January 2003 Newsletter- San Diego County Public Law Library

New Laws for 2003 What new laws have been passed and go into effect January 1? You can use the Legislative Index to search by subject all of the laws passed during the 2001-2002 California legislative session. The Index (published 08/31/2002 by the Legislative Counsel) not only lists the subject of each bill, it lists constitutional amendments, and concurrent or joint resolutions as introduced and as amended. However, please note that entries are not removed from the index when the subject matter is deleted from the measure in the course of passage. If you would prefer to search to see whether a particular California code has been affected by any legislation, then use the Table of Sections Affected (published 8/31/2002) instead. Also published by the Legislative Counsel, this cumulative table provides a listing of each section of the Constitution, codes and uncodified laws affected by measures introduced. The table is arranged by codes and the Constitution listed in alphabetical order. Uncodified laws are listed at the end of the table under the heading Statutes Other Than Codes. References to Budget Items appear in a separate section following Statutes Other Than Codes.

New Changes to the Rules of Court as of Jan. 1 As of Jan. 1st, 2003, some new amendments to the California Rules of Court will go into effect. Changes affect rules in the appellate courts, civil and small claims courts, court technology, criminal courts, family and juvenile courts, judicial adminstration, probate court and traffic court. Go here to view the full text of the changes.

Closed Jan. 20th for MLK Day In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, all locations of the Law Library will be closed on Jan. 20th. Normal hours will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 21st. Go here to see a listing of other holiday closure dates.

New Arrivals!! Congratulations- it's a catalog and a new homepage! That's right-twins! Our first new debut, our Online Public Access Catalog (OPAC), has arrived and is now available on the web! You can search our holdings by author, title, or keyword. Additionally, library members with a current library card will be able to access InfoTrac, a proprietary database of legal citations from the Gale Group, from home. You can search by author, keyword or subject for articles in journals and newspapers on a particular topic. A citation list will appear with the title of the article, the author, and the publication information. Then you can use the on-line catalog to see if we have the periodical in which the citation appears. Our second bundle of joy is our new look at www.sdcpll.org. It has been redesigned to be more easily navigable and streamlined. All the great features you have come to rely on are still there and updated. For example, our Useful Links page is still laid out the same with links to the most useful San Diego, California, and Federal internet sites, but it has a new header at the top. These special deliveries have been a long hard labor of love and is result of a lot of hard work and grant monies from different sources. First, the Law Library Justice Foundation provided a large grant which enabled us to purchase our new integrated library system. Without this system, we would not have been able to offer our patrons access to a web based online catalog. Second, the San Diego Superior Court, assisted us in obtaining a grant from the Judicial Council of California to purchase a firewall and software, which allowed us to make our OPAC available to the public from the web. We are all beaming like proud parents at the debut of our new bundles of joy. Come visit them today!

Free Participatory MCLE Credits in January Want to save a ton of money and still get participatory MLCE credits? The Law Library is offering FREE PARTICIPATORY MCLE CREDITS in Janurary to our current members! Thanks once again to the Superior Court, which will co-sponsor the free screenings of MCLE videos, all MCLE videotapes shown here at the downtown location of the County Public Law Library will be eligible for PARTICIPATORY CREDIT!! Remember, MCLE requirements are due January 31st, so we will be having seminars throughout Janurary as well as a "Catch Up Day" on the 31st. Bring a lunch and come upstairs at noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays to see videos such as: - Substance Abuse (1 credit hour)- Jan. 2nd or 14th - Stress Burnout (1 credit hour)- Jan 7th or 16th - Elimination of Bias (1 credit hour)- Jan. 9th or 28th - Legal Ethics for the Real World, Part I (2 hours)- Jan 21st - Legal Ethics for the Real World, Part II (2 hours)- Jan 23rd CATCH UP DAY on Jan. 31st which will feature a day-long showing of MCLE tapes. The schedule is as follows: - 8-9 a.m.- Substance Abuse - 9-10 a.m. - Elimination of Bias - 10 a.m.- 11 a.m. - Stress Burnout - Noon to 2 p.m.- Legal Ethics Part I - 2 p.m.- 4 p.m. - Legal Ethics Part II All screenings will be held upstairs in the Pioneer Room at the Main Law Library located at 1105 Front Street (at the corner of Front and C Streets) and are limited to 15 participants per session. Pre-registration is required. Contact the Law Library's downtown Reference Desk at (619) 685-6553 to register. (Note: Food and drink are not usually allowed in the library but special exceptions are made for these events.) If you would rather listen to audio tapes for self-study MCLE credit, go here to see the titles the Law Library offers. California attorneys can fulfill up to half of their MCLE requirements with self-study credits. Checkouts of these materials during the month of January are limited to current members only.

January Cartoon Stu's Views are cartoons by a local lawyer, geared for lawyers. Stu is an entertainment lawyer here in San Diego who represents mostly visual arts creators. As he says in his bio on his home page, "Stu is the lawyer for cartoonists and the cartoonist for lawyers." See other cartoons by Stu at www.stus.com.

