The 100th Anniversary of the American Law Institute (ALI) is a great reason to celebrate the Restatements of the Law and explore their unique place and history in American legal scholarship. The American Law Institute is a non-profit organization comprised of judges, lawyers, and law professors who meet together to…

It has been almost three years since we have assisted patrons face-to-face at the Washington State Law Library. During that time, we have endured a pandemic and moved the majority of our collection to a temporary location in Tumwater while the Temple of Justice undergoes extensive renovations. …

Part Two — Central to the idea of the American Dream lies an assumption that we all have an equal opportunity to generate the kind of wealth that brings meaning to the words “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” boldly penned in the Declaration of Independence. The American Dream portends that with…

Part One — If you fail to pay us for faithful labours in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us…

The new year is not just for resolutions. In the law library it’s also a time to add new titles to the collection. Here is a roundup of what we have added to our catalog so far in 2023. These titles are available to check out at our temporary location…

“The purpose of rules of court is to provide necessary governance of court procedure and practice and to promote justice by ensuring a fair and expeditious process.” — General Rule 9, Supreme Court Rulemaking To learn about a legal topic, researchers look at primary sources to find the text of…

Around here we get pretty excited about Washington State Bar Association deskbooks. And we get REALLY excited when a new edition comes out. So you can imagine the giddiness with which the library received the newly released third edition of the Washington Family Law Deskbook. The release of the third…

A new statewide Crosscut/Elway poll ranked cost of living, housing costs and related economic aspects as the top voter priority, cited by 34% of respondents. Public safety, including crime and drug use, came in second place with 23% of voters mentioning that first in response to an open-ended question. Close…

One of the tactics that judicial branches use to try to create some uniformity in the way trial judges operate is the publication of benchbooks or bench guides. In 1996, Nancy McMurrer of the University of Washington’s Gallagher Law Library explained: Benchbooks are books written by judges for judges; they…