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Happy Thanksgiving!

fdr-thanksgiving-1939
Former President Franklin Roosevelt is celebrating Thanksgiving dinner here in 1939.

The Law Library is Closed today, November 27, 2014, as Thanksgiving is a Court Holiday.  The Law Library will be open tomorrow, Friday, November 28, 2014. A list of Court Holidays is available on the Circuit Court’s website.

The celebration of Thanksgiving as an official holiday in the United States has an interesting history.  In 1777, the first national Thanksgiving was declared by the Continental Congress.  The United States celebrated its first Thanksgiving holiday in 1789 pursuant to a proclamation issued by former President George Washington that established Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a “Day of Publick Thanksgivin”.

Subsequent presidents issued similar proclamations, but with varying dates for celebration. Former President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation established the last Thursday of November as the day of the celebration, but, in 1939, due to economic concerns deriving from a shortened Christmas shopping season as a result of Thanksgiving’s celebration date, former President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a proclamation moving Thanksgiving to the second to last Thursday of November, which lengthened the Christmas shopping season.  Thirty-two states followed the federal government’s lead, but sixteen states did not.  Thus, Thanksgiving was celebrated on two different days throughout the country until 1941 when Roosevelt signed a joint resolution from Congress establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the federal holiday. More information, including featured documents, such as the 1941 Joint Resolution, is available at http://www.archives.gov/legislative/features/thanksgiving/.

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lawlibrary Pro Bono Self Represented

Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

Attorney Photo
Thank you, Michael Marinello!

The Ask A Lawyer In The Library program is a civil, non-family law, self-help program sponsored by The Anne Arundel Bar Association and the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.  Every Wednesday, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., you can talk with a volunteer attorney for up to 20 minutes.  No appointment is necessary, but sign-up is required at the law library’s information desk.  Sign-up begins at 10:45 a.m., and time slots are determined by a lottery. For more information, please see http://circuitcourt.org/legal-help/lawyer-in-the-library.

On Wednesday, November 26, 2014,  the Law Library hosted another successful Ask A Lawyer In The Library program.  Thank you, Michael J. Marinello of Baldwin, Kagan & Gormley, for volunteering and providing this service to the public. One person took part in the program and was able to speak with the attorney to request assistance property issues and procedural questions.  The next program date is Wednesday, December 3, 2014.

Are you an attorney interested in volunteering with the Ask A Lawyer In The Library program?  If so, you must be admitted to the Maryland Bar and be in good standing on the Client Security Trust Fund list.  Interested attorneys should contact the law library.

More information about the program is available at http://circuitcourt.org/legal-help/lawyer-in-the-library.  The Ask A Lawyer In The Law Library program is a limited legal advice service.  The program is not a substitute for representation.  If you need an attorney to represent you, you can contact the Anne Arundel Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service.

 
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lawlibrary

Updated laws in Damages in Tort Actions

Damages in Tort ActionsThe law is constantly evolving as legislatures pass new laws and courts decide new cases.  As a result, the resources available at the law library must be constantly updated to reflect these changes to the law. Updating the library’s resources is an interesting and eye-opening task for someone like me, who is new to law libraries and the law.  And while these updates are usually commonplace and nothing extraordinary, every so often, the chapter headings verge on the edge of humor or something a little more sinister. At the very least, the chapter titles are rather conducive to dark jokes and a running commentary.

Damages in Tort Actions, an eleven-volume reference set available in the library, started off as expected with a generic chapter entitled “Damages in General.” Nothing seemed unusual or strange in the title – it fit rather well with the title of the volume. But things took a drastic dramatic turn  chapter four, “Pain and Suffering,”chapter seven: “Mishandling of Dead Bodies.”  Does this happen often enough to merit an entire chapter?  To make matters worse, chapter eight is the “Loss of Enjoyment of Life.”  Was an existential crisis looming?

These blunt headings were merely the beginning of the narrative unfolding before me, and I began to read the chapter titles as the outline of thriller novel with a dose of dark humor. Is this truly a reference set?  Instead, perhaps it is the tragedy of an over-worked attorney or the narrative of a disgruntled student. Whoever the story may follow, he or she is not a happy individual.

The thriller novel chapter headings continued throughout the update of Damages in Tort Actions. Chapter twenty-one: “Survival Actions” and chapter twenty-seven: “Loss of a Chance of Survival”  seem to foreshadow a rather gruesome and unhappy conclusion to this possible murder mystery. This reference set calls to mind what might happen if Edgar Allan Poe and John Grisham had decided to enter into the legal reference market.

Damages in Tort Actions may have been mistitled. A better name for it may be The Plight of the Human Existence or, perhaps, It Only Gets Worse from Here.

