BarBooks™ Wins International Award

The Road to Relaunch

ACLEA Award of Professional Excellence in the Technology Category for BarBooks RelaunchOn June 8, 2022, the BarBooks™ online library relaunched on a new, more user-friendly platform called Qweri by Lexum, Inc. The relaunch was the culmination of several years of work by the Legal Publications Department.

Lexum, Inc. was among the exhibitors at the 2018 ACLEA (Association for Continuing Legal Education) Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon. After viewing the demo offered, Linda Kruschke, the OSB Legal Publications Manager, began the process of exploring whether Lexum’s Qweri product was the best option for a new BarBooks platform. Lexum provided links to other resources that were offered on Qweri, answered a myriad of questions, and even set up a test site for OSB to upload books to Qweri to determine if it was a good fit.

In August 2021, the OSB signed a contract to move forward with the project with a tentative launch date of 2Q 2022. BarBooks was relaunched on June 8, 2022, on time and in budget, on the Qweri platform. Continue reading

Longshore Added to Workers’ Compensation Book

The 2023 edition of Workers’ Compensation in Oregon is due out in June. The first revision of this important volume since 2008, the 2023 edition has been reorganized, updated with new case law, and includes two brand new chapters. One of those new chapters is on the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act. This comprehensive, 70-page chapter was written by Norman Cole, who is Of Counsel with Brownstein Rask LLP in Portland. Because this is such a specialized area of practice, the editorial review board brought in guest editorial reviewer James R. Babcock with Babcock Holloway Caldwell & Stires PC in Lake Oswego to peer review the chapter before in-house editing.

This post is an excerpt from the introduction to that chapter. The full chapter can be accessed via the full print book available for pre-order here, purchased as a stand-alone eBook here, or viewed on the BarBooks™ online library. Continue reading

Making the Most of BarBooks Notes

The BarBooks™ online library provides Oregon State Bar members, law students, and libraries with a wealth of information. It comprises 48 legal treatises, most of which are published by the OSB Legal Publications Department in conjunction with a myriad of volunteer authors and editorial review boards.

We can revise our treatises only as often as Bar staff resources allow. However, the new BarBooks platform has given us a tool to provide more frequent updates to our books: the Notes feature. Continue reading

BarBooks by the Numbers

BarBooks graphic of tablet screen and books.The BarBooks™ online library is one of the highest rated member benefits that the Oregon State Bar offers to its membership. Members can also purchase subscriptions for their support staff. Continue reading

BarBooks Webinar

We relaunched the BarBooks™ online library on a new platform on June 8, 2022. Many members and subscribers dived right in and started using the new platform without any trouble. Others have struggled to navigate the change. Whether you fall in the first category, the second category, or somewhere in between, the BarBooks Ins and Outs webinar scheduled for November 30, noon to 1:00 p.m. will help you make the most of your BarBooks research experience. Continue reading

Legal Opinion Practice in Real Estate Transactions

Following the recommendation of the Committee, the Executive Committee of the Real Estate and Land Use Section of the Oregon State Bar (“Executive Committee”) formally adopted the updated 2022 Oregon Model Opinion Report and the accompanying 2022 Oregon Model Opinion for use in Oregon secured real estate transactions on September 16, 2022. Continue reading

Statutory Updates to PIP and UIM Insurance

The OSB Legal Publication Torts was last revised in 2012. A new revision is in the early planning stages, but in the meantime the Legal Publications team has provided statutory updates using the new Public Notes feature that is part of the new BarBooks™ online library platform.

This post highlights two areas related to automobile insurance. To view the complete list of notes updating these and other chapters of Torts, visit the BarBooks online library. Continue reading

DNA Testing Excerpt from Criminal Law in Oregon

The 2022 revision of Criminal Law in Oregon is scheduled to release in December. It will be available for preorder soon, in both print and digital formats. This revision contains up-to-date case law and statutory changes that have happened since the 2013 revision was released. We are excited to be offering this new edition in a durable, convenient, and accessible perfect bound format.

One of the new areas addressed in this revision deals with postconviction motions for DNA testing. This post is an excerpt from that chapter, written by authors Ryan Kahn, Daniel Toulson, and Jason Weber. It is available here before it is completely final or posted to the BarBooks online library. Continue reading

BarBooks™ Online Library to Level Up on June 8

Coming June 8 at Noon: The next level of the BarBooks™ online library.
The interface will be new, but the award-winning library you are familiar with will remain the same. A generous grant from the Professional Liability Fund made this upgrade possible.

Continue reading