Oregon Legal Research Blog

Law librarians are useful people to have around. We know how to find statutes, cases, obscure reports, know about mysteries of the invisible web, guide you through the pain and perils of winning the lottery, we’re pretty good around mismatched socks, can decorate book carts, we can tell you things you didn’t know about MySpace, and now you can get the benefit of our (ahem) expertise on Internet Dating. Who Knew!?

P.S. Law Librarians also love LLRX in his/her full glory – but that’s all I’m going to say – law librarians don’t kiss and tell.

Today’s Oregonian opinion piece by Lewis & Clark ‘s Professor Blumm is here: “Inject some clarity in our land-use laws,” and Lewis & Clark’s Professor James Huffman’s piece from Jan 18th, “Measure 37 and the New NIMBYs,” is here.

I’ve been hobnobbing with law librarians in fabulous Seattle so am behind with my blog postings. But until I get caught up, here is one story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that caught my eye while I was away: “Kaczynski, victims clash over Unabomber papers.” Librarians (of all kinds, including archivists, records managers, law librarians, etc.) and historians all lean toward preserving documents and documents collections intact, but Human Beings are not so simple. There is an interesting battle going on here.

In honor of our receipt of the GITMO attorney list, as a result of someone’s FOIA request and then compliments of posting on a law librarian listserve, this post is about FOIA in the law library.

Law librarians (and other types of librarians for that matter) periodically get requests on how to file FOIA requests. In the old days (i.e. pre-web) this was a relatively straightforward (if you knew the secret), but rather mysterious activity (and no more likely than now to get quick results so don’t get your hopes up). Nowadays, not only do most government agencies post their FOIA procedures on the web, but there are also FOIA blogs and columnists (type “foia” into the LLRX search box). So you have no excuse for not doing your homework and preparing a FOIA request that is a thing of beauty. What happens after you file your request is another matter entirely.

Note: For those who are new to FOIA, it’s pronounced, “foy-ya.”

I’m collecting articles and ideas for an upcoming program on “How to Find a Lawyer” and while cruising through The Blawgs came across a link to this Findlaw article , “Are Lawyers’ Blogs Protected by the First Amendment? Why State Bar Regulation of Law Blogs As “Advertising” Would Be Elitist and Reductive,” by Julie Hilden. (Thank you to Jim Milles for the link at Check This Out, a collection of law library stories, legal research podcasts, and much more.)

A Portland Business Journal story reports on and links to new DFCS rules for mortgage lenders.

From Elizabeth E. Welch, Esq.:

“We are having a Free Legal Consultation Day here at KOHLHOFF & WELCH. The details are:
February 9, 2007
KOHLHOFF & WELCH
Attorneys at Law
A Mother Daughter Partnership
5828 North Lombard
Portland, Oregon 97203
503.286.7178

The consultations are for a half hour, any further representation by mutual agreement only. Spaces are available from 9 to 5. Some are filled already and we anticipate full capacity–first come first serve!”

For more about Kohlhoff & Welch, see here and here.

Interesting posting (which does not mean I agree with it, so perhaps I should say, “provocative” post) at FutureLawyer about LegalZoom (direct link to LegalZoom, here):

“LegalZoom is an Internet site that allows consumers to create legal documents online, without the assistance of a lawyer. I will leave to the future the wisdom of this; except to say that lawyers who don’t use technology will not be able to compete. We need to offer legal advice AND document drafting at a competitive price, or we will not have to worry about law practice anymore. It will be gone. There is no subsitute for a competent lawyer’s advice. However, we need to give the public value, or they will go elsewhere.”