The Neighbor reports 11 April…..
For area residents dealing with simple legal issues, law libraries offer a free, little-known resource that could see a significant increase in popularity in a post-pandemic world.
State law tasks the Minnesota Law Librarian with establishing law libraries in counties across the state. Such libraries are traditionally located in either the county courthouse or county government center, with local officials responsible for administration.
While near-universal, the resource maintains a relatively staid image. Indeed, as one might imagine local law libraries include plenty of the old legal manuals and books on obscure case law with little appeal or practical use outside of the legal profession. As a result, it’s relatively rare for the low-profile resource to be used by non-lawyers. In recent months it hasn’t been used by much of anyone at all, with COVID-19 shuttering county courthouses throughout the state and only the most urgent cases proceeding to trial.
Still, law libraries are doing their best to break beyond the stereotypes and offer legal resources tailored not only to the legal community, but the general public. A big part of that is providing quality digital resources that are free for anyone to use.
In Steele County, the law library has partnered with Owatonna Public Library to offer a subscription to Westlaw. Owned by Thomson Reuters, Westlaw is a premier online resource which covers more than 40,000 databases of case law and statutes
Westlaw is free for anyone to use at either library in the county, so it’s continued to be used even as the courthouse has been closed. Though they certainly can’t provide legal advice, librarians at the Owatonna Public Library can help people access the database.
Attorney Ben Cass, who oversees Steele County’s law library, said that Westlaw enables the county to provide a variety of legal resources that in years past might have been available only in larger counties with bigger budgets.
Rice County’s law library has a Westlaw subscription as well, and local attorney Brad Frago said that it’s particularly popular with younger law students and lawyers who may not be able to afford the cost of a subscription themselves.
A 30-year veteran of the local legal community and past president of the Rice County Bar Association, Frago still uses the law library from time to time. Though he has a legal subscription as part of his legal practice, he shifted away from Westlaw years ago but still finds it useful.
Northfield Librarian Tyler Gardner provides in-person assistance at Rice County’s Law Library. Since COVID hit, Gardner has only been at the library on Mondays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., though pre-pandemic he was at the library several days a week. In a normal year, Gardner said that just a handful of non-lawyers walk in the law library’s doors. In addition to a lack of awareness, some people don’t utilize it because they feel stigma around coming to the courthouse or because it feels imposing.
Those who do come find the law library can offer plenty of resources, particularly in the area of family law. Gardner said that for those going through a divorce, the law library can provide the resources needed to achieve an amicable split without a lawyer taking a cut.
“It’s one thing if you’re a millionaire with six houses, but if you don’t have all that and just want an amicable split you can come here and get started,” he said.
In addition to family law, the law library includes significant information around property law and tenants rights, employment law and more. Gardner said that one goal of his is to provide more of that kind of information in Spanish and Somali to better serve area residents.
“A lot of those resources are more difficult to find,” he said.
While providing a wide variety of online legal resources may be helpful for some, those without much background in law might be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information. To help them, local law libraries have invested in several resources.
A crucial resource at both libraries are simple legal guides produced by NOLO. The popular resource is said to be “written in plain English” and designed to help people without legal training navigate basic legal tasks without hiring a lawyer.
Frago said that resources like the NOLO guides are less common outside of the Twin Cities metro, but both Rice and Steele County’s law libraries have them. Rice County’s law library offers a variety of other brochures and resources that provide simple legal information.
