When legal memos are one and the same with the “content” of the Internet, is there any hope for the future?
“Cats, Frogs, and [don’t spam me please*] Women,” by Justice William W. Bedsworth:
Excerpt: “Sitting on the library table in my chambers is a memorandum from the Judicial Council entitled, “Information for Implementing New Rules of Court Regarding Public Access to Judicial Administrative Records.” It is, sadly, not the page-turner its title would lead you to expect….
Did you know there was a repository for government comics? I sure didn’t, but others did, including some law librarians. It doesn’t surprise me that such a repository exists, and someone should let Mr. Mankoff know (if he doesn’t already), but not everyone has my idea of a dream job, which is to be head honcho in a Comics Library (aka the Funny (Biblio) Farm). I’m still working on a secret identity, but might stick with my previous choice of Miss Knowitalia (from Cul de Sac, an excellent cartoon).
See the Law Librarian Blog post from April 1, 2010 (but no joke, at least not entirely). The link to the repository is priceless.
Excerpt: “…Did you know that the University of Nebraska-Lincoln maintains an online collection of government comics? Me neither so a big hat tip to Free Government Information. My favorite, so far, is Johnny Gets the Word. It’s supposed to be about STDs but I’m in a Johnny Westlaw frame of mind at the moment….” (Link to full LLB post.)
In an era of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (which for some of us began in the 1970’s), lawyers and law librarians also look for ways to dispose of law books green-fully, so to speak.
Here are some new book recycling ideas, which are terrific supplements to my 2006 guide on How to Dispose of Used Law Books:
From the Law Librarian Blog post: What To Do With the Debris of the Shed West Era, visit:
If you’ve never viewed the short film-clips at the TED Conference, here’s a link to one that is Business-Related, rather than just inspirational, funny, provocative, or otherwise highly watchable:
Four Ways to Fix a Broken Legal System: 2010 TED Video of Philip Howard’s Presentation
Visit TED on a rainy, snowy, sunny, icy, warm, hot, cold, or just plain any old afternoon for some addictive idea-mongering:
For those of us who can’t wait for Law dot Gov to become a [virtual] reality, the Law Librarian Blog keeps us in the loop with periodic status updates: LAW.GOV’s Core Specifications Task Force Meeting Set for May 26
I loved this story. It’s not the first time a library has offered this service, but it becomes more intriguing every time I hear about the service. I live in a region of the country that is rich in great people and excellent public libraries, but every community has fascinating people and maybe even a small library could do this. Maybe one could even Rent-a-Lawyer to raise money for a good cause?
Library of humans: Guelph University lends people for 30-minute talks on prejudice, by Macleans.ca, March 5th, 2010
‘When Chris Langley volunteered to help out with a project at his university library last year, he didn’t imagine he’d wind up becoming a book. The 25-year-old master’s student was intrigued by the notion of a human library, a space in which prospective readers scheduled half-hour time slots with real people and engaged in direct conversations about prejudice.
From Legal Research Plus: Judge says keep this opinion out of Westlaw and Lexis
” On December 21, 2009 Judge A. Howard Matz, of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, issued an 7-page order in the case of POM Wonderful LLC v. Welch Foods, Inc.. This opinion includes, among other things, a discussion of standing under the California Unfair Competition Act and the California False Advertising Act. At the end of the document, the judge writes: “This Order is not intended for publication or for inclusion in the databases of Westlaw or LEXIS.” (emphasis mine)…” (link to full blog post)
The Comment to the blog post notes that the order does appear on Westlaw, though not on Lexis, at least at the time of the posting of the Comment.
As much as this sounds like something from The Onion, it’s not! Of course the fact that it is a true story makes it all the funnier.
Apparently, perhaps in an attempt to reduce shipping costs or lower the injury rate among mail and stockroom employees and mail carriers, Thomson-Reuters is shipping empty boxes to their customers.
Is it a deep plot, maybe to encourage law librarians to pack up, move away, and stop crabbing about big publishers and their antics?
There are a number of procedural twists and turns to follow, so please read the entire case:
McCollum V. Kmart (SC S057609) (En Banc), filed February 19, 2010:
Excerpts: “This is a personal injury case in which defendant appealed an order granting plaintiff a new trial. The Court of Appeals determined that the trial court’s stated grounds for ordering a new trial, as well as certain alternative grounds urged by plaintiff to support the order, were not adequate bases for that relief. McCollum v. Kmart Corporation, 228 Or App 101, 207 P3d 1200 (2009) (McCollum II). The Court of Appeals therefore reversed the trial court’s order and remanded with instructions to reinstate the judgment for defendant. Id. at 123….
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On December 4, 2006, the trial court signed and filed an order granting plaintiff’s motion for new trial. On that same date, the trial court also signed and filed a letter opinion addressed to counsel for the parties in which the court explained the basis for its decision. On the second and last page of the letter opinion, the letter stated: “Enclosed is a conformed copy of the Court’s Order Allowing New Trial.” The letter also had the notation “enclosure” in a footer on the last page.
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The other issue that has arisen with some frequency is what form of document will constitute an “order.” More specifically, the question has been whether a memorandum (or letter) opinion constitutes an order. This court’s answer has been: it does not. Ernst, 208 Or at 451. In Ernst, we reasoned that, in general, an opinion (written or oral) is not the equivalent of an order. Id. (citing cases). Moreover, an appeal can be taken only from a “final appealable order,” not from an “opinion.” Id.
Richard Lee Simmons: Pursuit Of Justice: A lawyer fights for a young man he says was wrongly prosecuted, by Karen McCowan, The Register-Guard, Appeared in print: Monday, Feb 8, 2010:
Excerpt: “A small-town Oregon lawyer remains so outraged over what prosecutors did to a Central Oregon teenager in 2006 that he intends to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to seek redress.
For now, University of Oregon Law School graduate Steve Richkind, aided by several current students at the school, is asking the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to allow him to press a $3.5 million civil rights lawsuit against state prosecutors on behalf of Richard Lee Simmons….
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Oregon Legal Research Blog