Each year, various organizations sponsor writing competitions for law school students. Some of these contests offer substantial cash awards, the opportunity to publish in prestigious journals, and free trips to professional association meetings. For information on writing competitions, check the bulletin board just outside office 224 in the Cumberland Law School. If a topic catches your interest, just step into room 224 and ask Mrs. Janice Brantley for a copy of the posting. Mrs. Brantley updates the bulletin board with notices of writing competitions as received. Between now and December, she expects to add many new competitions. The following is a sampling of present postings:

(1) Federal Bar Association, North Alabama Chapter contest on federal jurisdiction awarding $500 (deadline November 29, 2006, judged by Cumberland faculty);

(2) The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, William J. Pierce Writing Contest on a uniform or model act awarding $500 plus publication in the organization’s newsletter (deadline December 31, 2006);

(3) The America College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers contest for the best book, article, book review or case note on consumer finance awarding up to $2,500 plus travelexpenses to the spring meeting (deadline December 1, 2006);

(4) The American College of Legal Medicine writing competition in bioethics (first prize $1,000 plus a trip to the annual meeting) or legal medicine ($1,000 cash award) (deadline January 5, 2007 for both contests);

(5) The Federal Bar Association contest on federal taxation with a $1,500 cash award ($750 second place) plus a trip to the annual tax conference and publication in the section’s newsletter (deadline February 1, 2007);

(6) American College of Trial Lawyers essay contest on judicial independence awarding $10,000 for first place and $5,000 for second place (deadline March 1, 2007).

The American Bar Association, another generous organization, distributes more than $100,000 in awards and grants annually. For example, the winner of the Entertainment Law Initiative Legal Writing Contest receives a $5,000 scholarship ($1,500 for second place) and an expense-paid trip to the Grammy Awards. For information on ABA contest eligibility, deadlines, amount of cash prizes, and more, look for the following guide shelved on the Law Library’s second floor:

2006 ABA AWARDS LISTING : THE EXCLUSIVE GUIDE TO THE AWARDS AND COMPETITIONS SPONSORED BY THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION KF325/.A95/2006.

Several law schools publish web-based lists of writing competitions sponsored by organizations around the country. Check out these sites for information on contests:

Brooklyn Law School’s Writing Competitions Catalogue

http://www.brooklaw.edu/writingcompetitions

Lewis & Clark Law School: Law Student Writing Competitions

http://law.lclark.edu/dept/lawac/writing.html

Saint Louis University School of Law: Writing Competitions

http://law.slu.edu/financial_assistance/competitions.html

Deadlines and criteria may change, so contact the sponsoring organization directly for full details of any contest. Remember that each Cumberland law student must complete a writing requirement before graduation. Writing a paper singled out for recognition in a competition approved by the Associate Dean is one way to satisfy this requirement. If needed, ask a Reference Librarian for help finding sources for your paper.

Sources: Bar Prep Co. Ordered to Pay $11.9M for Copying Multistate Exam Questions, Posted online at www.law.com (August 28, 2006) ; Costly Case of Cribbing, Posted online at www.abanet.org (September 1, 2006).

The fundamental shift in document storage from paper to electronic format has sparked a new and rapidly evolving field of law - electronic discovery. Today’s litigator or corporate counsel must be e-savvy. To develop skills in this area, consider the following books in the treatise collection.

Kidwell, Brent. ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY. KF8900/.K53.

Nelson, Sharon D. THE ELECTRONIC EVIDENCE AND DISCOVERY HANDBOOK : FORMS, CHECKLISTS, AND GUIDELINES. KF8947/.N45.

Paul, George L. THE DISCOVERY REVOLUTION : E-DISCOVERY AMENDMENTS TO THE FEDERAL RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. KF9650/.P38.

Vance, Geoffrey A. DROWNING IN ZUBULAKE : THE RULES, PITFALLS, AND BENEFITS OF ELECTRONIC DISCOVERY. KF9650/.Z9/V35.

A weblog, or “blog”, as it is commonly referred to, is a popular phrase for today’s computer users. According to a defintion of the term, it is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site. In the legal world, many blogs are available and one popular one is the law blog from the Wall Street Journal. A listing on their home page says: WSJ.com's law blog focuses on law and business, and the business of law. Law students might be interested in a discussion of one of the pressing issues that began on August 25, 2006 - Does Pluto Have a Cause of Action?.

Sources: Blog, http://www.bytowninternet. com/glossary (September 5, 2006) ; Law Blog, http://blogs.wsj.com/law (September 5, 2006).

Sources: Harper Lee’s Sister Celebrates 95th Birthday, www.al.com(September 12, 2006) ; Member Search, http://www.alabar.org (September 13, 2006).

