KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

The Seattle courthouse offices of the King County Bar Association’s Housing Justice Project have been temporarily relocated from the third floor of the King County Courthouse to the Seattle branch of KCLL.  The relocation was prompted by the need to find temporarily space for offices affected by problems with the Superior Court’s Juvenile facility.

KCLL is pleased to be able to provide temporary assistance to the HJP.  The services they offer to King County tenants are invaluable.  The HJP office in the law library is located in our Legal Resource Training Center room; future law library classes will be taught in one of the law library’s conference rooms.

Proposed Budget Talks

The King County Council is seeking public input concerning the proposed 2011 budget.  Included in the King County Executive’s budget recommendation to the Council is $149,109 to support the operations of the King County Law Library at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in 2011.  Anyone interested in voicing their support for County services is invited to attend one of the Council’s public budget hearings.  Follow this link for specific information for hearing dates and locations.  All hearings begin at 6:30 pm.

Law Library Services at the MRJC

King County Law Library’s MRJC branch has played a vital role in supporting access to the justice system for South King County residents since the Center opened in 1997.  Over 65% of the people who visit the library each day are self-represented litigants themselves or family members of these litigants.   The legal issues they struggle with run the gamut from divorce and child support to criminal law, probate, and eviction.  They make extensive use of the Library’s paper materials, conduct research and compose court documents using our public computers, make photocopies, send and receive faxes, and use our scanning service.   Our staff guides them to appropriate paper and electronic resources for research, recommends strategies to optimize the time they spend in the library, helps them learn to navigate web sites and refers them to other law-related agencies for additional help.

Additional County Budget Information

More information about the County’s 2011 budget and the budget planning process see the King County Council’s budget web site and the County Executive’s web site.

The King County Law Library has formed an Advisory Committee to develop a strategic plan for the future of the public law library.

The King County Law Library is a public library that provides legal information to both attorneys and the public. In these difficult economic times, the Law Library is a free resource for legal information for the residents of King County. The two locations in the King County Courthouse in Seattle and the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent have over 100,000 visitors each year. The Board of Trustees is establishing the Advisory Committee to assist in re-branding and focusing the Law Library to better meet the information needs of the legal community as well as those without attorneys.

The Board of Trustees seeks to use the expertise, ideas, and experience of the Advisory Committee in three broad areas. First, the Law Library is exploring better ways to use technology to deliver legal information services throughout the county. Second, the Law Library plans to further develop and help coordinate legal services and information for self-represented and low-income litigants. Third, the Law Library seeks to enhance its visibility by transforming itself into a legal resource center where services are available to the public in a one-stop location.

The Advisory Committee members are:

Alan Funk. Alan Funk is an attorney at Wechsler Becker, LLP focusing on Family Law. He was the President of the Family Law Section of the King County Bar Association from 2009-2010.

The Honorable Steven Gonzáles. Judge Gonzáles has served at King County Superior Court since 2002 and is chair of the Access to Justice Board of the Washington State Bar Association. Prior to becoming a judge, he served as Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Heather Griffith. Heather Griffith is a second-year student at the University of Washington School of Law. Before law school, she worked in a public library and also a research library.

Penny Hazelton. Penny Hazelton is the Associate Dean for Library & Computing Services at the University of Washington School of Law. She also serves as the Director of the Law Librarianship program offered through the Information School at UW.

Barbara Holt. Barbara Holt directs the Library and Research Department for Perkins Coie, the largest law firm in Seattle.

The Honorable Donald Horowitz (Ret.). Judge Horowitz has been active in the legal community in Washington for over fifty years. He is a former King County Superior Court judge and has since served as a mediator and arbitrator.

Joseph Janes. Joseph Janes is a professor at the Information School at the University of Washington. His research interests include how library adaption and evolution keeps libraries relevant in their communities.

Connelly Johnson. Connelly Johnson is an Associate Librarian at Davis Wright Tremaine, a large Seattle law firm.

Jeff Kempe. Jeff Kempe serves as the Adult Services Coordinator for King County Library System. KCLS is the second busiest library system in the county.

John McKay. John McKay is a Seattle native that recently served as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington. He is currently an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law and has received the Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Award from the Washington State Bar Association.

Kellye Testy. Kellye Testy serves as the dean at University of Washington School of Law. Prior to coming to UW, she was dean at Seattle University School of Law.

César Torres. César Torres is the Executive Director of Northwest Justice Project, a position he has held since 2006. He has over 25 years of experience serving low-income litigants and has focused his talents on issues relating to housing.

The Law Library looks forward to working with these esteemed members of the community and engaging in discussions on how to better serve the civil legal aid community and self-represented litigants.

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.

Mike Flynn, long-time editor of the Puget Sound Business Journal, was one of 35 people who witnessed the hanging of convicted murderer Joseph Self in June of 1963.  Mr. Flynn has posted a thoughtful reflection about the execution and capital punishment in Washington State at  Flynn’s Harp  (Note: as of 9/9/2010, the link to Mike Flynn’s blog was not working properly).  For more information about the Self case, see our recent podcast, wherein local attorney George Sjursen interviews one of Self’s defense attorneys, Dan Riviera.

For those of you who are eager to read through the final version of the massive and hotly-contested Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act signed into law by President Obama on July 21st, here’s a set of useful links.

As of this writing, the text of Public Law 111-203 wasn’t available but the Library of Congress’ THOMAS web site has a wealth of information about the legislation, including the final text of the bill presented to President Obama and a Congressional Research Service summary.

The White House has also posted the President’s remarks about the new law and a brief Executive summary of its intent.

The Department of Licensing (DOL) recently discovered that the State’s Model Traffic Ordinance (MTO) has not been updated to reflect new traffic laws since 2004.  This may lead to the dismissal of certain trafffic citations issued by municipalities with traffic codes based on the MTO.  For more information directly from DOL, see their July 15 blog posting.

For more information about the enabling statute for the MTO, see RCW 46.90.  To read the text of the MTO, see WAC 308-330.

Our EOS.Web library catalog will be down from 9:00 am to 11:00 am on Saturday, July 16 for routine maintenance.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

KCLL now has copies of the WSBA‘s new Partnership and Limited Liability Company Deskbook for your use.  We’re happy to see this addition to the State Bar’s valuable deskbook series because it has been some time since this area of law was addressed.  Together with WSBA’s Washington Business Corporations Act (RCW 23B) Sourcebook and LexisNexis’ Washington Business Entities: Law and Forms, we now have a set of materials that provide comprehensive coverage of business formation issues.

The Divorce Class scheduled for this Wednesday evening has been postponed until the following Wednesday 7/21.  Please call the library if you have any questions.