Dec 16
Once again the Washington State legislature provides access to new bills being proposed for the next session in 2009. You can find a list of pre-filed bills here and you can sign up to track certain bills once the session begins. The new session will be challenging as legislators grapple with a nearly 6 billion dollar statewide deficit for the next two year budget cycle. With this reality, keeping up to date on the latest developments can mean knowing where the cuts may fall.You may also want to follow the legislature through the Olympian coverage here. If you have further questions on utilizing the legislature’s website, contact the library at 206-296-0940.
Nov 12
Renewing Government: Recommendations to President-elect Obama
and the 111th Congress
As President-elect Obama’s transition team gets to work, OMB Watch has teamed with dozens of organizations
and individuals to provide key recommendations on government openness, reform of the regulatory process, and
government performance issues. Started well before the 2008 elections, the projects that produced these
recommendations brought together diverse groups of people to work on some of the most pressing problems and
concerns that will face Obama when he takes office in January 2009.
OMB Watch convened a group of hundreds of individuals and organizations from across the political spectrum
to put together recommendations on government openness, information, and other transparency issues. The
recommendations stress the need for the Obama administration and Congress to move the federal government’s
information disclosure and sharing policies and processes into the 21st century, which includes the efficient,
effective use of modern Internet technologies. The recommendations fall into three categories: National Security
and Secrecy; Usability of Information; and Creating a Government Environment for Transparency. The group has also
lifted up a number of the recommendations as issues the Obama administration should tackle during its first
100 days.(From OMB Watch’s website:)
Read the report here: 21st Century Right to Know Recommendations
Nov 10
With technology allowing for easier access to electronic opinions of the courts, some have had concerns as to the extent to which personally identifiable information is included in these opinions. Some of these fears center around the social security numbers of participants in legal cases and purchased by third parties. Recently, the Government Accountability Office presented a report on this topic through its website.
Here is an excerpt from the report:
“Various public records in the United States contain Social Security numbers (SSN) and other personal identifying information that could be used to commit fraud and identity theft. For the purposes of this report, public records are generally defined as government agency-held records made available to the public in their entirety for inspection, such as property and court records.
Although public records were traditionally accessed locally in county courthouses and government records centers, public record keepers in some states and localities have more recently been maintaining electronic images of their records. In electronic format, records can be made available through the Internet or easily transferred to other parties in bulk quantities.”
To read the rest of the report check it out here: Social Security Numbers Are Widely Available in Bulk and Online Records, but Changes to Enhance Security Are Occurring. This information comes from a fellow county law librarian Joe Hodnicki’s blog called “Law Librarian’s Blog.”
Oct 10
Drafting an appellate brief can be challenging if you are unfamiliar with the terminology of the courts or even the proper process to follow. The Washington State Court of Appeals, Division I, now posts a guide for writing an appellate brief on the court’s website. This guide walks you through what is most essential in communicating your position to the court.
Another online guide appears here on appellate.net titled “How to Write a Good Appellate Brief.”
Or you can always come in to the library where we have several print titles on Brief writing including:
1. The art of appellate brief-writing and oral advocacy in Washington: Call Number KF 251 .A78 1999
2. Appellate practice: persuasive brief writing and beyond: Call Number KF 9050 .A75 A67 2002
Oct 09
If you are looking for law review articles on a particular topic you may wonder how many other law reviews have cited the article you find. Now you can know that number with greater ease on HeinOnline in the law library. “If you run a search for ‘Right to Privacy’ across the titles in the Law Journal Library, you will be able to determine how many times each result has been “cited by” other scholarly law review articles in HeinOnline.” Social indexing is most often associated with the area of blogs, news sites and favorite websites; however, this new tool allows for you to verify that the article is a more trusted source of information. You can see a brief demonstration of the product here.
If you have more questions about what other materials are available on HeinOnline or other legal research databases, contact the library at 206-296-0940.
Oct 08
A frequent question we receive here in the library is where can I find a particular U.S. Supreme Court case or be able to track its progress. This week begins the opening of the Supreme Court Session for 2008-09 and the news outlets abound with what will and will not be considered this year. The inevitable questions about basic rights of the individual will surface again. To get a pulse on the current cases before the court you can check out the Supreme Court website. If you scroll down to the “What’s New” section at the bottom you will see these newest ways to access information. These include:
1. Electronic Merits Briefs Submission Guidelines
2. Amendments to Federal Rules of Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal procedure from April 23, 2008
3. Memorandum to Counsel -Revisions of rules
4. Special Master Reports
5. Foreign Translatiosn–Supreme Court Publications
6. Judicial Internship Program application
7. Questions presented added to Docket entries for granted and noted cases
8. Questiosn presented added to Granted and Noted Lists
9. On-Line MERITS BRIEFS
10. Supreme Courth Bar Admissions Form
11. Automated Docket
12. Transcripts of oral arguments available on the same day an argument is heard by the Court
13. U.S. Reports -Full text of bound volumes
14. Regulations governing use of Court’s grounds
15. A map showing how to get to the Court
Some other great sites to follow the court include: Supreme Court U.S. Blog ;
Cornell Legal Information Instititute
Oyez Project -Audio and Video of the session
Supreme Court Historical Society -Researching the court
Sep 03
This legal research oriented website is the creation of an enterprising law librarian, Sabrina Pacifici. If you are always looking for a new way to peform legal research or examining new technologies then LLRX is a great place to visit regularly. The site has received awards from the American Bar Association and several library organizations.
Some of the topics on LLRX include:
- New online legal research resources
- Current links to court rules, forms and dockets
- Reviews of legal and non-legal websites
Be sure to check out the link to the BeSpacific blog as well which is listed as one of the top 10 legal blogs by the ABA Journal in 2008.
Sep 02
Finding County Law Libraries in Washington
County law libraries in Washington State were established in 1919 by RCW 27.24 to provide access to legal information to the courts and the bar, and also to the public in counties which have the staff available to assist the public. It is our collective mission to provide the best possible service to our communities, by connecting people to the information they need to effectively participate in the justice system. We do this by maximizing available resources through our in-house collections of legal materials in print and in CD-ROM, through resource sharing with other libraries, through Internet resources, and through referral to other agencies as needed. We strive to serve as a community access point for legal information.
You can find all 39 county law libraries in Washington with a helpful Google Map of all the law libraries here.
Aug 01
VotingforJudges.org is a nonpartisan, impartial source of information about judicial elections in the state of Washington. The site was established in 2006 to provide information to voters in connection with the judicial candidates running for election that year.
The American Bar Association honored VotingforJudges with its 2007 Silver Gavel Award for Media and the Arts, in the “New Media” category. In addition, the Atlanta-based Foundation for Improvement of Justice presented one of its Paul H. Chapman Justice Awards for 2007 to VotingforJudges.
Paul Fjelstad, the Kitsap attorney and law librarian, who designed and provides ongoing updates to VotingforJudges, was honored with the 2007 King County Bar Association President’s Award for his work.
Numerous newspaper editorials have praised and recommended this site. Check it out!
FYI: Our August podcast will feature information about the recent changes to Washington’s primary election system.
Jul 30
Welcome to the official blog of the King County Law Library. We are excited to offer a dynamic addition to our website. You will see a variety of information here including current legal search strategies, new research sites, events at the library, legal news and updates to our class schedules. Our visitors can comment on these stories and events which affect the legal community.
Please join us in the conversation about ways to find legal information online. We want this to be truly a site with “Tips and tricks for legal research in Washington State.”
Marcus
Library Director