Whether you’re coming back as a 2L or 3L, or just starting law school as a 1L, welcome! We hope you had a great summer, and that you’re refreshed and ready for a new school year.

Like always, we’re here to help make your law school experience an easier one, whether it’s by giving you the option to reserve a study room online, providing resources like AudioCaseFiles and CALI, or making it easy to find a book to read or a movie to watch. We’ve also put together maps to let you know of some great places to eat or get coffee near the law school.

So, welcome (back)! We’re happy to see you, and we hope you have a great year!

Official publicity photo from Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing

The law school has been abuzz with activity recently, as everyone’s getting ready for new student orientation next week and the start of classes the following week. But maybe you’re not quite ready to give up on that feeling of summer yet. Here are a few suggestions for ways to enjoy your last little bit of freedom.

1. Watch the Olympics — Let’s start with the obvious one here. The games run through August 12 in London and every day there is another story, from the badminton players being disqualified to news that the archer who trained Jennifer Lawrence for The Hunger Games was competing today. Not able to watch the coverage live? You can always set up a blocker to hide all the spoilers.

2. Get pumped for an action-packed Fall — And by that I mean in TV and movies, of course. Watch Daniel Craig get back in action as James Bond, first by accompanying the Queen to the Olympics and then in the new trailer for Skyfall. And if you happen to also subscribe to the “Bond is a Timelord” theory [it makes sense, doesn’t it?], there’s a brand-spanking-new trailer for Doctor Who Series 7 out as well.

3. Enjoy the theatre — Want something a bit quieter? Catch the closing weekend of the Georgia Shakespeare summer season. You have the choice of The Emperor and the Nightingale, Illyria: A Twelfth Night Musical, The Importance of Being Earnest and Much Ado About Nothing. (And did you know that Joss Whedon, director of The Avengers, is putting out a new film version of Much Ado this Fall too? Now you do.)

4. Audition to be a zombie — Not content to let others do all the acting for you? Head over to Six Flags Over Georgia on August 4 and 5 to audition for a part in this Fall’s Fright Fest.

5. Celebrate random events — And if you’re still looking for something, the kindly folks at Mental Floss have created this handy list of August holidays you can celebrate. From International Beer Day (August 5) to Lazy Day (August 10) to National Bad Poetry Day (August 18), there’s something there for everyone. Just don’t forget that the first day of orientation coincides with National Fresh Breath Day. Coincidence? We think not.

Registered trademark symbol

Today marks the beginning of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, but for lawyers, the Olympics have been going on for a while. “Branding laws” in the UK were passed a few years ago to ensure that only the official sponsors of the London Olympics can use phrases such as “London 2012” or Olympics-related designs. There has been criticism of the way these laws have been applied; a butcher was forced to remove a sign featuring the Olympic rings made out of sausages, and even the Duchess of Cambridge’s family’s party planning business had to make changes to its website.

Protecting trademarks (and other intellectual property) is a regular part of being a well-known brand. If a word or symbol becomes too synonymous with the product, trademark protection may be lost. That’s what happened to “aspirin,” “escalator,” and “Murphy bed.” So lawyers often send out “cease and desist” letters to people who are believed to be using a trademark without authorization.

While there has been criticism of the approach taken to protect the Olympics trademark, another approach has recently made news. Patrick Wensink recently received a cease-and-desist letter from the attorneys for Jack Daniel’s, which has been hailed as “the most polite, encouraging, and empathetic cease-and-desist letter ever to be sent in the history of lawyers and humanity.”  Mr. Wensink’s book, Broken Piano for President, features a cover that looks remarkably like the Jack Daniel’s logo. Jack Daniel’s attorney, Christy Susman, sent Mr. Wensink a letter that very politely explained that while they are “certainly flattered by [Wensink’s] affection for the brand” and “appreciate the pop culture appeal of Jack Daniel’s,” they have to protect their trademark and request that the cover design be changed. Jack Daniel’s even offered to pay part of the costs of changing the design quickly.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has a searchable database of both “live” and “dead” trademarks, TESS. You can use that system to search for the Jack Daniel’s mark (the serial number is 85456921) or any trademark from an organization like the United States Olympic Committee.

