Oregon Legal Research Blog

Published on: January 2, 2008

Oregon Traffic Laws 2008 and a New Year’s Resolution Just for You

By Laura Orr

New traffic laws are highlighted at the Oregonian and at the DMV (see their other press releases here). Old and new traffic laws here and here and here.

And here’s a traffic rule NO ONE in Portland seems to know, except for those drivers from countries where one is expected to know the Roundabout Rules (and to learn how to drive, and park, before getting a license) (e.g. UK):

When exiting a roundabout (aka traffic circle), “ALWAYS INDICATE YOUR EXIT [from the circle] USING YOUR RIGHT TURN SIGNAL.” See pages 50-51 of the Oregon Driver Manual.

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Published on: January 2, 2008

Human Customer Service v. Machine

By Laura Orr

The Get Human database now has 500 (!) phone numbers, including and dialing instructions, for reaching a real person rather than a recorded voice when you need customer assistance.

Thanks to Sabrina at beSpacific for her Get Human update (and for all her postings!).

Published on: January 2, 2008

Tips for Conference Bloggers

By Laura Orr

Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools are cool for a reason. His tips range far and wide – and I bet he has more fun web surfing (and living) in a week than most of us do in a month. He sure packs it in. One of his latest posts is about live-blogging at conferences, Tips for Conference Blogggers and he links to Bruno Giussini’s Lunch Over IP post on the subject.

Published on: December 31, 2007

A New Bedsworth to Ring in the New Year

By Laura Orr

There is no better way to end an old or begin a New Year than a visit with Justice Bedsworth, who takes on Kansas, Nebraska, London, South Korea, France, and Italy. As for London and Nebraska:

“… So, as you can see, there is not much to choose between these two places except that London has part of an ocean protecting it from the maniacal French, while Nebraska is chockablock next to the maniacal Kansans and you pretty much live in constant fear that they might pour across the border at any moment and take your science textbooks away from you. Other than that, I think you could have a great weekend in either place.” (For the Full Beds, go here.)

For Bedsworth fans, a faux Bedsworth-archive (or should I say a faux-archive of Bedsworth 🙂

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Published on: December 31, 2007

State Agency Databases Database

By Laura Orr

This doesn’t look like much, but it is! And I’ve already used it to answer someone’s reference question because it was quicker to use than digging through the state’s databases directly.

State Agency Databases

And it even answers the age-old non-librarian question: What is a database?

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Published on: December 31, 2007

Oregon Supreme Court, Dec 28, 2007

By Laura Orr

The Dec 28th lineup of decisions (or from here if that link fails) includes, but is not limited to:

More on the Jordaan M. Clarke v. OHSU (SC S053868) case, with an examination of Article 1, section 10, of the Oregon Constitution.

State v. Shaff (SC S054425), where the Oregon Supreme Court examines Article 1, section 12, of the Oregon Constitution re Miranda warnings and domestic abuse reports (via the pizza driver).

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Published on: December 31, 2007

Kevin Kelly, True Films e-book, and Cool Tools

By Laura Orr

Kevin Kelly is almost beyond classification, and librarians do love classifying the world, if only to make a little, albeit temporary (or virtual), sense out of all the chaos. It is also possible that neither Otlet (Paul) nor Roget (Peter) nor West (John), classification geniuses all, would be able to sum up Kelly (Kevin)with fewer than 100 subject headings. I look at his Cool Tools site often and his Street Use is wonderful, but as the 5 year-old says, “wait – there’s more!” His True Films site morphs into his annual True Films e-book, for you documentary-film fiends out there in cyberspace.

Published on: December 29, 2007

How to Pay an Attorney in Oregon

By Laura Orr

On the heels of my new guide, How to Find a Lawyer in Oregon (I blogged about it here), the Oregon State Bar (OSB) has come out with a 2007 revision of their Fee Agreement Compendium. The compendium has been written for attorneys, but is useful for potential clients too. Visit your local law and public libraries for this and other titles on how to work with lawyers. (Lawyers already have lots of books on how to work with clients 🙂

Published on: December 29, 2007

Oregon Small Claims Court Limit Rises to $7,500 in 2008

By Laura Orr

Reminder: On January 1, 2008, the Oregon Small Claims limit rises to $7,500 (from $5,000). See my previous posting.

The 2007 Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) laws on Small Claims courts (both Justice Court and Circuit Court) will be available at the Legislature’s web page soon.

County Circuit Courts manage their own Small Claims Departments so you should contact the court where you will be filing your case and ask about local procedures and forms. Not every county has a Justice Court, but each county has a Circuit Court (36 counties are served by 27 judicial districts)

Published on: December 29, 2007

Lawyers and Sam Spade

By Laura Orr

A lot of legal practice involves investigating who, what, where, when, and why – and that means gathering information on all parties to the case (including one’s own client). Investigating in the 21st century adds a new dimension to what was done in the 20th century (pre-web and especially pre-database and pre-internet). This 12/24/07 PI Buzz post, The Armchair Investigator: Social Media and Teens, gives you a fair idea what you are up against – and I’m speaking primarily to those attorneys who think they don’t need to know what MySpace, Facebook, MyFace, wikiis, CHAT, IM, and all the other Web 2.0 tools, are.

Booknote: As you might have guessed from this post’s Title field, I’m reading Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, which is turning out to be even better and funnier than I imagined or certainly remembered. If you haven’t read it recently or at all, think about doing so. It’s worth it. I haven’t yet (!) seen the movie so can’t compare.