Top 8 Best Book Titles in the Charlotte School of Law Library

Now that final exams are over and you have time to relax over the holiday break, it’s the perfect time to pick up some pleasure reading from the Treatises section of the library!  Here are some of the most interesting and amusing titles in the collection.

8.   Taking Sports Seriously | by Jeffrey Standen

Because we all were making fun of them before…This book examines the biggest issues in sports today.

7.   Obscurity and Clarity in the Law | by Anne Wagner and Sophie Cacciaguidi-Fahy

Just the title sounds mystifying. Read this book to learn about legal language, drafting, and interpretation.

6.   Bong Hits 4 Jesus | by James C. Foster

For those interested in the first amendment and public schools, this book covers an Alaskan case involving high school students’ right to free speech.

5.   Law of Solid Waste, Pollution, Prevention, and Recycling | by Jeffrey M. Gaba and Donald W. Stever

Who knew there was so much to say about solid waste?  This treatise is perfect for environmental law gurus.

4.   The Likelihood of Confusion in Trademark Law | by Richard L. Kirkpatrick

How likely are you to get confused about trademark law?  Now there’s an entire volume that can end that confusion.

3.   Substantial Similarity in Copyright Law | Robert C. Osterberg and Eric C. Osterberg

It sounds like this volume belongs in the same series as the last book.  It includes key cases and court decisions on the subject.

2.   The Law & Harry Potter | edited by Jeffrey E. Thomas and Franklin G. Snyder

What exactly are the social consequences of considering house elves to be people?  This is the authoritative source on all things law in the world of Harry Potter.

1.   Is Eating People Wrong? | by Allan C. Hutchinson

Do we really have to ask that question?  Actually this book is a lively study on jurisprudence, exploring eight cases that shaped our legal system.

~Kirsten Hallman~

Expedition Africa

Two members of the CharlotteLaw community are embarking on a journey to Africa within days.  To be more specific, Professor Sheryl Buske and Carol Fletcher begin their summer adventure to Tanzania and South Africa July 12th.  Luckily, we will “virtually” be able to tag along with them. Ms. Fletcher and Professor Buske will be blogging daily about the sights, sounds, and life in Africa on the Charlotte Law in Africa blog.

For more information on the legal culture of Tanzania, South Africa, Angola, Kenya, and many more check out the Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII).  For more information on South Africa and Tanzania, check out these resources:

Constitutional Law In South Africa (A Westlaw Title)

Africa at a turning point? growth, aid, and external shocks

Access to justice in Africa and beyond : making the rule of law a reality

Family law in Asia and Africa.

Global issues in family law

African Legal Research Guide by Tom Hemstock

-Liz McCurry-

Forsenic Science: Making the Important Connections

Yesterday, less than 30 miles from Charlotte, 41 year-old, Patrick Burris was shot and killed. Burris is the suspected Gaffney serial killer, and with his death authorities hope to put some fears to rest.  According to MSNBC, officers were responding to a burglary complaint on July 6th that ultimately ended in the shootout with Burris.   State Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd concluded that the “bullets in [Burris’s] gun matched those that killed residents in and around Gaffney over six days last week.”

Curious about the theories and methods that police officers and SBI agents use in criminal investigations?  Or, the forensic techniques used to make the connection between the bullets found in Gastonia, Burris and the Gaffney murders?

Then, check these out:

Forensic science resources

Crime and science; the new frontier in criminology / Thorwald, Jürgen.

Forensic science : an encyclopedia of history, methods, and techniques / William J. Tilstone, Kathleen A. Savage, and Leigh A. Clark.

Arrest, search, and investigation in North Carolina / Robert L. Farb.

-Liz McCurry-

Life of Pi – Nothing to do with Math

Liz McCurry, Electronic Resources/Reference Librarian

The Life of Pi / Yann Martel

I remember reading this book years ago, and it has never left my list of  my top 3 favorite books (even with the emergence of the Twilight series).  The reader follows a young boy through his religious journey where he questions his Hinduism heritage with practices of Christianity and Islam. Ultimately, a shipwreck brings to light those answers he was seeking.  Pi, the main character of the story is just a small boy, but takes the reader through his 200+ days at sea by describing the wildly imaginative experiences with vivid intensity.   Make sure to read the book from front to back because the ending has a twist that will make you question everything.

