Articles Posted in July, 2006

Measure 37 and JELL: The latest issue of the Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation (JELL), volume 20(2) 2005 (yes, that 2005 is correct – don’t ask) out of the University of Oregon Law School, is a Measure 37 Symposium. We just got our copy; the articles are available online and in print at most law libraries.

Bedsworth: If you don’t read Justice Bedsworth’s (Beds to his true fans) column once a month, well, your life will just be that little bit gloomier. There’s a secret online stash of previous columns, but you’ll just have to find them yourself (or ask nicely).

OSB Looking for a Few Good Volunteers: Now’s your chance (and you have until Sept 8th!). OSB is seeking volunteers for committees, boards, commissions, etc. Stop complaining, start leading.

Aging Genius Cleans Up: Isn’t it nice when scientists and economists prove what we knew all along? Carolyn Elefant, my favorite solo practitioner blogger, at My Shingle links to a Wired dot com article on late bloomers. This is a nice companion article to last week’s JAMA article showing that people who do housework live longer than people who don’t. (Yeah, yeah. The article makes it seem more complicated than that but trust me, that’s pretty much what is says. Could this be why women live longer than men?) So go off and do some law that makes you happy and brings good things to people in your community. It’s never too late.

ODOT is Full of It: There is loads of useful information at the Oregon Department of Transportation web site. I couldn’t find an online copy of the brochure I really wanted, but found lots of other terrific information including this newsletter, and this brochure (which is a little slow to load) to post in your workplace or pass around at a neighborhood association meeting, forms galore, and this handy-dandy Vehicle Code “book.”

Whither Wireless?: Wireless in the Old Bailey (courtesy of Future Lawyer)? What would Rumpole say? Friends traveling around the U.S. this year tell me that they may not be able to get good coffee everywhere, but wireless is ubiquitous, which was not the case only 2 years ago. So why do we not have wireless here in our Oregon courthouses? And when it does finally arrive, is the $100 laptop far behind?

Sex Abuse and Tort Claims Law: Dennis Steinman, an attorney with Kell, Alterman & Runstein in Portland, has an article in today’s (7/14/06) Oregonian, “The Double Standard in Child Sexual Abuse.” The point-link is here, but if that doesn’t work, link to it from Oregonlive, Commentary.

Free Business Cards: One of the truths about business cards is that you never get it right the first time. So why not first try a batch for free? I’m sure there a quite a few places to order free business cards online, but this link to VistaPrint came to me from Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools, which is exactly what he says it is, except it should say REALLY Cool Tools. The site is so much fun and you will find something for everyone on it – and make your life easier in the long run – always an important goal for the busy attorney.

Eminent Domain, Kelo, and Initiative Petition #57: ABA’s new book, “Eminent Domain Use and Abuse: Kelo in Context,” has arrived. While eminent domain per se is not yet a huge land use topic in Oregon, there is an initiative that is likely to appear on the November ballot: Intiative Petition #57. You may start seeing more stories about this and other initiatives as they work their way closer to the ballot. The Elections Division has various ways, including this one, to keep us informed on what Measures make it to November. But as always when using the web, check the date of the document you are reading to make sure it is current.