Oregon Legal Research BlogAn Oregon nonprofit, Economic Fairness Oregon, was one of five finalists for Consumer’s Union first Excellence in Advocacy Award, as reported in the January 2012 Consumer Reports and on the Excellent in Advocacy Award website.
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How to Find Free Digital Books (other than Amazon, Kindle, etc.)
This isn’t a complete list but these are good places to start your search for full-text digital books – but don’t forget your local libraries and librarians.
First, sometimes you need good bibliographic info (e.g. correct spelling of author name, exact title, etc.) before you begin your search for the full-text. Worldcat dot org is a good catalog to find that info. Your own Oregon public library may have a full-service subscription version you can use.
Second: General web search engines will index the contents of many of these repositories, but not all content.
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Lawyer Blogs and the ABA Journal Blawg 100
You don’t have to vote for your favorite blogs unless you want to, but if you were thinking about blogging and want to look at how other lawyers blog, the ABA Journal’s Blawg 100 is a great list of examples.
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Jury Finds Oregon Attorney Defamed by Blogger
Oregonian article, Dec 6 & 7, 2011: “‘Investigative blogger’ doesn’t get journalist’s protection, Portland judge rules,” by Jeff Manning, The Oregonian:
“A federal jury has ruled an “investigative blogger” defamed a central Oregon attorney in a case that raises questions about press protections and the nature of the press itself in the Internet age.
The jury found that Crystal Cox, a real estate agent and blogger from Eureka, Mont., defamed Kevin Padrick when she accused him of tax fraud, bribery and other crimes….” [Link to full Oregonian article.]
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Justice Bedsworth Tackles Time, Tontines, and Tootsie Landsill
Spare a moment for Justice Bedsworth’s “A Criminal Waste of Space” column in the Orange County Bar Association’s monthly OCLawyer.
It will be worth it:
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More Uses for Old Law Books
Another use for old law books and a fun one at that:
Our current guide on How to Dispose of Used Law Books (or link to it from the Washington County Law Library’s General Information webpage if that direct link breaks).
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Free Fastcase Webinars (and CLE credit) for Oregon Attorneys
Fastcase offers free webinars to subscribers; some include free CLE credit. Check at the Fastcase webinar webpage and use the drop-down menu to find Oregon.
OSB members: Please double-check with the Oregon State Bar to make sure you can claim CLE credit for the webinar(s) you attend.
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State Court Budget Cuts and Access to Justice
We may have 3 equal branches of government, but the Legislative Branch decides how much money each branch gets – and voters get to decide who the legislators are:
“Critics Say Budget Cuts for Courts Risk Rights,” by Jon Schwartz, NYT, November 26, 2011:
‘…“The justice system’s funding has been decreasing in constant dollars for at least two decades,” said David Boies, co-chairman of a commission formed by the American Bar Association to study court budget issues. “We are now at the point where funding failures are not merely causing inconvenience, annoyances and burdens; the current funding failures are resulting in the failure to deliver basic justice.”….‘ [Link to full article.]
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Can Laypersons Ordained Online Officiate at Weddings?
Some stories just catch your eye – from Justia Verdict (via Law in the News):
“Can Laypersons Ordained Online as Universal Life Church Ministers, or the Like, Officiate at Weddings? In Some States, the Answer Is No,” by Professor Joanna L. Grossman.
“In the second of a two-part series of columns raising questions about the legal effect of online ordination, Justia columnist and Hofstra law professor Joanna Grossman discusses whether persons who are ordained only by an online ministry, with no prerequisites for ordination but the payment of a fee, can legally perform marriages. Such online ministries include the Pastafarians (who belong to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster), the Church of Body Modification, the Universal Life Church, and others. Grossman points out that in some states, such ordinations mean nothing, and thus, marriages performed by such “ministers” will not be valid….” [Link to full article.]
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“How to Die in Oregon” and “Hot Coffee, the Movie” (Documentaries)
If you’re looking to buy or borrow a DVD copy of either “How to Die in Oregon” or “Hot Coffee, the Movie,” please check the documentary’s website for ordering and availability information.
In the fullness of time, public libraries will have these DVDs in their collections, but documentary and independent film distribution business models are different from mainstream movie rollouts.