Oregon Legal Research BlogLet this be a lesson for us all:
US Executive Branch Closure Crawl (from Free Government Information (FGI))
Toddle over to Federal Government Blogs for more websites.
Published on:
How the U.S. Manages Domain Names Gone Wild
Articles Posted in Legal Self-help Community
Published on:
Can a Strategically Crafted Website Trump a Lawsuit?
A 3 Geeks and a Blog July 13 (Turning Internet Nasty Into Money for a Cause) started me thinking, perhaps in the slipstream of others, about people who use websites and blogs intentionally or unintentionally to redress consumer (and other) injuries and grievances or to shame those “who done them wrong,” rather than hiring a lawyer – or to help build public support for their own pro se / self-represented / small claims lawsuit.
I’m not talking about The Complainers, those people who would rather have their grievances (and their whining) than a solution to a problem. I’m thinking instead about people who really do try to solve problems creatively with deliberation, conversation, research and hard work. (See the example in the 3 Geeks post, that of Anita Sarkeesian, and Heather Peters, the California Small Claims Court litigant)
Journalists, newspapers, and other days-of-yore print media have always use Publication to educate and persuade, but now, almost anyone can broadcast. Consider, for example, that 2009 U.S. Supreme Court case (Safford Unified School District v. Redding) about the strip search of a high school girl by school officials. After oral argument the print and the online chatter was brutal, shaming, criticizing, and outright laughing at the utter and apparent cluelessness of many of the Justice’s questions and assumptions about Real High School Life (specifically for young women). I wonder if that onslaught of “are you kidding me?!!” types of broadcast reaction forced the Justices to step back a little to rethink their previously fixed opinions, if only to retain a little professional and maybe even personal credibility, dignity, and respect. (Their own children and grandchildren are surely not banned from telling them A Thing or Two About Youf Today.)
Published on:
Oregon Divorce and Family Law Guides
Oregon family law attorneys give away a lot of free information and collaborate to make available lots of free family law forms.
The Oregon Judicial Department Family Law Facilitators offer free advice and invaluable services to many self-represented litigants, but family law can become complex very quickly when there are children, substantial financial assets, or simply whenever there is no meeting of the minds.
Family law attorneys also provide lots of information, which you can find on their websites. I’ve come across this one recently, a Northwest law firm that has a collection of articles and a guide to divorce in Oregon, all free.
Published on:
UPDATED: How to Find a Case Online – using Free resources
How to Find a Case Online (using free resources)
(if you have the citation)
It isn’t always possible to use a physical reporter to locate a case using a citation. If you don’t have access to a bound reporter, here is a quick overview of a few of your free options for locating cases online.
Published on:
Non-Lawyers Authorized to Assist Self-Represented Litigants in Washington State
On June 15, 2012, the Washington State Supreme Court adopted a new rule:
APR 28, entitled “Limited Practice Rule for Limited License Technicians”
You can link to the text of the new rule and the final order from:
Published on:
Free Legal Information, Research, and Food: Think About It
If you’re not a lawyer, law librarian, or have never researched the law, where do you begin?
No, it’s not enough to find cases and statutes online. It’s also not enough to toss a question into cyberspace and expect someone to answer it with anything more than research tips.
Think about it.
Published on:
Washington State: Access to Justice and Bar Leaders Conference
Event: Access to Justice and Bar Leaders Conference, June 8–10, 2012 in Yakima, Washington:
Topic: “Our New Economic Reality: The Legal Profession’s Role in partnership with the Washington State Bar Association and the Washington State Access to Justice Board“
Published on:
Access to Justice & the Evolving Role of Law Libraries in the 21st Century
“Report on Evolving Role of Law Libraries in the 21st Century,” by Richard Zorza
“Law libraries can continue to play an integral role in the courts and justice system in the 21st Century, but only if they change their orientation towards helping the public access the legal system. A new report released by Zorza & Associates today, titled “The Sustainable 21st Century Law Library: Vision, Deployment and Assessment for Access to Justice,” notes the vast changes to the law library landscape over the past twenty years and the potentially critical new role they can play as an access to justice resource for people without lawyers….” [Link to blog post and full text of report.]
Published on:
Oregon Bankruptcy, Employment, and other Pro Bono Legal Clinics
Do you have questions about … debt collection, bankruptcy, employment (wage claims, termination, discrimination & unemployment), or expungement of a criminal record?
Oregon attorneys volunteering at these two Pro Bono Legal Clinics may be of assistance. Link to clinic flyers from the Washington County Law Library What’s New? webpage:
1) Oregon Law Center & Intel Corporation’s Pro Bono Debt Clinic
Published on:
Agony Aunt Financial and Other Advice Caveats: Let the “Expert” and the Reader Beware
Many of us love “agony aunt” and other Q&A columns where we get to read about other people’s problems and the relationship, ethics, financial, and business advice the Agony Aunt/Uncle dishes out.
Many of them are also quite good, in a daily horoscope sort of way, where the advice is drafted to provide maximum encouragement and minimum (actionable) harm, with a strong dose of common sense.
However, if you plan to take the “advice” and act on it, please, please be a smart consumer and consult a lawyer (or other appropriate professional) when the answer seems too good (too easy, too glib) to be true, and especially if it could affect your health, finances, family, etc.