Articles Posted in October, 2006

Oregon Supreme Court Rules on OSB Diversity Requirement: The Oregon State Bar (OSB) reports: “On Tuesday, October 10, 2006, the Supreme Court voted 5-1 to reject the Board of Governors’ proposal to amend the MCLE rules to delete the Elimination of Bias requirement.” The OSB links to this story in the Statesman Journal. (We will continue to check for any official announcement or transcript of the proceedings, but the OSB web site will likely post the most timely information.)

League of Oregon Cities: The League of Oregon Cities doesn’t call itself a blog but it is as useful as one. Right now, in addition to other news, it has a lot of good links to measures that will be on the November ballot.

Small Business Legal Clinic: I’m rushing around for the next few days so don’t yet have all the links for this story, but did want to pass the news along. Tuesday’s (10/3/06) Portland Tribune reported on the opening of a new clinic staffed by Lewis & Clark Law Students offering, “free and low-cost legal assistance to owners of small business.” The story reports that the grant funding is from the city and Portland Business Alliance. (There may be others – this was a tiny story, more a blurb, at the bottom of page 2.) Law librarians and public librarians field a lot of information requests from small businesses and this specialized expertise is most welcome. The clinic, Small Business Legal Clinic, is at 422 NW Everett, in Old Town, Portland (see , our neighborhoods are now part of our addresses – we love our neighborhoods).

Right next to this blurb was another story about the archives at the City Auditor’s office. There will be an open house at the Stanley Parr Archives & Records Center. This bodes well for online access to historical record.

My Summer Vacation and Intellectual Property Law: Is your 4th grade student essay on your summer vacation protected under intellectual property laws? The October 4, 2006, Library Link of the Day, links to a Washington Post story from McLean High School (Virginia?) where the students are challenging school officials who plan to turn over student work to Turnitin, a “a California company that specializes in catching cheaters” according to the article. (That is, it attempts to deter and detect plagiarism.) If nothing else, this is a great civics lesson for these students. They may learn more about the law, the constitution, and legal research than most of their elders. (Slashdot also posted on the story a few days ago.)

* Sometimes you do have to register to read the Washington Post. As of the writing of this post, however, I was able to link directly to the article without logging in.
** A link to the archives of Library Link of the Day (LLD) can be found at the bottom of the LLD home page.

Librarians and the Lottery: Never say law librarians don’t look after you. King County Law Library has always been terrific (and I’ve always wanted to do something like this for Oregon public librarians) and now they have this, a Research Guide for Lottery Winners. (So Pick Me a Winner already 🙂

Divorce and Children: See the Oct 3, Steve Duin Commentary, “Putting Children at the Center of the Solution” about the Multnomah County Child Centered Solutions nonprofit. (If it is no longer Oct 3rd, go to OregonLive, click on Columnists, and follow links to Steve Duin’s Oct 3rd, 2006, column – you will/may need to enter your zip code, etc.)

Estate Planning: You CAN Take it With You: This story from CNET News, Taking Passwords To the Grave, should give you more than pause. Interesting. Linked to from
Bruce Schneier’s blog. And, as always, read the comments to Bruce’s posting.