Due to state budget cuts affecting county law library staffing levels and related service cuts, the Oregon Legal Research Blog will cease regular publication until further notice.
There is still a lot of useful legal research content on the blog. Use the search button or click on one of the subject labels (aka tags).
If you are interested in guest blogging, please contact the Washington County Oregon Law Library at lawlibrary@co.washington.or.us
Permanent and temporary law librarian positions with U.S. Court Libraries in Portland, Seattle, and Pasadena.
For more information, link to the Ninth Circuit Library System’s employment page.
Visit the OJD website to read (soon) and view the:
2012 State of the Courts Address by Chief Justice Paul J. De Muniz
I was working on a blog post featuring studies that show the flow of tax dollars from taxpayers, to federal general funds pools, and then back to the states (and then presumably back to taxpayers), when I ran across a blogger’s instructions to readers who Comment. The instructions are worth quoting, and worth reading.
From Barry Ritholtz at Think Tank (scroll down to the post’s Comments section to see these instructions):
“Comments
Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.” [Link to blog post and instructions to Comment writers.]
Yes, it’s Oregon Birthday, but we’re going to focus on lawyer love, instead. Sad, I know, and perhaps ultimately futile, but one must try.
We will start with the “The Restatement of Love,” which was published in the Yale Law Journal (full cite: 104 Yale L.J. 707 (1994)). (If you can’t find a copy online, check with local library databases or email us here at Oregon Legal Research Central.)
Next, let’s laugh at the language of the legal profession – and if you’re not having enough laughter in your job then it’s time to rethink your career choice.
“If you want to keep law resources, contact your legislator,” Feb 8, 2012, letter by a Columbia County attorney, published in the South County Spotlight.
This is an important reminder that, no, not all legal research resources are online, and even if they were, people still need to learn how to research the law, how to compile legislative histories, and where to find legal assistance services in their communities.
Here is a Time Change grid for those who plan ahead.
“Free Online Course: Topics in Digital Law Practice,” from Robert Ambrogi’s LawSites, Jan. 28, 2012, blog post.
Law in the News alerts us (on 2/3/12) to this provocative article:
Colbert v. the Court: Why, in the battle over Citizens United, the Supreme Court never had a chance,” Dahlia Lithwick, Slate dot com, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012
Excerpt: “…. When a 91-year-old former justice is patiently explaining to a comedian that corporations are not people, it’s clear that everything about the majority opinion has been reduced to a punch line….” [Link to full Slate article.]
Yes, Charles Dickens was very hard on lawyers, but he also had at least one lawyer hero (albeit a rather reluctant one, but definitely endearing rather than greedy or diabolical) and maybe more than one.
My favorite Dickens novel, “Our Mutual Friend,” has a nice-guy lawyer hero – 2 in fact – and as fabulous an array of characters as you’ll find in any Dickens’ writing.