Synopsis

The peripatetic Pi (the much-taunted Piscine) Patel spends a beguiling boyhood in Pondicherry, India, as the son of a zookeeper. Growing up beside the wild beasts, Pi gathers an encyclopedic knowledge of the animal world. His curious mind also makes the leap from his native Hinduism to Christianity and Islam, all three of which he practices with joyous abandon. In his 16th year, Pi sets sail with his family and some of their menagerie to start a new life in Canada. Halfway to Midway Island, the ship sinks into the Pacific, leaving Pi stranded on a life raft with a hyena, an orangutan, an injured zebra and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. After the beast dispatches the others, Pi is left to survive for 227 days with his large feline companion on the 26-foot-long raft, using all his knowledge, wits and faith to keep himself alive. The scenes flow together effortlessly, and the sharp observations of the young narrator keep the tale brisk and engaging. Martel’s potentially unbelievable plot line soon demolishes the reader’s defenses, cleverly set up by events of young Pi’s life that almost naturally lead to his biggest ordeal.

BBC’s Top 100

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books listed below.

How do your reading habits stack up?

How many of these books have you read?

Which is your favorite?

-Brian Trippodo-

1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Mere Christianity – CS Lewis
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Illiad – Homer
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov x
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 A Tree Grows in Brooklynn – Betty Smith
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

The “ABCs” of Estate Planning

In light of the breaking news from yesterday of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson’s passing, I feel as though I need to pose the following question: have you taken care of your affairs?  If not, the Charlotte School of Law Library has multiple resources on estate planning:

• Key issues in estate planning and probate in North Carolina / Mitchell C. Payne
• Woe is me, meeting the 2 “D”s : death and divorce in North Carolina /North Carolina Bar Association Foundation
• Basics of will and revocable trust drafting / North Carolina Bar Association Foundation
• Wills, trusts, and technology : an estate and trust lawyer’s guide to automation / Daniel B. Evans [Table of Contents]
• Love, money, control : reinventing estate planning : practical answers from America’s foremost estate planning advisors / Robert A. Esperti, Renno L. Peterson, Robert A. Goldman

If you are a law student interested in pursuing estate planning as part of your practice after graduation, CharlotteLaw’s academic curriculum offers advanced courses in:

• Wills, Trusts and Estates: This course examines wills and other methods for preserving and transferring wealth or property to beneficiaries in the context of death or economic planning.
• Elder Law: This course surveys the social, psychological, legal and financial concerns facing the typical elder law client when planning for long term or short term medical care, incapacity, and death. Particular emphasis will be given to the core Elder Law practice areas of Advance Care Directives, Estate Planning and Administration, Guardianships, Public Benefit planning with Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security and VA benefits, Fiduciary Representation, Elder Abuse and Nursing Home Resident’s Rights.

As a side note, here is a small tribute to Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett:

• Tribute: Top Ten Michael Jackson Songs
• Ace’s Blog dedicated to Michael Jackson (from the Ace and TJ Charlotte Morning Talk Radio Show)
• Farrah Fawcett: A Tribute to an Angel

-Liz McCurry-

Deadwood: Law in the “Wild West”

HBO’s popular dramatic series Deadwood depicts the transition from mining camp to town in the Dakota Territory Black Hills, circa 1877. Though the series is a work of fiction, its creators have rooted it in American history, including legal history.

How do you research the law of the Dakotas? What legal themes are explored in Deadwood? This guide will answer those questions as it highlights the variety of resources available at the Charlotte School of Law Library.

I. Territorial South Dakota Law Resources

Northwestern Reporter

Location: Compact Shelving, KF 135 .N7 N62

Territorial cases were reprinted in the Northwestern Reporter and can be located using the digest to that series. Alternatively, cases from the Dakota Territory Supreme Court can be ordered via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).In the future, territorial documents may be available via the LLMC Digital database.

Prestatehood Legal Materials / Michael Chiorazzi, Marguerite Most

Location: Reference, KF 240 .P688 2005

This two volume set provides detailed bibliographies and historical legal essays for all 50 states. The amount of coverage varies by state, but each entry includes both primary and secondary sources. South Dakota’s entry alone covers nearly 100 pages.

