Oregon Legal Research BlogThe Oregon Divorce Blog has a post about collaborative divorce, which is fairly new to Oregon. Divorce lawyers know about it, but not many of their future clients do.
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Collaborative Divorce
Articles Posted in Legal Subject Area Guides
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Oregon Supreme Court Decides “Circumcision Case”
OJD Media Release (summary) is here and full opinion is here.
Full case name is: In the Matter of the Marriage of JAMES H. BOLDT, Respondent on Review, and LIA BOLDT
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State Buries Slide Risk? Not digging that hole might get you buried
Real research means digging deeply and not all holes you dig are perilous ones. Some might save your life.
Oregonian, Jan.20th, 2008, State Keeps Slide Risk to Itself, by Michael Milstein.
Excerpts from article:
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Pocket Guide for Judges on the State-Secrets Privilege …
beSpacific posts this, New Publication Helps Judges On Classified Information.
Excerpt from beSpacific post/:
“… This pocket guide is designed to familiarize federal judges with statutes and procedures established to help public courts protect government secrets when courts are called upon to do so. The guide provides information about the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA), information security officers, and secure storage facilities….”
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What is an Oregon Deadbeat Dad?
Steve Duin’s column in the Oregonian today, Jan. 15th, 2008, “Separating the dads from the real deadbeats” will have a lot of lawyers and law librarians nodding their heads. We’ve all heard about this problem from the people who cross our thresholds.
The case referred to in Duin’s column is ARVIDSON v. KURAHASHI, (A131107).
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How to Make an Oregon Law Librarian’s (and Lawyer’s) Heart Beat Madly
Some of the scariest words we hear in the law library are from non-attorney patrons who walk into the law library and say things like this:
“I need advance directive, will, and trust forms for my 87 year-old neighbor. I just want to take them to her so she can fill them out.”
We want to say:
Please, please, please (!) don’t just hand over legal forms to your neighbor. Instead, please (PLEASE!) offer to help your neighbor contact a local senior advocacy center, your county’s senior services, or call your legal aid office or bar association information number. Your neighbor should have someone, not related to her (or him), listen and determine exactly what legal service or assistance is needed. The person consulted should be knowledgeable, which sometimes means experienced or trained and possibly even licensed. This person needs to be accountable for advice proffered.
Most counties have advocacy services for seniors and you can find out about them from your Legal Aid office (and ask about the Senior Law Project), your local public library, your county commissioners’ or mayor’s office, your state AARP office, to name only a few sources of information. You can also phone the Oregon State Bar Association or the Multnomah Bar Association, or your local county law library.
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“More Eager I am to Pay a Lawyer than a Crook”: Consumer Law – No Small Matter for Ordinary People
A Hillsboro Argus, January 8th, 2008, opinion piece by Nick Christensen is (yet another) example of how difficult it is and how much time, energy, knowledge, and creativity people need to solve what should be simple consumer problems.
Excerpt from whole story:
“…. And I called lawyers, none of whom would return my call, probably because this was a small claims deal and I am 1,000 miles away. Little do they know how much more eager I am to pay a lawyer than a crook….”
Mr. Christiansen had the aptitude and the knowledge to know how to fight this fight, but that still didn’t save him from the hours and hours he had to spend on the problem and the worry. If anything, his knowledge of consumer matters made it worse. He knew perfectly well how badly this could turn out – all of us in the business know what we’re up against.
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Declaring Paternity in Oregon
Bend Bulletin story by Sheila Miller, on January 6th, 2007, “Obscure law keeps Bend father from challenging adoption.”
Excerpt from full article:
“I think that most men have not a clue how quickly they lose their rights in the state of Oregon,” Dick said. “If you are a male and wish to assert your rights to a child, you should go through every step possible and beyond … so there’s no question.”
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Towing in Oregon: The Beat Goes On
Towing is nothing if not exciting in Oregon (and probably elsewhere around the world). Local papers seem to run a “towing” story every week. The 1/8/08, Oregonian story, “Complaints push police to overhaul tow policy,” by Maxine Bernstein, is only the latest one.
Portland is particularly active in the Towing Law Making Arena and you can visit their home page, type the word towing into the search box, and keep yourself busy for a while – a long while. But public law librarians get towing questions from all over the state (and beyond, believe it or not) so, like condo law, I’ll blog about the subject fairly often.
Keep in mind that everyone from the neighborhood association to the Legislature gets involved with making towing law and policy, so you will need to look far and wide, near and far for towing laws. Statewide laws are updated not infrequently, the latest change occurred this past 2007 Legislative Session. See the following for information:
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(More) Oregon Condo Law
I’ve blogged a lot about condo law for a reason. (See here and here.) Condo homeownership is fairly new to Oregon, and a lot of Oregon lawyers, and there is an awful lot of Feeling your Way going on for condo buyers, sellers, boards, lenders, owners, management companies, and lawyers.
An Oregonian article by Jeff Manning on Sunday, 1/6/08, “If these walls could talk, they would quarrel,” was particularly good, though it may put you off condo-ownership completely rather than simply alerting you to the pitfalls. Condo ownership may be just what you need and want, but it’s good to know the risks (so says the public law librarian who hears a lot about the risks, the aggravations, and the lawsuits).
Excerpt from the article, but do read the whole thing, especially if you’re thinking about buying a condo (and read a whole lot more on the subject too):