Vincent G. Rinn Law Library

Law Professor Bassiouni Working with "Crimes Against Humanity Initiative"

Professor Bassiouni's participation at a conference on the Crimes Against Humanity Initiative, on on April 13-15, 2009 at Washington University , is evidence that he may be "retired" from DePaul  but he is clearly still very active on issues of human rights and international criminal processes. He is a member of the  Steering Committee of the Initiative.

Washington University Law's Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute has launched a two-year project to study the international law regarding crimes against humanity and to draft a multilateral treaty condemning and prohibiting such crimes.

Participants in this process recognize that there are treaties that address the crime of genocide but that there is a legal gap  when it comes to "crimes against humanity". Professor William Schabas , Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights of the National University of Ireland, stated, "Many obligations,  such as the duty to cooperate in prosecution and extradition, and the responsibility to prevent the crime, are said to be enshrined in customary international law." "However, it is important to take such vague commitments a step further, and incorporate them in a binding treaty. The project brings together many of the world’s experts on this subject, who will craft a model treaty that can then be considered by governments."

In praising the work of the conference participants , Professor Bassiouni said that, "... Their contributions were exceptional. The work that is being done on a Crimes Against Humanity Convention is truly of historic significance.”

(Source: Work Begins on Specialized Convention on Crimes Against Humanity)

DePaul Law Professor Bassiouni in Retirement ....Not So Much.

Almost two years ago, the DePaul Law school held a major reception to honor Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni on his retirement from the law school. See the previous blog posting, Professor Bassiouni Praised at Dinner & in Congress. But Professor Bassiouni just keeps "going and going". He is still involved and contributing to the law school. So it was no surprise that another much more intimate retirement reception was held last Thursday for Professor Bassiouni at the University Club.

Many recollections and congratulatory remarks were expressed by fellow teachers and former students. Dean Weissenberger presented Professor Bassiouni with a special fountain pen as a token of appreciation  for his many contributions to the law school and his advancement of  the rule of law in the world at large.

              [ Speeches, presentation, music by faculty member Ben Alba]

DePaul Law Recognized in U.S. News' 'America's Best Graduate Schools'

"The College of Law's overall ranking moved up to 87 from its 88th place showing last year. Six law schools tied with DePaul this year--Indiana University-Indianapolis; Loyola University Chicago; Marquette University; Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey-Newark; St. John's University; and University of South Carolina. The part-time program shared 21st place with Catholic University of America and Indiana University-Indianapolis. Also this year, U.S. News again cited DePaul's law school for its diverse enrollment."

"The DePaul College of Law has consistently maintained its tradition of providing a challenging course of study and hands-on experience that position students to make significant contributions to the legal community and the world," said Glen Weissenberger, dean of the College of Law. "In these difficult economic times, making the decision to attend law school is one that students are taking especially seriously. The latest U.S. News rankings help highlight why the DePaul College of Law is a good choice. The recognition reflects that the law school's exceptional faculty and programs are among the best in the country."

( Source: DePaul University press release, April 24 )

GPO Launches Federal Digital System ( FDsys)

A previous posting on this blog, New GPO "Future Digital System" Now In Beta, alerted users of online US government information about the testing of the new system intended to replace the previous online information service, GPO Access. Yesterday, GPO ( Government Printing Office) announced the official launch of the new knowledge management system, FDsys. Migration of content from GPO Access is still underway. See below for what is available now :

What's Available?

FDsys provides free online access to official Federal government publications. Through FDsys, you are able to

• Search for documents and publications
• Access metadata about documents and publications
• Download documents and publications in multiple renditions or file formats.

In many ways, using FDsys is similar to conducting a typical web search. When you enter a search query  FDsys will locate relevant information for you, just as if you were using any other search tool. After inputting your search terms, you will be provided with a list of relevant results, which can be narrowed down and filtered.

Currently, there are eight collections available in FDsys. Additional collections will be made available as they are migrated from GPO Access. The collections currently available are listed below.

