KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

The King County Superior Court has posted the set of Local Rules that take effect September 1, 2010.   You can view the entire set of new local rules, a set of the rules showing changes from the previous version, and sets of rules going back to 2004 at the King County Superior Court Local Rules page.  We have also printed sets of the new rules for your use when you are at the library.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington has published an online resource on how to obtain a court order waiving or reducing the interest that accrues on legal financial obligations.  The packet contains information regarding the Washington state laws that govern the process, as well as step-by-step instructions and court forms for completing the  procedure yourself.  For more information, please use the following links:

Interest Waiver Guide (from the ACLU)

Revised Code of Washington (RCW) Title 10.82.090 – Interest on Judgments

Did you know that there are mobile apps for Black’s Law Dictionary, Lexis/Nexis and Fastcase?  You would if you’d read the online guide  Mobile Applications for Law Students and Lawyers, authored by Vicki Steiner from the Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library at the UCL A School of Law.  The Guide has separate tabs devoted to apps for legal research and news, law school and bar study, general productivity and fun.   It also has a section with links to mobile app search engines and app stores.  Note that mobile apps are written for specific devices so make sure to confirm that the app you’re interested in is available for your particular phone or PDA.  Also, some apps are free and some are not so you may be required to spend some money to get what you want.

We have posted a schedule of classes for September and October.  We are offering the complete E-Filing series (Beginning and Advanced Features) on September 8 and September 15.  In October, we’re teaching the Legal Research for the Non-Attorney two-part class and a session of our popular Skip Tracing classes.  All sessions are free and held at the Seattle law library location.  Registration is required and space is limited so call 206-296-0940 to sign up!

Joseph Chester Self was the 73rd person to be executed in Washington and the last person to be executed in the state until Westley Allan Dodd’s execution on January 5, 1993. During the 30 year hiatus, Washington’s capital punishment statute was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972.

In Part Two of this episode of KCLL’s Sidebar, we talk to Jim Burns, who was among two men to prosecute Mr. Self.  For additional information about the case, you can go to the History Link website which we have linked to here.