This week in the Law Library, happy July 4th! We also look at more bar exam resources, new summer legal research tips, and we celebrate Disability Pride Month.

Happy July 4th!

The Law Library will be closed July 4, 2022 to celebrate Independence Day. Law students and faculty will still have their 24/7 access. All of our online resources are also still available 24/7!

Bar Exam Study Resources

Congratulations! You have made it through law school but now the bar exam looms. Don’t worry, the Law Library’s got your back. When you’ve caught your breath and you’re ready to start your bar studying, we have resources that can help. Check out our Bar Exam Research Guide.

The July bar examination will be administered July 26-27, 2022 at the Roberts Centre, 123 Gano Road, Wilmington, Ohio.

5 More Bar Exam Resources

The Bar Exam is not a sprint, it’s a marathon so pace yourself! You can see the previous week’s featured bar exam resources on our June 27, June 21st, June 13th, June 6th, and May 24th posts. Check out this week’s Bar Exam Resource highlights below.

Exam Pro Bar Prep Workbook Revised

Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, this book uses frameworks as a guide to writing a top-notch essay. Based on the premises that the bar exam essay is often different in style, length, and scoring from the law school exam essay and that organization and issue identification can best be achieved by a structured, strategic approach rather than “winging it.” The opportunity to practice techniques allows students to further improve their writing.

Mastering Multiple Choice for Federal Civil Procedure MBE Bar Prep and 1L Exam Prep

Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, this fourth edition (expanded with new questions, new answers, and new explanations) encompasses material reflecting all Civil Procedure Rule amendments through December 2021, along with applicable new case law through February 2022. This multiple choice practice book is designed for: (a) bar exam takers, who are preparing to take the MBE multiple choice bar exam, and (b) 1L law students, who are preparing to take their course examinations. This practice book offers practical, easy-to-follow advice on multiple choice exam-taking strategies, clear suggestions on effective multiple choice practicing techniques, and a robust set of Civil Procedure multiple choice practice questions with answers and explanations (designed to simulate MBE-style questions). Tables help users decode the tested-topic for each practice question.

MPT and MPT Point Sheets

These describe the factual and legal points encompassed within the lawyering task to be completed by applicants for each of the tests and outline possible issues and points that might be addressed by an examinee.
These MPTs and Point Sheets are available online from the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

Scoring High on Bar Exam Essays

Available in Law Stacks at KF303 .G35 2006, this text provides step-by-step instructions on essay-writing systems and confidence-building practices. A review of the best and worst ways to respond to essay questions is included.

Strategies and Tactics for the MBE 2: Multistate Bar Exam

Available in Law Stacks at KF303 .E46 2013, Strategies and Tactics for the MBE 2 provides 300 additional questions to help you prepare for the Multistate Bar Exam (MBE). It is important to understand the issues of law tested on the exam and to learn how the exam questions are written to test your understanding of the law. With its comprehensive explanations of why one answer choice is the best answer and why the other choices are not, this text helps you gain the ability to select the best answer choice. The 300 questions are organized by subject area (Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Procedure, Evidence, Torts, and Real Property). Within each subject area, questions are broken down by subtopic, allowing you to locate and practice questions in your trouble areas.

Summer Legal Research Tips

Previously, we looked at initial steps to take when you get a summer research project, researching secondary sources, the structure and organization of statutory codes and where to find them, and finding and searching within annotated codes. This week we will continue to take a look at updating and validating statutes. Learn more about researching statutes in our Researching Statutes Guide or watch our videos on finding and searching within annotated codes.

How Up-to-Date Is Your Code?

Statutes are constantly changing. Make sure that you are working with the most current version of a statute when researching a current issue. Print and online codes will tell you how up to date they are. Look for these currency statements when viewing a statute. Look for the number of the last session law integrated into the code.

Print codes are updated with annual pocket parts and supplements. Also look for legislative service pamphlets. These updates are published throughout the year and usually include a cumulative list of statutes affected by recently enacted laws and a cumulative subject index. Tables of amendments and repeals published in codes and advance legislative services provide citations to session laws that modify existing statutes. Just be aware that print supplements are often published to slowly for updating purposes so online sources are going to be most current.

Validating Statutes Using Citators

On Lexis, use Shepards to validate your statute and to identify any pending legislation that may impact your statute. In Lexis, when you shepardize a statute, the circle with an exclamation point indicates that a section has strong negative treatment. Such negative treatment would be things like it has been amended or repealed or that it has been declared unconstitutional or void. In Lexis, the upside-down yellow triangle with an exclamation point indicates that there is pending legislation that could amend your statute. In Lexis, the green diamond with a plus sign in it indicates that there is positive treatment of your statute.