• Compilation of Presidential Documents    • Congressional Bills
• Congressional Documents     • Congressional Hearings
• Congressional Record     • Congressional Reports
• Federal Register    • Public and Private Laws

Illinois State Bar Association Provides Members with Subscription to Fastcase

In an  article in the April,2009 issue of the Illinois Bar Journal, Helen W. Gunnarsson, a lawyer in Highland Park, and an  Illinois Bar Journal contributing writer, does a pretty good job of selling ISBA  members on their newest benefit of membership. As she points out, Fastcase can provide a cost-effective alternative or complement to the pricier "gold standard" services of Lexis and Westlaw. Members get access to the Fastcase national appllate plan as part of their basic membership dues.

Fastcase was founded in 1999 by two D.C. attorneys who were looking  to offer ".. lawyers an affordable alternative or supplement to other commercial legal research services." Other competitors in this market include Loislaw, Versuslaw, Casemaker. " Fastcase now serves almost 340,000 lawyers and has partnerships with bar associations in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Missouri, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, among other states."

Since Fastcase does not have all the services that Westlaw or Lexis can provide, it does provide links to ChoicePoint and NewsLibrary.com for searches of public documents, newspapers and legal forms.  Links for transactional use of Shepards or KeyCite are also provided since Fastcase concedes that "We do not hold [ Fastcase's] "Authority Check"  out as a complete replacement for [these] services."

Fastcase appears to have come up with an innovation of its own, the Interactive Timeline feature which provides a visual display of search results between a vertical axis with relevance values ranging from zero to 100 percent and a horizontal axis showing dates.

Users see a graph with circles of various sizes depending on the number of cases and by hovering their mouse over the circle without clicking they can identify a case, some relevant language from its text, and the number of times it's cited in the Fastcase database.

This may prove to be a useful addition to the traditional methods of displaying search results. It will be interesting to see if other online legal research providers will also make use of a similar technique.

DePaul Sex Trafficking Conference Presents Results of Study of Ex-pimps By Senior Research Fellow, Jody Raphael

According to a Chicago Sun Times article, details of a pilot project which interviewed five pimps and madams, were discussed at a video linkup conference on sex trafficking at DePaul University, this week. The project is part of the continuing work that Senior researcher, Jody Raphael, has undertaken for the DePaul College of Law's Schiller DuCanto & Fleck Family Law Center, focusing on the Chicago sex trade industry.

The Center's inaugural newsletter states that " This project seeks to better understand the organization of the sex trade industry in Chicago, whether pimps are middle persons reporting to others, and how they determine prostitution venues to which they transport women and girls." The hope is that this will lead to a larger study that will provide information for  law enforcement  efforts to lessen exploitation of the women working for pimps.

The conference was sponsored by Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation which works to be "...an organization that would work on eliminating the demand for prostituted individuals."

National Technical Reports Library From NTIS Debuts

The National Technical Information Service is the nation’s largest source of government-funded scientific, technical, engineering and business-related information. It acquires, indexes, abstracts, and archives the largest collection of U.S. government-sponsored technical reports.  It was created by legislation in 1950 (15 U.S.C. 1151-1157). Subsequent legislation required agencies to make copies of their scientific and technical reports available to NTIS. NTIS is also authorized to recover its costs by charging fees.

In 2007 the Government Printing Office (GPO) was able to establish a content partnership with NTIS called "DARTS: Depository Access to Reports, Technical & Scientific", to provide access to bibliographic records for approximately 240,000 publications from 1964-2000 and links to online content for downloading. Federal depository libraries can  register and abide by certain conditions to participate in this program.

This program is still in existence but this April, NTIS has introduced a new broader channel for various types of libraries to search and access its huge collection of technical reports. It is not part of the federal depository program. So there are fees associated with its use. The new product is called the National Technical Reports Library (NTRL) and it will provide access to bibliographic records of more than 2,000,000 technical reports and downloadable full text of 500,000 of these reports in PDF format. According to NTIS, libraries can use the new library to:

•  Stay informed of the latest government sponsored research results
•  Access government technical reports when you need them
•  Retrieve information that is difficult to find from any other source
•  Identify legacy research reports

As with the DARTS arrangement, there are specific terms and conditions that subscribing institutions will need to abide by. An idea of the range of fees for different organizations can be seen at the Registration Form.

The President & The Poet - The Abraham Lincoln & Robert Burns Connection

As the nation, the state of Illinois and the Illinois legal community commemorate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, there is another historical figure whose 250th anniversary also occurs this year. That figure is Robert Burns, Scotland's national bard who, somewhat surprisingly, has a connection to our 16th president.

