You’re Invited

The Seattle library moved back to the Courthouse from temporary quarters in the County Administration Building at the end of September. We’re planning to celebrate our return to the sixth floor with an Open House on Thursday, October 28th from 4:30 p.m. until 6 p.m. We are issuing an open invitation to KCBA members to join us for this event.

The Open House will provide an opportunity to formally recognize all who played a role in the library’s 85th Anniversary Campaign effort to raise the funds necessary to renovate the library’s space. In particular, we will recognize the role played by a variety of volunteers and key supporters. Among those receiving special recognition will be Capital Campaign Honorary Co-chairs King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng and Helsell Fetterman Partner Llewelyn G. Pritchard, and Campaign luncheon sponsor Lane Powell Spears Lubersky LLP, former Managing Partner Judge James L. Robart, current Managing Partner Mark Rossi, and their Law Library Director Denyse McFadden. We will acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals who volunteered their expertise during the project planning phase: Andrea Vanecko from Callison Architects Inc., Metropolitan King County Councilmenber Kathy Lambert, King County Bar Association Foundation Development Director Ginna Owens, King County Deputy Prosecutor Janine Joly, and Maureen MacCarthy of MGS Consulting.

At the Open House, we will unveil the plaque and donor book of names that highlight the more than 125 individuals and firms who made gifts to the fundraising effort. The 100% participation in the Campaign by the Judges of the King County Superior Court will be noted and the leadership of Judge Catherine Shaffer, Judge Terry Lukens, and Judge Dean Lum will be lauded.

Tours of the remodeled library will highlight the new furnishings, products and services provided to enhance the usability of the library’s space. A documentary video celebrating 85 years of public law library service in Washington and profiling our library and its users will be shown in the Legal Research and Training Center during the Open House event. Lib-rary staff member Kim Ositis created the video “Without Access to Information There Is No Jus-tice” with assistance from Uni-versity of Wash-ington Libraries Systems Librarian Aaron Louie and Ryan Ositis of Yeti Arts.

Subscriber Program Update: for the remainder of the 2004 calendar year the cost to become a member of the library’s Subscriber program has been reduced. During this three month pro-ration period, the usual $55.00/per attorney membership fee has been reduced to $20.00/per attorney. For a firm, all members must be enrolled for the firm to participate. For more information contact Rick Stroup at (206) 296-0940.

85th Anniversary Campaign Progress Report: Even though the Library’s back in its old home, it’s not too late to become a contributor! Items remain on our priority for purchase list that we’ve been unable to fund. Donors who make a gift at the $250.00 level and above will be recognized by having their names listed on a commemorative plaque that will be displayed in the Library. For more about the Campaign and how you can make a gift, visit www.kcll.org/ fundraising.

Internet Class Topic: The Seattle Law Library Internet lunch-break class for web users will be held on the third Thursday of the month on the sixth floor of the County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue. The October 21 class will cover tips for finding resources on the web about voting, candidates, and election information. On November 18, the class will cover how to use the library’s new wi-fi “hot spot” service. Those who register for the November class will be encouraged to bring their own laptops to practice connecting to the hot spot service. To register, contact Denise at KCBA at (206) 340-2578. For information about the training, contact Rita Kaiser at (206) 296-0940. For information about additional training opportunities, view the monthly training calendar on the lib-rary’s web page at www.kcll.org.

Gifts: the library appreciates the receipt of a gift to the collection from Nathaniel B. Green Jr.

Recent Acquisitions, King County Law Library: Business Associations: Financial Statement Fraud: What Every Lawyer Needs to Know Now; Valuation of the Closely Held Business; Should Your Client Incorporate? Representing the Entre-preneur; Contracts: A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting; Courts: The Amicus Brief; Domestic Relations: Family Law Midyear Meeting and Seminar; Divorce in King County Superior Court: A Practical Guide to Representing Yourself in Court; Election Law: The Election Law Primer for Corporations; Environmental Law: The Clean Air Act Handbook; Estate Planning: Inheritance Law and the Evolving Family; Law Practice: Anatomy of a Law Firm Merger; Real Property: The Commercial Lease Formbook; Real Estate: Property Law Trade Regulation: The Design/Build Deskbook; Energy Law in a Nutshell Trusts & Trustees: Establishing, Managing and Terminating the Special Needs Trust.

Washington Legal Ethics -- On the Web

Reference Services Librarian, King County Law Library

This month I will talk about these links to remind you of what you can find to assist you with those ethics questions you might need to research. The King County Law Library has a Continuing Legal Education class that addresses Washington legal ethics issues. You can find the links for this CLE (and all the ethics web sites) on our web site at the following address: http://www.kcll.org/learnhow/cle/legalethicscle.html

Primary Washington ethics materials are accessible via the Internet. The Washington State Bar Association has some unique articles posted on its web site which answer many common problems. Go to http://www.wsba.org/lawyers/ ethics/default.htm

Search here for formal ethics opinions, and published and unpublished informal opinions. In addition, you can search the articles published in the Bar News here. You can also look for disciplinary notices at the following web site address: http://pro.wsba.org/PublicDisciplineSearch.asp

The Washington Rules of Professional Conduct can be found at the state court web site at the following address: http://www.courts.wa.gov/court_rules/? fa=court_rules.list&group=ga&set=RPC

The Washington Rules for Enforcement of Lawyer Conduct can be found here: http://www.courts.wa.gov/court_rules/?fa=court_rules.list&group =ga&set=ELC

If you need to research ethics for judges you can start by looking at the Code of Judicial Conduct found at: http://www.cjc.state.wa.us/Gov_provision/ code.htm and the Discipline Rules for Judges found at the state court web site at: http://www.courts.wa.gov/court_rules/?fa=court_rules.list&group=ga&set=DRJ

If you need to know whether a judge has had a public action filed against him/her, you can find that at the web site for the Commission of Judicial Conduct with the public actions from the years 1995 to present at http://www.cjc.state.wa.us/CJC_Activity/public_actions.htm

You can find Judicial Ethics Opinions at the following web site address: http://www.courts.wa.gov/programs_orgs/pos_ethics/. This site allows a rudimentary search option, but you may have to be persistent to find what you need.

If you want to find information on ethics for public service personnel go to the Executive Ethics Board for the state of Washington at http://ethics.wa.gov/.

Find the Legislative Ethics Board Formal Opinions at: http://www.leg. wa.gov/common/ethics/ethop.htm

If all else fails do not forget to check out the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct at http://www.abanet.org/cpr/mrpc/ mrpc_toc. html. The American Bar Association also contains the Center for Professional Responsibility, which includes some ethics opinions and a search service titled EthicSearch. Most searches here are free, but if your question requires additional research you will be charged. Find this at http://www.abanet.org/cpr/ ethicsearch/home.html