This week we’re reviewing summer access to legal databases, looking at bar exam resources, providing the schedule for Legal Research & Legal Technology Competency Programs’ summer sessions, reviewing basic legal research skills for summer, and continuing our celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Summer & Post-Graduation Access to Lexis, Westlaw, & Bloomberg Law
Post Graduation Access
Lexis
When you graduate, you’ll automatically have seamless Lexis+ access for 6 months, excluding public records. Continue to use your law school username and password while you prepare for the bar exam and employment. Plus, access exclusive resources and a Rewards program for graduates. Note that Lexis points will expire. Students need to redeem their points by June 30, 2023.
Lexis Aspire Program
Any graduating student who has verifiable employment with a non-profit organization can apply via Lexis ASPIRE program for 12 months of free Lexis access. Students can visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/grad-access for details on either of these offers.You’ll also have access to exclusive resources related to the transition from law school to employment and a Graduate Rewards Program.
Westlaw
Access is “normal” until May 31st. Starting June 1-Nov 30th graduates will have 60 hours of usage per month for 6 months. Direct link to extend for grad access is https://lawschool.westlaw.com/authentication/gradelite. You must use this link to extend your access.
All graduates will also automatically retain access to a number of job searching databases for 18-months following graduation for 1-hour a month. Please contact the Westlaw Representative for more information.
B-Law (Bloomberg Law)
2023 Graduating students will have unlimited and unrestricted Bloomberg access for 6 months after graduation.
Summer 2023 Access for Current Students
Lexis
If you’re already registered for Lexis, you don’t need to do anything else to get Summer Access. Access is unlimited for any purpose.
Westlaw
You can use Westlaw over the summer for non-commercial research. You can turn to these resources to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills, but you cannot use them in situations where you are billing a client. Examples of permissible uses for your academic password include the following:
- Summer coursework
- Research assistant assignments
- Law Review or Journal research
- Moot Court research
- Non-Profit work
- Clinical work
- Externship sponsored by the school
Please contact the Westlaw Representative for more information.
B-Law (Bloomberg Law)
If your workplace has a Bloomberg Law account, you are expected to use that, but there are no restrictions on your student Bloomberg accounts over the summer.
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 2023 bar examination will be administered at the Roberts Centre, 123 Gano Road, Wilmington, Ohio July 25-26, 2023. The Holiday Inn Roberts Centre room block opens on May 15, 2023, at 11 a.m. Ohio Bar Exam FAQs
5 Bar Exam Resources to Start You Off
Bar Exam Basics: Discussions in Law School Success (Podcast)
Available via CALI, this podcast provides critical information that you should consider before you begin to study for the bar exam. There is a lot to think about even before you start your bar review, whether that’s meeting deadlines or preparing for hurdles. This podcast offers tips and considerations to help you navigate the process more smoothly. If using CALI, you will need to create an account (if you have not already done so) using a Cincinnati Law authorization code. You can obtain this code from a reference librarian.
Available via the West Academic study aid subscription, this edition walks you through the entire bar preparation process from getting a head start during your last year of law school to taking the exam. It features comprehensive coverage of the Uniform Bar Exam, including an explanation of each component and how to prepare for it, to the larger question of what “portability” really means for the bar candidate. This edition also provides guidelines for selecting a bar review course, bar planner checklists, advice on how to manage the material you cover in bar review courses, and advice on how to learn the law so you can remember it and use it to answer exam questions. It identifies the basic skills the exam tests and the precise manner in which these skills are tested, showing you how to target your study efforts to maximize results. An Appendix provides practice materials for the MPT and essays, including the MEEs, with “answer de-constructions” to explain why bar examiners chose those answers as “better than average.”
Bar Exam Success: A Comprehensive Guide
Available via the West Academic study aid subscription, this book (there is also an audio version) is written from the perspective of a bar mentor, your “trainer at the academic gym,” with concrete advice on how to handle the many challenges facing today’s law students. There are dozens of self-assessments, tools to help you face very real challenges on every level, and to organize and prepare to pass the bar exam. The book includes trustworthy advice and powerful personal examples from the author’s decades of helping students pass bar exams nationwide. The book is uplifting and positive, while harnessing cutting-edge, scientific learning theories.
The Essential Rules for Bar Exam Success
Available via the West Academic study aid subscription, this book presents a method for teaching students to pass the bar that is easy to learn and implement. Topics covered include learning to study actively rather than passively; choosing study partners who will help, not hinder, your studying; learning to think, read, and write critically; dissecting multistate exam questions; coping with pressure; making the most of the weeks before the bar exam; and preparing for the day of the exam.
