Law Library Newsletter

Witkin Event for Law Library Justice Foundation- March 6, 2008! Mark your calendars for Thursday, March 6, 2008! The Bernard E. Witkin, Esq., Award Dinner and Law Library Fundraiser will be held at the El Cortez Don Room & Terrace in downtown (702 Ash Street, San Diego, CA 92101). You won't want to miss one of the year's premier events in the legal community! The Law Library Justice Foundation presents this annual award to honor members of the San Diego legal community for civic leadership and excellence in teaching, practice, enactment, or adjudication of the law. For more information about the Witkin Award Dinner, please go to www.lljf.org.

North County Bar Honors Vivian Doering Law Library Justice Foundation (LLJF) Trustee Vivian Doering was honored with the President's Award at the Bar Association of North San Diego County's (BANSDC) Installation Dinner in January. Outgoing BANSDC president Michael Klein presented the award, and noted that it celebrates her "outstanding service to the practice of law and for exemplifying the highest ideals and ethical standards in service to the community". Ms. Doering has served for three years on the BANSDC Board. Known for her boundless devotion to public service, Ms. Doering not only works tirelessly on the Library's behalf through her participation in LLJF's events, she by all counts, is involved in at least 29 local groups, including the League of Women Voters, the Escondido Woman's Club, Joslyn Senior Center, and St. Mary's Catholic Church. At the age of 55, she pursued her law degree at USD School of Law. Prior to that she worked many years as a free lance writer. Approximately 70% of her legal practice is devoted to pro bono work in the area of elder law.

Law Week: April 28 - May 3 Mark your calendars! Law Week is scheduled for Monday, April 28th to Saturday, May 3rd. In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proclaimed Law Day to "strengthen our great heritage of liberty, justice, and equality under the law." This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the American Bar Association's celebration of this important event. In 1961, May 1 was designated by joint resolution of Congress as the official date for celebrating Law Day. This year's theme is The Rule of Law: Foundation for Communities of Opportunity and Equity. The San Diego County Public Law Library feels that this is such an important event, we have expanded Law Day into Law Week! Our staff is hard at work planning numerous events throughout the county. Please check our Calendar of Events page for the most up-to-date information.

Air Travelers and "Rule" 240 Everyone has their own version of the airline delay horror story. We've all navigated seemingly endless waits in sterile airports due to bad weather, mechanical problems, security issues, and more. Next time this happens to you, consider asking the counter person to "240" you onto the next available flight to your destination. You might be pleasantly surprised to be handed a boarding pass to a competitor's airline leaving in just a few minutes. The term "Rule 240" comes from a pre-1978 tariff describing what airlines were mandated to do for passengers who were late or stranded due to a situation within the airline's control; in other words, anything other than weather. Under Rule 240 an airline facing a delay or a canceled flight was required to get you on another carrier if that carrier had room and could get you to your destination more quickly. The Rule was not enforced during the 1978 deregulation, but many airlines have kept it in its original form as a public service. But you have to know to ask. And exactly what the airlines will do for you is entirely up to them. Rule 240 parameters include items such as alternate flights, meal vouchers, refunds, hotels, ground accommodation and phone calls. Imagine how your wait in the airport might seem less onerous if you had a free meal at the airlines private club class restaurant. Remember that at this point in time Rule 240 is a public relations custom, not a rule, so ask nicely and you may be surprised!

California Supreme Court To Decide Constitutionality of California Marriage Laws On Tuesday, March 4, the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in six cases that address the constitutionality of the state's marriage statutes (In re Marriage Cases, Docket No. S147999). The challengers are arguing that the current California marriage statutes are unconstitutional because they limit marriage to opposite-sex couples and deny the marriage designation to same-sex couples. They further argue that the marriage ban under the current statutes violate the California Constitution because it denies equal protection of the laws on the basis of sexual orientation or sex, by infringing on the right to marry, and by denying the right to privacy and freedom of expression. The California Supreme Court has provided access to over 90 of the briefs to these cases at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/supreme/highprofile/ The public access California Channel, www.calchannel.com, will offer a live broadcast of the arguments from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm on Tuesday, March 4th. Check www.calchannel.com/carriage for your local channel.

Website Of The Month: Public Library Of Law Public Library Of Law is a free legal website, sponsored by Fastcase. This free website assembles information from many scattered free legal information sites and puts them in one easy place to search. The Public Library of Law website offers access to all fifty state supreme court and appellate cases (1997 to the present), as well as cases from the U.S. Supreme Court (1754 - present) and U.S. Courts of Appeals (most Circuits 1950 - present), federal statutory law and codes from all 50 states, regulations, court rules, and constitutions. www.plol.org

Upcoming Classes for March & April Members of the general public may sign up for these classes by calling (619) 531-3900. The classes are free to Law Library members and are $5 for non-members. Participants may bring lunch. Pre-registration is required, as seating is limited. For a complete description of the classes, go to: www.sdcpll.org/calendar/calendar.html. March Using Westlaw* Thursday, March 6th, 12- 1pm Practical Legal Research Saturday, March 15th, 2- 4pm Focus on Forms* Thursday, March 27th, 12- 1pm April Keeping Current with Journals* Tuesday, April 8th, 12-1pm Using Lexis* Friday, April 18th, 12-1pm Law Made Public Saturday, April 19th, 2-3pm * MCLE Credit is available for these classes. Be sure to check our "Classes" page for the most up to date schedule. The San Diego County Public Law Library is a State Bar approved MCLE provider.

New Material Added To The Collection The Law Library adds numerous new materials to its collection on an ongoing basis. To see new books added to the collection in the last month, CLICK HERE. Also, you can locate a list of new materials at any time on our website at www.sdcpll.org. Click on the "Online Catalog " link and then click on "Featured Item Lists," you can then select the most recent month. If you have suggestions as to resources you would like to see added to our collection, please send an email to: refdesk@sdcpll.org.

Cartoon By Stu Rees Stu's Views are "Cartoons About Law and Lawyers." Stu Rees is a local entertainment lawyer who represents mostly visual arts creators.

We hope you've enjoyed our newsletter! If you are a guest and would like to subscribe, please click here. We're hard at work on the next edition. In the meantime, please see us online at www.sdcpll.org or visit us at one of our four locations. For more information, or to send comments about this newsletter, contact Gina S. Catalano, Senior Reference Librarian & Media Coordinator.