If you are concerned about legal aid funding in Washington, you will want to check out the Equal Justice Coalition (EJC). The EJC is a non-partisan, broad-based organization working statewide to ensure all people are treated equally and fairly before the law. Originally formed to combat the slashed federal funding for civil legal aid in the 1990s, the coalition’s role-representing Washington’s low income and legal aid communities to elected officials- remains central to their mission. You can become a part of the coalition by getting their newsletter and joining in the “get involved” section of their site. You can also look at the Alliance for Equal Justice organization which helps more than 20,000 people in Washington State secure justice through a network of civil legal aid programs that provide legal information, advice and representation. Questions about more local resources can be directed to our library staff at 206-296-0940.
Archive for March, 2009
During the 2008 regular session, the legislature passed and the Governor signed into law, SB 6818, now codified as RCW 44.48.150. This statute mandates that state revenue and expenditure data be made readily available to the public.
As a result, the office of the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee has teamed up with the Office of Fiscal Management and created www.fiscal.wa.gov. The website provides access to a wealth of information on state expenditures, revenues, workloads, caseloads, performance measures, and performance audits.
Springtime heralds the season of summer clerks. A common research problem given to the clerks is to conduct a 50-state survey on…. 50-state surveys can be difficult to research if the law you are interested in doesn’t emanate from a uniform law. To the rescue is Subject Compilations of State Laws, online 1979-current. Though this publication has been available in print since 1978, HeinOnline has recently made it available electronically. Subject Compilations identifies thousands of sources, print and on the Internet, which compare state laws on hundreds of state subjects and allows you to do a single search to find your information. In addition, this electronic version links directly to articles and other documents cited in the Subject Compilations which reside on HeinOnline.
Check it out the next time you visit our library.
Introduction to e-Discovery: New Cases, Ideas, and Techniques. Ralph C. Losey has just published Introduction to e-Discovery as a follow-up to his book e-Discovery: Current Trends and Cases. Based on blogs Mr. Losey has written, this book describes the wheres, hows and whys of digital evidence. An endorsement of the book describes it as “one of the most thorough, understandable, candid, and enjoyable resources addressing e-discovery.” Published by the American Bar Association, it can be found on our shelves at KF 8902 .E42 L68.2009. Come, visit our library and see what other texts we have on electronic discovery.
In this episode of KCLL’s SideBar Rita K. speaks with attorney Jerry Stimmel about the kinds of problems that may develop in the landlord/tenant relationship and ways to avoid these problems. In “At the Reference Desk”, the Seattle University Law School librarians discuss a typical tenant question. And Craig, in his “Reel Verdict” segment, gives us his view of some of the recent Oscar movies.
The washingtonlawhelp.org has recently added a new interactive interview to create a letter to a landlord for return of a security deposit. “This online interview provides a completed demand letter for return of a rental security deposit in Washington State. Use this program if you did not receive or only partially received a refund of your rental security deposit from a previous landlord and wish to send a demand letter requesting that it be returned to you.”
They also have one of their standard kits of instructions and forms to do the same thing.
The Seattle Times reported that Washington state ”ranked near the top of the states for public access to government records online, but the state still has a way to go.”
This week many organizations will be hosting Sunshine Week programs. The Law Librarians of Puget Sound is joining the University of Washington Libraries, the Washington State Library, and the Washington Coalition for Open Government in sponsoring a great program which will be held at the University of Washington’s Odegaard Undergraduate Library on Friday, March 20th.
Link to this information at the LLOPS site for the 4th Annual Sunshine Week Webcast and join us for the program.
Seattle Public Library: resources for job seekers
Library News, Research Tips, Training No Comments »The Seattle Public Library has increased internet resources to accommodate Washington job seekers. Patrons now have internet access at the terminals for up to 90 minutes. In addition, access for Microsoft Word document creation is unlimited. For more details on these expanded resources, check out SPL’s Blog for job seekers. For additional tips and resources, check out Job Hunting in a Tough Economy. Check these out and let us know what you think!
Mary Whisner, over at Trial Ad Notes recently noted a new blog writing about the Washington Supreme Court. The blog is called, remarkably enough, Supreme Court of Washington Blog. Mary noted that the blog is being written by the Evergreen Freedom Foundation with the tag line “Reading the opinions so you don’t have to.” The blog includes, or plans to include regular podcasts in addition to the written blog. Since we also podcast I was interested. I listened to the first podcast, which is an introduction to why they are publishing the blog. The reason is that there is not a good blog for citizens, attorneys, and the media that explains what our State Supreme Court is doing and keeps track of the decisions they are writing. This blog is meant to fill that gap. So far, I find it an interesting addition.
King County Family Court Operations is offering a free course designed to explain the divorce process. Starting next week, the courses will be offered by the Family Law Facilitators on a weekly basis in each court location. The Seattle courthouse will hold the seminar on Thursdays at 3:00 pm in Room W-312. The seminar will be held on Fridays at 3:00 pm in Courtroom 1-F of the Kent courthouse. No preregistration is necessary.