July, 2008

Published on: July 1, 2008

Handbags and Why Do They (Big Law Associates) Hate Us (Big Law)?

By Laura Orr

If you ever thought working for Big Bucks in Big Law was Nirvana, think again:

From Fastcase blog: Legal Tabloids Creating Headaches for Firms

‘“Blogs have democratized the means of production for publishers, leading to a fast proliferation of new media. Several of the most prominent legal blogs, including Above the Law and Greedy Associates, began as niche publishing outlets for salary information and legal gossip — but since have become genuine new media phenomena in their own right – to the chagrin of some law firms, which provide seemingly constant fodder. This week, the National Law Journal outlines some of the steps that firms have taken to prevent their associates from leaking information to these popular internet hubs….
As David Lat, editor of Above the Law, has mused: “Anything that is visible with the human eye can be leaked.”’ (read full post)

Continue reading →

Published on: July 1, 2008

Oregon Timber and Property Taxes: another view, or two, or three, ….

By Laura Orr

One of my library patrons expressed some curiosity about the relative property tax rates of different Oregon counties (and cities). This was prompted by reading the “timber money” article in Sunday’s Oregonian, where a resident of Grants Pass/Josephine County was quoted as saying that local residents pay a property tax rate of $.58/$1,000 (see below for excerpts from the article).

And a few weeks ago, a speaker on Think Out Loud noted that the residents of his county paid nothing for the services of their sheriff’s department (it has been paid for out of the taxpayer-supported timber payments). (Compare this with my law library’s Washington County where the residents in the past two elections voted in special levies for Sheriff’s Department services.)

So, how does one compare the local taxes people across the state pay, including counties that want federal timber money, counties with Indian reservations, counties with prisons, with farmland, with desert, etc.?

Continue reading →

Published on: July 1, 2008

Bedworth is Back on a Magical Mystery, uh, Tour

By Laura Orr

A new Bedsworth at A Criminal Waste of Space to mark the day – July First! And it is, of course, almost the funniest thing you’ll ever read by an appellate court judge.

(I’ll not say anything more or will get into very hot water. But he does mention law librarians, which ought to merit a Yeah!, but will get more of a snerck (you know what kind of sound that is – the ones librarians everywhere contain valiantly (though not forever) when we’ve just been asked the Question of the Week at the reference desk.)

To sample a few previous Bedsworth columns, visit this site.