AACPLL Blog: Law Library News

Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

Post author By Chi Song
Post date December 4, 2014
No Comments on Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

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, December 3, 2014, the Law Library hosted another successful Ask A Lawyer In The Library program. Thank you, Mike Ragland and Jack Paltell, from Bell, Ragland, Gauges & Paltell, for volunteering and providing this service to the public. Eight people took part in the program and were able to speak with the attorney to request assistance with issues such as a power of attorney, will, insurance claims, appeals to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, and real estate closing questions. The next program date is Wednesday, December 10, 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.

Tags lawlibrary, lawyer-in-the-library, probono, ProBonoWeek, selfhelp

lawlibrary Legal Technology

Online Databases in the Limelight – Westlaw & Lexis

Post author By Chi Song
Post date December 2, 2014
2 Comments on Online Databases in the Limelight – Westlaw & Lexis

Here is one of two computers in our computer room that prioritizes Westlaw access.

Online databases can be invaluable, time-saving tools to any legal researcher as they provide organized access to a wide array of legal resources as well as sophisticated search tools. Many online databases, including fee-based databases, are available at the Law Library, free of charge, to library patrons. Each Tuesday of this month, this blog will highlight one of the many databases available at the Law Library.

Westlaw (www.westlaw.com) and Lexis (www.lexis.com) are two of the biggest players in the world of legal publishing and online legal research. These two legal services providers offer searchable databases with access to a wide array of primary resources, such as federal and state statutes, federal and state regulations and case law, as well as secondary resources, such as encyclopedias, treatises, journal articles and form books.*

There is a myriad of tools, resources and services available through both Westlaw and Lexis. One of the most popular services provided through Westlaw and Lexis is the online case citator service provided by each database (KeyCite for Westlaw and Shepard’s Case Citations for Lexis). These case citators identify all published cases and other sources that cite (e.g., refer to) the case being reviewed by the legal researcher and provide additional information, such as the reason why the later case cited the case at hand. This is important information to have as later cases can affect the value of the case at hand or later cases may better address the matter being researched. In addition, both databases provide document delivery services (e.g., email, PDF downloads, RTF downloads) so that users can access certain resources after the online session has concluded.

Access to these two databases can be very expensive, but the Law Library maintains subscriptions to both databases so that library patrons can access the databases free of charge. Law Library patrons can directly access these databases in the Law Library’s computer room. For those of you who are new to Westlaw and Lexis, the Law Library is available to assist you in learning how to use both databases and identifying the resources available through the databases. For those of you who have used Westlaw and Lexis in the past, the Law Library can assist you with searching more effectively. Please drop by the Law Library’s service desk, and we will help you get started.

*For more information about understanding legal research, including the difference between primary and secondary legal resources, check out these research guides.

Tags lawlibrary, legalresearch, technology

Holiday lawlibrary

Today is American Indian Heritage Day!

Post author By Chi Song
Post date November 28, 2014
No Comments on Today is American Indian Heritage Day!

Did you know…

– that former President George H. W. Bush approved a Joint Resolution of Congress in 1990 that designated November 1990 as National American Indian Heritage month (and similar proclamations were issued yearly since 1994)?

– that the first American Indian Day was declared in 1916 in the state of New York?

– that 184 Native American tribes throughout the United States support the establishment of a day honoring American Indian heritage?

– that, according to the United States Census Bureau’s 2010 census, 0.4% of the total Maryland population is American Indian and/or Alaska Native?

– that today is American Indian Heritage Day in Maryland? As of October 1, 2008, pursuant to House Bill 83/Chapter 486, American Indian Heritage Day is a Maryland state holiday that falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.

Are you interested in researching Native American law? If so, then check out the Georgetown Law Library’s guide at http://www.law.georgetown.edu/library/research/guides/nativeamericanlaw.cfm.

More information about Native American Heritage Month is available at http://nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov/.

Holiday lawlibrary

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/.

lawlibrary Pro Bono Self Represented

Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

Post author By Chi Song
Post date November 26, 2014
No Comments on 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.

Tags lawlibrary, lawyer-in-the-library, probono, ProBonoWeek, selfhelp

lawlibrary

Updated laws in Damages in Tort Actions

Post author By Katharine Ayerst
Post date November 24, 2014
No Comments on Updated laws in Damages in Tort Actions

The 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!

lawlibrary Pro Bono Self Represented

Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

Post author By Chi Song
Post date November 19, 2014
No Comments on Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

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.

Tags lawlibrary, lawyer-in-the-library, probono, ProBonoWeek, selfhelp

lawlibrary Pro Bono

Spotlight on the Practising Law Institute

Post author By Chi Song
Post date November 14, 2014
No Comments on 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.

Tags lawlibrary, probono

lawlibrary Pro Bono Self Represented

Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

Post author By Chi Song
Post date November 13, 2014
No Comments on Ask a Lawyer In the Library: Wednesday Wrap-up

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.

Tags lawlibrary, lawyer-in-the-library, probono, ProBonoWeek, selfhelp