Criminal Law Library BlogRecent news and developments regarding investors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ( SEC ) as related to the Madoff ponzi scheme:
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has posted information for Madoff investors at:
Articles Posted in Commentary and Opinion
The Future of Sentencing in New York State: Recommendations for Reform
A Report of the New York State Commission on Sentencing Reform, dated January 30, 2009 and released on February 3, 2009.
The Report, Future of Sentencing in New York State, calls for reforms to New York Stae drug laws; determinate sentencing, graduated and sanctions for parole violators are among the other recommendations offered.It provides the Governor, Legislature and Judiciary with several different options for historic reform.The State Commission on Sentencing Reform is a bi-partisan panel that has spent nearly two years studying New York States sentencing statutes before releasing this Report
Also see the Press Release announcing release of thr Report and New York State Executive Order Number 10 (March 5, 2007) under which the Commission was created:
Recent Comments on Google and the Future of the Book
Sometimes it seems as though Google has become ubiquitous in the world of searching and may want to repeat its act in the world of books. While thinking about this, two articles, one forthcoming and one published Febrary 1 have come to our attention>
The forthoming article Google and the Future of Books* by Robert Darnton, Director of the Library and Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor of Harvard has much to say on the subject and should be required reading for all who are concerned about these developments. He writes:
“How can we navigate through the information landscape that is only beginning to come into view? The question is more urgent than ever following the recent settlement between Google and the authors and publishers who were suing it for alleged breach of copyright…”
Billable Hours Giving Ground at Law Firms
New York Times article by Jonathan Glater, published January 30, 2009.
“Lawyers are having trouble defending the most basic yardstick of the legal profession – the billable hour…”
See article at:
Brief Summary of American Library Association Midwinter MARBI Meetings
George Prager, Head of Cataloging at New York University Law School Library has sent his summary of the ALA Midwinter MARBI meetings to members of the American Association of Law Libraries Technical Services Special Interest Group. With his permission I am also posting it here along with his opening comments:
COMMENTS:
I have added a brief summary of each proposal and discussion paper presented at the American Library Association Midwinter MARBI Meetings, whhich took place January 24-25, 2009. A more detailed analysis of the papers will be available in my 2008/2009 Annual report, which will appear on the TSIS Website shortly before the AALL 2009 Annual Meeting, and later in TSLL.
What To Do With An Oil Painting Found in Judge Brieant’s Chambers?
In a January 28, 2009 New York Times article, “Hang Him Up? The Bad Judge and His Image”, Benjamin Weiser describes a debate that has arisen in a New York Courthouse over whether the portrait of a disgraced judge should continue to be displayed or thrown in a closet.
To read the story click on the link below to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/28/nyregion/28portrait.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
New York Times: A Tool to Verify Digital Records, Even as Technology Shifts
The above titled January 27, 2009 article by John Markoff, published in the New York Times is relevant because it discusses digitization, preservation and authentication of records (and by extension information) in terms of continuously preserving these qualities in an authentic state as the underlying technology constantly changes or “shifts” over time, thus taking into account and emphasizing the importance of both the initial authentication of information in accordance with accepted polices and practices and the urgency of maintaining that authenticity over time. In terms of this discussion the question for law librarians and others throughout the legal profession working with digital legal information is how to best provide assurance that primary and other legal information officially authenticated at a given time can be safely perceived as remaining reliably authentic over a much longer period of time in the midst of these constant shifts? Since John Markoff’s article may help us at least clarify these issues I wanted to share it with you.
David Badertscher
Here are some excerpts:
Results from Marshall Breeding’s 2008 Library Automation Survey
In case you missed it, the results from the 2008 version of Marshall Breeding’s Library Automation Survey are available at http://www.librarytechnology.org/perceptions2008.pl. This Survey is international in scope. There were 1,450 responses.
U.S. Presidential Memoranda: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Open Government*
January 21, 2009,
President Obama also released the following Memoranda on January 21: “the Memorandum on the Freedom of Information Act, which re-establishes a presumption of openness under FOIA and orders the Office of Management and Budget to ‘update guidance to the agencies to increase and improve information dissemination to the public,’ and the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, which lays out several ways in which the new Administration will ‘work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.’ ” Both address issues of longtime inerest and concern to the American Association of Law Libraries
THE WHITE HOUSE
New York: Jonathan Lippman Has Been Nominated by Governor David Paterson to Serve As the Chief Judge of the New York State Court of Appeals
Governor David Paterson has nominated Jonathan Lippman, currently presiding justice in the Appellate Division First Department of the State Supreme Court, to fill the chief judge’s post that was vacarted when Judith Kaye retired. See Press Release announcing the nomination.