Oregon lawyer, John Gear, has started a Law for Real People blog.
You can find links to other Oregon lawyer blogs in this blog’s sidebar: under Blogs: Oregon Legal Topics and also under Blogs: OR Lawyers.
I include links to Oregon lawyer blogs and websites that have useful “content,” i.e. they provide legal information, on a variety legal topics, that might be of value to other lawyers, pro se litigants, and any other Oregonian who has legal questions.
Referral and Information Services Assistant (part-time):
Responds to requests for legal information and assistance from attorneys and members of the public.
Required:
1) Graduation from high school or an equivalent GED certificate.
2) At least one year of college, business, or secretarial school desirable
3) more
Responsibilities include the following.
1) Provides professional customer service while conducting confidential and sensitive telephone interviews with members of the public needing the assistance of an attorney or a community resource in Oregon.
2) Uses custom entry-and-retrieval database program to perform attorney referrals according to geographic location and area of law needed.
3) more
A 3 Geeks and a Blog 1/24/11 post asks:
Is it Time for Law Firms to Get Their Groupon?
Who knows? One commenter says it’s been done, but the lawyer licensing boards may need to weigh in.
The process of creating and implementing new business models, for businesses, for nonprofits, for libraries, and for the legal profession, begins with discussing and examining new ideas.
The new biz model might be a Virtual Law Office or it might be a new idea, or germ of an idea, on providing legal services to people who can’t afford to hire lawyers:
Here’s a suggestion about the latter, and to paraphrase John Gear, if you don’t think that there is great demand for people who need but can’t afford lawyers, hang around a legal aid office (or ask a public law librarian):
A former Umatilla County Law Librarian said during a discussion about the importance of public law libraries:
“The folks who cannot pay for a private attorney and cannot get a legal aid attorney are already disadvantaged in being forced to be self represented. With the law library, they have a slim chance at self representation, but it is at least a chance. Without a public law library, they have no hope of achieving any sort of justice at all…. What is the point of operating court facilities if the system doesn’t work for everyone? ”
From a report on access to justice in Oregon:
“There is significant unmet need for outreach, community education and access to easily used, high quality self-help materials…. Lower income people obtain legal assistance for their problems less than 20% of the time.” (From, The State of Access to Justice in Oregon, by D. Michael Dale, published in 2000, sponsored by the Oregon State Bar, the Oregon Judicial Department, and former Governor John Kitzhaber.)
Bob Ambrogi’s Law Sites blog post of 1/9/11, brings us an update on Xemplar, where you can read about exemplary lawyers.
Exemplar’s January 2011 featured lawyer, Stephanie Kimbro, has created a Virtual Law Office (VLO) that sounds quite intriguing and is surely just the front end of a wave of VLO lawyers.
This January 2011 MBA article by Mark Fucile on the “Hot Potato” Rule is either less or more interesting than you might imagine. It is less, if you think it’s an article about lawyers who stand-up their friends and dates when a “better offer” comes along, though, come to think of it, it’s not really much different from that sort of situation.
It is more [interesting], when you actually read it!
While playing around with our newly installed OSB BarBooks database and came across this mysterious Boolean search: variable: 4 and weights:7
While waiting for the answer to reveal itself, I went off to catch up with my law library blogs and ran across this excellent research tip post at the KCCLL (King County Law Library) Klues blog:
“Cheat sheet” comparing Lexis and Westlaw search syntax Research Tips
It links to:
ABA Journal’s annual Blawg 100 list is ready for you. You can vote for one in each these 12 categories. (This is also an excellent opportunity to visit some new blawgs, for your own edification, of course.)
Court Watch
Law Biz
News
Law Prof Plus
Torts
In Labor
IP Law
Criminal Justice
IMHO
Niche
For Fun
Legal Tech
The Multnomah Law Librarian has graciously allowed me to post her Solo Lawyers bibliography here (and in PDF format, from my Law Library’s website):
HOW TO START AND BUILD A LAW PRACTICE. Platinum 5th ed. by Jay Foonberg. [KF 300 F65 2004]
FLYING SOLO: A survival guide for the solo and small firm lawyer 4th ed. by K. William Gibson. [KF 300 E59 2005]
Oregon Legal Research Blog