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“
“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.]
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
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.
We work with a lot of public library reference librarians and library assistants and are always on the lookout for materials that could help them help their public library patrons who ask legal reference and legal research questions.
One day we’ll write that quick and dirty legal reference guide for public libraries, but in the meantime, the Drake Law Library in Iowa has linked to, and annotated, a list of many of my favorite guides at their website that explain the unauthorized practice of law, differences between legal information and advice, and legal research techniques:
I came across a couple of good articles with tips for people who use fill-in-the-blank estate planning form.
One is from a Consumer Reports story, “Write Your Own Will?”
The other was from the Oregonian’s Brent Hunsberger March 12, 2012, article: “Fill-in-the-blank wills can be a little skimpy.” He used some web-based legal services and then solicited comments and feedback from Oregon attorneys.
“If you want to keep law resources, contact your legislator,” Feb 8, 2012, letter by a Columbia County attorney, published in the South County Spotlight.
This is an important reminder that, no, not all legal research resources are online, and even if they were, people still need to learn how to research the law, how to compile legislative histories, and where to find legal assistance services in their communities.
“Honda loses Civic hybrid Small Claims Court lawsuit,” by Jerry Hirsch, LA Times, Feb. 1, 2012
Link to the plaintiff’s website and twitter account and my previous posts.
If you’re following the Honda Civic Hybrid Lawsuit, that Small Claims Court vs. Class Action Settlement case, you can find updates at the plaintiff’s website and twitter feed.
If you want to read about a Small Claims Court advocate, visit the HALT website.
If you want Oregon Small Claims Court information specifically, no, there isn’t a book or a guide, yet (one is coming later in 2012), but there are other research resources, including Oregon attorneys who can serve as Small Claims coaches:
Oregon Legal Research Blog