San Diego County Public Law Library E-Newsletter

Thank You For Your Holiday Toy Drive Donations The entire staff of the San Diego County Public Law Library would like to thank all those who helped make our first holiday toy drive to benefit the Children's Waiting Room at the San Diego Courts a success. We hope this will become an annual event.

"The Real v. The Reel JAG" The Library is pleased to announce that Christopher Ludmer will be speaking at the Main branch on Thursday, February 8th at 12:00pm. Have you ever wondered if the television portrayal of the US Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps is really accurate? How much of it is based on the real workings of the Corps? Attendees will get a first hand account from Mr. Ludmer, who served as a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy JAG Corps where he was Litigation Team Leader in the General Litigation Division in Washington, DC. Mr. Ludmer was selected from 400 peer attorneys to serve as the principal assistant at the Pentagon to the Navy's senior uniformed lawyer and legal advisor to the Secretary of the Navy. In addition, Mr. Ludmer has written a fictional work about the JAG Corp. entitled, "Trail of the Giant," based on a real Navy court-martial. Mr. Ludmer is currently in private practice focusing on complex civil litigation and specialized criminal defense in state and federal court. For more information on Mr. Ludmer, click here. This special presentation is eligible for 1 hour MCLE credit.

Join us for our launch of OnLAW The SDCPLL and the Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) will launch OnLAW on Tuesday, February 6, 2007. Refreshments will be served in the Pioneer Room starting at 11:30 am. CEB staff will offer a one hour class at noon. One hour of MCLE credit is available. From 1:00 pm to 1:30 pm CEB staff will be available to aid patrons who want some hands on training. One lucky door prize winner will walk away with a Nordstrom gift certificate. Pre-registration is required and seating is limited. Please call (619) 531-3900 to register. OnLAW is a Web-based tool that puts CEB's practice books and action guides in an easy-to-use digital format. Currently, there are over 100 CEB publications available through OnLAW, with more being added every month. Among the many things OnLAW provides is attorney-drafted forms fully integrated into the text, with clauses accompanied by explanations and directions. Please come and join us for refreshments and learn more about this exciting new product that is now available at all our branches for free.

Free Legal Clinics Resume In February The Library will host several legal clinics during February and March, beginning on February 2nd. The Law Library is proud to partner with University of San Diego School of Law in providing this service. The clinics are supervised and staffed by faculty and students from the Law School, which has a tradition of working with San Diego residents in need of legal services. The clinics will be held at the Law Library's main location at 1105 Front Street, in downtown San Diego on the following dates: Friday, February 2, 2007: 11:00am -1:00pm Wednesday, February 14, 2007: 1:00 - 3:00pm Wednesday, February 28, 2007: 1:00 - 3:00pm Wednesday, March 14, 2007:1:00 - 3:00pm Wednesday, March 28, 2007:1:00 - 3:00pm Please note that the clinics will provide assistance on most civil matters, excluding family law. The clinic cannot provide assistance in criminal or bankruptcy cases. Click here or go to www.sdcpll.org and click on Legal Clinics under "News & Events" for information on how to make a reservation to attend the clinic.

Tax Clinics Schedule Free assistance on federal income tax matters is available at SDCPLL to taxpayers who meet the Legal Aid Society's low-income criteria. Tax clinics are scheduled at the Main Law Library at 1105 Front Street, in downtown San Diego, from 2:00 - 4:00pm on the following dates: Wednesday, February 28, 2007 Wednesday, March 28, 2007 Wednesday, April 25, 2007 For information on how to make a reservation to attend one of the tax clinics, call Jason E. Turner at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego at (877) 534-2524 ext. 2664.

New Classes for February & March The Law Library is offering the following legal research classes in February and March. In addition to our regularly scheduled classes, we have added two new classes, "Using OnLAW" and "Legal Research Using Free Websites." Using OnLAW - Tuesday, Feb 6th 12 to 1pm (1 hr MCLE available) Diving Into The OPAC - Thursday, Feb 22th 10 to 11am (1 hr MCLE available) Law Made Public - Saturday, February 24th 2 to 3pm Using OnLAW - Tuesday, Feb. 27th 3 to 4pm (1 hr MCLE available) Using Westlaw - Thursday, March 1st 12:30 to 1:30pm (1 hr MCLE available) Practical Legal Research - Saturday, March 10th 2 to 4pm Legal Research Using Free Websites - Friday, March 23rd 10 to 11am (1 hr MCLE available) For descriptions of the classes and the most up-to-date scheduling information, click here or go to the "Classes" link on our website at www.sdcpll.org.

News from the North Hard to believe the holidays have come and gone. Every new year brings change and 2007 is no different. We are excited about the changes that have come to the North County Branch. After much anticipation, our five new patron station computers have been installed. The new computers have DVD/CD drives, easily accessible USB ports, access to our electronic resources and the internet. If you have your own earbuds, you can even use the patron computers to listen to our self-study MCLE CD's. The new year also brings changes to the judicial assignments at the San Diego County Superior Courts. For information regarding judicial assignments, announcements and news releases from the Court, you can visit the San Diego Superior Court's web site at: www.sdcourt.ca.gov and click on "General Information" then scroll down to "Announcements". Law Day is Tuesday, May 1st. Be sure to check our web site for news of upcoming events, activities and classes at www.sdcpll.org.