On Westlaw, use KeyCite to validate your statute and to identify any pending legislation that may impact your statute. A red flag in Westlaw indicates that a section has been amended or repealed by a session law or that it has been declared unconstitutional or preempted. A yellow flag in Westlaw indicates that the statute has been renumbered or transferred by a recent session law; that an uncodified session law or proposed legislation affecting the statute is available; that the statute was limited on constitutional or preemption grounds; that its validity was otherwise called into doubt; or that a prior version of the statute received negative treatment from a court.

July Is Disability Pride Month!

About Disability Pride Month

Disability Pride Month is an annual worldwide observance holiday during the month of July. It promotes awareness of disability as an identity, a community, a culture & the positive pride felt by disabled people. It directly challenges systematic ableism and discrimination.

UC Resources

Mikaila Corday, Ableism & Disability Justice, Racial Justice Resources for Activists, Advocates & Allies Guide
Topics in this guide page include ableism 101, ableism podcasts, ableism web resources, accessibility, accessibility resources, disability justice resources, veterans resources, and books.

Accessibility Resources for Students
Accessibility Resources leads the campus community in supporting students with disabilities by fostering an environment that places independence, inclusion and success at its core. They help provide a comprehensive collection of resources related to our office and accessibility for the UC Bearcat community.

Accessibility Resources for Faculty
Information for faculty regarding accessibility for their students.

UC Blue Ash Accessibility Resources
The UC Blue Ash College Accessibility Resources office (AR) seeks to ensure that all students with a documented disability can freely and actively participate in all facets of college life. To that end, Accessibility Resources creates opportunities for and promotes educational experiences, advocacy, and enrichment to persons with disabilities. Finally, AR seeks to increase the awareness and training among the UC Blue Ash College community so that students with disabilities continue to be perceived as people with promise.

UC Clermont Accessibility Resources
The primary purpose of the Accessibility Resources office at the University of Cincinnati Clermont College is to give students with disabilities the opportunity to achieve their academic goals.

Accessibility 101
Resources for e-accessibility.

Katie Foran-Mulcahy, American Sign Language and Deaf Studies
CECH Library guide to support American Sign Language and Deaf studies.

Disability & Accessibility, DEI Book Club at Clermont
Provides resources and support for the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives at Clermont College.

Ron Jones, Disability Law
Legal research guide on disability law.

Shannon Kemen, Mental Health Law Research Guide
This guide provides a quick overview of mental health law materials. It covers browsing for materials by call number range, textbooks, treatises, statutory law, administrative materials, and news.

RallyCap Sports
At the foundation, the RallyCap Sports program offers a high quality sports league for children and young adults with special needs to participate in within their community throughout the year.

Kathy Ladell, Sign Language at Clermont
This guide will help you with connecting to ASL resources within the Clermont College Library.

Katie Foran-Mulcahy, Special Education
CECH Library guide to resources including e-books, article databases, online help tutorials, useful websites, and more for researching and teaching special education.

UC Best Buddies
Best Buddies is a club that aspires to transform the lives of both individuals with disabilities, and those without. By forming friendships, Best Buddies further reduces the social space between peers and those with exceptionalities.

UC ASL Club
The UC ASL Club is a safe and friendly organization for students to learn American Sign Language and more about the Deaf Community.

5 Resources on Accessibility & Disability Issues

ABA Wide 21-Day Disability Equity Habit-Building Challenge©

The ABA Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council is proud to launch a 21-Day Disability Equity Habit-Building Challenge syllabus in honor of Disability Pride Month. ABA members and non-members, including non-lawyers, to participate in this Disability Equity Habit-Building Challenge©. Its goal is to assist each of us to become more aware and engaged in the quest for disability equity, and specifically to learn more about the members of the disability community, many of whom are from other marginalized communities, as well as barriers, biases, stereotypes, and discrimination they encounter in everyday life.

ABA & Burton Blatt Institute, First Phase Findings From a National Study of Lawyers With Disabilities and Lawyers Who Identify as LGBTQ+ (PDF)

A new national study by the ABA, in collaboration with the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University, finds lawyers who identify as disabled and LGBTQ+ report experiencing both subtle and overt forms of discrimination at their workplaces, with common reports of subtle but unintentional bias.

Kendra Winchester, 10 Books on Disability Justice, Book Riot (Aug. 12, 2021)

This list is a starting place to introduce people to disability justice and its many facets.

The Iris Center, Films: Portrayals of People with Disabilities

This tool represents an attempt to catalogue the representation of people with disabilities in motion pictures. Many of those representations are accurate, many are inaccurate, and some are even offensive. Their inclusion in this tool is intended to stimulate discussion and should by no means be considered an endorsement of their accuracy or appropriateness.

Yo! Ed Roberts 2022 Oral History Project

The Ed Roberts Oral History Project was a youth-led project that began on Ed Roberts Day 2021. Throughout the year over 20 disabled youth volunteers from around the globe interviewed disabled elders who knew Ed Roberts.