KCLL Klues: Washington State Legal Research

Tamara Thompson, on one of my favorite blogs, PI Buzz, advises investigators to keep their searching on social sites ethical. Like Tamara, I do much “passive information gathering on the Internet.” And like her, I do not attempt to “friend” someone whose MySpace or Facebook or other social page I find. I just find the page and if there is a real need for the information contained, then do your discovery correctly. As Tamara says, “Like with any other investigative action keep in mind: Is this legal and ethical? How would it be perceived by a jury?” Social networking information is being accepted in court now, but you want to be sure that you yourself haven’t violated any rules finding this information.

There is still space in our Searching Lexis class this Friday (November 21) from 12-1:30pm.  The class is free and held in the Legal Research and Training Center inside the library.  Call (206) 296-0940 to sign up!

I came across this new search site directory while preparing my Social Networking Investigation class. It has been in beta in Europe for months, but expanded to the United States in October. It claims to search Internet-based information in real time, but is also a social site where you can add information to every search result.
The site includes results from social networking information posted on the Internet, telephone and email directories and more. It works best with unusual names rather than common names. If you do not already have some information on the person you are investigating, it is sometimes difficult to eliminate results. But it does include some data I have not seen elsewhere.  
I have added it to the Public Sleuthing links on our web site.

I have been teaching classes on investigating social networking information for a number of organizations outside the Library. I wrote a basic guide to Investigating Social Networks and decided that it might be useful for our Library patrons. I have posted the publication to our Research Guides on the web page. In addition, I am bringing a version of the class, called Public Sleuthing on Social Networks, to the Library Training schedule on November 17th. Call to register and come join us to learn how to search social sites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter and more.

Next week I will be doing a training update for the Seattle Public Librarians. In preparation I decided to post a glossary I have used in the past to explain legal terms. The glossary uses a When you hear - think approach and links to the appropriate research guide from our web site and to other resources that may help. It does not include direct definitions, but is a good place to start. The WashingtonLawHelp web site also has a great glossary that lists legal terms used on its web site, plus the definitions, but no links. You may find an additional Guide to Terms Used in Washington Courts at the State Court web site. If you do not know what a legal term may mean, how to start a legal procedure such as eviction or deal with that traffic ticket you just received, check out the glossary for links that may help.   

When I received my latest telephone directory I remarked about its size, or lack of size. I teach a class on Skip tracing and public sleuthing and noticed that finding telephone numbers is getting more difficult. Yesterday I read the preliminary National Health Interview Survey from the National Center for Health Statistics, which indicates that by the end of 2007, nearly one out of every six US homes had only a cell phone. In addition, even in those homes that had both landlines and cell phones, one out of eight received most calls via cell phone.

This switch from landlines to cell phones will continue to accelerate, and as it does it makes finding a telephone number for an individual a challenge. Thus far, there is no cell phone directory, and a big push not to publish one. Some public record information providers claim they can find these cell phone numbers for you, but this will not work well until most people use only their cell phone number when registering for services.

The best thing I read today comes from an interview with DeCarlous Spearman, the Law Library Director at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law. It was written by Mary Flood of the Houston Chronicle, copyright 2008, and published on Aug. 1, 2008. Here is a link to the full story if you would like to read more, but this question and answer struck me as particularly apt in today’s “let’s find our answer on the first page of Google’s result world.”

Ms. Flood asked the following question about technology’s effect on legal research:
“What do you miss? What has technology taken away?

A: What I miss is what technology’s taken away from the students.

Students now want quick, fast answers — yesterday. But they have no idea how to get the complete answers, or what it takes to get the entire picture. Technology’s taken that from the student body and even faculty members.

I call it the microwave age: If it can’t go in and come out ready in five minutes, they don’t want it. But that’s not enough. Research isn’t always quick. Complete research has to be comprehensive.

Sometimes one source won’t do it. But today students want what I call Wal-Mart research — one-stop shopping. Students 12 years ago were more patient. They mixed book research with Lexis or Westlaw. I’m not OK with the quick answers.”

We have added three more training classes for September & October:

Friday, September 15^th: Legal Research for the Non-Attorney: Part 1 12-1:30pm
Friday, September 22^nd: Legal Research for the Non-Attorney: Part 2 12-1:30pm

Friday, October 3^rd: Skip Tracing 4-5:30pm

All our training classes are free.  Space is limited so sign-up today by giving us a call at (206) 296-0940.

There are a number of good free web sites for searching case law. A good one for Washington State case law is www.legalwa.org. Recently, KCLL posted a tutorial on how to search the site for Washington Supreme and Appellate Court cases. Watch it and learn.