Jan. 2002 books- Focus on Civil Rights In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, this month's books focus on civil rights litigation. These books provide information on how to conduct litigation in a number of realms, including suing municipalities, police, and other entities for civil rights violations. Please note that while many of these books are located only at Main, since they circulate they can be sent to our branches upon a request from the branch. CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIONS by Joseph G. Cook and John L. Sobieski, Jr., Matthew Bender, 2002. This 7 volume set is continuously updated and is considered one of the premier sets about filing section 1981, 1982, and 1983 actions. Includes sample pleadings and discusses litigation strategies as well as providing comprehensive information on all types of civil rights actions. Available at Main at KF4749 .C65 1983. CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES LITIGATION: THE LAW OF SECTION 1983 by Sheldon H. Nahmod, West Group, 2002. This set features information for both the plaintiff and the defendant and is widely cited in civil rights action complaints. It includes forms, statutes, rules and regulations and discusses case law in the state and federal realms. This 2 volume set, currently updated, is available at Main at KF1325.C58 N34 1997. HOW TO HANDLE UNREASONABLE FORCE LITIGATION 2000: PROSECUTION AND DEFENSE STRATEGIES IN POLICE MISCONDUCT CASES, Practising Law Institute, 2000. This volume contains samples and forms for initiating unreasonable force litigation as well as pre-trial and trial issues from both the plaintiff's and defendant's point of view. Available at Main at KF1307.Z9 H69 2000. MUNICIPAL LIABILITY: LAW AND PRACTICE by Vince Fontana, Aspen Publishers, 1996. This 2 volume set has a 2002 supplement which updates volumes 1 and 2. Subjects include relief and damages, jury instructions, section 1983 litigation, sexual harassment actions under Title VII and other civil rights statutes. Available at Main at KF1302.A2 F66 1996. POLICE MISCONDUCT: LAW AND LITIGATION, West Group, 2002. This unique book discuss the complexities involved in police misconduct actions clearly and concisely, including information on notice requirements, discovery, absolute and qualified immunity defenses. It also contains valuable procedure information about selecting a jury, attorney fees and the trial itself. Available at all branches at KF9409 .A98 2002 2002. UNLAWFUL DISCRIMINATION: YOUR RIGHTS AND REMEDIES, California Attorney General's Office, 2001. This civil rights handbook is deceptively small, but packs in a lot of information. It outlines which California civil and penal codes apply and when as well as information about civil rights violations in relation to racial violence, employment, housing, and medical care. Available at Main at KFC695 .A88 2001.

Civil Rights Links Every issue of our e-newsletter contains information about useful web sites that we run across in our daily reference activities. As professional researchers, law librarians are quickly able to evaluate the usefulness and authenticity of web sites and pass that information onto you. The theme this month, in keeping with the celebration of Martin Liuther King Jr.'s birthday is civil rights. Need to know where to information about state and federal civil rights laws and information? Try these links! U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - http://www.eeoc.gov/ This easy to use site includes information divided up into two categories- information for the employer and information for the employees. Information for employers includes a primer on ADA law as well as what to do if a charge is filed against their company. Information for employees includes how to file a discrimination claim and the applicable federal laws prohibiting discrimination. U.S. Commission on Civil Rights- http://www.usccr.gov/ This commission is an independent, bipartisan, fact-finding agency of the executive branch established under the Civil Rights Act of 1957. The Commission investigates complaints alleging that citizens are being deprived of their right to vote by reason of their race, color, religion, sex, age, disability, or national origin, or by reason of fraudulent practices. They also study and collect information relating to discrimination or a denial of equal protection of the laws under the Constitution or in the administration of justice. They report their findings to the President and to Congress. The California Civil Rights Initiative: An Interpretive Guide http://www1.law.ucla.edu/~volokh/ccri.htm#volokh An excellent article about the California Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) by UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh. Originally published at 44 UCLA L. Rev. 1335 (1997), this article discusses what actions the CCRI bans, what exceptions are allowed, and what remedies are available.

Typewriters, Microfilm Readers Needed Do you have a typewriter that you don't use anymore that needs a new home? Want to get rid of it and get a tax write-off to boot? We need working typewriters for our patrons to use to fill in court forms. We are also in need of a new microfilm reader here at Main. Our current machine is over 10 years old and is on its last legs. Many of you think you won't ever use it, but you would be surprised at the kind of information still only available on microfilm (like the back issues of the Los Angeles Daily Journal). A new microfilm reader costs about $5,000. If you would like to make a donation towards either of these needs, please e-mail us or call Amy at (619) 531-4437.

Reference Question of the Month- Stupid Awards This is not exactly a question, but a site that we came across as we did some legal searching on the web that we wanted to share! It is an article from Law.com about stupid and/or outrageous lawsuits or aspects of the law occuring in 2002. They have decided to make this an annual list (with this being the first year) and are calling them the "Dubious Awards: The 2002 O.J.s". To see the whole article, go to http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1039054530707

We hope you've enjoyed our newsletter. We're hard at work on the next edition. In the meantime, please visit us online at: http://www.sdcll.org/. And come see us in person at one of our locations. For locations and hours please click here: http://www.sdcll.org/location.htm. For more information contact: Amy Hale-Janeke ahale@sdcll.org Media Coordinator / Reference Librarian (619) 531-3900