It has been said that lawyers are frustrated writers. (This can also be said about most writers.) For those of you seeking your inner scribe (contrast with those seeking their inner inventor at Da Vinci Days):
TERROIR CREATIVE WRITING FESTIVAL
A day of workshops, lectures and readings brings writers together in McMinnville, May 1, 2010
When legal memos are one and the same with the “content” of the Internet, is there any hope for the future?
“Cats, Frogs, and [don’t spam me please*] Women,” by Justice William W. Bedsworth:
Excerpt: “Sitting on the library table in my chambers is a memorandum from the Judicial Council entitled, “Information for Implementing New Rules of Court Regarding Public Access to Judicial Administrative Records.” It is, sadly, not the page-turner its title would lead you to expect….
Steve Duin had an interesting column in the March 30, 2010, Oregonian, (dated 3/29/10 on the website) about student internships and he makes a point few know, i.e. there are laws about such things. And one of the Commenters makes another important point, about the role of the educational institution that set up the internship, though sometimes there is no “middle-man” and the intern needs to do his or her own research.
“The insidious rise in unpaid internships can run afoul of federal guidelines,” by Steve Duin, The Oregonian, March 29, 2010
Excerpt: ‘A good friend of my daughter’s asked for my advice last week about an internship ….
The six-month internship required that this college grad spend 20 hours a week building the online issue of the monthly magazine, writing stories, editing video, cropping photographs, crafting headlines and formatting the events calendar….
…
Those internships abound when the economy is flat-lining because companies take advantage of young workers who decide an additional entry on the resume is better than another summer with the Xbox.
If the law is about anything, it is about revenge and forgiveness. It is, of course, about more than that, but underneath much of the law’s most intractable problems (not uncommonly found in areas of immigration, criminal law, and torts, to name only 3) you will usually find these two instincts, which may be more primal than you once thought:
Speaking of Faith guest Michael McCullough, author of “Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct” with host Krista Tippett, in their Sunday, March 28th, 2010, interview:
“Michael McCullough describes science that helps us comprehend how revenge came to have a purpose in human life. At the same time, he stresses, science is also revealing that human beings are more instinctively equipped for forgiveness than we’ve perhaps given ourselves credit for. Knowing this suggests ways to calm the revenge instinct in ourselves and others and embolden the forgiveness intuition.” (Link to full website.)
On the day that Richard Serrano will be sentenced to death by a judge and jury, March 16, 2010:
OPB’s Think Out Loud will broadcast the program “Oregon’s Death Row“: “A jury unanimously found that Ricardo Serrano should be put to death for murdering Melody Dang and her two sons. Washington County Circuit Court Judge Steven Price will formally sentence Serrano on Tuesday. Serrano is poised to become the 33rd man on Oregon’s death row. If history is any guide, he’ll be likely to stay there for a while….” (Link to Oregon’s Death Row.)
Think Out Loud programs are also aired weekday evening at 9 p.m. on OPB radio (and you can find their archives at their website).
In an era of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (which for some of us began in the 1970’s), lawyers and law librarians also look for ways to dispose of law books green-fully, so to speak.
Here are some new book recycling ideas, which are terrific supplements to my 2006 guide on How to Dispose of Used Law Books:
From the Law Librarian Blog post: What To Do With the Debris of the Shed West Era, visit:
If you’ve never viewed the short film-clips at the TED Conference, here’s a link to one that is Business-Related, rather than just inspirational, funny, provocative, or otherwise highly watchable:
Four Ways to Fix a Broken Legal System: 2010 TED Video of Philip Howard’s Presentation
Visit TED on a rainy, snowy, sunny, icy, warm, hot, cold, or just plain any old afternoon for some addictive idea-mongering:
The Chronicle of Higher Education has a February 21, 2010, article about this book:
“Yo, Ho, Ho, and a Digital Scrum: History shows that intellectual property is more complex than either its creators or copiers care to admit, says a Chicago scholar, by Jeffrey R. Young”
Meet up with old and new friends and Benefit for the Campaign for Equal Justice:
You are invited to a free showing of the AFI’s choice of the best legal movie of all time:
It’s not my fault if you fall over laughing and hurt yourself, but I can say it will probably be worth it:
Excerpt: ‘I have no idea why the James Brown Soul Center of the Universe Bridge is here.(4) What I know is that in 1993, the town voted to name their new bridge after James Brown. He came and christened it with a rendition of “I Feel Good,” and now all the ranchers who do business in this cow town (the ski resort is way up the hill; very few skiers use the bridge) pass by or over a bridge named not after Merle Haggard or George Strait or Garth Brooks, but James Brown….
…
You want to know what it’s like to be a peace officer in a small town in Colorado? Here are a few excerpts from Steamboat Today’s police log: “Tuesday, January 19, 12:15 a.m.: Steamboat Springs Police Department officers stopped a drunken pedestrian at 11th Street and Lincoln Avenue. Officers reportedly saw the man walking down the street carrying a pole used to hold velvet waiting line ropes. The man reportedly was extremely intoxicated and could not give them an address or the name of a sober friend, so officers took him to detox for the night. Officers could not immediately determine where the pole came from.”…’ (link to full article: Law Enforcement for the Soul… Center, by Justice William W. Bedsworth)
Read other Justice Bedsworth’s “Criminal Waste of Space” columns (over at the OC Bar Association)
Oregon Legal Research Blog