Articles Posted in December, 2006

Something about Bluebooking makes people crazy. I agree, though only up to a point. Law librarians’ lives are made a little easier, though not necessarily more fun, than they would otherwise be when attorneys are not allowed to make up citations, especially abbreviations – trust me on this. I’ve seen them make them up and it isn’t pretty.

On the other hand, I agree with Wayne Schiess when he rants about how people try to, in effect, psychoanalyze, critique, and otherwise grade the writer on the basis of the beauty and Bluebook-correctness of his/her citation form. Bluebooking is not an Olympic Sport, nor is it a Rorschach Test.

But lawyers, and legal academics in particular, are going to continue doing what they do (writing law review articles), continue complaining about how badly they do it (Rodell, from 1936), counting the number of times other lawyers cite to their law review articless (most-cited law review rankings, here and here), and criticizing those studies ( “an uncommonly silly fascination,” quoting Avi Soifer, from Barrett, Paul, “Citoloy, the Study of Footnotes, Sweeps the Law Schools,” Wall Street Journal, Jan. 22, 1997, A.1) (The latter is NOT in Bluebook format – make of that what you will. Oh, and your local public library may just have an online database of WSJ articles back to the stone age, i.e. before the Web.)

The current issue, no. 85, no.1, 2006, of the Oregon Law Review has one article (specifically a “comment”) on Oregon law, “Championed by Progressives and William U’Ren: Can Oregon Give the Ballot Initiative to the People Again?”, by Ben Hovland.

The current issue, Dec 2006, of the OSB Civil Rights Section Newletter has a cover story by Sally Carter, of ODOJ, titled, “Workplace Bullying and Mobbing: Examining the Concepts Involved.” Current issues are not at their website, but you local law library may have it. Or contact a member of the Civil Rights Section.

For those of you who don’t check beSpacific on a daily basis, here’s a link from her most excellent blog to a Federal Reserve Board report, “Consumer Handbook on Adjustable Rate Mortgages.”

If you are new to lawyer blogs (aka blawgs) and not sure what they are or even where to begin reading them, the Blawg Review Awards isn’t a bad place to start – in fact it’s a darn good one. You’ll get a cross-section of the some of the best lawyer blogs on the Internet.

It has been said (by whom I honestly don’t know but will check), that “most lawyers are frustrated writers – but then, so are most writers.” The blawgosphere gives them all a bullhorn 🙂

The December OSB Bulletin arrived in my library today and apparently in other county law library mailboxes around the state. I’ve already been alerted to the article on Jacque Jurkins, our eminent “Madame Librarian.” The story will give you only the merest taste of what Jacque has contributed to Oregon legal research since 1964 – it’s beyond measure.

But do read the other stories too. I’m partial to the ones on writing – there is always something to learn from them and Perfect Proofing this month is no exception.

The State of Oregon Law Library is running an online survey, here, of CLE coursebook use and preference. Go for it and have your vote counted.

On Thursday, December 28th, 2006, from 8-9 p.m., Jenn Bascom, Clackamas County Law Librarian, and I, the Washington County Law Librarian, will appear on Legally Speaking with the host of the show, Jim Hilborn. Another local attorney, Shelley Fuller, will join us in an hour-long program on How to Find an Attorney. Legally Speaking (currently blog-less, but we’re working on that) is a call-in program that airs live on the 4th Thursday of the month, out of TVCTV in Beaverton, Oregon and is rebroadcast at different times throughout the month on Portland metro-area cable access channels, usually on Channel 11.

From a story today in the online Corvalis Gazette-Times:

“A glimpse into Judge Holcomb’s appointment,” By GWYNETH GIBBY, Gazette-Times reporter

“How much do we know about our circuit court judges? How do they get on the bench in the first place? And how do we know they’re doing a good job once they do?”