Legal Research

New Legal Research Guide - Estate Planning

Posted on April 01, 2011
We have a new legal research guide on Estate Planning available on the law library's website. You can find previously posted information on estate planning through the "estate planning" tag at the bottom of this post or through this link. Along those same lines, The Oregonian published an interesting article last Sunday, March 27, on estate sale fraud: "Complaints to the DOJ concerning estate sellers, secondhand stores and auction houses have doubled since 2008...

Oregon Legislative History: Exhibits and Minutes

Posted on March 31, 2011
If you need to know the legislative history of a Oregon statute, please remember: 1) Prior to 1995, Legislative Minutes and Exhibits were microfilmed. The microfilm isn?t complete, and won?t include many other documents that are required when you need to compile a thorough legislative history, but it is still a very useful research resource...

Revised Link to the "Revised FAPA Benchguide 2006" (and other Oregon domestic violence resources)

Posted on March 25, 2011
I recently had a question about restraining orders, which sent me looking up information about Oregon?s Family Abuse and Prevention Act, known as FAPA. In the process, I realized that our blog?s link to the useful ?Revised FAPA Benchguide 2006? had moved far, far away - well, just to the Oregon Judicial Department?s FAPA forms website...

100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, March 25, 1911

Posted on March 25, 2011
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (Wikipedia entry) changed the lives of working people, at least in this country, and at least for a while. (Further tragedies needed to occur for other workplace safety improvements to be made.)1) Cornell Remembrance of the Factory Fire2) The Shirtwaist Factory Fire Trial3) Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Facebook page4) OSHA website5) CDC Workplace Safety website6) NCOSH7) Oregon OSHA8) Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industry (BOLI)

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Small-Estate Affidavits

Posted on March 23, 2011
We frequently have patrons requesting small-estate affidavit forms (it was also a very popular request when I worked in Texas). Here are a few places you can find small-estate affidavit forms and information:1) Check with the applicable circuit court's website for the form and/or information on filing a small-estate affidavit...

Oregon Superseded ORS Digitization Project: 1953-1987

Posted on March 21, 2011
The Washington County (Oregon) Law Library is scanning the 1953-1987 Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS).These particular volumes are also known as the "Gutbusters,? because the pages are filed in 7-10? gut-busting (to lift) loose-leaf binders.Read the project description and view a sample 1955 Chapter:Oregon Superseded ORS Digitization Project: 1953-1987 (or link to it from the What's New page)

Farewell to the U.S. Statistical Abstract (on the budget chopping block)

Posted on March 20, 2011
The U.S. Statistical Abstract, an official and astonishingly time-saving research tool for researchers, public administrators, land use planners, and the business community world-wide, is slated for the budget chopping block. It will not be continued online, although there is talk about a pilot project for publishing some of the data, not all of which is available to the public even if researchers wanted to make their own data compilations...

Free Legal Research in India:Filling the Legal Thirst

Posted on March 20, 2011
A free legal search engine: The Indian Kanoon search engine (about).Furthering the Free Access to Law Movement (about which you can read much more at the Cornell LII blog post Accessible Law):... the Cornell Legal Information Institute (LII) brings us a fascinating blog post: Indian Kanoon: The Genesis and the Legal Thirst:From Robert Richards, Editor in chief, VoxPopuLII:?In his post, Dr...

Oregon State Legislative Reports

Posted on March 17, 2011
A List of Reports to the Oregon State Legislature can be found at the Committee Services Legislative Library blog and you can subscribe to their email notification service, which sends us this message:?To sign up for Legislative Library News, go to http://www...

Oregon State Bar (OSB) BarBooks Database

Posted on March 15, 2011
The collection of materials in the Oregon State Bar (OSB) BarBooks database is impressive ? see the list below. Our lawyers and self-represented litigants still like the print for certain types of research, but the database is an excellent addition to our collection (and to the database collections of many Oregon county law libraries around the state)...

Oregon 2011 Bankruptcy Clinic

Posted on March 14, 2011
The 2011 OSB & LASO Bankruptcy Clinic schedule is out:The Bankruptcy Clinic classes are held on Tuesday evenings, from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. Appointments follow the classes. There is no child-care available.The Clinics begin at 6:15 p.m. and start with a bankruptcy class taught by a judge or experienced bankruptcy lawyer...

Citizenship Instructor Workshop, March 21, 2011: Oregon

Posted on March 10, 2011
"The Portland and Spokane Field Offices of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will hold a Citizenship Instructor Workshop ? via webinar ? on Monday, March 21st, 2011 at 9:15 a.m.Please re-register if you would like to take this webinar...

County Law Librarian YouTube Promo: Who We Helped Today

Posted on March 10, 2011
What DO public law librarians do? We all do pretty much what public law librarians do in Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Georgia, Ohio, Colorado ? and California, whose county law librarians made this excellent 2 minute, 35 second video.Among other things, we save people time, money, aggravation, and fear:CA County Law Library Video now on YouTube: Who Have You Helped Today?

Resources for Parents of Adult Children with Disabilities

Posted on March 10, 2011
Legal Research for Parents of Adult Children with DisabilitiesQuestions from parents about adult children with disabilities can cover a very wide range of legal issues. The following resources (and our new Disability Law Legal Research Guide) cover a few popular topics...

Oregon Law Libraries: Hours and Types of Service

Posted on March 10, 2011
Oregon has three law schools, and three law school libraries, two of which are private. Each provides a generous amount of service to the public even though their primary mission is to serve their student and faculty research needs. (They also provide invaluable assistance to the Oregon county law librarians...

