Oregon dot gov website designers and content writers are updating the portal. They want your input:
A link to the Survey is available at the Oregon dot gov homepage, under this heading (as of today): “Help us improve the Oregon.gov state portal!”
1) Idaho: “Idaho County to Hire Lawyer to Assist Pro Se Litigants,” Aug 13, 2012, by Molly McDonough. ABA Journal News.
Link to Idaho Press Tribune story: “Idaho county to hire lawyer to help ‘pro se’ cases“
2) Massachusetts: Yale Law Journal article (June 2012): “Randomized Evaluation in Legal Assistance: What Difference Does Representation (Offer and Actual Use) Make?“ by D. James Greiner and Cassandra Wolos Pattanayak
“Reminder — Oregon State Courts Closed Friday, August 17, for Mandatory Furlough
Oregon state courts and their offices will be closed Friday, August 25, 2012, because of budget cuts. All statewide court closure dates for 2011-13 legal holidays and mandated furlough days are posted here. Some courts also have limited public access hours to address staff cutbacks.”
Jack Ohman wants to kickstart the Oregon Secretary of State’s Blue Book Cover Photo Contest (and don’t we all follow the journey of OR7, the wolf formerly known as OR-7!)
Photo Contest Open for 2013-14 Oregon Blue Book
“Amateur photographers may submit photos for the front and back cover
“Community-members, attorneys, and entrepreneurs may attend a two-day workshop examining legal strategies for the creation of sustainable, localized and sharing economies. This workshop will look at some of the key ingredients of the transition to a new economy, including:
…. The two-day workshop will address legal questions that arise in efforts to build more sustainable economies, including those relating to entity formation and structure, securities laws, employment laws, tax laws, real estate law, zoning laws, risk management, and regulation of commercial activity.
…. Among other things, participants will gain tools and understandings helpful in forming and structuring organizations, making contracts and agreements, raising capital for community-owned enterprises, and navigating the vast and interesting world of legal regulation…”
Presented by Attorney Janelle Orsi (Director, Sustainable Economies Law Center), with Portland Attorney Ashlee Albies.
I was visiting the ever-enlightening FGI blog (Free Government Information) and came across a blog post about this treasure: State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States
You can link directly to the State Agency Databases Across the Fifty States and if you do, make sure to click on the Oregon link, which was set up by the very talented Oregon librarian, Liz Paulus.
Take your research skills to the limit:
1) Read “The Cybersleuth’s Guide to the Internet: Conducting Effective Investigative & Legal Research on the Internet” 12th edition (as of 8/12)
2) Read: “Competitive Intelligence – A Selective Resource Guide – Completely Updated – July 2012,” by Sabrina I. Pacifici, Published on July 14, 2012:
Creative Commons has a new “license chooser“ that walks you through the process of selecting the right Creative Commons license.
While Creative Commons licenses aren’t just for students and teachers, this article from the School Library Journal highlights a copyright “teachable moment” opportunity for you and your children.
Excerpt: New Creative Commons license chooser (Posted by joycevalenza on August 5th, 2012)
Lawyers and other legal researchers rely on the West Key Number system and the Lexis equivalent headnote system to find relevant case law.
If you want to know how these indexing systems work “behind the scenes,” here’s an article for you:
“The Case for Curation: The Relevance of Digest and Citator Results in Westlaw and Lexis,” by Susan Nevelow Mart and Jeffrey Luftig.
“Cultural Literacy for Judges,” by Justice William W. Bedsworth, from: A Criminal Waste of Space, August 2012:
Excerpt: ‘The headline in the London Daily Mail said, “Out-of-touch judges to be given lessons in popular culture.” Of course, that caught my attention. But the subhead not only held my attention, it grabbed it with both hands and shook it: “After one said who are the Beatles?”….’ [Link to A Criminal Waste of Space.)
Link to the Orange County Lawyer Magazine.
