This week in the Law Library we’re welcoming the First District Ohio Court of Appeals, teaching technology in law practice and current awareness resources, attending the Schwartz Lecture, holding an open house, and continuing to celebrate American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.
This Week’s Research Sessions
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Technology in Law Practice
Shannon Kemen, Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian
Room 107
11:10am – 12:05pm
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
Legal Research Competency Program
Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Instructional & Reference Services Librarian
Room 107
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Current Awareness & Alerts
With so much information bombarding us, it’s hard to keep up with all the latest legal developments. Come learn about legal news resources, and how to set up alerts to track issues you are interested in. University of Cincinnati Law students who complete the requirements of the Competency programs before graduation will receive a notation on their transcript stating that they are competent with respect to legal research and/or technology, a credential they can list proudly on their resumes as proof of the research skills they offer prospective employers. For questions, or to RSVP, contact Laura Dixon-Caldwell at dixoncla@ucmail.uc.edu.
Thursday, November 17, 2022
Technology in Law Practice
Shannon Kemen, Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian
Room 107
11:10am – 12:05pm
First District Ohio Court of Appeals Oral Arguments
Monday, November 14, 2022
9:00am – 11:00am
Room 160
The Court will allow people to enter prior to each argument and leave after an argument has ended, but not enter and leave during each argument. At the end of the last oral argument the judges and attorneys will stay and answer questions from students. View the Live Stream
9:00-9:30 am: Butler v. TriHealth (Negligence suit for injury caused in parking lot/alleged summary judgment error due to existence of a genuine issue of material fact).
9:45-10:15 am: State of Ohio v. Mitchell (Unconstitutional Search and Search/Exclusionary Rule/Sentencing).
10:30-11:00 am: State of Ohio v. Sheckles (Evidence- exclusion of witness testimony and exclusion of video evidence).
11:00-11:30am: Q&A with the judges.
Victor E. Schwartz Lecture in Torts
“Law Reform Through a Tort Lens: Intelligent Design?”
Friday, Nov. 18, 2022
12:15pm – 1:15pm
Room 160
Michael Green, the Mel and Pam Brown Visiting Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, will discuss whether there is any type of intelligent design in the torts arena or if change happens by chance during his lecture “Law Reform Through a Tort Lens: Intelligent Design?” Tort law came together as a coherent body of law in the mid-19th century. Since then, there have been all sorts of reforms—from the adoption of workers’ compensation to the adoption of comparative fault and strict products liability, and the more modern tort reforms or “deforms” as some characterize it. Many torts’ theorists claim that there is a foundational principle that holds together all of tort law, suggesting an intelligent design. Professor Green will express deep skepticism that there is any kind of design to law reform in the torts arena and indeed change is often adventitious. He will conclude with observations of a Restatement Reporter on the utility for tort theory for Restatement work. In short, almost nothing.
Featured Study Aids
Torts CALI Lessons
CALI currently offers a number of interactive exercises for students studying Torts. You will need to set up a password to use CALI online. To set up a username and password, you will be asked to enter UC Law’s authorization code. You can get this code from any reference librarian.
Hornbook on Torts
Available via the West Academic study aid subscription, this single-volume hornbook provides a comprehensive overview of tort and injury law. The book covers all of the major topics in tort law. Topics include liability for physical injuries, as well as emotional, dignitary, and economic harms. This newly-updated edition includes citations to hundreds of cases and statutes decided over the last decade, as well as references to the Restatement (Third).
The Law of Torts: Examples & Explanations
Available via the Aspen Learning Library, this study aid provides an overview of Torts, together with examples that illustrate how these principles apply in typical cases. Features coverage of intentional torts; chapters on trespass to chattels, conversion and trespass to land, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress; and a section on Taking a Torts Essay Exam. A series of problems at the end of each section or chapter assist you in testing your understanding. Answers are provided for these problems.
Understanding Torts
Available via the LexisNexis Digital Library, Understanding Torts features: comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of intentional torts, privileges, negligence, cause-in-fact, proximate cause, defenses, joint and several liability, damages, strict liability, products liability, economic torts, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, defamation and invasion of privacy. Judicious use of footnotes to provide full, but not overwhelming, primary and secondary support for textual propositions.
Featured Guide
Exam Study Guide: Torts
Did you know the Law Library can help you prepare for law school exams? Consult this guide for our exam preparation resources. Get help in understanding Torts as well as reviewing and preparing for Torts exams.