By Stephen Adams, 2012 Library GRA

The law library is rather quiet today, because today is the first day of the two-day process that is the bar exam. All the folks that have been toiling away in the library with their BarBri and Kaplan materials are now taking what is quite possibly the biggest test of their lives. Three (or four, or five, if they’re part-time students) years of hard work boils down to two days of lengthy multiple choice questions and essay questions. To say that nerves are a bit frayed would be an understatement.

So let’s just make fun of the situation with cute jokes and take a bit of a mental vacation in honor of all those folks toiling away in a big, scary room.

–          Today, Tort Bunnies is continuing its last hurrah before the author ends the strip: a five-day story arc devoted to both the bar exam and world annihilation. Because let’s be honest: the bar exam is rather close to the end the world, isn’t it?

–          When in Law School has wished its readers good luck, but you’ll also want to check out their other bar exam-related posts to recreate the proper feelings attributable to the exam.

–          Above the Law’s contribution this year has been a little less than usual, but is still a gem: a student from Hastings rapping (not RAPping…Rule Against Perpetuities FTW) herself through some property concepts.

Good luck to all of those that are sweating bullets today and tomorrow!

Image by Flickr user zappowbang

The library will have shortened hours between July 18 and August 4. Our hours will be:

• Monday – Friday: 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.
• Saturday and Sunday: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

The Reference Desk will be open Monday – Friday 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. during this time. There will not be weekend Reference hours.

We will return to our normal hours of operation on Sunday, August 5 when the library will be open 10 a.m. – 11 p.m. Our hours for the Fall semester can be found on our website.

by puliarf on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

It’s a busy time to be Lance Armstrong’s attorneys. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, a non-governmental organization given authority by Congress to enforce anti-doping measures in amateur sports, decided to file formal drug charges against the retired racing cyclist. Sanctions from the USADA would likely include a lifetime ban from sports and stripping Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles.  Given a choice of accepting sanctions or submitting to arbitration by Saturday, Armstrong decided to file suit, which he did on Monday, filing an 80-page complaint in federal district court in Texas challenging the authority of the USADA.

Later that day, though, the complaint was dismissed by the judge in the case, Judge Sam Sparks. Why? A failure to comply with Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires “a short and plain statement of the claim.” As Judge Sparks noted, “[t]his Court is not inclined to indulge Armstrong’s desire for publicity, self-aggrandizement, or vilification of Defendants, by sifting through eighty mostly unnecessary pages in search of the few kernels of factual material relevant to his claims.” Armstrong’s attorneys reworked the complaint and shaved off 55 pages, refiling a new 25-page complaint on Tuesday. On Wednesday the USADA granted a 30-day extension of time for Armstrong to contest the drug charges, prompting his attorneys to drop their request for a temporary restraining order while Judge Sparks considers their request for an injunction.

While we’re sure you can continue to follow the case in the media, did you know that you can also follow the filings in the case? You can using Bloomberg Law. You can request to track the docket (number 1:12-cv-00606) and be informed as often as you’d like of any new filings in this case or any other case in a court covered by Bloomberg. As this case is in federal court, you can also view any of the filings in the case, such as the numerous exhibits submitted by Armstrong’s attorneys, which include emails, news reports, and even law review articles.

This year’s CALI Conference for Law School Computing was hosted at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in their beautiful new downtown facility located in the shadow of San Diego’s Gaslamp quarter.  The building still had that new, technology-rich, Leeds-certified smell about it. Everything in the facility was brand spanking new…save a pair of 300-thousand year old wooly mammoth tusks that were on display in the law library. The school had unwittingly unearthed the fossils when excavating for the new building and they did what everyone does when they do not know what to do with something:  give it to the law library.

This got me thinking of what other unusual items have by chance or device found themselves part of a law library or its collection. Below is the fruit of my first search. I am sure there is more to be unearthed.

• I am equally perplexed by and envious of Cornell Law Library’s squash court.  Yes, that is right. There is a squash court in the Cornell Law Library.  Struggling with Georgia legislative history (or the lack thereof)? Well blow off some steam and play a quick game of squash.  After hitting a few trickle boasts, you will be ready to face that legislative history research again.
• My personal favorite, being a child of the 80’s, is the platinum album of Cameo’s Word Up that is on display at University of Tennessee Joel A. Katz Law Library. The Library’s namesake is a successful entertainment lawyer that has represented Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett and Michael Jackson among others. He has donated a number of his platinum plated awards to the law library but it is the image of Larry Blackmon in a codpiece—which in his defense seemed to make perfect sense back in the 80’s—on the walls of a law library that just makes me smile.
• Finally, Yale has added bobbleheads to the Lillian Goldman Law Library rare book collection. Likeness of the Supreme Court justices in bobblehead form are now given similar historical attention to those commonplace gilt vellum bound manuscripts that litter the rare book collection.  Their Rare Books Blog is actually quite fascinating and worth a read.

