The Center: National Center for Access to Justice
The Conference: Equal Justice Conference (Portland, Oregon, April 30-May 3, 2014) (there is a Self-Represented Litigation Network Educational Program on Wednesday, April 30 (8:30am-5:30pm).)
The Index: Justice Index
Visit the Justice Index beta site for preliminary findings.
Note: access to justice is different from access to courts – and then there is access to affordable legal assistance.
1) You’ve just been charged with DUII.
Do you need help with housing, children, crime, social security, benefits, debt, a small business, and other Real People legal matters?
Sometimes you just need to start with one organization, or one website. From there, you’ll find another layer of legal resources and legal assistance referrals, and from there even more – and so on, and so on.
Where to start?
The American Bar Association’s Equal Justice Conference (EJC) 2014 will be held in Portland, Oregon.
You may register for a pre-conference session for $75, without having to register for the entire EJC conference!
Among other EJC and pre-conference programs, there is one for Access to Justice (A2J) professionals, public law librarians, and those who are interested public law library or public library legal reference services and A2J (access to justice) issues:
Oregon Landlord-Tenant Law is a lot more complicated than people imagine. Landlords and tenants should seek current and accurate legal information and, in most cases, get professional legal advice from a licensed Oregon attorney who specializes in landlord-tenant law.
Everyone should do this BEFORE trouble strikes.
It’s a lot more expensive to fix a legal problem than it is to prevent one -just ask any landlord-tenant attorney – or any landlord or tenant who thought leases, evictions, and escrow accounts were subject to Common Sense Rules or the If it’s Online it Must Be OK “Rule” instead of the You Have to Research the Actual Law Rule. That person is now paying a lawyer lots of money to fix a problem that might have been avoided – or gnashing teeth over the Unjustness of the World. (Yes, life is sometimes unfair in your favor, but seldom when it comes to landlord-tenant law.)
We’ve updated our guide to legal research, and other, databases in Oregon county law libraries:
OREGON COUNCIL OF COUNTY LAW LIBRARIES (OCCLL): ONLINE DATABASE SUBSCRIPTIONS
(or from this Washington County Law Library webpage – under “O” for OCCLL).
Visit the website: Oregon Small Business Fair 2013
Or go to PSU Business Accelerator at 2828 SW Corbett Ave., Portland, OR 97201. Registration opens at 9 a.m.
October 2011 ABA Journal article, by Stephanie Francis Ward: “Mr. Small Claims’ Makes a Career on Volume”
(Note: Small claims court $$ limits vary from state to state. In Oregon, it is $10,000.)
Excerpt: ‘Small claims court cases are like any other legal disputes, but minus a zero, says Jordan Farkas, a Canadian lawyer who’s built a practice advising people who have $25,000 or less at stake. “Most lawyers look down at it,” says Farkas, 31. He started small claims work as a law firm associate to pick up litigation experience, and he can be found online as “Mr. Small Claims Court.”….’ (Link to full article.]
Depending on your specific question, you will need to look at different parts of the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) or contact state regulatory or consumer agencies. Here are a few places to start your research (in no particular order):
1) Do a quick search for Oregon consumer law and car rentals. For example, Laura Gunderson at the Oregonian “Complaint Desk” and Brent Hunsberger at the Oregonian’s “It’s Only Money” column cover a lot of useful Oregon consumer-protection ground; they are worth reading. They are also the first to say whoops if they make a mistake or overlook something, so don’t stop there with your research. (These columns move around the Oregonian website, so you may need to use a search engine to find them.)
A free e-Book: 60+ Ways to Get Rid of Your Student Loans (Without Paying Them) (From SALT.)
More about this e-Book:
Oregon Legal Research Blog