| Oregon State Bar Bulletin — AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2007 |
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Input Sought on Judicial Settlement Conferences
Judge Kristena LaMar invites the Oregon bench and bar to share positive or negative
observations concerning judicial settlement conferences. The comments will be
used in an upcoming judges’ guide, which will be made available through
the National Judicial College. Please consider contributing any observations
on good, bad, effective or ineffective procedures, behavior, environments and
strategies that might be helpful for judges to read.
LaMar, who is the project’s co-author, notes that the guide will acknowledge the source of any such input if the contributor so desires. Complete anonymity is available as well. Mail comments to Judge LaMar at 1021 S.W. Fourth Ave., Portland, OR 97204, or hand-deliver them to her office space at the Portland Building, Room 1520, 1120 S.W. Fifth Ave., Portland. Or, e-mail: Kristena.A.Lamar@ojd.state.or.us.
Court of Appeals Internal
Practices Guidelines
The Oregon Court of Appeals has made its current "Internal
Practices Guidelines" readily available to the bar.
According to Chief Judge David Brewer, "These guidelines
describe the operations that the court regularly performs
to carry out its work and are intended to help litigants
comply with the court’s rules and avoid procedural
pitfalls, as well as to make the court more accessible."
To view the guidelines, visit the court’s webpage at www.ojd.state.or.us/courts/coa/index.htm. Limited print copies of the guidelines (for those who may not have access to a computer or the Internet) are available from the Appellate Court Records Section office in Salem. To request a copy of the internal practices guidelines in an alternative format, call the statewide ADA coordinator at (503) 986-5611.
National Pro Bono Opportunities
Guide
The National Pro Bono Opportunities Guide, available at www.volunteerforprobono.org,
provides listings of more than 1,100 programs from across
the United States that need volunteer lawyers. Through the
directory’s search option, lawyers can find programs
based on location, area of law, the population served and
MCLE credits for training or service. Users can also pinpoint
projects that require their skills and experience with features
highlighting opportunities for transactional lawyers, litigators,
law students and others.
The web-based guide offers current information while allowing lawyers to quickly locate an opportunity that meets their time, skills and location. Because the list is interactive, state and local bar associations as well as community-based non-profits can add or update information to ensure the list is current and accurate.
The project is jointly sponsored by the ABA’s Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service, the ABA Center for Pro Bono and Pro Bono Net, a national non-profit organization based in New York City that works to increase access to justice. See www.pronono.net and www.lawhelp.org (for which PBN received a 2007 Webby Award for best law website).
Strong Employment Market
Doesn’t Mean Most Get the High Salaries
The vast majority of Class of 2006 law school graduates (90.7
percent of those for whom employment status was known) were
employed as of Feb. 15, 2007. In the past decade the market
for new graduates has remained relatively strong and remarkably
stable nationally.
The strong employment market does not mean that every new graduate started work at a large firm at one of the much publicized $135,000 or $145,000 salaries, of course. Just 14 percent of salaries were either $135,000 or $145,000. Far more, 42 percent, were $55,000 or less.
These are among the findings reported in NALP’s newly released report, "Jobs & JD’s: Employment and Salaries of New Law Graduates — Class of 2006."
Other starting salary findings reported: Compared to the overall median starting salary of $62,000, the law firm private practice median was higher — $95,000, an increase of $10,000 over that for the class of 2005. Medians for jobs in government and as judicial clerks increased modestly but remained considerably lower, at $48,000 and $46,500, respectively. The median for public interest jobs remained at $40,000. The higher median in private practice notwithstanding, for all full-time salaries reported, salaries of $55,000 or less slightly outnumbered salaries of more than $75,000.
Global Legal Information
Network
Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) is a non-commercial,
cooperatively built database of legal information contributed
by governments of countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and the
Americas. It is searchable in 13 languages and can be accessed
at www.glin.gov.
The Law Library of Congress is the de facto national law library, whose mission is to make its resources available to members of Congress, the Supreme Court, other branches of the U.S. government and the global legal community, and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of law for future generations. It contains the world’s largest collection of law books and other resources and provides online databases and guides to legal information worldwide through its website at www.loc.gov/law.