South Dakota Legal Research Guide / Delores A. Jorgenson

Location: Reference, KFS 3075 .J67 1999

In addition to explaining current legal research methods, this book also contains historical information about territorial legal issues. For example, there are sections on the Supreme Court of the Dakota territory, the history of the territorial government, and Indian law. Each section also includes a bibliography. Items not found in the CharlotteLaw collection can be ordered via ILL.

II. Legal Themes of Deadwood

Law in the “Wild West”

HeinOnline is an excellent resource for finding electronic copies of journal articles that are not in the physical collection of the library. Articles on Hein are reproduced in the original print format in PDF files.

Robert Aitken, Wild Bill Hickok: The Two Trials of Jack McCall, 25 Litigation 51 (1999)

Not only is the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok a major plot point in the first season of Deadwood, it is also an interesting footnote in the history of the double jeopardy doctrine.  Aitken’s article discusses the both the events of the shooting and the criminal procedure involved in the two subsequent trials.

Nicci Lovre-Laughlin, Note, Lethal Decisions: Examining the Role of Prosecutorial Discretion in Capital Cases in South Dakota and the Federal Justice System, 50 S. Dakota L. Rev. 550 (2005)

Location: HeinOnline: Charlottelaw.edu –> Law Library –>  Library Databases --> Hein Online –> Law Journal Library

-Tom Hemstock-

Days of Summer

Ah, summer. A time for some much-deserved rest and relaxation. Why not rest your feet in the library and relax with a browsing periodical? New this year to our collection are titles sure to please any interest.

For those who enjoy fine cuisine, Gourmet magazine is what you crave. Interestingly enough, Charlotte’s very own The Penguin was featured in this month’s issue with an article entitled “20 Burgers to Eat Before it’s Too Late”, taking a cue from Jane and Michael Stern’s book  500 Things to Eat Before it’s Too Late. If you are one of the poor souls who has not yet had the pleasure of the Penguin’s famous fried pickles or their Southern style burgers, head over to Thomas Avenue immediately. You’ll be glad you did!

If your summer destination sights are set outside of Charlotte, be sure to research hot locales in either one of our travel magazines.  Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel touts 25 travel deals all over the map while Travel and Leisure lists 21 best hotel deals across the globe. Even Money magazine has a list of “10 Great Last-Minute Summer Getaways at Affordable Prices”. Taking the kids along? Parenting has got a lot of great ideas to keep them entertained while traveling. And need to know which sunscreen is best to beat those harsh UV rays? Consumer Reports has got you covered with “Best Sunscreens for your summer”.

When planning your summer vacation, be sure to make the Charlotte School of Law Library your first stop!

-Jamie Sunnycalb-

Lights, Camera, Action!

From The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to My Cousin Vinny, the Charlotte School of Law Library has a selection of 74  law-related feature films ready and waiting to be checked out.

Did you know, we have different loan policies for different materials!

And guess what? 

You can check these movies out for FREE for 7 days!!

Not only does this display include DVDs, but it also displays a select few of the legal resources available for doing legal research in the entertainment industry or counseling clients regarding entertainment law.  Go to our catalog to see additional print and electronic resources available.  Make sure to come by the library to see our displays this month!

Don’t see your favorite movie in our collection?

Don’t fret, make a purchase suggestion or leave a comment!

My Verdict on Jury Service

Last week, I did something I had never done before:  I served on a jury.  The case was a civil case involving an automobile accident.  We found for the plaintiff, awarding him $8,000 in actual damages.  It was a fascinating experience, and I learned a lot about the American justice system.

Am I eager to learn more?  Absolutely!  To do so, I might want to consult the following books in the library:

• Art of Advocacy – This series has numerous individual titles, including Jury Selection, Evidence, Discovery, and Settlement.
• Blue’s Guide to Jury Selection
• Mastering Voir Dire and Jury Selection
• Anatomy of a Personal Injury Lawsuit - Published by the American Trial Lawyers Association.
• Courtroom Persuasion:  Winning with Art, Drama, and Science

Of course, these are just a few of the dozens of books on trial practice and strategy owned by the library.  For more titles on this topic, click here.

As for movies and TV shows on trial practice, check out the following DVDs owned by the library:

• A Few Good Men
• Class Action
• Law and Order (1st 2 seasons) – Want to know how to spell the sound that signals scene changes in Law & Order?  See the discussion here.
• Rules of Engagement
• Inherit the Wind