January is Employment Law Resource Month at Harris County Law Library. Selected labor and employment law resources are on display in the library, and others are highlighted here on Ex Libris Juris. Another excellent tool for locating our most frequently consulted employment law resources can be found on our website under the Legal Research tab on our homepage. The Labor and Employment Law Research Guide features Practice Essentials, including treatises, form manuals, and pattern jury charges, along with annotated statutes and codes, CLE coursebooks, and legal periodicals. Additional titles on workplace discrimination, labor relations, occupational safety, and workers' compensation are recommended. Access this Guide online, download or print a PDF copy, or pick up a hard copy at the Reference Desk.
Featured Podcast: If You Can't Afford a Lawyer
On occasion, the Tech Tuesday blog post has focused on podcasts of interest to the legal community. One such podcast, a production of The Center for Investigative Reporting, is worth special mention. This award-winning program is called Reveal. It is broadcast on a number of public radio stations across the nation, but the entire archive of programs can be streamed online.
Ex Libris Juris featured an episode of Reveal in a previous entry last fall, and in today's blog post, the Law Library is recommending another, especially for those interested in access to justice issues. If You Can't Afford a Lawyer is an examination of one man's efforts to change the justice system in New Orleans, where he, Derwyn Bunton, is the Chief Public Defender. His unique approach to instigating change has gotten quite bit of attention, generating controversy and criticism as well as support. Listen to this thought-provoking podcast to consider the challenges of providing legal representation on a limited budget in a high-crime city. For more law- and legal tech-related podcasts and other media, visit our list of LTI Legal Links on the Legal Tech Institute webpage.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Closure
On February 4, 1968, exactly two months before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered an impassioned and powerful sermon from the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He called on his congregation to embrace humanity in the spirit of service and to achieve greatness through compassion for others. For Dr. King, service was the highest calling and the act for which he himself wished to be remembered. As we celebrate the upcoming holiday and observe the birth of this great man, we honor his wish.
We at the Law Library are proud to serve the citizens of Harris County and to work every day in fulfillment of our mission. It is a privilege to connect with the people we serve, and an honor to meet the legal needs of the community. Providing meaningful service with empathy and understanding is what we are called to do. Thank you for supporting and sustaining us as we work to serve you.
This excerpt from Dr. King's sermon, The Drum Major Instinct, expresses with eloquence and fervor, the mandate of this extraordinary man.
"...recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That's a new definition of greatness...by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve."
Live Streaming Event: Legal Services Corporation Technology Initiative Grants (TIG) Conference
Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is an independent nonprofit organization, established by Congress in 1974, to provide financial support for civil legal aid to low-income individuals. Every year since 2000, the LSC has sponsored the Technology Initiative Grants (TIG) Conference which has awarded more than 600 grants, totaling $57 million, to civil legal aid organizations across the country. The 17th Annual TIG Conference is being held in San Antonio this week, January 11-13. For the first time, the LSC will live-stream several sessions of the conference via Facebook Live. To view these sessions, visit LSC's Facebook page during the conference. Share what you learn via Twitter using the hashtag #LSCTIG.
Data Privacy and Information Security Law Exhibit
National Data Privacy Day, observed annually on January 28th, commemorates the 1981 signing of Convention 108, the first legally binding international treaty dealing with privacy and data protection. The Law Library is recognizing this event all month long with an exhibit, Data Privacy and Information Security Law, which will be on display in the Law Library lobby until January 31st.
Among the items featured in the exhibit are books from the Law Library's collection:
- Locked Down: Practical Information Security for Lawyers and Encryption Made Simple for Lawyers address the need for attorneys to protect their clients' data from security breaches, especially in the age of cloud storage, ransomware, and widespread information-sharing across potentially unsecured networks.
- Wiretapping & Eavesdropping: Surveillance in the Internet Age, a 4-volume loose leaf service, includes chapters on computer evidence, Internet technology, and the Fourth Amendment. Relevant federal and state laws regarding digital communications and surveillance in the information age are also discussed. The Wiretap Act (18 USC §2510) and the Stored Communications Act (18 USCA § 2701-2712) are just two examples, both of which were cited in a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case, Robert C. Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (302 F. 3d 868), which is also highlighted in the Law Library's exhibit.