Do you remember the first day of the first job you ever had?  Were you a wizard at what you were doing?  Was there a learning curve?  Did you wish you had a cheat sheet or something like that to help you get you through your paces?

I remember years back when I first graduated from law school I couldn’t get hired to save my life at a law firm so I decided to strike out and start my own little business with area attorneys I had been golfing with.  I started serving process, writing motions and doing some surveillance work in family law matters.  I remember the first time I had to fill out a proof of service – it took me hours and I think I got some of it wrong. 

Then one day I got the brainy idea to start filing legal documents for attorneys.  I had a heck of a time learning the ins and outs of the court systems throughout Southern California.  Every county has their own way of doing things.  I can’t count the times I wished there was a cheat sheet that could tell me what was what when it came to filing court documents.

What I didn’t know was – there was.  It’s called Britton California Legal Filing Directory (Thomson Reuters).  This little gem contains information on every county in the state of California.  Each listing contains:

• The physical locations of each court in each county and their respective contact information (i.e. phone numbers),
• The jurisdictions of each court in each county (i.e. what cities fall to what courts),
• Filing requirements for each county indicating special document requirements, such as paper type, hole punching, or number of copies
• Special notes to help you know what the unwritten rules are for each county,
• The specific filing fees are for the major legal filings (to help when you need to bill you clients)

WOW!  I would have given my eye teeth to have access to this resource.  In addition to the above, additional information listed in the section for the County of Riverside, this resource includes:

• Information for the Recorder’s Office and corresponding filing and copying fees,
• Information about the Sheriff’s Office, where they’re located and what fees they charge an documents they serve

What is really nice is that you don’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar to understand the information contained in this resource.  Nope, just open to the county you are dealing with and everything is laid out for you in plain English.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Thing is, every now and again I come across a resource that I want to share with the world because it helps people do what they’re trying to do.  If you find that you’re looking to answer a seemingly unsolvable problem, odds are we have a resource here at the Riverside County Law Library that can help you get you where you want to be.  So why not avoid the headache and come on over and let us help you help you.