KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

The King County Bar Association is sponsoring two free debates in September.  The first is for the Seattle City Attorney’s position and the other is for the King County Executive.   The first debate will be for the City Attorney’s position and will be held on september 17th at the Seattle Public Library in the Wright and Ketchum Room, Level 4 Room 2 from 12:00-1:30 pm.   The second debate for the King County Executive position will be held at the Rainier Tower on September 22nd from noon-1:30 pm.  Seats must be reserved so please send RSVP to executivedirector@kcba.org.

The Court of Appeals overturned a Seattle City Ordinance which in part made it a misdemeanor for failing to yield the right of way to a cyclist or pedestrian resulting in injury or death.  This criminalizing of a traffic violation was  found to be in conflict with state law.  On September 27th, 2006, Susanne Scaringi was struck and killed by a motorist making a normal left-hand turn.  You can read about the Opinion and read the main story in today’s Seattle Times.

August 18th is the Primary and  Special Election in King County and there will be updated information and results on the King  County Elections website.  The Election site has site locations for drop boxes for ballots and detailed explanations of the Election process.    You can now also track your mail-in ballot to whether it has been received and verified.   A similar process will be available for the November 3rd General Election.

You may have heard of the service PACER ,which provides copies of federal case dockets online for $.8 a page.  PACER is good because you can search by name in multiple federal district, appellate and supreme court levels.  However, if you already have the docket number you can pull up the docket on a new service called www.freecourtdockets.com. This company is supported by advertisement so they can offer the free access to the docket information.   It provides access to U.S. District Civil and Criminal court dockets as well as Bankruptcy Court dockets. 

They will adding the U.S. Federal Court of Claims and International Court of Trade, U.S. Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming months.  They also provide some links on the main page to cases which are “Hot Dockets” or cases of popularity like “Geronimo v. Obama” where descendants of Geronimo are suing Obama, Yale University, and the student group “Order of Skull and Bones” over rights to the remains of Geronimo.  These and other cases are linked on the main page. 

You will still need to access the main PACER site in order to see copies of any document mentioned in the docket and the site will automatically take you to the District of your case on PACER when you are ready for viewing those documents.  

Get free legal advice on the third Thursday of every month if you have been in Foster, group or kinship care and are 17-23 years old.   If you have legal issues such as housing, benefits, employment, family law, debt/credit, identity theft or driving license issues, then you will want to contact this new service.  

The clinic is held at the YMCA Center for Young Adults at 2100 24th Ave. South, Seattle, WA , from 4-6 pm.  If you call and make an appointment, they will guarantee to see you, or you can drop in and they will do their best to fit you in.  The service will find you a lawyer who will try and help you with your problem either on the phone or in person, and can, if necessary, represent you in any negotiations or in court.

To make an appointment call  (206) 696-7503 (ext.17) or e-mail: LFIintake@ccyj.org.

A popular radio program “This American Life” profiled stories of people representing themselves as their own lawyer.  A description of the episode from the site shows the nature of the program: “It’s tempting to act as your own lawyer, to argue your own cause.  Who better to defend your position than you?  This week, sotries of pro se defenses: some brilliant, some disastrous.  A man fakes his way into an insane asylum by pretending to be crazy, and then cant’ argue his way back out.  And another man uses vigilante justice to defend his sister’s honor, using a strategy he didn’t know he had in him.”  

The stories are divided into four Acts including: Psycho Dabble; Disorder in the Court; SWAK Down; and Underling Gets an Underling.  These episodes can be illustrative of various experiences individuals can have in the court system when they go it alone.   (Thanks to Joe Hodnicki for highlighting this episode)

If you are seeking to represent yourself in King County, a helpful resource is the “Pro Se Handbook” published by the King County Bar Association.   Or you can view a video entitled “Your Day in Court: How to Make your Voice Heard in King County” produced by the King County Superior Court.  You may also find many resources on our Resource Guide page and access to forms needed to proceed with your case.   If you still can’t find what you are looking for, give us a call at 206-296-0940.

The confirmation hearing of Sonia Sotomayor will be broadcast live today and all this week on the Senate Judiciary Committee website.  Be sure to tune in later in the week for new Senator Al Franken’s first opportunity to question the nominee.   You can view an analysis of Judge Sotomayor’s notable decisions in a recent NY Times article.

The U.S. Tax Court has developed a series of instructional videos explaining the tax court process.   You can view the video here.  These videos highlight the following areas: 1.)Understanding the Process, 2.) Introduction to the U.S. Tax Court, 3.) Filing the Petition, 4.) Pretrial Matters, 5.) Calendar Call and Trial, 6.) Post Trial Proceedings, and 7.) Conclusion and Review. 

On a recent venture to retrieve an old Seattle Ordinance sought out by someone from the Library of Congress, I stumbled upon a great resource which can help when researching older city laws. The Office of the City Clerk-Legislative Department has a great site and also resources available at the main office in downtown Seattle. The office “supports open government and the democratic process by preserving and maximizing public access to the City’s official and historical records.” You can search online to find ordinances from 1869 to the present. The current ordinances are online and previous legislation can be copied at the Clerk’s office. The next time you need a Seattle Ordinance check out the Clerk’s Office!

The THOMAS system of access to federal legislation and regulations is now offering RSS feed for the Daily Digest.   Get notices on current legislation through this update process.   This news feed joins the other offerings of the Law Library of Congress found here:

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