To Wit is Human: Legalwriting.net has moved here. Wayne reminds us about a few words and phrases that should be banished from legal writing (and most other writing for that matter) and includes “to wit.” This is a pity. I always liked “to wit” and never really lumped it in with some of the real horrors, to wit, “wherefore premises considered” and “witnesseth” that Wayne mentions. Bryan Garner agrees with Wayne, re “to wit,” but I like it. It’s useful, adds variety without obfuscation, and has a nice sound about it. I feel the same way about “verbing.” I’d object a lot more to the habit people have of turning nouns into verbs if it didn’t result in so many wonderful and sometimes funny words. But then there are those pesky adverbs. I made a t-shirt for an ex many years ago that read, “to verb is human, to adverb divine.” We were living in England at the time. At that time the English still USED adverbs, but they are much harder to find there now.
Happy Bill of Rights Day: Lots on the web if you’re interested in celebrating. Here, here, and if you want a Bill of Rights song or two from the mish-mash better known as The Web, here. (One antidote is here. Find your own if necessary 🙂
Too much of a good thing or soon to be de rigueur: “Our state [Oklahoma] Supreme Court now has a choice of RSS feeds for every appellate decision published. As the other courts and state agencies get on board, this will be a great resource for lawyers. Imagine being able to subscribe to an agency’s RSS feed and get the updated rules and regs, the decisions from hearings, the dockets, the announcements and press releases – even a notice when inclimate weather forces an early closing. If you practice before an agency, start lobbying them to set up an RSS newsfeed now.” This is an excerpt from a very interesting Law Practice Roundtable, and posted in the December issue of Law Practice Today. The section I’ve quoted was said by Jim Calloway, who has his own excellent blog here.
Clackamas County Practice: Did you know that Clackamas County had a Lawyer’s Survival Guide to the Circuit Court? Pictures and all. It’s a PDF doc so you can print it out for home study.
Portland City Records Online: The Portland Auditor’s Office has gone online with Efiles, a database of city records, resolutions, historical documents and photos. Link to it here.
Plastic Packaging: The Oregonian ran an interesting story on Saturday (12/10/05) in the Living Section (On Sunday the section is called Oy, or at least that’s how I always read it when I see that Big O. At least I don’t see Oprah 🙂 The writer, Jeff Gammage (who works for the Philadelphia Inquirer) states that “according to government figures,” 220,000 Americans are injured by packaging annually, more “than are hurt in skateboard accidents ….” Pretty amazing. He doesn’t say where he gets those “government figures,” but I’m the librarian and should be able to to find them – or email Jeff and ask him. The real lesson to learn from this article, other than to buy books instead of things in plastic packaging, is to Please Cite Your Sources when you write – Oy. Nu?
OSB 2006 Law Library Values: The OSB Law Library Values grid is available now through the OSB web page. The 2005 grid is there as well. I can usually find this useful grid under “Bar News” or using the web site search engine, but sometimes the grid just seems to go into hiding. If that happens, feel free to phone the bar or email me. I usually save it for just those occasions and can send it to you.
New HeinOnline Offerings: HeinOnline has added some interesting journals to their already impressive array. (Disclaimer: I’m a HeinOnline fan and my Law Library offers remote access to the database for my county’s public library cardholders.) For your reading pleasure (note: an entire run of the “Green Bag” is already there), new additions, among many others, include: “Nexus: A Journal of Opinion”, “Arab Law Quarterly”, and the “Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law.”
Best Law Blogs – Your Turn to Vote: You have until 12/15 to record your vote. Here are the finalists for Best Law Blogs 2005.