A story in last Sunday's Chicago Tribune by Scottish actor, Sean Connery, speaks to this connection of lives through the medium of literature. While born 50 years before Lincoln, Burns had a deep empathy for the American experience. As Connery says, " He was a democrat, a patriot and an internationalist at a time when none of the three was in fashion. And though he never saw it, he was captivated by America -- writing an address to George Washington's birthday and entreating his own countrymen to reclaim their independence at a time when America was just asserting its own."

Authors Harkness and McMurty, in their book "Lincoln's Favorite Poets", state that after Shakespeare, the works of Robert Burns were his favorite. They speculate that their mutual rise from poverty and obscurity would have found them kindred spirits. Professor Ferenc Szasz in his book, “Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns: Connected Lives and Legends”, relates that Lincoln first encountered a collection of Burn's poetry in his teen-aged years when he began to memorize many of the poems.

In an 1860 presidential biography , Professor Szasz finds the statement that, “When practicing law before his election to Congress, a copy of Burns was his inseparable companion on the circuit; and this he pursued so constantly, that it is said he now has by heart every line of his favorite poet.” He adds that, "Milton Hay, who served as a clerk in Lincoln’s Springfield law office once told a reporter that Lincoln “could quote Burns by the hour. I have been with him in that little office and heard him recite with the greatest admiration and zest Burns’ Ballads and quaint things.”

As we commemorate and celebrate these kindred spirits, we should fervently hope for the fulfillment of the Burns verse that Sean Connery selects to close his article :" Then let us pray that come it may, As come it will for a' that ... That man to man, the world o'er, shall brothers be for a' that."

MIT Faculty Vote To Make Pubs Open Access

Last July, a posting on this blog reported that the faculty of Harvard university had voted unanimously to make their scholarly articles available online for free. (See : Harvard Law Makes Scholarly Articles "Open Access"). Recently the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have also passed a similar resolution.

An article in the online publication Ars Technica, summarizes the policy :

"In short, as of last week, everyone at MIT is expected to retain rights to distribute their works at no cost for their parent institution. Anybody who wants to publish with a journal that refuses to grant these rights will have to submit a written request for an exception to the MIT provost." Unlike the open access policies at Stanford & Harvard, the MIT policy does not provide a time period during which traditional publishers can have exclusive use of the faculty produced content."

The article points out that the growing number of institutions with such policies indicates that many faculty desire to deal with publishers as a group and not just as individual authors. This should allow faculty to retain some of their copyrights and  to provide much less expensive access to their research. This is upsetting the traditional economic publishing model that has been very tilted toward the publishers. There has been significant backlash from the publishers who have enlisted some members of congress to try to roll back the open access policy implemented at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). (See blog posting: Publisher Backlash Against NIH Open Access in Conyers Bill)

The entry of MIT with its great reputation and considerable research production, may help reinforce the open access camp in this economic and political contest.

Genocide Prevention Month in April / Illinois Holocaust Museum To Open

"Genocide survivors from Darfur and five other civilian slaughters are uniting with each other and advocates to observe Genocide Prevention Month in April 2009.  The survivors come together because the tragedies of Darfur, Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, the Holocaust, and Armenia – remarkably and coincidentally – all have major anniversaries in April."

"In a statement to announce the month, more than 50 organizations from over 10 countries called on powerful nations of the world to make genocide prevention a national and international priority and to implement policies to avert the systematic mass killing of civilians, and to take immediate action on the worsening situation in Darfur."
( Source: Survivors of Six Genocides Declare April 2009 Genocide Prevention Month )

In Illinois a new museum will be opened to remember those killed in the Holocaust and to work to prevent genocide in our contemporary world through education and activism.

"Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center leadership today [March 24 ] announced that President Bill Clinton will be the featured speaker at the institution's highly anticipated Public Grand Opening on Sunday, April 19, 2009 in Skokie, Illinois. President Clinton will join Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, foreign dignitaries, Holocaust survivors and several thousand members of the general public as the new museum officially opens its doors for the first time."

"... the Illinois Holocaust Museum will be the largest institution in the Midwest dedicated to preserving the memories of those lost in the Holocaust and to teaching current generations to fight hatred, indifference and genocide in today's world."

(Source: President Bill Clinton to Keynote Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center Public Grand Opening  )