Link from Richard Zorza’s inimitable Access to Justice blog: A Cautionary Tale — Cartoon Points Out the Downsides of Automated Courts
Access to justice and court systems broken (and broke)?
“If our courts are broke, how can Californians get divorced? An idea,” by Ted Rall:
When you rely on a judicial opinion to support your cause, which version of the case do you carry into court? This is the 21st century law librarian and bench-bar dilemma.
Even if you solve the authenticity and and copyright problems (and we’re nowhere near doing that), what are we going to do about the Supreme Court?
See, “Final Word on U.S. Law Isn’t: Supreme Court Keeps Editing,” by Adam Liptak, May 24, 2014 (re the upcoming article, “The (Non)Finality of Supreme Court Opinions,” by Richard J. Lazarus, 128 HARV. L. REV. ___ (forthcoming 2014)).
From the Sacramento County Law Library, which has an excellent collection of legal research and self-help resources, you can find this very funny, but also very realistic video of a legal reference or self-help interview:
(You can also find the SACLAW Law Librarians on Twitter.)
If you haven’t visited the State of Oregon Law Library (SOLL) website recently, it’s worth a visit. Make sure you also check out its collection of legal history and research documents and information at the SOLL Research Guides webpage. Enjoy your explorations!
Take a sneak peak at the Google Map of Oregon County Law Libraries. We plan to add Oregon state and academic law libraries to the final map, so stay tuned for the final Oregon Law Libraries Google Map.
Our inspiration? The California County Law Libraries Google Map, of course!
Introduction to Washington County Circuit Court Family Law Videos
Laws
Legal self-help is a bit of a crap-shoot unless you have official (i.e. court sanctioned and current) legal forms or the guiding hand of an attorney, but sometimes one has to plug along the best one can.
Public law librarians not infrequently get requests for legal separation forms. Oregon has, rather had, legal separation forms, and still, sort of, does have them. But, well, read on:
Disclaimer! Warning!
The May 2014 OSB Bulletin has this article: “A Cure Worse than the Disease? Oregon’s New Social Media Law,” by Dan Webb Howard.
Excerpt:
“.... A Law of Unintended Consequences?
Provocative ABA Journal article – and Comments also worth reading:
ABA Journal, May 2014: “These venture capitalists skip law firms for legal services startups”
This particular Comment resonates in my world, where legal shortcuts land clients in hot water – and their attorneys in the law library wondering why the client didn’t seek legal advice first and saved themselves big bucks and big headaches:
The Legal Forms Problem bedevils most states, even those with active statewide Access to Justice Commissions (Oregon does not have one). Some states are tackling the legal forms problem head on with gusto and with Statewide Legal Forms Committees (see also the legal forms program presentations at the ABA Equal Justice website – there was an excellent one a couple weeks ago on the Washington State Legal Forms initiative).
See the ABA Resource Center for Access to Justice Initiatives and the Access to Justice blog for information and news about these A2J commissions and initiatives.
From 3 Geeks and a Law Blog, 4/22/14, post: “LegalZoom Gets Nod from South Carolina Supreme Court”