Featured Treatise
Dobbs’ Law of Torts
Available via Westlaw, this four-volume second edition provides encyclopedic reference on all aspects of tort law, regardless of topic. Authors’ comments on problems in the administration of tort law give readers both pro and con arguments for effecting changes in the law.
Featured Videos
Previous Victor Schwartz lectures:
2020 Schwartz Lecture in Torts: “Restating Defamation Law for the Twenty-First Century”
Lyrissa Lidsky, dean and Judge C. A. Leedy Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law, analyzed trends in defamation cases to foretell what they foreshadow for modernizing defamation law during her lecture “Restating Defamation Law for the Twenty-First Century.”
2019 Schwartz Lecture in Torts: “Supreme Torts”
This lecture, by Professor John C.P. Goldberg of Harvard Law School, explored and exposed some of the myriad occasions on which our highest court (notwithstanding its foreswearing of the general common law in Erie Railroad v. Tompkins has actively shaped 50-state tort law. At the same time, it suggests, respectfully, that the Court’s decisions are often predicated on an impoverished understanding of tort law and its place in our legal and political system. Topics addressed ranged from constitutional torts and proximate cause to federal preemption and punitive damages.
2018 Schwartz Lecture in Torts: Restating the Law: Lessons from the Front Lines
Ward Farnsworth, dean and John Jeffers Research Chair in Law at the University of Texas School of Law, was Reporter for the most recent Restatement of Torts, an influential treatise used by attorneys and judges that synthesizes general principles from tort cases. In this lecture, he discusses the sometimes-contested role of writers of Restatements. He also examines when a Reporter should fight for his own opinion or defer and draw lessons to be used in broader legal and political practice.
Featured Website
American Museum of Tort Law
The mission of the nationally acclaimed American Museum of Tort Law is to educate, inform and inspire Americans about two things: Trial by jury; and the benefits of tort law. As an online visitor to the Museum you will enjoy learning about tort law and trial by jury, and see how both have improved the lives, not only of those injured, but all of us.
American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month
This month is American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month! In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating November 1990 as “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations have been issued every year since 1994. Celebrate with us as we explore the contributions and history of the Native people in the United States of America.
5 More Selected Resources to Learn More About American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage
Indigenous Digital Archive Treaties Explorer
While treaties between Indigenous peoples and the United States affect virtually every area in the USA, there is as yet no official list of all the treaties. The US National Archives holds 374 of the treaties, where they are known as the Ratified Indian Treaties. Here you can view them for the first time with key historic works that provide context to the agreements made and the histories of our shared lands.
Indigenous Governance Database
The free Indigenous Governance Database (IGD) features online educational and informational resources on tribal self-governance and tribal policy reform that: Foster Native nation building; Promote tribal sovereignty; Disseminate Indigenous data; Encourage tribal leadership development; Support the development of capable governing institutions; Highlight sustainable economic and community development in Indian Country.
Law Library of Congress, Indigenous Law Web Archive
The Law Library of Congress collects and preserves primary law sources of Indigenous nations, which are sovereign governments by treaty with the United States. At the time this collection started, there are 578 tribes and 92 agencies. This archive includes constitutions of a number of sovereign nations, including Navajo Nation, Muscogee Nation, Cherokee Nation, Comanche Nation, Hopi Tribe, etc. and ordinances, Supreme Court papers, court rules and forms for criminal, civil and family courts, and wellness courts. Tribal executive orders, emergency orders, ordinances and legislation are included in this collection as well. Tribes, nations, bands, communities and rancherias do communicate with their citizens by social media and at times when that was the sole source of legal documentation, we have targeted social media sites for capture where possible.
Law Library of Congress, Native American Constitutions and Legal Materials
The Law Library of Congress holds most of the laws and constitutions from the early 19th century produced by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole who were forced to leave the Southeast for the Indian Territory after passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. Some of these documents are in the vernacular languages of the tribes. This collection includes 19th century items and those constitutions and charters drafted after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. The digital portion of this collection is a work in progress but many of the works have been digitized.
Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project
The Native American Constitution and Law Digitization Project was created as a cooperative effort between the University of Oklahoma College of Law Library and the National Indian Law Library (NILL), to provide access to the tribal constitutions, codes, and other legal documents. The University of Oklahoma College of Law Library partnered with the National Indian Law Library to acquire and digitize these materials at a time when tribal documents were very difficult to find. Tribal documents were shared with permission from the National Indian Law Library or donated directly by tribal members. Other materials included are federal government documents in the public domain or publications shared with the permission of their creators.