New Travel Documents Required Planning a trip to Canada or Mexico or, for that matter, anywhere in our hemisphere? Then you need to be aware of new requirements imposed by the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. No longer will you be able to flash a driver's license at the border when arriving home from your spring getaway in Cabo. In a nutshell, the Initiative, being implemented in phases, will require all travelers en route to the U.S. from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda to present a passport or other accepted document that establishes identity when crossing into the United States. According to the U.S. Department of State this requirement affects air travelers beginning January 23, 2007, and will affect all travelers (land, sea, and air) starting January 1, 2008. What documents are acceptable in addition to passports? Visit the State Department's information site at www.travel.state.gov for full details, and be prepared! Those attempting to re-enter the U.S. without an acceptable document will have to endure secondary screening interrogation.

Reference Question Of The Month "How can I find all the codes that changed in 2007?" For a list of California codes that have changed go to the California Legislator's "Table of Sections Affected" at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/tosahtml/tosaalead.html The table shows all codes that have been affected by bills recently passed by the legislature. For recent changes to the United States Codes, you can go to the U.S. House of Representative's Office of The Law Revision Counsel and search the "Table of Sections Amended, Enacted, Omitted, Repealed, or Transferred" at http://uscode.house.gov/classification/tbl109cd_2nd.htm

Internet Resource of the Month Are you citing to the current California Rules of Court? Effective January 1, 2007, the California Rules of Court were reorganized and renumbered to improve their format and usability. The reorganized and renumbered rules can be found at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/rules/. This webpage also has helpful conversion tables so you can look up the familiar old rule numbers and convert them to the new numbers. Once you have the new rule number you can proceed to the online version of the new rule and verify the content.

Landlord's 60 Day Notice Requirement Revived Citing current "challenges in the housing market", Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 1169 into law as Civil Code §1946.1. As of January 1, 2007, residential landlords must generally give tenants a sixty (60) day notice prior to terminating a periodic (i.e. month-to-month) tenancy. The old law required a thirty day notice. The Governor stated that "many California tenants simply cannot find a new home within thirty days..." California eviction law remains unchanged, ensuring landlords the right to undertake eviction proceedings against tenants who are destructive, fail to pay, or who break the law. There are several exceptions to this sixty-day requirement; notable among these is for tenants who have lived on the property for less than one year. Consult the code at www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html for specifics. Civil Code §1946.1 sunsets on December 31, 2009.

New Books Added To The Collection The following is a selection of books recently added to our collection: ASSET PROTECTION STRATEGIES LEWIS D. SOLOMON, LEWIS J. SARET. 2007 ed. Chicago: CCH Incorporated, c2006. KF9025 .S65 2007. Main Library Only COMPLETE PLANS FOR SMALL AND MID-SIZE ESTATES AUTHORS, RICHARD A. BURGER [ET AL.]; EDITED BY CEB PUBLICATIONS ATTORNEYS; PROJECT MANAGER, MARY GERBER, JANETTE TOM. Oakland, Calif. : Continuing Education of the Bar--California : Regents of the University of California, c2006- KFC195 .C58. All Locations CONSUMER BANKRUPTCY LAW AND PRACTICE HENRY J. SOMMER; JOHN RAO, EDITOR AND CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR; SUSAN A. SCHNEIDER, CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR FOR CHAPTER 16. 8th ed. Boston, MA: National Consumer Law Center, c2006. KF1524 .S65 2006. Main Library Only THE CYBERSLEUTH'S GUIDE TO THE INTERNET : CONDUCTING EFFECTIVE INVESTIGATIVE & LEGAL RESEARCH ON THE WEB BY CAROLE A. LEVITT & MARK E. ROSCH. 8th ed. Culver City, CA: Internet for Lawyers, c2006. KF242.A1 L478 2006. Main Library Only DEEDS FOR CALIFORNIA REAL ESTATE BY MARY RANDOLPH 7th ed. Berkeley, CA: Nolo, 2007. KFC170.Z9 R32 2007. All Locations DEPOSITION CHECKLISTS AND STRATEGIES BY T. EVAN SCHAEFFER Costa Mesa, CA: James Pub., c2006- KF8900 .D4635. Main Library Only DIVIDING PENSIONS AND OTHER EMPLOYEE BENEFITS IN CALIFORNIA DIVORCES AUTHORS, MARIE BECHTEL [ET AL.]; PROJECT MANAGER, JON E. HEYWOOD Oakland, Calif.: Continuing Education of the Bar--California, c2006- KFC126.A6 D58. All Locations FEDERAL EMPLOYEES COMPENSATION ACT PRACTICE GUIDE BY HOWARD L. GRAHAM 2nd ed. [Eagan, MN]: Thomson/West, 2006- KF3626 .G73 2006. Main Library Only FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION AUTHORS: GERALD ROSEN, BARBARA JACOBS ROTHSTEIN, MARVIN E. ASPEN, THOMAS R. SCHUCK, KATHLEEN L. BOGAS Encino, CA: Rutter Group, c2006- KF8925.L33 R67 2006. Main Library and North County MEETING STATUTORY DEADLINES : DURING AND AFTER LITIGATION : HERE'S HOW AND WHEN TO DO IT BY MARTIN L. DEAN Oakland, Calif.: Continuing Education of the Bar, California, 2006. KFC995.Z9 M44 2006. All Locations MUNICIPAL LIABILITY: LAW AND PRACTICE BY VINCENT R. FONTANA 3rd ed. New York: Aspen Publishers c2007. KF1302.A2 F5. Main Library Only OBTAINING A WRIT OF ATTACHMENT : HERE'S HOW AND WHEN TO DO IT BY PETER M. REHON Oakland, Calif.: Regents of the University of California, c2006. KFC995.A1 R44 2006. All Locations

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 Catalano, Reference Librarian.