 5pm.

During this past summer, Georgetown Law reference librarians worked in tandem with the electronic services librarian to update the library’s Legal Research & Writing tutorials. The LRW tutorials, which are designed for first-year students, focus on:

• Statutory Research
• Case Law Research
• Secondary Sources Research
• Administrative Law Research

It’s also believed that upper-level students and non-U.S. trained LLM students will find these tutorials a useful review of the basics of legal research.

The newly released tutorials are found on the library’s website as embedded HTML5 videos that can be viewed by students on any computer or mobile device. Narration was also added to the tutorials, broadening their appeal to auditory, as well as visual learners.

As Lexis & Westlaw continue to introduce new research platforms, librarians worked to incorporate both WestlawNext and Lexis Advance demonstrations throughout the tutorials to familiarize students with the design of these new legal research platforms.

The LRW tutorials have been well received by students, faculty and fellow librarians. They have set a new standard for legal research tutorials. Librarians from other law schools have contacted the Georgetown Law Library reference department requesting advice on how to incorporate tools such as these in their law school community.

Partying to Beat the Band: Georgetown Law's First Student Picnic, October 1960

Today (11/14) at 3:30, stop by the Sport & Fitness lobby for Wednesday Wind Down, sponsored by Georgetown Law Library in celebration of our 125th anniversary. We'll have plenty of food and drinks (even birthday cake!) so be sure to join in! All students, staff, and faculty are welcome.

Thanks to all who were part of the great turnout for Monday’s special screening of The Dhamma Brothers in Hart Auditorium, co-sponsored by the Friends of Georgetown Law Library, Contemplative Law Society, and Lawyers in Balance. What an inspirational, thought-provoking film.

In the panel discussion that followed, Professors Gretchen Rohr and Jane Aiken addressed a range of ideas and questions on mindfulness, meditation, and alternative methods for criminal corrections and rehabilitation. I was fortunate to moderate the talk, and as a result of several audience requests and my own new interest in the topic, I’ve compiled a brief bibliography of resources that I hope you’ll find helpful as starting points for researching the facts and themes presented in the film and our discussion.

Please contact me (Andrew) or my colleagues in the Library with any questions at libref@law.georgetown.edu.

Books:

• Charles N. Alexander et al., Transcendental Meditation in Criminal Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention (2007) (preview on Google Books).
• Bo Lozoff, We’re All Doing Time: A Guide for Getting Free (1985).
• Fleet Maull & Dharma Prison Network, Dharma in Hell: The Prison Writings of Fleet Maull (2005).

Films:

• Changing from the Inside (University of California, 1998) (preview at Dhamma.org).
• Doing Time, Doing Vipassana (Karuna Films 1997) (watch on YouTube).

Articles:

• Mark A. Hawkins et al., Re-enlivening and Fulfilling the Criminal Justice Rehabilitative Ideal through the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi Programs: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Prevention, 17 J. Soc. Behavior & Personality 443 (2005).
• David L. Magill, Cost Savings from Teaching the Transcendental Meditation Program in Prisons, 36 J. Offender Rehab. 319 (2003).
• Rose Parks & Charlotte Bilby, The Courage to Create: The Role of Artistic and Spiritual Activities in Prisons, 49 How. J. Crim. Just. 97 (2010).
• Richard Quinney, The Life Inside: Abolishing the Prison, 9 Contemp. Just. Rev. 269 (2006).
• Maxwell Rainforth et al., Effects of the Transcendental Meditation Program on Recidivism Among Former Inmates of Folsom Prison: Survival Analysis of 15-Year Follow-Up Data, 36 J. Offender Rehab. 181 (2003).
• Lila Rucker, Yoga and Restorative Justice in Prison: An Experience of "Response-Ability to Harms", 8 Contemp. Just. Rev. 107 (2005).

Government Publications:

• U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Enforcing Religious Freedom in Prison (2008).

News:

• Lydia Polgreen, Rehabilitation Comes to a Prison and to Its Inmates, N.Y. Times, July 18, 2011.

Organizations and Other Resources:

• Barre Center for Buddhists Studies, www.bcbsdharma.org.
• Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, www.contemplativemind.org.
• Center for Mindfulness & Justice, www.mindfulnessandjustice.org (focusing on criminal justice professionals).
• Insight Meditation Society, www.dharma.org (meditation retreat organization).
• Insight Prison Project, www.insightprisonproject.org (San Quentin State Prison, CA).
• Mind Body Awareness Project, www.mbaproject.org (focusing on incarcerated youth).
• Prison-Ashram Project, www.humankindness.org/prisonashramproject.html.
• Prison Mindfulness Institute, www.prisonmindfulness.org.
• The Vipassana Fellowship, www.vipassana.com (online meditiation courses and support).