Oregon Animal Law Research Resources

Posted on March 10, 2011
We not infrequently get questions from people worried about some new animal law they heard about or who just have an "animal law" question. You can start with one or more of these resources to find an answer to your question:1) Oregon Legislature: searching for bills and laws by session2) Lewis & Clark Animal Law Clinic3) Oregon attorneys who practice animal law: Call the Oregon State Bar Lawyer Information and Referral Service at 503-684-3763 or 1-800-452-76364) If legislation has been proposed, and you can't find it on the Legislature's website, I recommend you your state legislators...

54+ Ways to Spell ?Muammar Qaddafi? (aka Moammar Gadhafi, aka ?)

Posted on March 08, 2011
If you are a researcher, then you know that using the very literal Internet for your research means that you need to know multiple spellings for names and words.The Library of Congress has an Authority File that is a useful tool for this purpose. For example, if you were researching Mr...

DIY: "Balance the Oregon Budget" Widget

Posted on March 04, 2011
Fix Oregon?s budget problems with the:?Can You Balance the Oregon Budget?? widget.Oh, if only it was this easy! But if Dave?s accountant could balance the federal budget, why not some of you householders and business owners with your own debt-free, balanced budgets?

New Legal Research Guide - Disability Law

Posted on March 03, 2011
We have a new legal research guide, Disability Law, available on the law library's website. The new legal research guide provides resources on a variety of disability law-related issues including ABA, ADA, disability rights, and employment rights. In related news, a proposed bill impacting the rights of disabled children in public schools, HB 2939, has been introduced to the Oregon State Legislature...

Washington County (Oregon): Lives of Children of Incarcerated Parents

Posted on March 01, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011 program:Sponsored by: Health & Human Services Department, Commission on Children & Families Division:Washington County's Children of Incarcerated Parents Committee (CIPC) will present a report to the community about its four years of progress to improve the lives of children whose parents are incarcerated...

Congressional Redistricting in Oregon and Beyond

Posted on March 01, 2011
Curious about redistricting?1) State of Oregon Redistricting Information, including maps, definitions, upcoming hearings, and much more.2) U.S. Census Redistricting Data website3) Another view of U.S. Congressional Redistricting, from a Columbia University Law School database: Draw Congress dot org:"A nonpartisan map of all 435 congressional districts in the nation has never been drawn...

Justice Bedsworth Takes on Hits, Runs, and Sports Contracts

Posted on March 01, 2011
The O(range) C(ounty) Bar Association monthly OC Lawyer Magazine, once again brings us Justice Bedsworth so brace yourself for a laugh and an education:"Bunting for Boilerplate," by Justice William W. BedsworthExcerpt: ?My late father was not a sports fan...

How Many Times Can a Library Circulate an e-Book? Harper Collins Says 26

Posted on March 01, 2011
How many times can that library book be checked out ? how many ?circulations? can a library get out of a single book?One publisher says 26 is the number for an ebook. Public libraries that buy this publisher's ebooks will get only 26 ?checkouts? before the book vanishes from cyberspace - and the library has to purchase it again...

Oregon Child Welfare, Abuse, Fourth Amendment Case in U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on February 28, 2011
U.S. Supreme Court: Camreta v. Greene; Alford v. Greene (09-1454; 09-1478)Oral argument: March 1, 2011Transcript of Oral ArgumentNinth Circuit case: Greene v. Camreta (2009: #06-35333), excerpt:?BERZON, Circuit Judge:We are asked to decide whether the actions of a child protective services caseworker and deputy sheriff, understandably concerned for the well-being of two young girls, exceeded the bounds of the constitution...

Fear of the Internet, Loss of Privacy, and Risky Behavior

Posted on February 25, 2011
Every time I hear people panic about their addresses and phone numbers showing up ?ON THE INTERNET ? AGHHHH? I want to pat them on their backs and say, ?it?s all right ? but here is what you really need to worry about.?Yes, you can, and should, work on those online ?privacy settings? and stop answering those intrusive questions or even applying for credit cards, but, not to dishearten you further, keep in mind that even if you clear your data from one databank, most of them "refresh" their data at a bare minimum of 4x a year so even if you delete your info or "hide" it, the information will likely pop up again in a few months...

Civil Disobedience and ?Behind the [I have a] Dream? Speech

Posted on February 25, 2011
Civil disobedience, and its close cousin, civil resistance, has existed for centuries, maybe longer. The recent Gene Sharp article in the New York Times (2/17/11) had a long list of related links for further research, including a link to his Albert Einstein Institution and his e-book, ?From Dictatorship to Democracy...

Legal Citation Introduction and Guide

Posted on February 21, 2011
Introduction to Basic Legal Citation (online ed. 2010), by Peter W. Martin, is available, with all the other goodies at the ever wonderful Cornell Legal Information (LII) website.

Beer Law in the Oregon Legislature

Posted on February 20, 2011
Beer is a hot topic in this year?s 2011 Legislative Session. You can find beer bills, so to speak, by using the search engine at the Legislature?s website: I found these today:HB2100HB2262HB2588HB2644HB2924HB3145HB3110And then there is 2011 Senate Bill 444, which doesn?t pop up in the Legislature's search-engine, which is a puzzle, but not the first time we?ve noticed the problem...

Political Cartoonists and (Oregon) Legal Reference Questions

Posted on February 17, 2011
I was able to answer a reference question the other day with a Jack Ohman cartoon ? the one about redistricting in Sunday?s (2/6/11) Oregonian ? very funny. The patron was pleased.I?m not the only law librarian who says that ?reference? duty is the best job in a library...

The Saga of the Missing EAB Decisions

Posted on February 17, 2011
It all started with a simple citation. One of our patrons had a case from the Oregon Court of Appeals and was looking for previous history information. The first thing that should have set off my radar that this would not be a simple request was the patron?s mention that the case was affirmed without opinion...

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