If you need an alternative to all that holiday music, try Sarah Kaltsounis’ “The School of Rock: Learn Criminal Law by Listening to the Radio.” (Linked to via Trial Ad Notes where you will also find a link to a great story about the use of therapy dogs in a prosecutor’s office.)
If you’re going to work as an independent contractor, by all means read up on the subject and make sure you understand your rights and obligations. Your local public library will have lots of books on the subject (depending, of course, on the size of your local public library), but also check out the Oregon Gov sites, here and here. Oh, and there is also this from the IRS and lots of practical information from our favorite self-help legal publisher, Nolo Press.
There is something to be said for being a new (or relatively new) state resident. We can find wonder in things like this final report from the Public Commission on the Oregon Legislature. Wonky is as wonky does. Just don’t get me started on Mayor Potter’s Charter Revision Commission 🙂
It’s a’snowin’ and a’blowin’ here in Oregon something fierce, but we’ll always have Mozart. Now you can download it all. And if you lose your ‘lectrical power, just start humming.
The Multnomah County Auditor has released its public records law report on eliminating barriers to public access. Today’s Oregonian had an editorial about the report, here.
We should always read outside our fields (and out in the fields and on the beaches whenever possible :-). I was reading my favorite librarian cartoon today and it linked to this, which got me thinking differently than before about my own plans for the future of my library. Way back in my East Coast academic law school library days, I once found an answer to an elusive legal research question while reading a David Lodge novel, 35,000 feet in the air above the Atlantic. So don’t ever feel guilty about reading whatever, whenever.
Via Ernie the Attorney, I was led to these Nine Tips for Office Celebrations, via Kring & Chung. Let’s be careful out there now.
The Oregonian’s Edge (the first column Oregonian readers head for when the paper arrives on the doorstep :-), has in today’s (12/11) column:
“Peace on Earth, good will toward Satanic traitors!
A Pagosa Springs, Colo., homeowners’ association president demanded that a homeowner remove the Christmas wreath shaped like a peace sign she had placed on the front of her home because he saw it as a protest of the Iraq war and a symbol of Satan.”
This terrific bibliography of Oregon practice materials can be found here (or, if this direct pdf link doesn’t work, try here and click on the pdf link at the bottom of the page). University of Oregon Law School John E. Jaqua Law Library law librarians Mary Clayton and Stephanie Midkiff wrote the guide.
Librarians have a bad reputation for being pushovers. We are on occasion, though I like to think it is more a matter of our wanting to be fair that the punishment fits the crime. Do I really want to flog someone for not returning library books? But we do have our limits and some of my library patrons, WHO KNOW WHO THEY ARE, have not returned their CLE course materials and if I do not see them or my library’s books within the next couple of day, WILL HAVE THEIR BORROWING PRIVILEGES WITHDRAWN through the end of this MCLE reporting year. Happy Holidays!
Oregon Legal Research Blog