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Oregon Employment/Independent Contractor Law: The Willamette Week ran a story by Nigel Jaquiss this week (10/25/06 issue) on a lawsuit by two Oregonian employees against their (former) employer.

Fastcase: Future Lawyer has a plug for Fastcase, which the Florida bar (among others) provides “free” for their members. Not to bash Casemaker at all (full disclosure: Oregon State Bar members use Casemaker, but unlike Washington state, it’s not available to Oregon’s public law librarians – go figure). I’m trying to get Fastcase for my county the same way I have HeinOnline (you just need a public library card in my law library’s county to use HeinOnline remotely from anywhere – you don’t need to be a lawyer). Fastcase has been great to work with so far. I just need to crunch numbers, do a trial run, and make a decision. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? One day we’ll let you in on a Day in The Life of a County Law Librarian. NOT easy, not pretty – but definitely fun.

Funny Lawyers Who are Funnier Than Lawyer Jokes:

“I now have a car that talks to me. It gives me directions. As near as I can determine, a very small woman lives behind my dashboard and someone pays her to tell me where to go. I find this remarkable, since there are so many people willing to do that for free.” (Justice Bedsworth, OC Lawyer, October 2006)

Do you realize just how many lawyer comedians we have in this kooky profession? Leaving aside lawyer jokes (please), we have the inimitable Bedsworth, Courthouse News (I’m not sure it’s supposed to be funny, but it is – and the editorials are almost always worth reading), and the Anonymous Lawyer (yes, it’s a matter of taste – over 40’s usually find it funnier than his peers – go figure – I find it snortingly funny, which tells you something about me). There are lots of others (some blawkers, e.g. here and here, will do all the work for you and point to funny judicial opinions), but as a blorker, I have to go and get serious now.

Darwin Online: I can usually find a law library connection to just about anything within, oh, say 20 seconds, but this one took about 5 seconds. Darwin, Scopes, First amendment, intelligent design, lawsuits, … Need I say more?

Legally Speaking: Thursday (10/26/06) on Legally Speaking, a TVCTV cable access program, our host, Jim Hilborn, welcomes back Terry Rilling, who was on the program last month. Terry is running for election. Jenn Bascom, Clackamas County Law Librarian, and I, the Washington County Law Librarian, will appear for a few minutes for our Public Law Librarian Interlude. Legally Speaking is a call-in program that airs live on the 4th Thursday of the month, from 8-9 p.m., out of Beaverton, Oregon and is rebroadcast at different times throughout the month on Portland metro-area cable access channels.

Bills of Attainder: I would bet that no more than 1 out of 23 people (yes, I made that up – the 23 is probably low) know what a bill of attainder is, as in “[n]o bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed” from Article 1, Sections 9 & 10, of the U.S. Constitution. Don’t feel bad. It’s never too late to learn. Enter “bill of attainder constitution” into your search engine of choice (I’m recommending Dogpile.com today, but Ask.com is always good too), and read a few of the entries, paying attention to who is writing them (as you always do, don’t you, please – or limit yourself to dot gov sites). Try this one, and this one, and this one, among others. Interesting, isn’t it. Now, if some 15 year old high-school student doing a survey came up to you on the street and asked you what a bill of attainder was, you’d be ready to show them how smart you are. Doesn’t that feel good? (Not as good as if that young person offered you a free coupon for ice cream, but almost.)

News, and News, and News of the Day:

Today’s Oregonian, 10/20/06, was chock full of legal news. Not everyone gets to read it from cover to cover (I have a VERY long Trimet commute), but take a look at the newspaper today if you get a chance. I’ll try and link here to the online stories, but with Oregonlive, that is not always a fruitful endeavor, so maybe you should just start from their Front Page. If you don’t read newspapers, remember the wise words from The Wonkette, “… for the love of god, do not use us as your primary news source….” The same sentiment can be applied to the Daily Show. Your mother also knew that you can’t live on chewing gum alone.

Onward with today’s news:

DUI Website: This DUI website is pretty amazing – gotta love the web and the designers and content managers who have learned so much over the years. I found this link through Cornell’s InSite, a weekly current awareness service (celebrating their 10th anniversary!).

ABA Family Advocate and Personal Photos: Our Fall 2006 issue of the ABA Section of Family Law “Family Advocate” arrived today. The topic is “Marketing Your Family Law Practice.” There is so much good stuff packed in this issue, but unless I missed it (quite possible) the one thing missing was any mention of the personal photos on your web site.

So, before you put a photo of yourself on your web site (or in any of your brochures or professional publications, hard copy or otherwise), please, please, please, get an honest opinion on whether or not it’s a good likeness of you and, please, whether or not you look daft, silly, sober, intimidating (do you want to look intimidating?), as if the photo is a mug shot, etc. And please ask people of different ages, sexes, professions, etc., each of whom could represent potential clients. In other words, do you look like the kind of lawyer the clients you want would hire? (Forgive the awkward sentence, but you know what I mean 🙂

As you’ve probably deduced, I’ve seen some bad photos of some truly terrific attorneys. (No, I’m not going to get myself in trouble by linking to them, but you know because you’ve seen them too.)

Prison Libraries: We get questions about prison libraries from librarians, library staff, and from inmates. Jessamyn has a posting at her Librarians.net for those who might be interested in prison librarianship as a profession.