October 2002 Newsletter

Time for Membership Renewals! Be sure to renew your library membership for 2002-2003 by October 31 to avoid suspension of your borrowing privileges. Invoices are being sent out now. If you are not sure whether you are a member, or if you'd like to become a member, please call Access Services at (619) 531-3900.

Bernard E. Witkin Fundraising Dinner a Success! On September 26th, over 200 lawyers and judges of San Diego's legal community came together to honor three outstanding members of San Diego's legal community at the Bernard E. Witkin, Esq., Awards Dinner. Each year the Law Library Justice Foundation, a charitable trust affiliated with the San Diego County Public Law Library, hosts this annual fundraising dinner, named after prominent California attorney and prolific writer Bernard E. Witkin to raise money which provides books and materials for law practitioners and self-help litigants who use the San Diego County Public Law Library. This year this event raised about $18,000 for the Law Library. The Witkin Award recognizes and honors leaders of the San Diego legal community for "civic leadership and excellence in the teaching, practice, enactment, or adjudication of the law." Winners from the previous years can be found here. The three winners this year are: - Alec L. Cory, Esq., - Professor Katharine Rosenberry and - Judge Robert J. O'Neill (retired) The winners' biographies and photos are located on our web page. The main sponsor for this event was the Thomson West Group, the nation's largest law book publisher (including Westlaw) and publisher of the Witkin treatises. Five major supporters agreed to act as honorary chairs for the Witkin Dinner: - Kurt R. Mattson, West Group Regional Manager, Account Management, Phoenix, AZ. - John Light, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Sempra Energy. - Ann Parode, Campus Counsel, University of California- San Diego, on behalf of the Girard Foundation. - Harvey Levine, of Levine, Steinberg, Miller and Huver. - The Honorable Justice Howard B. Wiener, Retired, Arbitrator and Mediator. Other sponsors are listed here. Participants dined on Island Chicken Breast, Grilled Mahi Mahi and Saffron Lasagna. Look for photos of the event on our website coming soon!

2002 Witkin Donors The following donors contributed to this year's Witkin dinner. We thank them for their support! Gold Donors $1,500-$2,999- AJL Litigation Media, Inc., Lawyer Referral Service of the Bar Association of Northern San Diego County, Lawyer Referral Information Services of the San Diego County Bar Association Silver Donors $1,000-$1,499- Consumer Attorneys of San Diego, Levine Steinberg Miller & Huver, . Sempra Energy, Xerox Corporation Table Sponsors $1,000- California Western School of Law (2)*, Douglas Wilson Companies, Justice Howard Wiener, Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, North County Lawyer Referral Service, Post Kirby Noonan & Sweat, Procopio Cory Hargreaves & Savitch, Pyle Sims Duncan & Stevenson, South Bay Bar Association, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Thomson West Group ( 3)*, University of San Diego Law School *Number of tables sponsored. Bronze Donors $500-$999- Featherstone Consulting Group, Girard Foundation, Kramm & Associates, Legal Aid Society, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, US Bank, Wright & L'Estrange Patron Donors $250-$499- Exclusively Legal, Judge David M. Gill, Knight Court Reporters, Provancha Shelburne Sherr, Court Reporters, Inc.

AB2648 Defeated Thanks to Our Supporters! To Supporters of the San Diego County Public Law Library: Most people think Friday the 13th is an unlucky day, but here at the San Diego County Public Law Library, it was our lucky day!! In his press release on Sept. 13th, Governor Davis vetoed AB 2648, a bill which could have caused serious financial problems for the law library. The veto message, included below, made it clear that the Governor recognizes the need for healthy law libraries in California. Many of you wrote personal letters, made phone calls, and sent faxes and e-mails detailing how the Public Law Library serves you and what it would mean to you if we were to face severe financial hardship. We cannot thank you enough for taking the time to voice your support of us and our continuing efforts to provide access to legal materials to the community. On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the users of the Public Law Library, I want to thank you for your efforts to defeat this bill. For now, thanks to your support, the Public Law Library is safe and doing well. With Sincerest Thanks, Charles Dyer, Director of the San Diego County Public Law Library ****************************************************************** Governor's Veto Message To Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 2648 without my signature. This bill is intended to give the San Diego County Board of Supervisors more authority over county law library expenditures by granting the Board the right to review reimbursement claims submitted by the law library trustees and to reject any claims the Board deems outside the county's obligation to the law library. Current law already gives county supervisors discretion in funding law library operations and requires law library trustees to use law library fund monies, when available, toward maintenance costs. A law library is an essential component of any court facility, and the local court system would be seriously weakened without county support. This bill creates a poor precedent for counties to follow in providing support for county law libraries. Sincerely, GRAY DAVIS

Branch News - October 2002 In North County on October 9th from 4-5 p.m., local attorney Jay J. Brown will give a talk about current legal issues relating to homeowner's associations and the most common problems homeowners encounter in dealing with their HOAs. Limited Space Available so please calll librarian Laurel Moran at 760-940-4386 to reserve your place. In East County, Sondra Weaver is the new library assistant, who will be working with long-time Branch Manager Carolyn Dulude. Sondra replaces Ben Almoite, who has moved to Washington D.C., where he will be pursuing a masters degree in library science and working in the law library at Catholic University of America. Additionally, all three branches are participating in community outreach by presenting programs to the public at public libraries called "Law at Your Library." These programs are designed to assist members of the community in using legal resources that are available at their local library and also on-line. Laurel Moran from the North County branch will be presenting this program at the Vista Public on Oct. 26th from 1- 4 p.m. Another outreach program we take to public libraries is geared for "non-law" librarians who sometimes have to field law-related questions. Donna Gagnon from the South Bay branch will teach "Law for Non-law Librarians" at the Chula Vista Public Library, Civic Center Branch on Oct. 16th and to National City Public Library on Oct. 24th.

