Articles Posted in General Legal Research Resources

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State law school law reviews often ignore their own state’s laws and it drives me crazy. I can’t count the number of times an attorney has asked for an article on an interesting Oregon legal issue that is worthy of some attention, but alas.

Try searching Oregon law reviews and what do you find? Not much, at least not in the past 30 years. But on occasion, an Oregon law review does include an article about Oregon law, either in the making or after the fact, and I’m pleased to blog about it.

(You can also look for other Oregonians who do write about their state’s history: Oregon Authors and don’t miss their Readers and Writers Groups link):

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The Oregon State Bar (OSB) has posted their Emergency Legislation Shortlist at their website:

From the intro:

“Bills Passed by the 2009 Oregon State Legislature With Effective Dates Earlier Than 1/1/10

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The Oregon State Bar has released their Interpreting Oregon Law, 2009 edition, a welcome addition to any Oregon lawyer or law library collection.

You can find an order form and sample table of contents at their new releases webpage or link to it from their main OSB Legal Pubs website.

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What do you do when you find something of value, e.g. jewelry, an electronic device, etc.? Can you keep it?

You can always call the Oregon State Bar Information and Referral Service, or your local police or sheriff’s department, but if it’s “after-hours“:

Some interesting (and maybe even useful) sections of the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) to read are under these Index headings:

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Bob Ambrogi recently posted this to his website: Casemaker Fights Back Over Loss in Oregon (posted Thursday, October 01, 2009):

“… I described the two as “in a head-to-head competition to win the loyalty of America’s lawyers.” That competition reached a critical juncture last month when the Oregon State Bar Association announced it was switching from Casemaker to Fastcase. That switch took effect today.

Today, Casemaker shot back, doing something it has never done before….” (read full post)

The Law Librarian and Non-Attorney Legal Researcher Perspective:

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Bloomberg Law is set, later this month, to roll out its legal research database to compete, so we hear, with Lexis and Westlaw.

Blog reports on the rollout include Above the Law, Advocate’s Studio, and Legal Research Plus (an early review).

Expect many more posts as the actual rollout date approaches and passes.

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Non-attorney legal researchers often assume that legal indexes will use the same terms (also known as keywords, subject headings, or simply words) we use in real life. But they don’t! Welcome to my world.

(Databases also often refer to one search technique as “natural language searching.” Ha ha ha. There is little “natural” about each person’s use of the language, and there is even less that is “natural” when talking about the law. So, when you are told, “just use natural language,” I recommend you laugh darkly and do some research to find out a little about the profession’s unique nomenclature.)

When searching for criminal laws in the ORS Index, if your narrow, specific or your common sense search words don’t seem to be doing the trick, try looking under these main subject headings first, and then search using the words you selected:

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I talk to lawyers wanting (and even managing quite successfully and happily) to leave the profession to become teachers (middle school seems the popular among ex-lawyers), legislators, small business owners, and even law librarians. I also know retired lawyers who are still practicing because they love the profession (but now like being selective about the cases and clients they chose to represent).

I read this article (below) recently. I suppose it’s no surprise that lobbyists do things they don’t really believe in (and we’ve all had to at some times in our lives) and those of us in jobs we do believe in are very (extremely) lucky, but it’s still startling to see it in print (or black and white):

“Push to ban smoking in tribal casinos could land in court,” by Harry Esteve, The Oregonian, September 18, 2009 (page 1, Saturday, Sept 19, 2009, print edition)

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Just a reminder that the 2009 Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) will not be available in print or online until 2010.

But you can still read the 2009 Oregon laws enacted by the Legislature and the Governor.

(Note: Oregon “Effective Date of Legislation”: “In accordance with ORS 171.022, “Except as otherwise provided in the Act, an Act of the Legislative Assembly takes effect on January 1 of the year after passage of the Act.”)

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It’s been a busy season for people (and librarians) wanting to find missing documents, from policies and certificates last seen 40 years ago to ones misplaced last month, from trusts, insurance policies, case files, and beyond.

So, here are some important tips:

1) Don’t panic, not now, and not as you keep crossing possibilities off your list.

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