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Legal Geekery Podcast Episode 7: “Intelligence doping,” Westlaw’s Project Cobalt, Fastcase, Apple Tablet and more!

As usual, this episode showcases Josh and Laura’s willingness to talk about stuff they know very little about, but it all relates back to the law, law school, or Josh’s ability to tell funny stories.

Introduction

- You know you’re all gonna love: lawhackr.com. Laura uses this mnemonic: “la whackr.” Catchy, no?
- Smartphones are neat: Laura got a Droid.

In The News

- The ABA Student Lawyer publication tells about yet another ethically-questionable practice students use to get ahead on exams, so called “mental doping.” Josh shares his (legit) Adderall experiences. Laura says cheaters cheat, who cares? A debate about the origins of baseball “asterisking” ensues.

- In a story that sounds interesting but completely lacks substance, a British Jury sides with a bit torrent site over music industry.

- Y’all might have noticed the insane changes in online legal research and open access to the law in the last several months. West’s “Project Cobalt” (see comments, too) will apparently offer shiny balls rolling through digital space, set to creepy music, or so the teaser site will have you believe.

- You might have heard of Fastcase and the Public Library of Law, but Laura and Josh had not until pretty recently. Check them out already. Sheesh.

- Laura might be incapable of describing how a bookmarklet works, but that should not stop you from using Legal Information Institute’s citer bookmarklet to jump to any section of a statute in the comprehensive LII primary law database, based on a standard citation. Very cool!

- Gawker may or may not be getting in trouble with their alleged incitement to disclose trade secrets as they offer up big bucks for an Apple Tablet preview.

Love For Our Geeks
@webcrush says: “How about a discussion on professor hawking their own books/supplements as class requirements?”

@jessweiss asks: “what about something on the supreme court’s refusal to allow broadcast of gay marriage lawsuit in 9th circuit?”Here’s the text of the opinion [pdf], and here is relatively recent background from the Congressional Research Service on cameras in federal courts [pdf].

@RummySin wants to hear more about “the circus that is OCI/job hunt? Journals? Undergrads in the lawbrary…”

@less_than_3_U wonders: “how do I find a lawyer BEFORE I need 1? You know so I can determine if s/he right fit instead of only 1 avail?”

As usual, we shamelessly ask that you give us a positive review on iTunes, leave your comments and, of course, subscribe to the podcast.

You must have ideas for more interesting and/or controversial things for us to talk about! Send them our way at podcast /at/ legalgeekery /dot/ com or via twitter (@legalgeekery and/or @lbergus).

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