The Feb 2007 issue of the Lane County Law Library Newsletter is out. Learn about links to research resources on finding legislative history, administrative law, law journals, and legal forms. Thank you to the Lane County Law Librarian!
An interesting article from the Christian Science Monitor, “New no-smoking frontier: condos and apartments.”
From Bruce Schneier on Security blog:
“According to this article, “Mistaken eyewitness identification is the leading cause of wrongful convictions.” Given what I’ve been reading recently about memory and the brain, this does not surprise me at all. … New Mexico is currently debating a bill reforming eyewitness identification procedures: ….”
From the Oregon Court of Appeals, Oregon v. Greenlick A127374),
“This case presents the opportunity to decide whether the statutory speedy trial right, ORS 135.747, applies to traffic violations. Defendant moved to dismiss the charge, asserting that the state had violated ORS 135.747 by bringing him to trial some 15 months after the citation was issued. The trial court did not address the state’s contention that the statute was inapplicable, but ruled that the length of the delay was not unreasonable. For the reasons that follow, we reverse….
Thus, a straightforward application of ORS 135.747 in the context of a violation requires that a defendant be brought to trial within a reasonable period of time after the issuance of the citation. In this case, we have no difficulty concluding that a delay of 15 months between the issuance of the citation and trial was unreasonable in the absence of any other circumstances.”
Other Oregon Court of Appeals and Supreme Court cases can be found here. The Media Releases summarize the recent cases.
This month’s Washington County Sheriff’s Neighborhood Watch News has a terrific article about MySpace and other social networking sites, parents, their children, and life online.
This week’s Blawg Review is dedicated to Mediation and Negotiation. Enjoy your travels:
Welcome to Blawg Review #94–the “getting to yes” edition!
Many editions of Blawg Review are organized around a central, unifying theme, influenced by the focus of the host’s own work or an event or date that edition coincides with.
The theme of this one happens to be negotiation.
Sabrina at beSpacific reminds us that it is National Consumer Protection Week. I should have seen this coming. A lot of what law librarians do with the public is helping people navigate the Consumer Protection rough seas. So …
Shred your mail, don’t use a debit card online, and beware of online solicitations (off-line ones too :-), use your turn signals, don’t tailgate, and – wait – save these for National Drive Safely Day.
Virtual Email Reference
It’s not easy explaining how to research a legal question – and try doing it in high-heels and backwards – no, wait, I mean in an email message. I love to write (and am even working on a piece about Virtual Legal Reference and Writer’s Voice), but virtual legal reference makes me crazy. Not “Don’t Make Me Do It” crazy, but more of “I Love Trying to Figure Out How to Say This, but Don’t Have Three Hours to Figure Out How to Say It Intelligibly So You Don’t YELL at Me for Not Answering Your Question The Way You Think It Should Be Answered” crazy.
Law librarians and others who staff reference desks or online reference services get a lot of grief for our long, seemingly evasive, answers to “simple” legal questions. Take a look at poor Mr. Groklaw who took the time and trouble to explain at great length what appears to be a simple question (and it’s not even about the law – only about legal citation!) but clearly isn’t. If you read the comments what is also clear is that he got grief. He was only trying to help. We’re a tough bunch, we law librarians and keep trying year after year – against all odds. We don’t quit even after getting grief – and we do get it, oh do we get it. (But we do get a cartoon to see us through the day – Unshelved.)
Sometimes you just need a legal research guide, not a full-bodied Google or Dogpile search. Try this from our wonderful law librarian colleagues at Cornell University Law Library, the Legal Research Search Engine.
Oregon Legal Research Blog