“As you suggest, history will undoubtably hold that we suffered a far more decisive defeat at Yalta than at Pearl Harbor.”
— February 7, 1955, letter from Sen. John Marshall Butler to George Finch

Today, little is said of the Yalta Agreement, while Pearl Harbor remains an event of unquestionable significance in American history. The George Finch Collection provides a unique glimpse into the attitudes and concerns of leading lawyers and politicians during the first half of the 20th century. With two world wars, the birth of the United Nations, and the beginning of the Cold War, international law transformed in this period from a niche field to one that stood in the global spotlight.

The Georgetown Law Library is pleased to announce the opening of the George Finch Collection. The collection comprises personal writings from George Finch (L’1907) and his esteemed colleague James Brown Scott (pictured at left), including manuscripts, letters, speeches, academic lectures, and other materials from the careers of both men.

George Finch and James Brown Scott were close collaborators from their meeting at the State Department until Scott’s death in 1943. One close friend and colleague described Finch as the enabling “power behind the throne” during Scott’s tenure as secretary of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the American Society of International Law, institutions where both men served as leaders and trustees from 1911 onward. Following their role as legal advisers during World War I, the pair also helped open the Hague Academy of International Law to students in 1923.

Outside of his work with Scott, Finch is perhaps best known for his work in support of the Bricker Amendment in the 1950s until his death in 1957. An outgrowth of American isolationism and concern over communism following World War II, the Bricker Amendment sought to limit presidential treaty-making power due to a perceived potential for circumventing the Bill of Rights in domestic concerns. The amendment failed in the Senate by one vote in 1954, and similar resolutions were later introduced without success.

Together and individually, George Finch and James Brown Scott helped to shape international law in the first half of the 20th century. The George Finch Collection provides not only a window into the past but also valuable insights into the present international legal system. The collection is open for research and a finding aid is available online.

For more information about the library’s manuscript collections, contact Special Collections at 202-661-6602 or at htm@law.georgetown.edu.

In preparation for the upcoming 50th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, the National Equal Justice Library, within Georgetown Law Library, would like to highlight a few unique materials from our collections that relate to the history of the case, and that document its impact on the development of public defender systems in the United States.

On March 18, 1963, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that states had the obligation to provide counsel for defendants who are unable to afford an attorney, extending the Constitutional right to counsel in criminal cases to poor and low-income people. By highlighting the responsibility of the government to provide legal counsel to low-income Americans, Gideon was a landmark case in the equal justice movement in the United States, paving the way for the creation and expansion of the public defender system in the country.

Among the unique NEJL materials are oral history interviews with several key participants in the case, including an interview with Abe Krash, who worked closely with Abe Fortas on Gideon’s defense team, and an interview with Bruce Jacob, who argued against Gideon on behalf of the State of Florida as a young Assistant Attorney General. Transcripts of both interviews are available online at: http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/collections/nejl/oral-histories.cfm

The collection also includes an interview with Anthony Lewis, the author of Gideon’s Trumpet (1964), who followed the case as a reporter, and David Rintel’s movie script of Gideon’s Trumpet, as well as some still pictures and advertisements of the 1980 movie featuring Henry Fonda as Clarence Gideon. In addition, the NEJL holds a set of photocopies of original documents from the case, including copies of Clarence Gideon’s petition for writ of habeas corpus with the Supreme Court of Florida, and transcripts from the State of Florida v. Clarence Earl Gideon (1962).

Collections documenting the development and state of indigent criminal defense in the United States include the papers of James Doherty, who served as Public Defender of Cook County, Illinois, the papers of Sheldon Portman, the former Public Defender of Santa Clara County, CA, and the papers the papers of Marshall Hartman, one of the leading figures of the public defender movement in the United States. Special Collections also holds the papers of General Charles L. Decker, a Georgetown Law graduate, who was a key participant in the drafting of the Model Defender Act of 1970, and the Director of the National Defender Project of the NLADA.

Researchers are welcome to visit the NEJL, and our Special Collections Department.

Contact: Katharina Hering, NEJL Project Archivist kh781@law.georgetown.edu 202-662-4043 (NEJL)
Special Collections Department: specl@law.georgetown.edu 202-662-9149

A new "Big Data" resource of tax material has recently been made available. On October 30, Public.Resource.Org made available 10 years' worth -- nearly 6.5 million -- Exempt Organization Form 990 returns filed by exempt organizations and private foundations as well as unrelated business income (UBIT) returns filed by these organizations. The data set contains returns from January 2002 through September 2012, and will be updated monthly.

At this time, these returns are only available in pdf format, but Public.Resource.Org plan to extract the underlying data from these returns to make them more amenable for data analysis.

These records and more information about the data set are available at https://bulk.resource.org/irs.gov/eo/readme.html.