The first edition included legal words such as: advocate verb: to defend, plead in favor of ; appellate adjective: belonging to appeals ; decedent noun: one dead ; lot noun: a share or division of land, a field. A glossary of new words from the first edition can be found online.

Nearly 100 new words were added to the 2006 editions of both the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary and the New World College Dictionary. Many of the new words are already in our vocabulary, for example: ringtone, spyware, gastric bypass, sandwich generation. A sampling of new words can also be found online.

Source: Merriam-Webster Online,http://www.m-w.com (September 14, 2006).

A commonly overlooked source for cutting-edge legal news is legal newspapers, either printed or online. These publications typically provide information on members of the bar, judges, law firms, economic trends of the legal profession, awards and settlements, supplemental commentary on court rules, legislative activities, synopses of court opinions which are not reported, and discussion of current legal issues which may be so recent that they have not been covered in typical law review or journal articles.

For national coverage, Beeson Law Library provides access to several legal newspapers in print or online. Perhaps the most dynamic and easy to access of these publications is University of Pittsburgh Law School’s JURIST: LEGAL NEWS AND RESEARCH, and is available at Beeson Law Library’s homepage () by clicking on “Today’s Legal News from JURIST.” This service provides news items (and links to extended coverage) throughout the day. Its coverage of events involving foreign and international law is particularly outstanding.

AMERICAN LAWYER is held by the Law Library as a print publication, the latest edition of which is kept on reserve. Earlier issues are kept in storage or in microfiche format. This publication is also available on the web at www.american lawyer.com and LEGALTRAC (with full-text coverage from May 1, 2000), though the latest print issue appears to be delayed in this format to protect their entrepreneurial interests. The publication concentrates on the business of the legal profession. It is well known for its special supplements which highlight a multitude of surveys and rankings they have done of law firms and attorneys throughout the nation. WESTLAW carries this publication as well, beginning with the January/February 1995 issue.

LEGAL TIMES is held by the Law Library in a print tabloid format, with the latest issue kept on reserve at the Circulation Desk. Earlier issues are kept in Law Library storage or in microfiche format. Full-text access to this publication is also available on LEGALTRAC (with full-text coverage from December 9, 2002 to present) and some of its articles are available without subscription at http://www.law.com/jsp/dc/index.jsp. This publication in large part concentrates on legal news, lobbying and issues of the Washington, D.C. region and includes ads for employment opportunities with law firms and agencies in Washington. WESTLAW also includes this publication online beginning November 1994.

LOS ANGELES DAILY JOURNAL is a print newspaper subscribed to by the Law Library. Its latest issue is kept on reserve at the Circulation Desk and previous issues are kept in Law Library storage. This publication concentrates on legal news and issues of the bar in California. It includes a section entitled, “Verdicts and Settlements” which provides synopses of cases, organized by legal topic. This newspaper has a fairly substantial section of employment ads for attorneys needed in the Los Angeles area.

NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL, “the weekly newspaper for the legal profession,” is held by the Law Library in print tabloid format, with the most recent issue kept on reserve at the Circulation Desk. Previous editions of the publication are available from Law Library storage or on microfiche. Full-text retrospective access to this publication is also available on LEGALTRAC beginning February 3, 2003. This newspaper’s website, http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/index.jsp, has a daily update as well as articles from the current and upcoming print version. The legal news articles covers issues and cases nationwide. It also includes synopses of important opinions recently decided in both federal and state courts. WESTLAW also has this publication online beginning October 1989.

If you have any questions about legal newspapers at Beeson Law Library, please ask a Reference Librarian.

Run Box. Press enter and a new box will appear. Click on the Startup Tab. You will see a list of items the laptop batteries drain quickly if steps aren’t taken to conserve power. A few things to consider:

1. If your laptop is equipped with Bluetooth and you are not using it – disable it.

2. If you are not using wireless – turn it off.

3. Dim the screen as a brighter screen will cause a battery to lose power more quickly.

4. Remove any unused peripherals not in use. Eject CDs and DVDs when they are not in use as well.

5. Check on unnecessary programs that may run at each startup. To do this, click on Start, Run, type msconfig in the Run Box. Press enter and a new box will appear. Click on the Startup Tab. You will see a list of items that are starting each time your computer starts up. Be very careful when choosing what to remove. For example, I usually suggest students remove programs such as iTunes, Adobe Acrobat, and Quicktime. You never want to remove programs that are part of your virus protection.

6. Purchase a backup battery.

7. Between classes – put your computer in Standby mode. Use Hibernation only if you plan to let your laptop “sleep” for a much longer period of time.

8. Use the portable/laptop power scheme – this will reduce your battery use but still allow your laptop to work quickly.

One more issue of CHECK IT OUT will be published this semester. If you have any ideas or suggestions as to ways we can improve, contact Becky Hutto via e-mail at rmhutto@samford.edu.