College degree and excellent verbal and written communication skills required. Must be well-organized, reliable, and detail-oriented. Must be proficient in Microsoft Office applications and have reliable transportation and a cell phone. Experience with immigration case management software a plus.

This job posting at the University of Texas Law School was highlighted on the Above the Law blog. You can read the full story here.

The message on Rodney Bradford’s Facebook page, posted at 11:49 a.m. on Oct. 17, asked where his pancakes were. The words were typed from a computer in his father’s apartment in Harlem.

At the time, the sentence, written in street slang, was just another navel-gazing, cryptic Facebook status update — meaningless to anyone besides Mr. Bradford. But when Mr. Bradford, 19, was arrested the next day as a suspect in a robbery at the Farragut Houses in Brooklyn, where he lives, the words took on greater importance. They became his alibi.

Read the full article here.

As the official handbook of the Federal Government, the United States Government Manual provides comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. It also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions, and committees. The Manual begins with reprints of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

A typical agency description includes:

• A list of officials heading major operating units.
• A summary statement of the agency's purpose and role in the Federal Government.
• A brief history of the agency, including its legislative or executive authority.
• A description of its programs and activities.
• Information, addresses, and phone numbers to help users locate detailed information on consumer activities, contracts and grants, employment, publications, and other matters of public interest.

The Manual is published as a special edition of the Federal Register (see 1 CFR 9.1). Its focus is on programs and activities. Persons interested in detailed organizational structure, the regulatory documents of an agency, or Presidential documents should refer to the Federal Register or one of its other special editions.

GPO Access contains the U.S. Government Manual for 1995-96 and all subsequent editions to the present. The new edition of the Manual is available to the Public each year in the late summer. Documents are available as ASCII text and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files.

You can access the 2009-2010 Government Manual here.

The Federal Evidence Blog recently wrote the following on the admissibility of chat room conversations:

Internet chatroom conversations about having sex with minors was admissible to show the defendant’s knowledge of the age of his victim and absence of mistake under FRE 404(b); a sufficient showing was made that he made the other chats and not other family members who had access to the computer, in United States v. Zahursky, __ F.3d __ (7th Cir. Sept. 1, 2009) (No. 08-1151).

You can read the full blog entry here.

Thanks to the Legal Writing Prof Blog for the following reference to a Wisconsin case:

FN5. Counsel for Espitia cites to an unpublished case assertedly upholding a stipulated damages clause due to the difficulty of ascertaining “the exact amount of income certain vending machines would produce.” The cite provided is “ Buellesbach v. Roob, 2005 AP 160 (Ct.App.Dist.I).” Buellesbach indeed is unpublished but it has nothing to do with liquidated damage clauses or vending machines; it is a misrepresentation case brought by newlyweds against a wedding photographer. Also, “2005 AP 160” is the docket number, which we discovered only after reaching a dead end at 2005 WI App 160, 285 Wis.2d 472, 702 N.W.2d 433. At last we located the unpublished case that addresses the subject matter for which counsel cited Buellesbach: Stansfield Vending, Inc. v. Osseo Truck Travel Plaza, LLC, 2003 WI App 201, 267 Wis.2d 280, 670 N.W.2d 558. Different name, different citation, different district (District IV) but, as promised, unpublished. It is a violation of Wis. Stat. Rule 809.19(1)(e) to provide citations which do not conform to the Uniform System of Citation and of Wis. Stat. Rule 809.23(3) to cite to unpublished opinions. One reason may be that they can be time-consuming to locate. A $100 penalty is imposed against Espitia's counsel. See Hagen v. Gulrud, 151 Wis.2d 1, 8, 442 N.W.2d 570 (Ct.App.1989).

Espitia v. Fouche, 2008 WI App 160, ¶ 14 n.4, 314 Wis.2d 507, 758 N.W.2d 224 (Ct. App. 2008) (unpublished table decision).