Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (online ed. 2010), by Peter W. Martin, is available, with all the other goodies at the ever wonderful Cornell Legal Information (LII) website.
Beer is a hot topic in this year’s 2011 Legislative Session. You can find beer bills, so to speak, by using the search engine at the Legislature’s website: I found these today:
HB2100
HB2262
HB2588
HB2644
HB2924
HB3145
HB3110
And then there is 2011 Senate Bill 444, which doesn’t pop up in the Legislature’s search-engine, which is a puzzle, but not the first time we’ve noticed the problem.
I was able to answer a reference question the other day with a Jack Ohman cartoon – the one about redistricting in Sunday’s (2/6/11) Oregonian – very funny. The patron was pleased.
I’m not the only law librarian who says that “reference” duty is the best job in a library. It also helps if you read widely, including political cartoons. (I grew up, so to speak, with Herblock and it’s nice now to be in Jack Ohman territory (Oregonian-home).
Political cartoonists are amazing people – political, literary, artistic, comedic, disquieting, and not infrequently sources of reference information.
It all started with a simple citation. One of our patrons had a case from the Oregon Court of Appeals and was looking for previous history information. The first thing that should have set off my radar that this would not be a simple request was the patron’s mention that the case was affirmed without opinion. Not knowing the twisting path before me, I happily set off on my journey.
Day 1:
“Abandoning Law Reports for Official Digital Case Law,” Cornell Legal Studies Research Paper No. 11-01, Peter W. Martin, Cornell Law School
As you’ll see when you read and think about this, there are good ways to go about shifting to digital and there are irresponsible ways.
(Thank you to Legal Research Plus for the lead.)
Also from the excellent Gallagher Blog:
“What Judges Think of the Quality of Legal Representation”
Excerpt: “How well do lawyers represent their clients? It’s a hard question to answer. One approach would be to ask the judges who observe the lawyers at work, and that’s just what Judge Richard A. Posner and Professor Albert H. Yoon have done: What Judges Think of the Quality of Legal Representation, 63 Stan. L. Rev. 317 (2010)…” (Link to full blog post.)
People have, for centuries, followed jobs (and money) in order to feed families and pursue dreams:
From the WSBA website: “Foreign Concept: Explore working abroad before giving up on a legal career,” by Arundel Pritchett
We all like to compare ourselves to others, don’t we?
City Councils in Philadelphia and Other Major Cities, Feb 02, 2011, Pew Charitable Trusts report
(Thank you to beSpacific for the lead.)
As one of the many professional law librarians who negotiate contracts for legal database services and who show attorneys how to use them efficiently (to save time and their clients’ money!), when I read stories like this, I think almost as much about the “high costs of the ongoing investigation” and the ethics violations as I do about those high legal bills, i.e. has someone audited those legal bills?
One assumes so, but one (especially cranky law librarians) do have to ask the question (and heaven knows some of our tax-paying law library patrons ask).
I also know as well as the next law librarian that good legal counsel costs good money ….
Be prepared to be mesmerized: there are lessons aplenty for us all in the tale of Jon Alexander (Californian and Oregonian) as told by Justice Bedsworth:
The February 2011 Orange County Lawyer brings us:
Oregon Legal Research Blog