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The December 2007 Tip from Mary Ellen Bates, of Bates Information Service, is on All the OTHER Search Engines, and you know what that means.

Excerpt from the December Tip (see also the archive of her Research Tips):

“Yes, we all Google, although I have recently started Yahooing more than I Google. But there are far more search engines out there than Google, Yahoo, Live.com and Ask.com. It is almost impossible to keep track of all these other search tools; fortunately, other people have taken that job on. Note that the sources I have described below are not meta-search engines such as Dogpile.com; that is, they do not execute a search across a number of search engines. Rather, these are tools to identify the search engine that may best meet your research needs….”

The Legal Process Outsourcing blog has an interesting post about outsourcing legal research.

Excerpt from the post:

“… Legal research in the practice of law is time-consuming, difficult and often times expensive-both for the lawyer and certainly for the client. Because the law is anything but clear-cut and simple, good and effective legal research takes time. While efficiency is an essential characteristic of a good lawyer, legal research requires both efficiency and thoroughness. Often times, an attorney will have to research an issue a number of times before she feels comfortable with the result of her research.Research also requires adequate tools to be effective and efficient. A basic subscription to Lexis® or Westlaw® is usually not sufficient and attorneys need specialized databases to find answers to complex questions in a timely manner. These tools are expensive, and often times they are not used frequently enough to justify the expense for a law firm. …”

I think I will print this in a large font, laminate it, and post it at the law library’s reference desk for people who think their lawyers charge too much or that the law librarian should “answer my question with a yes or a no.” Some lawyers may charge too much and there are a few yes and no answers to legal questions, but not many.

The Oregonian, on January 10th, ran lengthy articles (by Don Colburn and Daniel Bergner (article at the NYT) , about Washington State’s physician-assisted suicide, aka Death With Dignity, measure that may go to their November 2008 ballot.

It’s My Decision is a website for Washington State Death With Dignity measure advocates.

Research into the Oregon physician assisted suicide law (statute) can begin here and here and here but will continue in journals, newspapers, state and federal court cases, and beyond.

It’s 8:37 a.m. Do you know how much that company’s CEO is getting paid?

The SEC is rolling out this interactive database, Executive Compensation Disclosure.

Thanks to Mary Ellen Bates Librarian of Fortune for the tip and for her blurb on this SEC database.

From the Oregon Attorney General’s web page (and here):

“The Governor has declared an Abnormal Disruption of the Market for the following Counties: Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook

The Abnormal Disruption of the Market began on December 11, 2007

The Legal Process Outsourcing blog has an interesting post about outsourcing legal research.

Excerpt from the post:

“… Legal research in the practice of law is time-consuming, difficult and often times expensive-both for the lawyer and certainly for the client. Because the law is anything but clear-cut and simple, good and effective legal research takes time. While efficiency is an essential characteristic of a good lawyer, legal research requires both efficiency and thoroughness. Often times, an attorney will have to research an issue a number of times before she feels comfortable with the result of her research.

Fred Blume’s Annotated Justinian Code is online, thanks to the University of Wyoming, College of Law.

Now if only all the UK statutes (not just recent ones, where recent means 19th century forward 🙂 were online …. I can dream, can’t I? And it’s not as if all U.S. federal or state statutes were online with free access, so I can’t really complain, can I.

Thanks to law librarian listserves for the tip!

The Oregon Business Litigation Blog posted this on 1/4/08:

Excerpt from full post:

“Litigation is about to get a little more expensive in Oregon. Starting February 1 a filing fee must accompany certain motions and responses to motions in state court. The fees — $50 for motions and $35 for responses — apply to filings including Rule 21 motions to dismiss, summary judgment motions, and motions to compel discovery. “

Almost every good legal writer will say, “good legal writing is simply good writing.”

David Giacalone, in his 12/29/07, f/ka post, you tell ‘em – hold the anchovies, teaches about writing haiku (and writing generally) by comparing 3 haiku/senryu, from the tantalizing to the gristly. Try to see and feel (and even smell) the differences:

I found these all at and copied them from David’s post: