Wisblawg

Legal Research News and Information with an Emphasis on Wisconsin

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University Staff are the backbone of UW Madison campus operations. This includes everyone from library assistants, accountants, steamfitters, painters, translators/interpreters, financial specialists, and many more specialized personnel whose expertise enables students and faculty to conduct their work with efficiency, comfort, and satisfaction.
Each year, UW Madison recognizes select University Staff for their outstanding contributions.  I am very pleased that two UW Law Library staff members were recognized this year.
Eric Taylor received a University Staff Recognition Award for his
Continue Reading Two Law Library Team Members Recognized by UW Madison

Two interesting developments on attorney use of ChatGPT in court filings:

A New York attorney is facing sanctions for using ChatGPT in an affidavit that he submitted without checking the accuracy of the information it provided.  From Business Insider:
“Six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations,” [Judge Kevin] Castel wrote… Neither the lawyers for the airline nor Castel himself were able to find the cases mentioned in
Continue Reading Pitfalls and Certifications on the Use of ChatGPT in Court Filings

I’m very proud to share that the University of Wisconsin Law Library, in partnership with the National Indian Law Library, the Open Law Library, the UW Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Community Band of Mohican Indians, has been awarded the 2023 Public Access to Government Information Award by the American Association of Law Libraries for our Digital Publication of Tribal Laws Pilot Project.
The right to know the laws by
Continue Reading Digital Publication of Tribal Laws Pilot Project Wins AALL Public Access to Government Information Award

One of the hottest topics in legal technology (really, all of legal practice) is the rise of ChatGPT and other AI-related tools. We’ve already seen an influx of existing and new tools that integrate some form of AI, particularly generative AI tools that allow lawyers to quickly create documents and analyze their work.
Over the past year, the Law Library staff taught courses (and will continue to do so each year) on legal tech and advanced legal research. One
Continue Reading Generative AI Legal Tools – a white paper snapshot

Historical federal legislative history research just got a little easier.  For the last few years, the Library of Congress has been working to add the Bound Congressional Record to Congress.gov.  It is now available all the way back to 1873, when the Bound Congressional Record started, to 1994. With the daily edition, which is available from 1995 to the present, users can now search the complete run of the Congressional Record using the free Congress.gov.

The Bound Congressional Record
Continue Reading Complete Congressional Record Back to 1873 Now Searchable in Congress.gov

Here is the latest faculty scholarship appearing in the University of Wisconsin Law School Legal Studies Research Papers series found on SSRN.

In this paper, I undertake a qualitative exploration of how social regulation of speech works in practice on university campuses, and of the extent to which social regulation in practice affirms or undermines the stereotypes and caricatures
Continue Reading Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship: The Anatomy of Cancel Culture; The First French BIT; Taxpayers’ Tax Election Regrets; The International Law Origins of Compact Theory: A Critique of Bellia & Clark on Federalism; and Transparency, Accountability, and Influence in the International Investment Law System

The latest episode of the Wisconsin Law in Action podcast from the UW Law Library features Elizabeth Manriquez, Head of Reference and Scholarly Support and manager of the UW Law School Digital Repository.  She joins host Kris Turner to discuss the numerous collections and features of our repository, as well as several new and upcoming collections.  Manriquez also provides insight into the future of scholarly communications and information discovery.

Last month, the Digital Repository celebrated its 5th
Continue Reading WI Law In Action Podcast: Elizabeth Manriquez on the UW Law School Digital Repository

The University of Wisconsin Law Library seeks an energetic and intellectually curious professional to join our team as the Digital Collections and Reference Librarian.  This newly-created position will be responsible for the day-to-day management of our growing, open-source UW Law School Digital Repository while also supporting an amazing group of legal scholars and law students. The position will play an integral role on our Public Services staff and in our nationally recognized scholarly visibility program. 
The application is
Continue Reading UW Law Library Seeking a Digital Collections & Reference Librarian to Manage our Growing Repository

Here is the latest faculty scholarship appearing in the University of Wisconsin Law School Legal Studies Research Papers series found on SSRN.

This chapter explores impeachment and the Rule of Law, and for framing that discussion of several possible approaches come to mind. One could connect impeachment and the Rule
Continue Reading Recent UW Law Faculty Scholarship: Impeachment and the Rule of Law: It’s Complicated; The Original Meaning of Enumerated Powers; Saving Democracy, State by State?; and Gender, Race, and Judicial Power

Last week, Wisconsin Law in Action from the UW Law Library welcomed Richard Monette back to the podcast (both audio and video available).  Monette is Professor of Law and Director of the Great Lakes Indian Law Center at the University of Wisconsin Law School.  Monette talks with host Kris Turner about Brackeen v. Haaland which is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court.  This case focuses on the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and whether its placement preferences, which currently
Continue Reading WI Law In Action Podcast: Richard Monette on Brackeen v. Haaland & Bringing Together the Doctrines of Plenary Power, Preemption, & Trust Relationship in Federal Indian Law

Last week, the University of Wisconsin Law School launched the new Journal of American Constitutional History, a peer-reviewed, web-based journal publishing high-quality scholarship on U.S. constitutional history. JACH welcomes articles from the disciplines of law, history, or political science that focus on historical questions touching on the American Constitution or constitutional development, or that contain a substantial element of historical analysis in addressing contemporary issues of U.S. constitutional law.

The journal was created by David S. Schwartz, Frederick W. & Vi
Continue Reading UW Law School Launches New Peer-Reviewed, Journal of American Constitutional History

On the latest episode of the WI Law in Action podcast from the UW Law Library, host Kris Turner interviews Nina Varsava, Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Law School and scholar on procedure, courts, judicial administration, ethics, and jurisprudence.  She is especially interested in precedent, interpretation, and inter-systemic adjudication.  In this episode, she discusses her recent article,  “Precedent, Reliance, and Dobbs”.which is forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review.
 Varsava on the importance
Continue Reading WI Law In Action Podcast: Nina Varsava on Precedent, Reliance, and Dobbs

Last week, in our first session of Advanced Legal Research at the University of Wisconsin Law school, we discussed ChatGPT as a tool for conducting legal research.  Why take the time to learn and conduct legal research if an AI can do it for you? Our students raised a lot of great points and showed a sophisticated understanding of the pros and cons of the tool.  Overall, they were pretty skeptical.

We started with a demo by asking ChatGPT
Continue Reading Law Students Assess Pros and Cons of ChatGPT as a Legal Research Tool

ChatGPT is a new AI-powered chatbot that answers complex questions conversationally.  This remarkable tool that can assist with a wide range of tasks, from generating humanlike text to providing helpful answers to questions.  This raises huge implications for research, education, business, and much more. “So the best way to think about this is you are chatting with a omniscient eager-to-please intern who sometimes lies to you,” describes Ethan Mollick , Professor of Management at the University of Pennsylvania.  If
Continue Reading ChatGPT Chatbot Can Write Anything from Student Essays to Legal Briefs

Feedspot, a social feed reader that curates news feeds from online sources, has recently compiled a list of the 60 Best Law Librarian Blogs and Websites.  What a great round-up of content from an impressive list of law librarians of all types!  I’m honored that WisBlawg appears as #3.
Chances are good that you can learn a thing or two from these bloggers.  As several legal commentators have attested, law librarians play an instrumental role in navigating information,
Continue Reading Directory of 60 Best Law Librarian Blogs & Websites Showcases Expertise of Law Librarians