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Law Library News Archive
October 13, 2003
Sarah Hollingsworth, Editor

 

Text Box: Circulation Reminders Lost and Found Left behind your favorite sweater or maybe your backpack filled with books and notes?  Within the Library, the place to make inquiries about lost items is the Circulation Desk located at the entrance to the Library.  Conversely, should you happen upon someone’s lost treasure, please leave it with the staff person at the Circulation Desk.  The owner, as well as the Library staff, will thank you. Security Matters Once you have purchased a laptop computer, you’ll want to keep it as safe as possible in the Library.  For this purpose, you will first need to purchase a security cable, which can be found at any computer supplier or outlet.  Second, you will find under every carrel and table in the Library that a hook has been provided through which your cable can be looped.  It’s best to take your laptop with you, but a security cable is better than nothing.  Personal items left unattended have a way of disappearing, unfortunately.  

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

Book of the Week

---Mary Whisner 

·         Family Evaluation in Custody Litigation:  Reducing Risks of Ethical Infractions and Malpractice, by Andrew H. Benjamin and Jackie K. Gollan (American Psychological Association, 2003) (KF505.5 .B46 2003 at Classified Stacks)

 The first section of the book sets the stage, discussing the context of custody litigation and some standards of practice for psychologists. The next section offers very specific procedures for conducting evaluations -- from scheduling the parents, to videotaping sessions with children, to writing up results promptly.  The third section gives drafting guidance for the report. Two lengthy sample reports allow the reader to look inside a messy divorce, showing how a psychologist could describe two parents, their relationships with their child, their allegations about one another, and the psychologist's own assessments. The case study is detailed and rich -- and also painful, when one imagines all the children who are doubtless caught up in similar situations. 

While it is aimed at psychologists (and others) who are called upon to serve as experts, the book should also be of interest to lawyers, especially those involved in family law.  By becoming familiar with the mental health professional's perspective, a divorce lawyer would better be able to determine when such an evaluation would be appropriate and to work with the court and the parties if one is ordered. 

® Ed. Note:  Dr. Benjamin is a part-time faculty member in the University of Washington School of Law.

 

Answers

 

Last week we asked the question:  On how many of the fifteen 5-to-4 decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in its 2002-2003 Term were Justices Rehnquist, O’Connor, Scalia, Kennedy, and Thomas aligned?  The correct answer was six and the First Fabulous Trivia Prize went to David Orange, who walked away with a backpack-friendly thermos, compliments of Westlaw.   David found his answer at http://www.centerforfreedom.org/legal/opinion_statistics.pdf, but the answer was also available in one of the print resources identified in last week’s Law Library News, i.e., the September issue of the Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases, which can be found in the Reference Office at KF101.1 P7.

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: We shall succeed only so far as we continue that most distasteful of all activity, the intolerable labor of thought. ---Judge Learned Hand

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