May, 2023

Published on: May 30, 2023

Legislative History

How did we answer that? Legislative History

I had a woman come in asking for help doing a legislative history. She didn’t get into details with what she wanted beyond needing to know the history of one of the statutes about whistleblowers.

When doing a legislative history, the first thing to do is find which statute you want to know the history of. In this case, the woman already knew the exact statute. I got her onto one of our legal databases (there are many options out there, but at WCLL our main ones are Lexis and Westlaw). Conveniently, the statute she was looking at only had one bill to research for changes. Had there been more, she would have done the same following steps, but repeated for each bill.

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Published on: May 24, 2023

What do I do with these law books I need to get rid of?

By Lee Van Duzer

We routinely get calls from attorneys who are looking to get rid of law books. They may be retiring or downsizing. The answer has evolved, but it is generally harder to find a home for law books now than in the past.

The first recommendation we make is to post on email lists for other lawyers. The Oregon State Bar’s section email lists can be a great way to find a newer attorney looking to make their office look lawyerly, or build a law library.

We have referred people to The Lawbook Exchange, an east coast company that specializes in used law books. Another large used book vender, although it doesn’t specialize in law, is Better World Books. One can also check with local used book stores, or possibly antique dealers for older books.

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Published on: May 16, 2023

I’ve Been Called to Jury Duty – Now What?

By Paula Simon

As COVID restrictions ease across Oregon, the state’s circuit courts are resuming in-person trials. We have been getting questions about serving on a jury. Each county circuit court has their own procedures and rules, so it is always a good idea to contact the circuit court directly to get answers to your questions. Here are some sources that I found online that answered some of those questions.

The Oregon State Bar has a Juror handbook which answers in plain language many questions a prospective juror may have.

On the Oregon courts webpage they have posted a Juror Orientation video. It has comments from judges, attorneys, and former jurors about jury duty and re-enactments of parts of jury selection and a trial. There is also a FAQ section on the site about jury duty in general (not county-specific information) and a section on court etiquette.

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Published on: May 10, 2023

Finding a good lawyer

By Amy Gregory

Finding a good lawyer – Answering patron questions about finding a good lawyer in Oregon

A common misconception about law library services is that we can help with lawyer referrals. Many people come in thinking we have a list of lawyers in the area and that we know if they are good or not. As wonderful as it would be to have this information available and to be able to point people towards “the best” lawyer, this is outside of our wheelhouse. However, there are resources we can point people to that have some of that information.

One way to find a lawyer is to ask for a referral from someone you know and trust. Even if that referral is a lawyer who practices in another area of law, they may still be able to make a referral to the specialist lawyer needed.

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Published on: May 2, 2023

Executive Order 9066 and the Tides of History

By Lee Van Duzer

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Therefore, we will highlight an important intersection of legal history of significant impact to the Japanese-American community: the Japanese internment camps, the Korematsu v. US Supreme Court case, and its subsequent legal treatment.

On February 19, 1942 President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of Japanese Americans from the west coast of the United States, which resulted in their relocation to internment camps.

The legality of this order and removal was challenged by Fred Korematsu, and the related curfew challenged by Minoru Yasui of Oregon and Gordon Hirabayashi. In all three cases the Supreme Court upheld the right of the government to exclude Japanese Americans and impose a curfew on them.

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