Image by Flickr user joelmann

It’s almost July 4. A time for barbecues, the annual viewing of 1776, and that most-beloved tradition: fireworks. There are fireworks displays all over Atlanta, starting tonight. Or, if you prefer to stay inside, there’s even an app for that.

Fireworks are one of those topics on which state laws vary significantly. In Georgia, fireworks are regulated by O.C.G.A. § 25-10-1 et seq. Here, among other things:

• the term “fireworks” does not mean model rockets or toy pistols with paper caps (25-10-1),
• a license is required for anyone wanting to put on a public fireworks display (25-10-3.2),
• not having a license is a felony and is punishable by 2-10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000 or both (25-10-8),
• it is illegal to employ anyone under the age of 18 to work at a public display or where fireworks are stored (25-10-4.1), and
• it is negligence per se to sell fireworks to a minor (Allen v. Gornto, 100 Ga. App. 744 (1959)).

We hope you all have a happy — and safe — July 4!

By Lindsay Anglin

Image by Flickr user naiadsspring

As many of you are now deeply entrenched in case files, briefs, and client intake at your summer internships, it is important to take a moment to remember your ethical responsibilities regarding client information. Last week the 5^th Circuit approved $30,000 in sanctions against a firm for accidentally distributing an opposing party’s confidential client information after someone from the firm mistakenly copied the information onto compact discs that were given to other attorneys. (Source: ABA Journal). While confidentiality breaches like this can easily occur when sending electronic files or cc’ing the wrong person on an email, the greatest risk lies in a casual conversation with friends, family, or fellow students.

None of you want to be the employee who cost the firm thousands in sanctions for an inadvertent breach in client confidentiality. So check out these tips on how to maintain confidentiality this summer:

• Do not talk about the firm’s clients outside of the firm. Period.
• It may be tempting, especially if you have a funny story to tell, but don’t tell specific case stories or facts to friends and family. Even if you keep it vague, with a little internet research on your firm, agency, or judge, someone can find out what case you are working on and figure out who your client is.
• Refrain from posting updates about your summer internship on social media sites. Though you (hopefully) withhold client names, postings with date and time stamps can easily be traced back to your dealings with certain clients, attorneys, or judges.
• Along those same lines, do not blog about your summer experience. Giving you more space to air your thoughts certainly does not help your chances of breaching confidentiality.
• Try not to trash talk your firm, the attorneys you work for, or other interns. While this does not violate a rule of legal ethics, you never know who might be behind you in the elevator or sitting at the next table.
• Do not copy, download or distribute written work product without approval from your firm. If you are applying for a job later and want to use a brief you wrote at your firm as your writing sample, ask for permission from the firm. They own this work product, not you. And using it could breach client confidentiality.

Source: Above the Law, an expert recruiter and former firm hiring partner.

Most of your offices likely provided training on legal ethics, but for those of you who were still recovering from your post-finals celebrations that first week on the job and have forgotten some of the rules, the library has resources to help you out:

• Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct from the State Bar of Georgia
• Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct in Print: KFG76.5.A2 G466
• Georgia Court Rules and Procedure: Available at the Reference Desk
• Georgia Legal Malpractice Law in Print: KFG76.5.A2 E845
• Understanding Lawyers’ Ethics in Print: Available in the Law Study Aids section
• Professional Responsibility Study Aids

Good luck this summer and remember to keep your lips sealed when it comes to your clients.

By Joe Brock

Image by Flickr user mhaithaca

While many students drink coffee simply to keep their head off the desk, coffee does have some beneficial effects other than an energy boost. First, coffee helps one be a better proof reader. According to a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology it only takes about 200 milligrams of caffeine a day to make you a better proof reader. 200 milligrams is roughly 12 oz. of coffee. But, if some is good more is better, right? I wish I had known this before I turned in my Appellate Brief for RWA, needless to say, it wasn’t mistake free.