New Blogs From The U.S. Government

The Reference and General Government Blogs via the USA.gov website added the following new blogs:

• Office of the United States Trade Representative Blog covering U.S. trade issues.
• United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) where David Kappos, the director of the USPTO, discusses the work of the agency.
• White House Office of Public Engagement blog that aims to engage the American public in a dialogue with the current Administration.

The Environment, Energy, and Agriculture Blogs via the USA.gov website added the following new blogs:

• Energy Empowers blog where readers can learn more about building a new energy economy by improving efficiency, building sustainable businesses, and using old skills in new ways to generate clean energy.
• White House Council on Environmental Quality blog discussing the Council's efforts to coordinate Federal environmental efforts.

The Business and Economic Blogs via the USA.gov website added the following new blogs:

• Inside Adams is a blog from the Library of Congress that points readers to the Library’s collections of books, journals, prints, photographs, digital collections, finding aids, and Webcasts related to science, technology, and business.
• President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board Blog covers the efforts of the advisory board that meets periodically and solicits information and ideas to promote the growth of the economy, establish a stable financial and banking system, and create jobs.
• The Small Business Watchdog blog is the official blog of the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy providing the forum of discussion and inviting readers to post their thoughts, ideas, and comments regarding the small businesses across the US.

Don't forget you can subscribe directly to any updates and news via email or via RSS feeds. Happy reading!

Increase in Number of People Representing Themselves in Court

The New York Times published this article on the increase in self representation among individuals in civil cases during the current financial downturn in the economy.

Financially pressed people . . . are representing themselves more and more in court, according to judges, lawyers and courthouse officials across the country, raising questions of how just the outcomes are and clogging courthouses already facing their own budget woes as clerks spend more time helping people unfamiliar with forms, filings and fees.

There is no national system that tracks the number of individuals who represent themselves in court, but in New York

[I]n the first six weeks of this year, nearly 95 percent of litigants in paternity and support cases did not have a lawyer, compared with 88 percent in all of 2008.

And in California

[T]he portion of plaintiffs without a lawyer rose by 22 percent, while defendants representing themselves rose by 36 percent.

This trend has put a tremendous strain on court personnel, and lines at self help centers at courthouses around the country have grown. The article notes that

Courthouse workers also say that people are representing themselves in more complicated cases, involving divisions of complex assets, home foreclosures, houses worth less than a mortgage balance and combinations of these and other problems. Such cases in the past were more likely to involve a lawyer.

Recovery.org

Not to be confused with the official government site devoted to the same purpose, recovery.org, from Onvia,

was developed to bring unprecedented transparency and accountability to recovery spending and ensure that every business, regardless of size, has equal access to the projects associated with the recovery efforts. On this site you will find real-time data, maps, and graphs detailing the spending activity associated with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Onvia tracks "every dime" of spending by Federal, State and Local government agencies, and Recovery.org allows you to explore these activities in great detail by State, by Congressional District, and by Community.

It includes a pull-down menu that lets you look into projects in your city and state--currently, a number of cities in New York have applied for stimulus money for bridge and road improvement and rehabilitation projects.

Economic Recovery Resources by ABA

Amid economic downturn that has also impacted the legal profession, the ABA (American Bar Association) launched a website called Economic Recovery Resources, providing guidance, support and advice regarding job search /networking, career transitioning, savings, insurance and CLE, practice management, professional development, stress management, and all resources.