Oregon Legal Research BlogIt won’t be the first time (nor the last) that I connect dots in a way that makes your eyes cross, but work with me here:
(First, here is some comic relief from Courtoons (thanks to Jim Calloway for the lead!).
Now, full speed ahead:
Articles Posted in General Legal Research Resources
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What Happens When Your Oregon Lawyer Dies?
First things first: If your lawyer dies, call his/her law firm. If your lawyer dies and the law firm has died too (e.g. if the lawyer was a solo practitioner) and you want to know what happened to your case files, if the law firm no longer exists, or any other similar scenario occurs … call the Oregon State Bar (OSB): 503-684-3763. They will advise you.
Second things: Lawyers do think about these things (or they should) and they even get wonderful honky-tonk titled articles out of their deliberations on the subject:
From Jim Calloway’s Law Practice Tips blog, you’ll go to:
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Keeping Up With the Judiciary in Oregon: Willamette Law Online
For many of us, keeping on top of federal case law is a lower priority than tracking changes to our state’s laws. But we still like, and need, to stay in the loop, especially since these cases affect our day-to-day lives as much as our own state laws do: family law, criminal procedure, employement law, etc.
For U.S. Supreme Court opinions (and other courts’ opinions too), you have a number of quick ways to stay current, one of which is the Willamette Law Online service:
“Willamette Law Online functions as a notification service, alerting users to legal decisions and trends, and is neither intended to be a comprehensive resource of case law nor a substitute for in-depth legal research….”
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U.S. Constitution, 17th Amendment: Election of Senators
In case you were wondering about the 17th Amendment (from here):
Amendment XVII
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each state shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the state legislatures.
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RefDesk dot Com: A Good Place to Explore
If you haven’t explored RefDesk dot com recently, take a tour, from their site map or their FAQ, from their Ref Site of the Day, or however else you want to wander.
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Oregon Constitution: Wikisource, Wikiproject Oregon, and More
1) The Oregon Constitution has been wikified, but not just here (or the Ballotpedia version or this Indopedia version) but also by the good people at WikiProject Oregon who are wikifiing the Oregon Constitution, creating a Wikisource edition.
2) How to Find the Most Current Additions to the Oregon Constitution:
a) Given our rather interesting (you can’t make me use those other adjectives that spring to mind) system of amending the Oregon Constitution, I thought a few remarks on finding the most current version of the Oregon Constitution might be in order:
b) The version at the Oregon Legislature’s website does not now (as of this date) include changes to the Constitution made in Special Sessions. For example, as of today, the Oregon Legislature’s Constitution is dated 2007. However … there were changes in the 2008 Special Session.
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Home on the Internet: Facebook, Service, and the Australian Courts
An interesting (but not earth shattering) case from Australia: the court (Master Harper) allowed a mortgage lender to serve the homeowners – at their Facebook page.
Find stories on the web, using these search words (or others of your choosing): australia court service mortgage facebook Canberra
Make sure you read at least a few stories out of Australia, not just the U.S. papers reporting the story. E.g.:
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Oregon Revised Statutes vs. Oregon Laws
I’ve blogged about this before (here), but it is worth mentioning again (in different words) – we get lots (and lots) of questions from people who would not have questions at all, or their legal reference questions would be quite different, if they understood the following. But we’re happy to explain as often as necessary – it feels very good when someone lights up and says, “I think I’ve got it!”
The Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) are different from the Oregon Laws. As I wrote in a previous blog post:
“… if you research “the law online,” please make sure you have the current, official, corrected, authentic, and updated laws of the jurisdiction. For example, the 2007 ORS is not the most current statutory compilation. You will also need to check the 2008 Laws (and Oregon case law, not free-text searchable free online, though individual cases can be found here) which won’t be included in the ORS until the 2009 enactments are codified and published in early 2010.”
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Oregon Supplemental Local Rules and Legal Forms
From the Washington County (Oregon) Law Librarian:
This is a follow-up to my previous post for those of you looking for Oregon legal forms.
Another important place to look for official, court-sanctioned, Oregon legal forms will be in the Oregon Judicial Department (OJD) Circuit Court Supplemental Local Rules (SLR). But, you still need to know what you’re doing. Check with the court where you plan to file the documents. And consult an attorney, please. It saves no one any time, money, or grief if you file the wrong form and don’t comply with rules of service.
Also keep in mind, that not every County Circuit Court’s SLR will have forms. My own county has a number of Washington County Circuit Court-specific family law forms, e.g. a Motion to Reset. You may not find this form in another Circuit Court. Your Circuit Court may require you to file a different form!
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Copyrighting Legal Documents
The flux is at it again. You know, when some relatively rare topic arises in conversation and then it comes up again and again. (I blogged about the flux a long while ago, here, but I was in a chatty mood so it’s a longer post than you might be up for.)
Anyway, the topic of copywriting legal documents came up a couple of weeks ago, and then it came up again and then again. Today I ran across this article, while looking at a webpage on searching public records, that I linked to from the Law Librarian Blog:
1) Due Diligence in Drafting: Copyrights in Legal Documents, by Thomas J. Stueber. (This article can be found in other online and print publications.)
2) There is also this one: “The Highest Form of Flattery? Application of the Fair Use Defense against Copyright Claims for Unauthorized Appropriation of Litigation Documents,” by Davida H. Isaacs, Northern Kentucky University – Salmon P. Chase College of Law, Missouri Law Review, Vol. 71, p. 391, 2006.