FROM THE DIRECTOR: OCTOBER 2021

Keeping Up with the Law Librarians

Barbara Engstrom, Executive Director, King County Law Library

Yes, Keeping up with the Kardashians has been cancelled, but never fear, the law library has you covered for the newest trends (at least in law library land.) As we transition into fall, it’s a good time to update you on the latest happenings at the King County Law Library.

The Law Library Foundation Board is Expanding – We are Recruiting Board Members – Join Us!

One of the principal missions of the law library is to facilitate innovative ways to engage with the community. Our SRL Workshop partnerships with SPL and KCLS have taught us that many of those with legal needs have an initial point of contact at public libraries and then are referred to the Law Library. The new Foundation-provided laptops will allow staff to do outreach more effectively in the public libraries and throughout the community as things begin to reopen. We are hoping to create a program where KCLL librarians “ride the circuit” of public libraries in King County to offer legal research assistance at regularly scheduled times.

Another area of interest is spearheading a county-wide legal kiosk project similar to the Minnesota Legal Kiosk project. https://www.legalkiosk.org/about The Foundation envisions legal-help kiosks being placed around King County at community locations hosted by sponsor organizations. Currently, we are projecting two primary applications for the kiosks. The first application will facilitate retrieval of forms and self-help resources at community access points that are easily accessible. The second will create private, virtual connection points for contact with legal aid attorneys, courts, and other legal services providers to eliminate barriers for those without reliable access to transportation or technology.

The KCLLF Board of Directors is expanding and transitioning to a working board. We are looking for new board members excited about advocacy, equity, diversity, building community engagement and fundraising. The Board of Directors currently meets quarterly over Zoom, though we anticipate returning to in-person meetings in the future. Prior board service is not required to apply. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis.

If you are interested in serving, please forward a current resume and a brief statement of interest to KCLLF Executive Director Kristie Thompson thompsonk@kcllfoundation.org.

Remote Access to WSBA Deskbooks on Lexis Digital — Subscribers

Our e-Book selection on Lexis Digital continues to expand. The WSBA recently partnered with Lexis Digital to offer the suite of WSBA Deskbooks and that collection is now available to subscribers via https://lexisdl.com/library/kcll/ In addition to the Deskbooks, we’ve also expanded our Lexis eBook treatise collection. If there are any Lexis, ABA, or other titles that you would like the library to add to our collection, let us know and we will check on availability.

To find out about becoming a subscriber visit https://kcll.org/services/subscribe/

All Lexis Digital content is available for in-house use at the law library for all KCLL patrons in eBook or print format.

Remote Access to Legal Treatises on Cheetah/ Wolters Kluwer – Free to All KCLL Patrons

While remote access to the Lexis Digital collection is limited to subscribers, our Wolter’s Kluwer treatises are available for free to all KCLL patrons. You will find some of our most heavily borrowed titles including Scott and Asher on Trusts, the Law of Lawyering, the Administrative Law Treatise, and Areda & Hovenkamp’s Antitrust Law.

Our Wolter’s Kluwer treatise collection can be accessed via our Cheetah database. When you register with the law library as a Guest, you will receive at library card number that will allow you to access Cheetah. For more information on registering as a Guest visit https://kcll.org/join-kcll/

Researchers at Your Service — Let Us Do Your Research

For those in the know, the law library’s Let Us Do Your Research service is one of the best deals in town. For solo and small firm attorneys, it’s like having an on-demand, low-cost research assistant who comes armed with tens of thousands of dollars of legal research resources.

Subscribers submit research projects to us through our website. The first fifteen minutes of research is free as our staff reviews the request and determines: 1) if the question(s) fall within the scope of our expertise and our information resources; and 2) if we can meet the request deadline. Once we determine that the question meets these parameters, the subscriber decides if it makes sense to use the service and how much time she would like us to spend. The current rate for approved Let Us Do Your Research projects is $100 per hour, charged in 15-minute increments. Our researchers will limit the amount of time spent on the question to the predetermined amount. If the question takes less time than projected, we only charge for the time spent on the project. Subscribers receive a detailed research memo that includes references to the resources used, summaries of relevant caselaw as well as the full text of cases relied on in the research memo. This service is available only to subscribers.

Here’s what some of our Let Us Do Your Research service users have said:

I presented a fairly complicated question and didn’t want to spend my time down the rabbit hole. I wanted a pro to help me avoid the hours I would have taken to get to first base. I got a call a day after I sent the question from a gentleman who asked perfect questions and engaged in a fruitful and interesting back and forth on the issue. Three days later I got a clearly written road map memo that got me where I needed and then some. Overall great experience. Thank you, money well spent.

Very helpful! The problem with being an older attorney sometimes is I forget about other potential legal avenues I might pursue. In this case your research reminded me of Restatement of Judgments 2nd which gave me an excellent argument to hopefully defeat collateral estoppel

This is great and exactly what I was hoping for. As a solo practitioner who has zero staff, this type of assistance is invaluable. Thank you, again!

Making it Easier to Get What You Need Remotely — 5 Free Document Deliveries Per Month

We know that coming to the courthouse can be stressful in the best of times and is even more so in the middle of this pandemic. To make it easier to use the law library remotely we offer subscribers 5 free document deliveries per month. This can be a case, a section of a treatise, a law review article, or any

other document we have in our collection. We’ll shoot you a copy of the requested material over email. For non-subscribers, document deliveries cost $25 per document.

A Room of One’s Own — Conference Room Reservations

Many of you appreciate having a private, quiet place to use as a base of operations during trial or to strategize over the lunch break. Now that trials are starting to pick up our rooms our starting to book out into the next few months. Be sure to plan well in advance if you would like to reserve a conference room.

Law library subscribers get discounted rates on the use of the law library’s conference rooms. The rate for subscribers is $20/hr and for non-subscribers is $35/hr. Reservations are generally for the lunch period which runs from 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. or all day which runs from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Visit https://kcll.org/services/reserve-a-conference-room/ to find out more

What’s New with You?

Have a suggestion for a book/topic area you’d like to see in our collection? Would you like to teach a CLE or a workshop for pro se litigants? Do you have an idea for a new service that the law library could provide? Let us know. Reach out the to law library at services@kcll.org.