Andrew Evans spoke to an SEKLS workshop on March 6. He gave us a handout that gives links to online resources that libraries of all sizes can use to help their patrons with legal questions. He was particularly impressed with the Wilson County website because it included blank forms for many things people request. I was impressed with all the links that are available on the Washburn University Law Library site www.washlaw.edu.

Andrew graciously allowed me to share his handout on the idea blog so other librarians can access this information.

Law Resources Workshop for the Small Library Handout

Speaker: Andrew Evans, JD, MLS

Head of Reference & Government Documents Librarian

Adjunct Professor of Law

Washburn University School of Law

1700 SW College Ave

Topeka KS 66621

Introduction

Don't commit legal reference malpractice. The best method is to point patrons towards the information and do not interpret it. Oftentimes, the wrong kind of help can make the patron worse off.

Kansas Legal Services: 1-800-723-6953

Kansas Bar Association: http://ksbar.org/

http://www.martindale.com

Thoughts on collection development:

http://www.aallnet.org/products/pub_sp9912/pub_sp9912_ProDev.pdf

Good Legal LIS Resources

http://www.aallnet.org/products/

www.washlaw.edu

http://nolo.com/

***[highly recommended] Nolo’s “Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law” by Stephen R. Elias & Susan Levinkind (14^th edition), August 2007

http://www.nolo.com/product.cfm/ObjectID/ADA3D233-2448-4AFE-96BF37FF240C53F7/104/

Statutes

Every library should have a copy of its state's statutes or law. Kansas Statutes Annotated is available from the secretary of state's office. http://www.kssos.org/forms/Elections/LS.pdf

The online version is available for free but does not have annotations. Kansas state legislators can give away 2 sets of the state statues each year. If your library cannot afford to buy a set, ask your legislator to consider giving your library one of those free sets.

http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-statutes/index.do

Kansas Administrative Regulations

What are they? http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-kars/karInfo.do

The regulations for administrative agencies are also available online.

http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-kars/index.do

Internet

Google is very interesting. It is frequently mentioned in pop culture. Google is also a verb. I googled that person I met at the conference.

http://www.google.com

I like Google, but it’s not the end all and be all. Perhaps it can be a good place to start.

http://digbig.com/4tcdf

For my area of work, going to a specialized database is the best method. Also, I prefer starting my searches narrow and then broadening them out.

Washlaw

http://www.washlaw.edu

Washlaw is regularly updated by the librarians and staff of Washburn Law Library. The information on the website tomorrow will probably differ from what is available tomorrow. Legal information is placed in easy to find categories. Stay tuned for changes.

http://www.washlaw.edu/uslaw/states/Kansas/index.html

Let’s look at the state materials. For Kansas, one thing I want to point out is the Rules of Evidence. As you can see, it is a word document. Since no website has consolidated these, we decided to take up the project. It was a lot of cutting and pasting to get all the statutes together. Government documents are often in the public domain.

Kansas Statutes

http://www.washlaw.edu/uslaw/states/Kansas

Kansas Attorney General Opinions

http://ksag.washburnlaw.edu/

Other states are available through www.washlaw.edu

City Codes

http://www.washlaw.edu/cities/

http://www.municode.com

Fredonia http://www.fredoniaks.org/

http://www.lkm.org/publications/sto/2007-sto-order-form.pdf

http://www.lkm.org/publications/upoc/2007-upoc-order-form.pdf

County Codes

Wilson County http://www.wilson.kansasgov.com/ (none online)

Shawnee County http://www.co.shawnee.ks.us/counselor/pdf/SNCode.pdf

County Appraisers

http://www.co.shawnee.ks.us/Ap/R_prop/Disclaimer.shtm

http://www.elk.kansasgov.com/MV2Base.asp?VarCN=10

http://www.allencounty.org/apprais/index.htm

Bill Tracking/Lobbying

http://www.kslegislature.org/legsrv-legisportal/bills.do

Local Courts

http://www.kscourts.org/districts/

Wilson County

http://www.31stjudicialdistrict.org./atty0227wl.htm has attorney dockets

http://www.31stjudicialdistrict.org/Forms.html has very good forms available.

State Courts

http://www.kscourts.org

http://www.osca.state.mo.us

http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/start.asp?viewtype=COURTS

Legal professionals who practice or work in Kansas, Missouri, or Oklahoma use these websites frequently. In addition to useful court information, one can also link to opinions of state supreme courts, state courts of appeal, and some of the district courts.

U.S. Court of Appeals

http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov

http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov

U.S. Supreme Court

http://www.supremecourtus.gov

Legal Directory

http://www.washlaw.edu/reflaw/refdir.html

News

http://www.washlaw.edu/news/index.html

Business News

http://finance.yahoo.com

http://finance.google.com/finance