From the Oregon Attorney General’s web page (and here):
“The Governor has declared an Abnormal Disruption of the Market for the following Counties: Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook
The Abnormal Disruption of the Market began on December 11, 2007
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Outsourcing Legal Research
The Legal Process Outsourcing blog has an interesting post about outsourcing legal research.
Excerpt from the post:
“… Legal research in the practice of law is time-consuming, difficult and often times expensive-both for the lawyer and certainly for the client. Because the law is anything but clear-cut and simple, good and effective legal research takes time. While efficiency is an essential characteristic of a good lawyer, legal research requires both efficiency and thoroughness. Often times, an attorney will have to research an issue a number of times before she feels comfortable with the result of her research.
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Annotated Justinian Code now Online
Fred Blume’s Annotated Justinian Code is online, thanks to the University of Wyoming, College of Law.
Now if only all the UK statutes (not just recent ones, where recent means 19th century forward 🙂 were online …. I can dream, can’t I? And it’s not as if all U.S. federal or state statutes were online with free access, so I can’t really complain, can I.
Thanks to law librarian listserves for the tip!
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“More Eager I am to Pay a Lawyer than a Crook”: Consumer Law – No Small Matter for Ordinary People
A Hillsboro Argus, January 8th, 2008, opinion piece by Nick Christensen is (yet another) example of how difficult it is and how much time, energy, knowledge, and creativity people need to solve what should be simple consumer problems.
Excerpt from whole story:
“…. And I called lawyers, none of whom would return my call, probably because this was a small claims deal and I am 1,000 miles away. Little do they know how much more eager I am to pay a lawyer than a crook….”
Mr. Christiansen had the aptitude and the knowledge to know how to fight this fight, but that still didn’t save him from the hours and hours he had to spend on the problem and the worry. If anything, his knowledge of consumer matters made it worse. He knew perfectly well how badly this could turn out – all of us in the business know what we’re up against.
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Declaring Paternity in Oregon
Bend Bulletin story by Sheila Miller, on January 6th, 2007, “Obscure law keeps Bend father from challenging adoption.”
Excerpt from full article:
“I think that most men have not a clue how quickly they lose their rights in the state of Oregon,” Dick said. “If you are a male and wish to assert your rights to a child, you should go through every step possible and beyond … so there’s no question.”
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Towing in Oregon: The Beat Goes On
Towing is nothing if not exciting in Oregon (and probably elsewhere around the world). Local papers seem to run a “towing” story every week. The 1/8/08, Oregonian story, “Complaints push police to overhaul tow policy,” by Maxine Bernstein, is only the latest one.
Portland is particularly active in the Towing Law Making Arena and you can visit their home page, type the word towing into the search box, and keep yourself busy for a while – a long while. But public law librarians get towing questions from all over the state (and beyond, believe it or not) so, like condo law, I’ll blog about the subject fairly often.
Keep in mind that everyone from the neighborhood association to the Legislature gets involved with making towing law and policy, so you will need to look far and wide, near and far for towing laws. Statewide laws are updated not infrequently, the latest change occurred this past 2007 Legislative Session. See the following for information:
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New Filing Fees in Oregon Courts
The Oregon Business Litigation Blog posted this on 1/4/08:
Excerpt from full post:
“Litigation is about to get a little more expensive in Oregon. Starting February 1 a filing fee must accompany certain motions and responses to motions in state court. The fees — $50 for motions and $35 for responses — apply to filings including Rule 21 motions to dismiss, summary judgment motions, and motions to compel discovery. “
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(More) Oregon Condo Law
I’ve blogged a lot about condo law for a reason. (See here and here.) Condo homeownership is fairly new to Oregon, and a lot of Oregon lawyers, and there is an awful lot of Feeling your Way going on for condo buyers, sellers, boards, lenders, owners, management companies, and lawyers.
An Oregonian article by Jeff Manning on Sunday, 1/6/08, “If these walls could talk, they would quarrel,” was particularly good, though it may put you off condo-ownership completely rather than simply alerting you to the pitfalls. Condo ownership may be just what you need and want, but it’s good to know the risks (so says the public law librarian who hears a lot about the risks, the aggravations, and the lawsuits).
Excerpt from the article, but do read the whole thing, especially if you’re thinking about buying a condo (and read a whole lot more on the subject too):
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Fun with Legal Writing … and Anchovies (with a main dish of haiku)
Almost every good legal writer will say, “good legal writing is simply good writing.”
David Giacalone, in his 12/29/07, f/ka post, you tell ‘em – hold the anchovies, teaches about writing haiku (and writing generally) by comparing 3 haiku/senryu, from the tantalizing to the gristly. Try to see and feel (and even smell) the differences:
I found these all at and copied them from David’s post:
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Willy-Nilly is Not a Legal Research Strategy: Public Law Librarians and Advice to Unpublished Children’s Book Authors
Pro se (aka pro per or self-represented) law library patrons have a tough time of it. If you didn’t learn in high school or college how to learn, how to study, or how to develop a research strategy, then the legal research process will be a very steep uphill battle. Some of our law library non-attorney patrons learn very quickly that Willy-Nilly is not a research strategy. Others never figure it out and public law librarians hear a lot of “I just need a yes or no answer to my question.”
We, public law librarians, are not the only ones with this problem. I just came across another group of people who are recipients of these types of questions and the answer to one person’s situation pretty much sums up what we in law libraries have had to figure out how to say tactfully (forgive the garbled syntax – it’s Friday and you know what I mean! :-):
The January 4, 2008, Library Link of the Day post on a January 1st, 2008, article in the Boston Globe, by Candice Choi, about self-publishing, “Got a Manuscript? Publishing Now a Snap.” The story sent me off on a winding road that ended up at a blog site where I found this excerpt: