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(Not really, but anything is possible in the wild, wacky world of Senate Judicial Committee nominations, so give this post an April First dateline.)

Supreme Court nominees and their (judicial hearing) handlers are mere amateurs when compared to public law librarians who are masters at Answering a Question without Answering the Question.

This is a skill we practice every day, in every way, unlike legislators and judges who are required to give their opinions day in and day out and have a devil of a time not telling people where to go, what to do, and What the Law Is.

Collectively, public law librarians are asked hundreds of thousands of questions about the law every year and each and every time we state some variation on these themes:

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We are often asked about Oregon legal newspapers. The answer depends on the specific question: if one want to post a legal notice, if one is looking for legal jobs, if one wants to track Oregon legal news, if, if, if, ….

The following is an attempt to address most of the “is there an Oregon legal newspaper?” questions, but I’m sure I’ll leave something out for a later blog post.

First things first: There isn’t a “legal newspaper” in Oregon, at least not if one is looking for something like these:

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If you’re researching Oregon employment law, you need to figure out if you want materials on private sector, public sector, collective bargaining, independent contractors, employment discrimination, wage & hour laws, etc.

These are not either/or decisions (though some are). Each person’s situation is unique. You may want consult an attorney who specializes in employment law and who can advise you on your legal, and non-legal, options.

Apart from researching case law, and you’ll need a legal research database or access to your state’s (or the federal) digest to do that, here are some additional legal research resources:

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For those who are waiting (breathlessly, perhaps) and wondering whatever happened to Law dot Gov, especially given how fast all those other new dot gov sites have popped up, this is for you:

Google Group for Law dot Gov

The Law dot Gov Google Group is comprised of those on the Law dot Gov frontlines, but updates and commentary on the initiative will also appear on a variety of law librarian and lawyer blogs.

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Public Domain:

Just when you think you figured out when a document was in the public domain, and no longer copyrighted, your instincts tell you to keep searching. From the May 8, 2010, LibraryLaw blog: The search for the oldest copyrighted work in the U.S. goes on…

Excerpt: “I knew when I wrote my post speculating as to what is the oldest work still protected by copyright in the U.S. that I was likely to get it wrong. Copyright is just too complicated for anyone to get right the first time around…

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The Oregon Supreme Court has decided State v. Morgan (CA A134236; SC S057279)

Excerpt: “This is a criminal case in which defendant was convicted of unlawful possession of heroin, ORS 475.854,(1) which a police officer discovered in defendant’s purse. Defendant reached into the purse after the officer indicated that he needed to search it for weapons. The officer, concerned that defendant was reaching for a weapon, seized the purse and saw drug paraphernalia inside it. The trial court refused to suppress the evidence found in the purse, and a divided panel of the Court of Appeals affirmed. We allowed defendant’s petition for review and now affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals and the judgment of the trial court….” (Link to full case.)

May 13, 2010, Oregon Supreme Court Media Release

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Every once in a while people ask us about jobs as unclaimed-property brokers.

(Note: As for tracking down your own “unclaimed-property” — you can do that yourself. The “National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators” (NAUPA) and their state affiliates offer these exact same searching services free. These are government offices, not private businesses. They link you to state and federal government offices that will search for you for no charge.)

There are private businesses that offer, for a fee, to search for unclaimed property, but I’m not sure they have a specific name, job title, or occupational heading. I have heard them called unclaimed-property brokers or asset recovery businesses, but there may be others. These businesses may work with attorneys, debt collectors, law enforcement, or private investigators, among others.

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Anyone who works within the Small Claims Court world appreciates it, but also knows it has a long way to go to be really (self) helpful. In Oregon, for example, self-help litigants could use:

1) Assistance preparing for Small Claims Court
2) Assistance writing demand letters
3) Assistance or advice also with post-judgment collection procedures

I’ve blogged before about Oregon Small Claims Courts so won’t repeat myself, but read the announcement from HALT:

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