Jan 29
FREE E-Filing classes from the King County Law Library are coming to the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent!
Thursday, March 4th 11:30am-1pm
E-Filing: The Basics
- Navigate the E-Filing site
- Setting up an account
- Beginning a new case
- Adding files to an existing case
- Troubleshooting and scanning
Thursday, March 11th 11:30am-1pm
E-Filing: Advanced Features
- Submitting working papers
- Checking your Status tab
- Setting up E-Service
- Submitting electronically filed ex-parte documents
Class Location:
Community Room, Detention Building
Maleng Regional Justice Center
401 4th Avenue, North
Kent, Washington
Registration:
Space is limited and pre-registration is required.
Call 206-296-0940 or 206-205-2900 to register.
Jan 28
In the wake of our nation’s recession and painful budget cuts, legal researchers have lost a friend in the business: PreCYdent.com.
PreCYdent was a free legal search engine co-founded by University of San Diego law professor Thomas A. Smith in 2006. Its goal was to provide every person access to “state-of-the-art search technology to help them navigate through the large and complex body of legal authority.” And, because Smith and his cohorts believed that judicial opinions and statutes need to be in the public domain, this information was provided for free. Users could search and upload “any kind of legal document, including judicial opinions that are in the public domain.”
PreCYdent has lost its funding; its links are dead. One less free legal research site available to the masses.
For further information, click here for information about the history and the demise of PreCYdent.
All quotations are from PreCYdent’s “About Us” page archived in August 2008. You can use the wayback machine to find more.
Jan 25
An article in today’s Seattle Times cuts right to the chase. How does one get to information stored on your computer at home or somewhere on the Internet when you die. Not only does this present a challenge to your family but it also impacts your office if you were to die suddenly or become incapcitated unexpectedly. Just as a will is created to dispose of your physical assets, will there be a legal document that holds the passwords to your information stored electronically?
*Blood, Sweat & Tears’ “Spinning Wheel”
Jan 15
Many of you are probably familiar with the “Wayback Machine” as a resource for finding archived web pages. The Wayback Machine is part of the Internet Archive. “Wayback” is used in the request “Can you do a Wayback on that?”, meaning, can you find archived web pages for that website? See Michael Fagan, Note, “Can you do a Wayback on That?” The Legal Community’s Use of Cached Web Pages In and Out of Trial, 13 B.U. J. Sci. & Tech. L. 46 (2007) (available for free, but without page numbers, at the journal’s website. Available WITH page numbers from HeinOnline, LEXIS and Westlaw at KCLL). The article covers a lot of ground and speaks mainly to cached web pages in general, including some of the possible difficulties in getting cached web pages admitted under the Federal Rules of Evidence. A more recent law review note analyzes and provides a framework for determining the admissibility of archived web pages from the Wayback Machine under the Federal Rules of Evidence. See Deborah R. Eltgroth, Note, Best Evidence and the Wayback Machine: Toward a Workable Authentication Standard for Archived Internet Evidence, 78 Fordham L.R. 181 (2009) (available at the Fordham Law Review website).
Both articles provide an overview of how the Wayback Machine works. The website itself has extensive FAQ and legal FAQ pages describing how the site works and some of its limitations. There is also an information page for use by lawyers and a standard affidavit for use by Internet Archive staff in authenticating archived web page printouts, should that be necessary.
The “Wayback Machine” is named in honor of Mr. Peabody’s WABAC (pronounced way-back) machine from the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon show. See the FAQs Wayback Machine. If these cultural references don’t mean anything to you, then here is a Toonepedia entry on the Rocky and Bullwinkle show and another with an image of the dog Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman with their WABAC Machine.
Jan 12
The Washington State Legislature is in session once again. Understanding the laws our local senators and representatives are proposing can be a daunting task but finding information about those laws isn’t, thanks to the many links provided on the Legislature’s web site. It provides a variety of ways to research legislative activity, including a link called Agendas, Schedules and Calendars. As the name implies, this link points to a series of pages where you can: 1) see a complete roster of standing, joint, and select committees; 2) view the past, present and upcoming agendas of those committees; 3) see related bill and bill analysis information; 4) find contact information for the senators and representatives serving on these committees. The site is complex and navigation between the links can sometimes be a bit confusing but it’s worth it to visit this portion of the State Legislature home page if you haven’t been there before.
Jan 04
On December 1, 2009, amendments to federal court rules took effect, including important changes to the rules regarding the computation of time. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were amended, as were the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. A list of rules amended with respect to time computation, as well as a list of new rules and amendments not having to do with time computation, can be found on the Federal Rulemaking page of the U.S. Courts website.
Here are links to amended versions of the rules online:
The changes in the national rules required corresponding changes to local court rules and general orders. The current versions of the local rules – civil and criminal – for both the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and the Eastern District of Washington are on the courts’ websites (Western District) (Eastern District).
Changes to the local rules for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington and those for the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Washington are also posted on those courts’ websites.