For more interesting, humorous, or odd laws come into the Law Library and look around!

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lawlibrary Pro Bono Self Represented

Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

Brian Lyman
Thank you, Brian Lyman!
The Ask A Lawyer In The Library program is a civil, non-family law, self-help program sponsored by The Anne Arundel Bar Association and the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.  Every Wednesday, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., you can talk with a volunteer attorney for up to 20 minutes.  No appointment is necessary, but sign-up is required at the law library’s information desk.  Sign-up begins at 10:45 a.m., and time slots are determined by a lottery. For more information, please see http://circuitcourt.org/legal-help/lawyer-in-the-library.

 

On Wednesday, October 22, 2014,  the Law Library hosted another successful Ask A Lawyer In The Library program.  Thank you, Brian Lyman of Hillman, Brown and Darrow, for volunteering and providing this service to the public. Three people took part in the program and were able to speak with the attorney to request assistance with issues such as powers of attorney, financial debts and jurisdiction.  The next program date is Wednesday, November 26, 2014.

Are you an attorney interested in volunteering with the Ask A Lawyer In The Library program?  If so, you must be admitted to the Maryland Bar and be in good standing on the Client Security Trust Fund list.  Interested attorneys should contact the law library.

More information about the program is available at http://circuitcourt.org/legal-help/lawyer-in-the-library.  The Ask A Lawyer In The Law Library program is a limited legal advice service.  The program is not a substitute for representation.  If you need an attorney to represent you, you can contact the Anne Arundel Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service.
 
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lawlibrary Pro Bono

Spotlight on the Practising Law Institute

Veterans Day was this past Tuesday.  Are you an attorney whose unfamiliarity with veterans law is holding you back from participating in pro bono legal service projects geared towards services for veterans? If so, then the Practising Law Institute (PLI) can be a good resource for you.

The PLI, founded in 1933, is a non-profit, continuing legal education organization that provides seminars, treatises, websites and other resources for attorneys and other legal professionals.  The PLI’s available resources includes a free web seminar titled, “Advocating for Veterans: The Basics on VA Benefits, Discharge Upgrades and Veteran Cultural Competency (http://www.pli.edu/Content/Seminar/Advocating_for_Veterans_The_Basics_on_VA/_/N-4kZ1z12f57?fromsearch=false&ID=174212). This webinar may be able to assist you in better understanding veterans law.  In addition, the organizations highlighted in our earlier post about available pro bono legal service projects have training resources as well.  More information about the PLI is available at www.pli.edu.

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lawlibrary Pro Bono Self Represented

Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

Valadez
Thank you, Mike Valadez!
The Ask A Lawyer In The Library program is a civil, non-family law, self-help program sponsored by The Anne Arundel Bar Association and the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.  Every Wednesday, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., you can talk with a volunteer attorney for up to 20 minutes.  No appointment is necessary, but sign-up is required at the law library’s information desk.  Sign-up begins at 10:45 a.m., and time slots are determined by a lottery. For more information, please see http://circuitcourt.org/legal-help/lawyer-in-the-library.

 

On Wednesday, November 12, 2014,  the Law Library hosted another successful Ask A Lawyer In The Library program.  Thank you, Mike Valadez, for volunteering and providing this service to the public. Four people took part in the program and were able to speak with the attorney to request assistance with issues such as insurance, property, taxes and procedural issues.  The next program date is Wednesday, November 19, 2014.

It is helpful to prepare for your session with the attorney.  Here are some helpful tips:

  • Write a list of specific questions for the attorney.
  • Bring any paperwork and information related to the case.
  • Organize any paperwork from most recent on the top to oldest at the bottom.
  • Identify all deadlines.
  • Prepare a timeline of the legal issue.

If you would like to read up on your issue prior to your session with the attorney, please come find us at the Law Library’s information desk.  We are happy to assist you.

More information about the program is available at http://circuitcourt.org/legal-help/lawyer-in-the-library.  The Ask A Lawyer In The Law Library program is a limited legal advice service.  The program is not a substitute for representation.  If you need an attorney to represent you, you can contact the Anne Arundel Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service.
 
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Holiday lawlibrary Pro Bono

Assisting our Veterans

14poster_highresYesterday was Veterans Day!  Veterans Day, which is observed on November 11 of each year, was established to thank and honor all those who served in the United States armed forces during wartime and peacetime. In particular, Veterans Day honors and thanks living veterans for their service. One great way to thank the over 21 million veterans in the United States for their service is to volunteer our own services to veterans in need. Are you an attorney interested in pro bono legal service projects to assist veterans? Here are some organizations with ongoing pro bono legal service projects that are in need of attorney volunteers.

– Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland’s Veterans’ Benefits Pro Bono Project (http://probonomd.org/about-us/about-veterans-benefits/)

– Homeless Persons Representation Project, Inc. (http://www.hprplaw.org/)

– The Veterans Consortium Pro Bono Program (http://www.vetsprobono.org/volunteer-today/)

Additional volunteer opportunities are available at http://www.volunteer.va.gov/. Don’t forget, the Law Library is always available to assist you in your search for pro bono service projects.

Are you a veteran looking for information about compensation and benefits?  The People’s Law Library has two articles that might be of interest. Check them out at http://www.peoples-law.org/veterans-compensation and http://www.peoples-law.org/veterans-pension-benefits. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (http://va.gov/) and the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs (http://veterans.maryland.gov/) are also good resources for additional information.

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Holiday lawlibrary

Today is Veterans Day!

The Library is Closed today, November 11, 2014, as Veterans Day is a Court Holiday.  The Law Library will be open tomorrow, Wednesday, November 12, 2014. A list of Court Holidays is available on the Circuit Court’s website at http://www.circuitcourt.org/court-holidays.

For those of you who love grammar, this blog abides by the federal government’s spelling of Veterans Day. Specifically, there is no apostrophe before the “s” at the end of “Veterans”.  According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (note that there is no apostrophe here either), “Veterans Day” does not include an apostrophe “because it is not a day that ‘belongs’ to veterans, it is a day for honoring all veterans.”*  What do they mean?  Well, thanks to the addition of an apostrophe, the “Veteran” in “Veteran’s Day” and the “Veterans” in “Veterans’ Day” are nouns in the possessive case (singular in the first case and plural in the second case), which implies that the day itself belongs to an individual veteran or to veterans as a group.  However, without the apostrophe, the “Veterans” in “Veterans Day” is an attributive adjective, which means that “Veterans” describes an attribute of “Day” without being possessive.  Thus, the day does not belong to an individual veteran or veterans as a group. However, each of these three options can be grammatically correct.  Which do you prefer?

For more information about the history of Veterans Day, check out http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetdayhistory.asp.  Do you want to read the United States statute designating November 11 of each year as Veterans Day and a legal, public holiday, check out http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-89/pdf/STATUTE-89-Pg479.pdf or you can come visit the library to view a hard copy.

*http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetday_faq.asp
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lawlibrary Pro Bono Self Represented

Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

admin-ajax
Thank you, Mike and Jack!

The Ask A Lawyer In The Library program is a civil, non-family law, self-help program sponsored by The Anne Arundel Bar Association and the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.  Every Wednesday, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., you can talk with a volunteer attorney for up to 20 minutes.  No appointment is necessary, but sign-up is required at the law library’s information desk.  Sign-up begins at 10:45 a.m., and time slots are determined by a lottery. For more information, please see http://circuitcourt.org/legal-help/lawyer-in-the-library.

On Wednesday, November 5, 2014,  the Law Library hosted another successful Ask A Lawyer In The Library program.  Thank you, Mike Ragland and Jack Paltell, of Bell, Ragland, Gauges & Paltell, for volunteering and providing this service to the public. Four people took part in the program and were able to speak with the attorney to request assistance with issues such as a real estate contract dispute, judgment enforcement and rights to state benefits. The next program date is Wednesday, November 12, 2014.

Are you an attorney interested in volunteering with the Ask A Lawyer In The Library program?  If so, you must be admitted to the Maryland Bar and be in good standing on the Client Security Trust Fund list.  Interested attorneys should contact the law library.

More information about the program is available at http://circuitcourt.org/legal-help/lawyer-in-the-library.  The Ask A Lawyer In The Law Library program is a limited legal advice service.  The program is not a substitute for representation.  If you need an attorney to represent you, you can contact the Anne Arundel Bar Association’s Lawyer Referral and Information Service.
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Holiday lawlibrary

Today is Election Day!

The Library is closed today, Tuesday, November 4, 2014, as Election Day is a Court Holiday. If you are interested in learning more about Maryland’s elections, 2014 election information, including answers to frequently asked questions, is provided by the Maryland State Board of Election on their website at http://www.elections.state.md.us/.

The Law Library will be open tomorrow, November 5, 2014. A list of Court Holidays is available on the Circuit Court’s website at http://www.circuitcourt.org/court-holidays. Except on Court Holidays, the Library is open Monday through Friday from 9:00a.m. until 4:30p.m., Monday through Friday. We are located on the third floor (main floor) of the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court at 7 Church Circle, Annapolis, Maryland.

If you cannot make it to the library in person, you can always reach us via email at lawlibrary@aacounty.org, via phone at (410) 222-1387 or via fax at (410) 268-9762.