Articles Posted in General Legal Research Resources

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People ask the darnedest questions, but sometimes other people create the darnedest problems. This post maybe should be classified under “legal humor,” and it will be, but it’s also based on fact.
See, especially, their regular Burning legal questions and Things you can’t do on a plane posts.
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I’ve been informed that OJD hopes to have the Oct 1, 2011, court fee announcements ready to go shortly after September 16th.  I’m not sure when the Oregon Circuit Courts will post the filing fees with their own adjustments, but we do expect those fee-notice postings by September 30th, 2011.
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The Oregon State Bar (OSB) August/September 2011 Bulletin has a lot of interesting news.  We’ll start with the Fun (to librarians, lawyers, and writers, at least):

Thank you to Suzanne Rowe, the University of Oregon Law School Director of Legal Research and Writing and author of the book(s), “Oregon Legal Research,” now in its 2nd edition, we find out from her “The Legal Writer” column, “Let the Festivities Begin!” column that September 24th is:
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I was looking at the 2011 OJD Base Fines Instructions and Charts and the 8 x 10 color glossies with circles and arrows and the word U-TURNS caught my eye.
Does anyone follow this law – anyone who hasn’t been dinged by it?
2009 ORS 811.365 (check for current ORS and any interim session laws if necessary):
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You will not find a link (as of today) to Oregon appellate court cases at the OJD Self-Help website.
You will find a link from the OJD homepage, their Appellate Case Info page, or their Publications page.
This is not a horrible thing. Really!
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California appellate court’s Justice Bedsworth stifles a gag (mostly) in his latest monthly column, “Criminal Waste of Space,” in the Orange County Bar Association’s monthly magazine, September 2011 OC Lawyer

“Eat, Drink, and Hire Lawyers,” by Justice William W. Bedsworth
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Researching criminal justice topics can be quite different from researching the law.  There is overlap, of course, but sometimes not very much at all depending on the specific question.
The field of criminal justice also has many of its own research resources that are completely separate from legal research resources.
Both fields of study have roots and branches in law, courts, public policy, government, history, sociology, and psychology, but they are different fields of study.  One could say that criminal justice is a subset of “the law,” but it’s also its own field, and  it is, of course, as interdisciplinary as any field of study is nowadays.
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Whether you are going into Small Claims Court, Circuit Court, Bankruptcy Court, or into Traffic Court, if you want to win or at least stay in control of your destiny to the extent possible:
  1. You have to listen, learn, read, get organized, keep good records, stay focused and determined, and above all else keep a healthy sense of perspective and humor.
  1. Legal research is hard and time-consuming.  But it can also be interesting, rewarding, and even fun.
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One of many things that pro se (aka self-represented) litigants have a difficult time learning is that even if you read the laws, the rules, the cases, and the jury instructions, you still can’t predict the outcome of your case.

Many people want black and white rules and think there is a simple answer to, for example, the question “what is the statute of limitations on x ?”  They also think that if the statute says x and y, then x and y are The Law.
Lawyers, and law librarians, are faced every day with someone, statute book and statute in hand, asking “what does this mean?”  Who knows?  We can respond “ask the Legislature – they wrote the statute,” but in all seriousness, they often don’t have a clue either.  They certainly don’t know how a judge will interpret the statute. Or how the next judge will, or the appellate court …. 
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The Washington County Law Library has a new legal research guide on consumer law.  You can find all of the library’s legal research guides on the Subject Guides page and in the Document Index.  The What’s New page is also a good source for new legal research guides and library projects.

In Oregon consumer protection law news, although the 2011 bill banning certain products containing bisphenol A (BPA) failed in the Oregon Legislature, Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen (along with Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman) wants to try his luck with a county-wide ban of some products containing BPA. 

According to the bill’s summary,  Senate Bill 695 would have created an “unlawful practice of manufacturing, distributing, selling or offering for sale child’s beverage container or reusable bottle made or lined with bisphenol A or replacement material that is carcinogenic or is reproductive toxicant…Requires Oregon Health Authority to approve and obtain for Women, Infants and Children Program infant formula contained only in containers that do not leach into formula certain amounts of bisphenol A or are not made with replacement material that is carcinogenic or is reproductive toxicant.”  The bill would also have created the Oregon BPA-Free Advisory Group.  SB 695 passed the Senate but died in the House Energy, Environment and Water committee.

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