This week in the Law Library we are welcoming our 1-L students, providing resources to help students prepare for the year ahead, sharing fascinating details about the history of the College of Law, and reminding everyone about COVID safety protocols.
Welcome 1-Ls
We’re so happy to welcome all of our 1-L students!
Library Tours
Monday, August 16 11:00am – 2:00pm, travel along on an excellent adventure as we point out the best study spots, secret printers, and free library resources!
Library Orientation
Join us Wednesday, August 18 at 9:00am in room 114 for an introduction to the law library and library resources.
Law School Success
Last week we covered 5 resources to help prepare you for law school success. This week we’re going to cover 5 more.
5 More Resources to Help Prepare for the Year Ahead
The resources below are available through the Law Library’s study aid subscriptions. For more information on accessing our study aids, view our Introduction to Study Aids video and our 1-L Study Aids page on the 1-L Survival Guide.
The Guide to Belonging in Law School
The Guide to Belonging in Law School, available through the West Academic study aid subscription, accomplishes two discrete goals. First, it requires readers to engage in an authentic, rigorous, mini-law school semester involving reading, studying, five Socratic classes (through the connected website), exam preparation, and exam writing. Second, the book provides a foundation for students from marginalized groups to recognize and manage both subtle and explicit barriers that can impede their progress.
Open Book: The Inside Track to Law School Success by Barry Friedman & John C. P. Goldberg
This book, available through the Wolters Kluwer study aid subscription, explains what law professors expect from their students both in classes and exams. The authors, award-winning teachers with a wealth of classroom experience, give students an inside look at law school by explaining how, despite appearances to the contrary, classes connect to exams and exams connect to the practice of law. Open Book introduces them to the basic structure of our legal system and to the distinctive features of legal reasoning. To prepare students for exams, the book explains in clear and careful detail what exams are designed to test. It then devotes a single, clearly written chapter to each step of the process of answering exams. It also contains a wealth of material, both in the book and digitally, on preparing for exams. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Open Book comes with a free suite of 18 actual law school exams in Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Property and Torts, written and administered by law professors. These exams include not only questions, but: (1) annotations from the professors explaining what they were looking for; (2) model answers written by the professors themselves; and (3) actual student answers, with professor comments that explain why certain answers were stronger of weaker. As Open Book explains, there is no better way to prepare for exams than by practicing, and these unique materials will enable students to get the most out of their pre-exam practice.
What Every Law Student Really Needs to Know by Tracey E. George & Suzanna Sherry
This book, available through the Wolters Kluwer study aid subscription, aims to decrease students’ anxiety and increase their chances of achieving academic success, What Every Law Student Really Needs to Know: An Introduction to the Study of Law, Third Edition features insights into how and why law school classes work the way they do, and the tools and techniques to better understand the substance of the first-year courses. It helps students enter law school with an understanding of legal concepts, the American legal system, and court structures. It provides a look ahead at the goals of a legal education and the life, duties, and responsibilities of being a lawyer.
Whose Monet? An Introduction to the American Legal System by John A. Humbach
This book, available through the Wolters Kluwer study aid subscription, focuses on a lengthy dispute over the ownership of a painting as a vehicle for introducing students to the basic law school tasks of reading analytically, understanding legal materials, and working with the common law. The major events in a lawsuit are considered, and the text sheds light on how the law is applied in a civil dispute, introducing common law and statutory law and the various courts and their interrelationship (trial/appellate, state/federal) The author draws on judicial opinions, litigation papers, transcripts, and selections from commentators and various jurisprudential sources, thereby exposing the first-year student to as broad a spectrum of materials as possible Telling the story of a real lawsuit (DeWeerth v. Baldinger)–from client intake through trial and various appeals–draws students into the legal process. The lawyer’s role is examined in both its functional and moral dimensions: What do lawyers do? What does society legitimately expect lawyers to do?
