Hands-on Civil Voir Dire Workshop April 4
Learn voir dire in a unique workshop April 4, 3- 5 p.m., at the Mark O. Hatfield U.S. Courthouse in Portland.
Experienced trial attorneys Chris Kitchel, Jane Paulson and Richard Vangelisti will provide hands-on training involving employment, medical malpractice and personal injury scenarios. Judges Marco Hernandez, Michael McShane and Youlee Yim You will also provide judges’ perspectives. The first portion of the CLE will focus on general voir dire techniques. Then participants will break up into small groups and practice voir dire in courtrooms.
This workshop is sponsored by the Multnomah Bar Association. It is designed for less experienced attorneys and is limited to attorneys with less than 10 years of practice and who have had five or fewer jury trials. Space is limited and slots will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. When applying, please indicate whether your preference is for employment, medical malpractice or personal injury. There will be three working groups.
For more information and online registration, visit www.tinyurl.com/MBAVoirDire2014.
Classroom Law Project Award Dinner April 23
The Classroom Law Project will be celebrating Judge Jacob Tanzer at its Legal Citizen of the Year Award Dinner on Wednesday evening, April 23, at the Governor Hotel in Portland. To purchase an individual ticket or to sponsor a table, visit www.classroomlaw.org/donate/legal-citizen-dinner/. If you have questions, you may also contact CLP office manager Martha Doyle at (503) 224-4424; mdoyle@class roomlaw.org.
Changes Underway at 9th Circuit
Several changes are underway at the 9th Circuit.
First, in December 2013, the court launched live video streaming of en banc arguments from its website, www.ca9. uscourts.gov. The court plans to gradually expand the program to include arguments before three-judge panels. The clerk’s office is also working to streamline and simplify calendar notices of upcoming oral arguments.
Also, the 9th Circuit appellate lawyer representatives have created and posted a helpful “Appellate Practice Guide,” which is available on the court’s website. The approximately 90-page guide includes guidance on initial filing, the court’s mediation program, motion practice, brief writing and oral argument.
Lastly, the court has also initiated a mentorship program that offers to pair up lawyers new to federal appellate practice with experienced appellate practitioners. Interested attorneys can find out more about the program from the “attorney” tab on the court’s website or by contacting Kelly Zusman, the appellate lawyer representative for the District of Oregon at Kelly.Zusman@usdoj.gov.
2014 Law Library Values Are Available Online
The 2014 schedule of suggested values for law libraries is now available at www.osbar.org/resources/eresources.html#libraries. This schedule has been prepared by the property tax division of the Oregon Department of Revenue. Owners of law libraries should declare the schedule values to the assessor.
Fastcase Tip: Constructing a Broad Keyword Search
When starting a new research project, it is usually a good idea to begin with a broad search query and then narrow your query until you get an acceptable number of results. Use these tips to make sure you are not inadvertently excluding decisions that address your topic.
Use synonyms. Try including common synonyms for the keywords in your query. For example, if one of your search terms is car, include automobile and vehicle in your search as well. Instead of: “fourth amendment” & car, try: “fourth amendment” & car or “fourth amendment” & vehicle or “fourth amendment” & automobile.
Use the wildcard operator. By truncating a search term down to the root of the word and adding an asterisk at the end, your search with automatically pick up multiple forms of the word including plurals. For example, a search for “contract*” will pick up all of the following terms: contractor, contracting, contracts, contracting, contracted, etc.
Avoid quotation marks. Instead, try constructing a query using keywords in the phrase connected with the within operator. This will reduce the chances that you are excluding cases that use slightly different words. Instead of: breach of contract, try: breach w/3 contract; this picks up phrases like breached its contract, breach of the contract, etc.