“Ramsey County Law Library offers DIY help,” by Debra O’Connor, TwinCities dot com, 8/4/14:
Excerpt: “People who have never set foot in a courtroom, and might be wearing baseball hats and shorts, share the elegant, hushed Ramsey County Law Library with lawyers in suits.
They show up because they have legal problems, and here they can find help.
Hat tip to Law for Real People blog: Why You Need to Call the Police if Your Caregiver or Employee Steals From You
Excerpt: “I just had a call from a very nice person who needs caregivers around-the-clock, 365 days a year. One of these caregivers recently stole money from from my friend. My friend said it happened about six weeks ago, and that the person was no longer serving as a caregiver, so she was just going to let it go.
I had to explain to her why it was so important that she call the police:
“Change afoot in American civil justice system,” Jul 22, 2014, by Rebecca Love Kourlis (former justice of the Colorado Supreme Court).
Excerpt:
“…. Due process in the American civil justice system is like sweet green grass: It is essential to our lifeblood, but too much can be deadly. Beginning in 2008, the profession began to sound the alarm that the civil justice system was indeed in danger of foundering. The ABA Section of Litigation was part of that chorus. More than 3,000 members of the section participated in a survey (PDF), which found that:
1) There are excellent legal research guides and links at the Oregon Law Help website. Legal aid lawyers compile these materials and links to a wide range of organizations.
2) The Multnomah Bar Association produces English and Spanish versions of:
Youth Faces the Law: A Juvenile Rights Handbook and Domestic Violence: A Guide to Your Rights
Open Law Lab is a wonderful website, curious, provocative, funny, wise, and more. It stands on its own (enjoy!) but it is also an excellent companion to Richard Zorza’s Access to Justice Blog.
One of my (several) favorite Open Law Lab “images of law” is the blog post titled: Law for Normal People. It includes a graphic with this text that pretty much sums up everything that makes legal self-help center and public law library program management so confounding:
“People don’t want to talk to lawyers, but they really want legal advice.“ (See its original posting at the Stanford d. school blog, Whiteboard.) And read more about the lawyer / artist: Margaret Hagan.
Richard Zorza & David Udell Article: New Roles for Non-Lawyers to Increase Access to Justice
You can also link to this article from the SRLN website or from Richard Zorza’s Access to Justice blog, where you will be able to find dozens, hundreds, of other practical and provocative articles on Access to Justice issues.
Link from Richard Zorza’s inimitable Access to Justice blog: A Cautionary Tale — Cartoon Points Out the Downsides of Automated Courts
Access to justice and court systems broken (and broke)?
“If our courts are broke, how can Californians get divorced? An idea,” by Ted Rall:
When you rely on a judicial opinion to support your cause, which version of the case do you carry into court? This is the 21st century law librarian and bench-bar dilemma.
Even if you solve the authenticity and and copyright problems (and we’re nowhere near doing that), what are we going to do about the Supreme Court?
See, “Final Word on U.S. Law Isn’t: Supreme Court Keeps Editing,” by Adam Liptak, May 24, 2014 (re the upcoming article, “The (Non)Finality of Supreme Court Opinions,” by Richard J. Lazarus, 128 HARV. L. REV. ___ (forthcoming 2014)).
From the Sacramento County Law Library, which has an excellent collection of legal research and self-help resources, you can find this very funny, but also very realistic video of a legal reference or self-help interview:
(You can also find the SACLAW Law Librarians on Twitter.)
Legal self-help is a bit of a crap-shoot unless you have official (i.e. court sanctioned and current) legal forms or the guiding hand of an attorney, but sometimes one has to plug along the best one can.
Public law librarians not infrequently get requests for legal separation forms. Oregon has, rather had, legal separation forms, and still, sort of, does have them. But, well, read on:
Disclaimer! Warning!
Oregon Legal Research Blog