The Zen of Law School Success by Chad Noreuil
The Zen of Law School Success, available through the LexisNexis Digital Library study aid subscription, offers a comprehensive approach to succeeding in law school. Zen is about simplicity, balance, knowing your universe, knowing yourself, and staying focused on the path to enlightenment. Similarly, these principles should be the foundation for success in law school, and this book details how to put these principles into practice in order to maximize your ability to have a successful law school career. Like the Zen path to enlightenment, law school success is about balance (between studying and other aspects of life, as well as balancing your study time between subjects, outlining, etc.), knowing your universe (knowing not only the subject matter tested, but knowing how the questions are constructed, knowing what to look for, etc.), knowing yourself (what type of essay writer you are, what type of learner you are, what type of exam taker you are, etc.), and staying focused on your path (when to study, what to do when you are stressed out, what to do when you don¿t know a subject very well, etc.). In addition to offering a comprehensive approach to succeeding in law school, the book also offers practical advice for doing well during the classroom Socratic method, navigating the law school environment, managing law school stress, and getting a job after graduation. Moreover, the Zen of Law School Success focuses on doing well on final exams, including specific strategies and tips for both essay and multiple choice exams. The book includes many exercises and model answers that will benefit any law student.
History of the College of Law Display
On display at the entrance to the law library is a “History of the College of Law” a look into the past that highlights the diversity of faculty and alumni of the country’s fourth oldest law school. Featured items from the law library’s archival and monograph collection are also on exhibition including a painted rendition of the very first Cincinnati Law School which began training students in 1833. A “Catalog of Students” from 1874 features William Parham, the first African American to graduate from the Cincinnati Law School. The catalog offers an historical snapshot of what his educational experience would have been like. Also featured is Ms. Nellie G. Robinson, class of 1893, the first woman graduate of the Cincinnati Law School.
Correspondingly on display is an item from the law library’s Ohio collection entitled “Of All 19th Century Novelties: The Admission of Women to the Bar in Ohio, 1873-1900”. A spotlighted point in history is 1925-1980, or the Alphonso Taft Hall era. This was a rich time in the College of Law’s history when many notable firsts for alumni and faculty occurred. Highlighted items included exams taken by Ms. Elsie Austin, first African American female graduate, and prepared by Professor Elwin Griffith, first African American faculty member of the College of Law. Explore UC’s Cuban connection with Professor Jorge Carro. Look at notable alumni and past Chief Justice of Hawaii, William Richardson, namesake of the Hawaii’s only law school. Explore the 1980’s to now with featured yearbooks, Ohio Law Reporters, and other items from our archival collection.
Know Before You Go
COVID-19 Campus Safety Measures (refer to the Return to Campus Guide for any updates)
Facial Coverings
Given the most-recent developments with the virus, and in keeping with new guidance from the CDC, the University requires all individuals, both fully vaccinated and those not fully vaccinated, to wear a facial covering indoors (unless you have received an exemption or accommodation; or when eating, drinking or alone in a private room). Facial Coverings guide
Those who are not fully vaccinated are required to wear facial covering when outdoors and unable to maintain social distancing. Individuals who are not wearing a facial covering when outdoors are attesting to compliance with this requirement.
Social Distancing in the Law Library
Students studying in the Law Library must maintain six feet of social distancing. Please do not move the furniture and pay attention to the signs. Sanitation stations are conveniently placed in each space so please wipe down surfaces before and after occupying a table or carrel.
UC COVID Check App
Please remember that all students are required to report via the UC COVID Check App if they develop viral symptoms or if they have a known exposure to a COVID-positive person. If you have COVID symptoms, do not come to campus. Stay home and contact the COVID Response Team via the App or Web Based Tool for further guidance. Note that failure to comply with these protocols is a violation of the UC Student Code of Conduct.
Proof of Vaccination
Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to submit proof of their COVID-19 vaccination (see eligibility requirements and entry information). UC will award nearly $50,000 in prizes to vaccinated students, faculty and staff. If you have not yet been fully vaccinated, COVID-19 vaccines are available to members of the campus community through many medical providers and pharmacies, including UC Health and Hamilton County Health Collaborative.