Our Mission: The Rupert J. Smith Law Library of St. Lucie County Florida strives to provide equal access to the courts through a strong collection of legal materials in print and electronic format to better serve all of the residents, bar and judiciary of St. Lucie County. The library staff endeavors to assist all patrons in using the collection effectively.
Free Law Project and Court Listener
Recently, I was tasked with determining whether certain Trademark and Trial Appeal Board cases from the 1970s were deemed precedential. The TTAB reading room's records only extended back to 1996. During my quest for more comprehensive information, I discovered an abundance of data from the USPQ legal reporter on CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/
I was ecstatic to find this resource, as it was my first encounter with the site. Operated by the Free Law Project, a "leading nonprofit leveraging technology, data, and advocacy to create a more equitable and competitive legal ecosystem", CourtListener offers access to "millions of legal opinions from federal and state courts" at no cost.
Furthermore, I recently viewed Michael Lissner's AALL 2024 presentation titled "Free Pacer, Free the Law," which provided further insight into the Free Law Project's efforts to compile PACER data and make it freely available to everyone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPriTbhvwr4
Family Law Clinic offered at RJS in October
Attorney George Metcalfe is set to conduct a family law clinic for members of the public in need of legal guidance. Each appointment will last 20 minutes, and those interested must sign up with the librarian at the front desk.
These CLEs may be borrowed by any attorney in current good standing with the Florida Bar.
In order to be placed on the waitlist for one of these titles, or to reserve any of the current titles listed below, please complete the online request form here on the RJS Library website.
Criminal Law Update 2023 (7.5 credits)
Florida Law Update 2023 (8 credits)
Estate Planning and Asset Protection for the High Net Worth Client (8 credits) exp Aug 31, 2024
43rd Annual Legislative and Case Law Update (8.5 credits)
46th Annual Local Government Law in Florida (10 credits)
Probate Law 2023 (8 credits)
Advanced Real Property Certification Review (17 credits)
Family Matters (8 credits)
Annual Ethics and Professionalism Update: Navigating the Future - The Expertise for Changing Times (5 credits)
Elder Law Board Certification (6.5 credits)
Show Me the Money! Litigation Financial Issues in Family Law Cases (8 credits) exp Aug 31, 2024
Survey of Florida Law 2023 (14.5 credits)
Sunshine Law 2023 (7 credits)
Masters of DUI 2024 (14 credits)
Tech Up (5 credits)
Sunshine Law 2024 (6 credits)
Litigation and Trust Law Symposium (9 credits)
The RJS Law Library will be closed Monday, September 2nd in honor of Labor Day.
We will be closed on October 3rd for Rosh Hashanah.
Hours:
Ft Pierce open Mondays through Thursdays 9-5
and Fridays 9-4:30
PSL open Wednesdays 10-2
Board of Trustees Meeting
Meetings of the library Board of Trustees are being held both in person and online via Zoom.
If you would like to attend in person, please join us in the large conference room at the Ft. Pierce library location.
If you would like to attend by Zoom, please contact the library at (772) 462-2370 for the meeting links.
