Articles Posted in January, 2006

Bug Bash: This from the week of 1/16/06, is so funny – sad, true, but still, very funny. It’s a good weekly cartoon and even the non-techies amongst you might find much to learn and laugh along with it. It doesn’t have the underlying bitterness of Dilbert, but as they say, “it’s all good.” I grew up on cartoons so forgive me my craving for a daily fix of Mutts, Zitts, and all the rest. And then there is the quintessential librarian cartoon, here.

Oregon Assisted Suicide vs Supreme Court: For the 2 of you who might not have heard by now, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld Oregon’s assisted suicide law, 6-3. The official full-text opinion will appear here. It will also appear here and here.

Real Estate and that 6% Commission: If you have ever bought or sold a house, you might want to read on. The Oregonian ran a very (VERY) interesting story on Tuesday, on page 3 of the Business section (why isn’t there a Labor section of the newspaper?). You can find the story more easily at its original home, the NYT. The story was written by Glen Justice, appears on 1/12/06, with the headline, “Lobbying to Sell Your House,” and here is the direct link. It is about yet another effort to beat back the lobbying power of the National Association of Realtors.

Single Lawyers: For lawyers who believe there is life after work, even though it is with another lawyer, find your match at Lawyers in Love dating service. (Insert Gallic shrug here. Surely a very smart lawyer would rather be matched up with a law librarian, eh? 🙂 Thanks to Stark County Law Library for the link (and their superlative blawg) to The Practice, which took us to LawyersInLove.

Email as KM Platform: “Excited Utterances” links on Jan 3, 2006, to an interesting article on the subject of using email, Outlook in this instance, as a platform for a law firm’s KM system. If you don’t know what KM (knowledge management) is, this article is not a bad place to begin. You have KM whether you know it or not. If you use paper file folders and a telephone or email folders and a shared drive so others in the firm can work on the same document, then you have a KM system – one that is low-tech to be sure, but KM nonetheless.

Attorney Help Center: MyShingle, a wonderful blog for not-just-solos (law librarians too!) links to and comments about the Maryland Personal Injury Help Center. Interesting that the content isn’t hidden behind a password. Good for them. (MyShingle offers the story up from another blog, another of Evan Shaeffer’s, he of the Legal Underground.)

How many email accounts should you have?: The answer is 3, according to Mike Trittipo at Technically Legal: “One will be your main attorney-role e-mail address, meant only for communications with clients, colleagues, and the courts. Another will be a duty-grade business address, meant for purchasing, discussion lists, and the like. The third is a personal address, for use with family, friends, and generally outside work.” Jim Calloway, a blawging mensch, gave us the leg-up to Technically Legal. Read the full email entry posted Oct 19th, 2005. The other postings are worth reading too.

Criminal Background Checks: Today’s (1/3/06) Oregonian had a teaser of a story about the perils of pre-employment background checks. It will give you some idea of the complexities of the process. If you think you know everything there is to know about criminal records checking, test your knowledge. Virtual Chase and LLRX offer overviews of the problem. And if you think an article from 2001 is out of date, think again. It’s no easier now than then, especially if you factor in bigger and not better online companies that compile the information with minimum quality control.