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Who are “the people” the U.S. Constitution keeps referring to? (Notice how no one has taken up the Wiki Answer challenge to this question.)

This is not an uncommon question in public libraries, law libraries, and in government documents libraries (even after the 2008 election).

It’s also one of those questions to which we all know the answer (or think we do), but that is rather difficult to answer to anyone’s satisfaction because there isn’t a single legal pronouncement that will satisfy everyone.

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When you read documents with phrases like this, “ISPI misappropriated the dongles,” is it any wonder that people want to return to darker ages (before computers and maybe even before electricity!) or want desperately to flee into the forest, or hide inside a beer, for a long while until the madness settles down?

I’ve been reading, in a rather desultory fashion I admit, news about the (not yet final and not the only digital book project on the planet (see Open Content Alliance story in NYT)) Google Settlement and drifted from the excellent Library Law blog to Rebecca Tushnet’s posts on the subject (which is where the dongle discussion came from).

What’s a person to do to keep up with it all? Not much. My recommendation is to keep up with the things you find interesting, the things you have to keep up with for your work and your families, and turn to the experts when you need a primer on something you’ve never heard before or just confuse you.

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The Feb/March 2009 issue of the Oregon State Bar (OSB) Bulletin has an interesting editorial by Oregon attorney John Gear: A Better Beginning:

There is no shortage of commentary on the life, death, and value of bar exams (including bar exam humor from Blawg Review), but that is as it should be.

Excerpt: “As a transplant attorney, still fairly new to Oregon, it is with some trepidation and thoughts of tilting at windmills that I write to propose fundamental changes to the state’s bar admission practices. However, after reading the December bar Bulletin, I find I must.

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I blogged a little while ago about a new website for the Oregon Revised Statutes. In the old days (pre-Web old days) you needed serious money, organization, and infrastructure to set up a publishing business so even if you had a better mousetrap, or a statute compilation, you probably cooled your jets and went off to practice law instead of building your own database.

Welcome to the Zeros (i.e. 2000’s)! If you have an idea, you can run with it, or code with it (yes, “to code” is a verb), web it, blog it, or otherwise unleash your inner online publisher.

The ORS site mentioned above is courtesy of smart, creative, and public-service minded law students (universities and law school networks are behind many a nascent entrepreneurial enterprise).

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Blogging is a commitment – it’s not a civil (or criminal) commitment, although it sometimes may feel that way, but it’s still something to take seriously (and I also believe civilly), assuming you the blogger want to be taken seriously. You need to blog regularly to keep up the momentum, your own and your readers. (See my previous posts on blogging, here and on public sector blogging.)

But, it can’t be as difficult as trying to trying to come up with a cartoon a day, which has to be up there with having to put out an interesting newspaper every day (with real articles, not just wire stories) or feeding a family 3 meals a day, day after day, week after week, month after …. You get the point, which may not be what you think it is.

Imagine, each and every single day, day after day, week after …, you are introduced to someone as the “funniest person I know,” and each time someone new looks at you as if to say, “ok, say something funny.” How many of us can meet that challenge?! Daily cartoonists do!

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Attorneys know about legal notices, service by publication, or other publication requirements, but what about us normal people?! What are we to do?

Here is a little guidance, but I also recommend you ask the judge (if it was a judge who told you to publish a legal notice) or consult an attorney. You want to get this right! It’s not cheap to publish a legal notice and it’s even more expensive to get it wrong – because you have to do it all over again.

Legal notices may also called Legal Ads (not to be confused with Legal Aids!). I wrote a blog post last May about Legal Notice by Publication, but the question pops up now and again, and again, and again.

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Check Your “Attorney’s” Bona Fides! (Don’t be an April Fool.)

“I thought he was a licensed attorney.”
“I thought a paralegal could advise and represent me.”
“He said he knew Oregon law.”

If you hire someone who claims to be an attorney, or who hedges when asked, trust your instincts, because when your instinct detects hedging, your instinct is often a whole lot sharper than you are at the moment. It doesn’t mean it is right, just that it isn’t bothered with “being nice” or any other need to please. Be the adult and stay in charge of the situation.

“Are you a licensed attorney in this state” is a yes or no question.

The answer should not be “uh, huh, or uhhhhhhh,” or, “ummm, uh uh, how are you today?” or “sort of,” or any variation on that theme.

The answer should either be “NO” or “YES” and “here is my bar card so you can check with the Oregon State Bar.” And then CHECK with the Oregon State Bar! Call them or check their website, for heaven’s sake.

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No, this is not a Twick or Tweet April 1st post…:

It was only a matter of time before someone would ask if a Tweet could be copyrighted. I’ll let the lawyers discuss this, but for now this is only a matter of First Impression. I’m sure more discussion will ensue.

Thanks to Ernie the Attorney for the first link, which took me to the Tweet copyright post.

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Justice Bedsworth is no Edward Albee (and we’re glad of that), but both can have you scratching your head(s) for reasons that become clear this month with the Justice’s column:

Poof, The Magic Goat Man: “This is what we get when the governor appoints an English major.” by Justice William W. Bedsworth

You can visit California Court of Appeal Associate Justice William Bedsworth monthly at his A Criminal Waste of Space column.

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