Oregon Legal Research Blog“Oregon advances alternative routes to becoming a licensed lawyer” (OSB article, 1/17/2022)
See also:
OREGON STATE BAR ALTERNATIVE PATHWAYS TASKFORCE COMMITTEE REPORT & RECOMMENDATIONS (undated report, circa 2021)
Articles Posted in Law Practice & Management
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From Think Like a Lawyer to “Think Like a Client” (IAALS report)
“Think Like a Client,” 2019 Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS) report:
“EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Understanding what clients want and expect from their lawyers is imperative for the provision of high-quality legal services, as well as for lawyers’ success in the legal profession. Furthermore, there exists a well-established and frequently lamented gap between the legal needs of the public and the provision of legal services from the profession. While we have anecdotal evidence that presents glimpses of answers to our questions about what clients value, there is a dearth of empirical evidence to support firm conclusions. IAALS’ Think Like a Client project represents a first step for the profession in developing a comprehensive, evidence-based understanding of what is important to clients….” [Link to full report.]
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Event: January 2020 Data Privacy Forum and CLE (Portland, Oregon)
Date: 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm PST January 31, 2020
Join Lewis & Clark Law School at the 1st Annual Data Privacy Law Forum. Connect with attorneys, privacy professionals, and students interested in this area of law during three educational panels.
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Too Much Law, Too Little Politics: Reith Lectures, 2019
If you haven’t discovered Reith Lectures (BBC, Radio 4), here is your chance. Topics vary and this year’s (2019) lecturer was Jonathan Sumption. The lectures and Q&A that follow are enlightening and entertaining. (It’s a 5-part series.)
The Reith Lectures
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Always Use the Serial (aka Oxford or Harvard) Comma in Legal Documents
You may or may not use a serial comma wherever (or nowhere) else you want, but woe to the person who leaves the serial comma out of legal documents, including contracts, legal opinions, statutes, regulations, and any other legal agreement or law that will be interpreted literally (and I mean literally, literally) by parties to the agreement or by a judge – or even, mercy, by a legislator or government lawyer.
Honestly now: Do you really want to pay lawyer(s!) bills and court costs when lawyers, judges, and clients end up doing battle over the meaning of a sentence when the presence of a comma would have allowed everyone to go home to supper and a peaceful night’s sleep?
Lawyers, legislators, drafters of laws, and judges have enough trouble writing clearly without adding to their own and their readers’ woes. Use the serial comma, please. It will save all of us time and money.
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Two Portland (OR) Legal Nonprofits Have Open Positions: Lawyers for Arts and Victims Rights Law Center
The Victim Rights Law Center (VRLC) Portland, Oregon, is expanding its legal team and has openings for a senior attorney, two (2) direct services staff attorneys, a technical assistance and training staff attorney, a temporary contract attorney, a legal assistant, and an administrative assistant:
Contact:
VRLC Oregon Office:
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What Is Your Lawyer’s Technology Competency Score?
Lawyer technology competency matters for so many reasons. Knowing how to maintain the privacy and the security of your personal information and legal documents are not the only skills your lawyer needs to have. Keeping up with legal education requirements and the law itself requires technological competency. Managing a financially healthy legal practice requires technological competency. Thorough legal research requires technological competency.
Does your state lawyer licensing agency require technology competence? Here’s one list of state bar associations that do:
“Another State Adopts Duty of Technology Competence, Bringing Total to 28,” by Robert Ambrogi (LawSites).
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“40 Legal Practice Areas That Didn’t Exist 15 Years Ago” [My Shingle]
Carolyn Elefant’s popular and long-running blog/website MyShingle has an interesting article (it has lots actually):
“40 Legal Practice Areas That Didn’t Exist 15 Years Ago,” January 2, 2018:
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Oregon Appellate Court Briefs: Filing to Access Timeline Update
Lawyers in large law firms usually have databases, couriers, professional law librarians and money to help them locate full-text copies of court documents quickly. What are mere mortals to do? There is actually quite a bit.
Mere mortals who want Oregon appellate court documents have their own “points of access” and it’s going to get better:
1) How to Find Oregon Appellate Court Briefs research guide, which will be updated shortly
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LawSites: Blawg and Legal Tech Roundup, Legal Info Copyright, Open Source, and Access Lawsuits, and More
LawSites continues to be at the top of my list for Keeping Up With Interesting Legal Tech News. There are so many reasons so many of us link back to it. (There are other sites that will keep you abreast of the latest SCOTUS, Law and …, legal scholarship,and legal research news.)