February 2004 E-Newsletter- San Diego County Public Law Library

New Amendments to State Rules of Court, Local Rules, Forms A new set of amendments to the California Rules of Court went into effect Jan. 1st. Numerous changes were made, including ones about trial setting, continuances, sealing records, and forms. These were changes were decided upon last October, but another smaller set of changes were decided upon in December and also enacted on Jan 1st. San Diego Superior Court local rules also underwent some changes. The most notable are changes to Rule 2.3 (Notice of Case Assignment in civil actions), Rule 2.24b(Judicial arbitration policy for civil actions), Rule 4.35 (new addition- concerns tentative rulings in Probate Court), Rule 4.183 (ADR in Probate Court), Rules 5.9 and 5.13 (Family law status conferences and ex parte notice rules), Rules 5.72 (discretionary dismissals in Family Court), and Rules 5.74 and 5.75 (Family Court- supervised visitation requirements and communication between court divisions). Finally, the Judicial Council has put out quite a few new forms. We have already integrated the new print copies of these forms into our binders at the Public Law Library.

EZLegalFile Now Available on SD Superior Court's Site! The San Diego Superior Court has made it easier than ever to fill out forms dealing with family law, small claims, unlawful detainer, and guardianship probate issues! EZLegalFile is a new program which asks the user questions and then inserts the answers onto the appropriate legal forms. Then the user prints the forms and files them with the court. However, if the user stops using the program for more than one hour (or if the user stays on the same page for more than one hour) the information will be lost. Also, users must have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat(R) Reader(R) software (available free).

Ouch! Local Writer Bashes North County Bar Logan Jenkins, a staff writer for the Union Tribune, had some harsh words for members of the North County Bar in his Jan. 26th column. Jenkins railed against the "double standard" that seems to be applied to attorneys who behave badly. He noted that, since attorneys who are convicted of felonies can be suspended or disbarred ( Business and Professions Code section 6101) , there seems to be a strong incentive for judges and other lawyers to go easy on their fellow attorneys and ask for misdemeanor instead of felony sentencing. So how does the State Bar determine who should be suspended or disbarred? A 2002 Report on the State Bar of California Discipline System issued by the Office of the Chief Trial Counsel (OCTC) said that the decision whether to investigate an attorney for misconduct "...depends on the seriousness of the alleged misconduct and the degree of harm to clients, the public, or the administration of justice as a result of the alleged misconduct." If an attorney is charged with a crime and convicted, the OCTC is responsible for evaluating whether the conviction is serious enough to forward to the State Bar Court, a court which is part of the administrative portion of the California Supreme Court, and which makes discipline decisions involving California attorneys. If the crime is a felony or involves moral turpitude, the State Bar Court can suspend the attorney or make a recommendation to the California Supreme Court that the attorney be disbarred. The California Bar Journal issues a monthly list of disbarred and suspended attorneys.

Tax Forms Now Available Yep- it's that time of year again- tax season! Time to dig out crumpled receipts, sharpen your pencils, and get your tax forms. All locations of the Public Law Library have the basic federal and state tax forms for individuals - 1040, 1040EZ, 1040A, 540, 540A, 540EZ, and 540NR. Our Main location has an expanded collection, including Publication 547, used for reporting Casualties, Disasters, and Thefts, which may be useful to recent fire victims. If you can't find the form you need at the Law Library, try the IRS site for federal forms and California's Franchise Tax Board for state forms.

New Books- Feb. 2004 Here is a list of some of our newest acquisitions. Please note that while some of these books are located only at Main, books that circulate can be sent to our branches upon a request from the branch. Click on "Available" at the end of each entry to see if the book circulates or if it is checked out. CHECK SHELVES means the book can be checked out. LIB USE ONLY means the book cannot be checked out. CALIFORNIA MEDICAL MALPRACTICE: LAW AND PRACTICE, rev. ed. by George McDonald, West Group, 2003. Available at all locations at KFC1028.M34 .M35 2003. CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF PRISONERS, 7th ed. by John W. Palmer & Stephen E. Palmer, Anderson Pub. Co., 2004. Available at Main at KF9731.A7 P35 2004. DRAFTING CALIFORNIA REVOCABLE TRUSTS, 4th ed. by CEB, 2003. ***NEW EDITION & TITLE CHANGE*** (Old title- Drafting California Revocable Living Trusts). Available at all locations at KFC188 .C6 2003. SECURITIES REGULATION IN CYBERSPACE, 3rd ed. Aspen Publishers, 2004. Available at Main at KF1121 .W64 2003. TOXIC MOLD LITIGATION by Raymund C. King. American Bar Association, 2003. Available at Main at KF3964.M64 T69 2003.

