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Robert Ambrogi notes the passing of a legal publishing legend, Paul J. Ruskin:

The Lawyer Who Took Down West’s Copyright in Court Opinions Has Died

Excerpt: “It now seems almost ludicrous. But until fairly recently, legal publishing giant West claimed that it owned the copyright to federal court decisions. I’m not talking about the headnotes West writes or the key numbering it adds, I’m talking about basic information such as the name of the case, the date of the case, the names of the attorneys who argued it, and the page numbers of the opinions.

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I was reading the Rex Stout novel (League of Frightened Men, with Nero Wolfe) and came across this wonderful, and largely forgotten, word: prestidigitation (see also Word of the Day a few years ago.)

Isn’t this what a lot of us do, especially “digital” librarians (without the deceit, of course)?

Those ones and zeros are powerful things (or perhaps they are utter nothingness or naught-iness)

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Posted in: Libraries and Other
Tagged: Quotations
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Rarely does a day go past without someone coming into our law libraries frustrated as can be: “I just spent #$% hours online and I can’t find what I need.” In the law librarian version of “breathe deeply,” we talk and walk the attorney through the search, more often than not taking them back to the origins of the West Digest System.*

Say what you will about the business-customer (vs. business-shareholder) side of Thomson-Reuters print and online services (and I surely won’t stop you), the legal research premise (or taxonomy, to be more precise) on which the original West Digest System is based is a thing of beauty. (See also West Digest System, from Wikipedia.)

The West Digest taxonomy (as remarkable as Roget’s Five Classes, the periodic table of the elements, and our 26 letters of the alphabet or even the Ten Commandments) is comprised of only seven topics – amazing:

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Heaven knows I’m no conspiracy theorist and this is not a conspiracy theory post, but I am wondering if a bag of mail (so to speak) containing Census forms was lost recently.

I’m not the only person in my small circle to be visited by a Census worker who says they never got my (our) completed Census form. Yes, we did complete them (and it couldn’t have been easier to complete) and yes, we did mail them.

I’m happy to provide the Census Bureau with the information; after all, I too want for my growing region better roads, public transit, hospitals, schools, parks, libraries, broadband, sewers, and maybe even another legislator.

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Do you need to research Oregon writs of mandamus?

(Related search-words to use when researching writs generally: original jurisdiction, writs, petitions, injunctive relief, mandamus, habeas corpus, quo warranto)

Consult the following primary sources, but take a look also at 1 & 2 for some useful guidance:

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(Not really, but anything is possible in the wild, wacky world of Senate Judicial Committee nominations, so give this post an April First dateline.)

Supreme Court nominees and their (judicial hearing) handlers are mere amateurs when compared to public law librarians who are masters at Answering a Question without Answering the Question.

This is a skill we practice every day, in every way, unlike legislators and judges who are required to give their opinions day in and day out and have a devil of a time not telling people where to go, what to do, and What the Law Is.

Collectively, public law librarians are asked hundreds of thousands of questions about the law every year and each and every time we state some variation on these themes:

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We are often asked about Oregon legal newspapers. The answer depends on the specific question: if one want to post a legal notice, if one is looking for legal jobs, if one wants to track Oregon legal news, if, if, if, ….

The following is an attempt to address most of the “is there an Oregon legal newspaper?” questions, but I’m sure I’ll leave something out for a later blog post.

First things first: There isn’t a “legal newspaper” in Oregon, at least not if one is looking for something like these:

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If you’re researching Oregon employment law, you need to figure out if you want materials on private sector, public sector, collective bargaining, independent contractors, employment discrimination, wage & hour laws, etc.

These are not either/or decisions (though some are). Each person’s situation is unique. You may want consult an attorney who specializes in employment law and who can advise you on your legal, and non-legal, options.

Apart from researching case law, and you’ll need a legal research database or access to your state’s (or the federal) digest to do that, here are some additional legal research resources:

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For those who are waiting (breathlessly, perhaps) and wondering whatever happened to Law dot Gov, especially given how fast all those other new dot gov sites have popped up, this is for you:

Google Group for Law dot Gov

The Law dot Gov Google Group is comprised of those on the Law dot Gov frontlines, but updates and commentary on the initiative will also appear on a variety of law librarian and lawyer blogs.

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