Focus on the Flow of Information SPAM LAWS- Need to know how to stop junk e-mail, otherwise known as "Spam" from clogging up your inbox? Then this is the place to go! This site has state-specific laws about spam, plus a listing of articles, cases, and links about spam. The author of this site, David E. Sorkin, is an Associate Professor of Law at the John Marshall School of Law's Center of Information Technology and Privacy Law. He has written law review articles about spam and other cyberlaw issues. NEWSPAPERLINKS.COM - Billing itself as "A Gateway to Your Local Newspaper", this site calls itself "a comprehensive gateway to newspaper Web Sites around the world." And they are not kidding. This is a very user friendly site that will direct you to weekly, daily, and college newspapers in the United States and around the world. FOIA DECISIONS - Last year, the United States Department of Justice Office of Information and Privacy established the "FOIA Post" which contains compilations of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) decisions for the last five years. New decisions are not incredibly current (the most recent installment covers April-June 2002) but they have nice summaries of the opinions. Eventually, the department plans to go back and post all decisions from the 1990s as well as current decisions. If you have a FOIA request, the link at the bottom of the page conveniently leads you to the page where you can download the form and reference guide. For a listing of freedom of information laws from other countries, see the link below. FREEDOMINFO.ORG - America is not the only country with the idea that its citizens want access to government information. This globally-oriented site describes itself as the gateway to information on best practices, lessons learned, campaign strategies and tactics, and efforts of freedom of information advocates around the world. This site not only contains difficult-to-find information on how other countries freedom of information laws were written and enacted, it also contains follow up information on how the laws work on a practical basis.

New Books- October 2002 COPYRIGHT LAW : A PRACTITIONER'S GUIDE by Bruce P. Keller and Jeffrey P. Cunard, Practising Law Institute, 2001-current. This continually updated loose-leaf treatise is written by two nationally recognized specialists in the area of copyright. Whether your issue centers around traditional or "virtual" copyrights, this practitioner's guide analyses the latest decisions and has practical advice for both sides. Don't miss this one! Available at Main, North County, and East County. DOING BUSINESS IN MEXICO: A PRACTICAL GUIDE, 2002. Looking for a guide to NAFTA? Want to know the risks and benefits to establishing and running a business in Mexico? Then this is the book for you! Written by a CPA and former head of a multi-billion dollar industry headquartered in Mexico City, this book will provide information about the maquila industry, labor law, accounting differences, and much more. Available at Main. HANDLING MOTIONS TO COMPEL AND OTHER DISCOVERY MOTIONS: HERE'S HOW AND WHEN TO DO IT, 2002 Continuing Education of the Bar. This newly revised edition discusses motions of all kinds. Sanctions, production and inspection of documents, depositions, and other types of motions are all clearly explained along with judges' view of the motions. Available at Main, North County and East County. MANUAL OF CORPORATE FORMS FOR SECURITIES PRACTICE, 2002. This four volume loose leaf set contains all that you need to know about due diligence, compliance, and standard operating procedures (Enron obviously didn't purchase this set). These books contain numerous forms and information including stockholders' agreements, employment contracts, questionnaire, checklists, and even certificates of incorporation, incorporator papers, stockholder papers, and director documents for Delaware and New York corporations. Available at Main.

Reference Question of the Month- Boxing We get the most interesting questions at the reference desk! This month's question is about whether it is legal to box in Balboa Park. Question: My friends and I just watched "Fight Club" with Brad Pitt and wanted to know if we will get in trouble if we go over to Balboa Park and do some boxing. - Signed, Born to Box Answer: Dear Born- unless you get a permit from the San Diego Parks and Recreation department to box in Balboa Park and a permit from the California State Athletic Commission, the only boxing you will be doing is in the county jail. Generally it is a misdemeanor to box in public under section 412 of the California Penal Code, especially if there is money involved, unless you get a license from the California State Athletic Commission. Additionally, if you are even a spectator at an illegal fight, you can be charged with a misdemeanor (Penal Code section 413) The California State Athletic Commission regulates professional and amateur boxing and anyone who doesn't get a license from them for an amateur boxing event is guilty of a misdemeanor (Business & Professions code section 18870) Amateur licenses run about $250 annually plus a bond of at least $1,000. However, there are provisions in PC 412 that outline when and where amateur boxing competitions can take place, unless they are prohibited by local ordinance. And in San Diego Municipal Code section 63.0102(17) outlines what conduct is prohibited from public parks. In part 17, it says it is the illegal to engage in any sport except at such places and at such times as shall be designated for such purpose by the Park and Recreation Department. So if you want to box in the park, you'll need to get several licenses and cough up some dough. Better stick to the punching bag at the gym.

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