Closed for Lincoln's Birthday, President's Day In honor of Lincoln's Birthday, all locations of the Public Law Library will be closed Feb. 12th. Normal hours will resume on Feb. 13th. Additionally, all locations of the Law Library will be closed Feb. 16th for President's Day. Normal hours will resume on Tuesday Feb. 17th. Go here to see a list of other 2004 holiday closure dates.

Legal Links- Presidents Most people focus on the holiday of love in February, but this year we are going to focus on the holiday that honors "Honest Abe" and the other presidents. Presidential Trivia- Which presidents were alcoholics? Had extramarital affairs? Owned slaves? Survived failed assasination attempts? This fun site lists these interesting facts and more. Public Papers of the Presidents- in addition to being a great tongue twister, this page by the Government Printing Office has all the Public Papers for Presidents George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush. Additional volumes covering the administrations of Presidents Hoover, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan will be made available from GPO in the future. Currently, volumes are published approximately twice a year, and each volume covers approximately a 6-month period. A search function allows you to search by subject, document type, or country. Abe Lincoln- Did mercury poisoning make "Honest Abe" erratic? Did he suffer from clinical depression? Find out all this and more at this selection of Lincoln links!

Cartoon of the Month- Finding the Perfect Mate.... This cartoon is one of Stu's Views. These 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.

Way to GO! San Diego Attorneys and Firms Dominate Pro Bono Awards San Diego attorneys were awarded several of the 2003 State Bar President's Pro Bono Service Awards, which recognize those who have made significant contributions in pro bono service. Recipients included solo practitioner Arthur W. Chettle, Kimberly A. Stewart, the law firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, and large law firm Latham & Watkins. Congrats!

Grant to Fund Creation of Family Law Video The San Diego County Public Law Library, together with the San Diego Superior Court and the San Diego Community College District, has been awarded a grant from the Foundation of the State Bar of California. The $9,950 grant will primarily fund the creation of a 15 minute videotape designed to give parents involved in family law disputes information about legal procedures, mediation, and how conflict can adversely affect children. The grant will also be used to support a collaborative community outreach and educational effort spearheaded by the Superior Court entitled PEACE (Parent Education Awareness Community Effort). This project is designed to interweave with the custody litigation process, providing education, sensitivity training and communication skills to parents involved in custody disputes in Family Court. The primary goals of the PEACE project are to educate parents in the litigation process, decrease re-litigation rates, minimize parental conflict and improve parental communication. Such a project dovetails nicely with the types of community outreach efforts routinely offered by the Public Law Library, and we are pleased to support and participate in this worthwhile project. Once the video is completed, copies will be available in all four of our Library collections. The grant cycle runs through 2004.

Reference Question of the Month- Going up in Smoke Q. I hear that smoking marijuana is now legal, but it isn't legal to smoke regular cigarettes outside buildings. Is this true? A. Your question has two parts. We will address them separately. First- the tobacco question. It is true that as of Jan. 1st, it is illegal to smoke in a public building and within 20 feet of a main exit, entrance, or operable window of a public building or in a state-owned vehicle ( AB 846) This law is now part of the Government Code as section 7597. It replaces a previous law that banned smoking within 5 feet of the main exit or entrance of state-owned buildings and in state-owned vehicles. And if you purchase cigarettes online, you should know that another law, SB 1016, was enacted on Jan. 1st (now 30101.7 of the Revenue and Taxation Code) and requires that any sellers of tobacco, including Internet retailers, must register with the State Board of Equalization and report sales for tax purposes, or risk being barred from the California market. With cigarette taxes currently at 87 cents a pack, it is estimated that the state loses roughly $54 million a year to Internet tobacco sales. The BOE has a website which discusses cigarette tax evasion and also a toll free number to call to report cigarette tax evasion. Second- the marijuana question. First, Proposition 215, passed in 1996, allows people to grow or possess marijuana for medical use when recommended by a physician. Recent Senate Bill 420 became 11362.7 of the Health and Safety Code on Jan. 1st and it allows "qualified patients" and residents of California to obtain identification cards to potect them from arrest while using or obtaining marijuana for medical purposes. A good summary of SB 420 is provided by the California Chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (Cal NORML). The law allows the state Attorney General to determine the limits on how much marijuana you can possess. The current guidelines allow 6 mature or 12 immature plants plus one-half pound of processed cannabis per patient.

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.sdcpll.org/. And come see us in person at one of our locations. For locations and hours please click here: http://www.sdcpll.org/location.htm. For more information contact: Amy Hale-Janeke ahale@sdcll.org Media Coordinator / Reference Librarian (619) 531-3900