[vox] Help - Installfest info, & legal, text examples?

[Bob Scofield]

On Friday 08 May 2009, john_re wrote:
> On Thu, 7 May 2009 21:12:31 -0700, "Bill Kendrick" <nbs at sonic.net> said:
> > On Thu, May 07, 2009 at 03:59:04PM -0700, john_re wrote:
> > > Here are some examples I know of, of the type of info / forms I'm
> > > looking for:
> > >
> > > LUGOD's excellent legal release form, & IF page:
> >
> > I was going to point you to those.  Glad you found them to begin with!
>
> Thanks. :)
>
> Do you know how that legal release form got created?  Did someone there
> consult a lawyer? If yes, what lawyer? If no, how did it get created?
>
> Any other tips for howto go about understanding the issues, & getting a
> proper legal release created? - btw, that form looks good to me, but
> ianal, so i'm in no position to evaluate its appropriateness.

I drafted LUGOD's original release.  I'm not sure the present one is exactly 
the same as the one I drafted.  

I looked at the most recent one a couple of years ago because it was my 
feeling that the release should be changed.  I was thinking it should be 
changed because in the old days people used to bring desktops to the 
Installfest.  I used to help carry these into the Installfest room seeing as 
how I don't have enough technical expertise to be of use in any other way 
(okay well maybe I can do the pizza run) and was worried about dropping 
machines.  So I wanted the release changed to cover the dropping of 
equipment.

However, the release was not changed.  In part that was because LUGOD stopped 
using the release for its Installfests; at least for the last couple that 
I've been to.  And I haven't seen anyone bring a desktop to an Installfest 
for a long time.

When I last saw the release it looked like it may have been changed.  I'm not 
sure.  I am unable to find the original release on this computer.

I am a lawyer, but not the release-drafting kind.  I'm presently a legal 
research and writing lawyer for criminal defense attorneys.

I have drafted other releases.  I drafted one for a Woodland High School over- 
night party.  I will probably be drafting one for two backpacking trips I'm 
planning for a group.

I probably went to a form book to get a basic release.  (Not the kind you 
might find in a stationary store, but the kind you find in a law library.)  I 
know I also did some legal research for one or more of the releases I've 
drafted.  Thus after reading a case or two I might change a form release.  
(And I also learned that in California some of the releases are not 
enforceable; for certain types of activities.  My son once signed one that I 
knew could not be enforced.)  I also might change a release to make it more 
clear.

The best person to draft a release would be an attorney who practices personal 
injury law.  Such a lawyer would know what is important to include in a 
release from a legal point of view, though he or she might not make it as 
clear as I would want one, seeing as how lay people are the ones who sign 
them.

Bob