Passing the Bar: A Quick Reference Guide For Today’s Law Student
Available via CALI, this e-book (there is also an audio version) is designed to provide guidance to law students as they prepare to embark upon bar study. It covers topics such as how to make a study plan, strategies for successful bar study, tips for attacking each portion of the exam, taking care of your mental health, and preparing your loved ones for bar study. The book also provides weekly tips for use during the bar study period, and for exam day itself. The quick reference format allows students to easily access advice for whatever is most pressing to them at a particular moment. It provides a guide to bar exam preparation for all law students, but with a particular focus on those who aspire to be public interest or social justice attorneys, first-generation law students, those law students who do not come from families of lawyers, or who come from communities that are traditionally underrepresented in the legal profession. While much of the advice is universal, this book focuses on those students who are about to enter bar study and will not see your communities – or your future clients – represented on the bar exam. You may have found that your law school colleagues have received advice about how to study and navigate law school, when no one was there to advise you. This book aims not just to level the playing field, but to give you an edge when it comes to studying for the bar exam. If using CALI, you will need to create an account (if you have not already done so) using a Cincinnati Law authorization code. You can obtain this code from a reference librarian.
Legal Research Competency & Legal Technology Competency Programs
Upcoming Summer Competency Program Schedule
- Wednesday, June 7
- 12:00 – 12:30pm
- Room 107 or Zoom
- Terms & Connectors Searching – Laura Dixon-Caldwell
- Wednesday, June 14
- 12:00 – 12:30pm
- Room 107 or Zoom
- What is Technology Competency – Shannon Kemen
- Wednesday, June 21
- 12:00 – 12:30pm
- Room 107 or Zoom
- Researching Jury Verdicts on Lexis & Westlaw – Laura Dixon-Caldwell
- Wednesday, June 28
- 12:00 – 12:30pm
- Room 107 or Zoom
- Using Legal Technology Audits – Shannon Kemen
You can learn more about each of these programs by visiting the following websites:
Legal Research Competency Guide
Legal Technology Competency Guide
Summer Legal Research Tips
Get Up to Speed on What Resources Are Available
Ask question such as:
- What resources are available and what are you allowed to access?
- Does your employer have a library and a law librarian?
- What internal resources such as document templates, document management systems, and brief banks are available?
- What citation style is used?
Have the vendor help numbers ready to access!
Ask Questions & Ask for Help
Don’t be afraid to ask questions or to ask for help if you need it. Among the questions to ask:
- When is it due?
- Are there any cost or resource restrictions?
- Who else know about or is working on the project?
- Is there a client ID or billing code that should be used?
- What type of information would be most useful?
- How much information is wanted or needed?
- How is the information going to be used?
- How much time should you spend on it?
- What format should the final product be in?
If you have access to a law librarian at your place of employment, ask for help when you get stuck! You can also ask local law librarians, most Ohio counties have a law library, and we can help you out too! Often the vendors for products are helpful resources. For example, Lexis and Westlaw have reference attorneys on staff who can help with searching.
Develop a Research Plan
Having a research strategy is the best way to make sure your research is complete and accurate, and it will also make your research more efficient. There is no single correct plan. Your research strategy will change depending on your knowledge and expertise, the complexity of the issue, the resources to which you have access, your budget, your time, and what you discover as you research. If you know the area well, you will not have to look for authorities in as many places and you can zero in on the sources you know are likely to lead you directly to the answer. A good research strategy for a law student researching an unfamiliar legal issue is to plan on consulting secondary sources before moving on to primary sources. A secondary source is about the law and primary source is the actual law itself. Secondary sources can help you learn the basics of a particular area of law, provide you with the vocabulary used in that area of law and what that terminology means, and identify primary sources of law.
Once you have a plan, you will identify the issues and the best resources in which to research those issues. After you have identified the best resources to use, you will need to locate those resources and then evaluate them in the context of your research needs. You will sort and sift through those resources, choosing the material that you will use to solve your problem. As you go through these steps, you will document and update your research and then start the cycle again.
Read more about developing a research plan on our Research Strategy & Documentation guide.
May Is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month!
This month we’re celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month! After decades of celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week, Congress finally passed Public Law 102-450 which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. Read President Biden’s 2023 Proclamation on Asian American, Native Hawaiian, And Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
UC College of Law & Campus Celebrations for Asian American and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month
Law Library Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month Display
Please stop by in the next few weeks to view our exhibit, curated by Rhonda Wiseman, spotlighting monographs from our collection that focus on the history and journey of Asian American and Pacific Islander contributions to the legal community and beyond.
UC Alumni Association Celebrates Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
Library Displays at UCBA, Asian-Pacific Heritage Month
5 Resources to Learn More About Asian American and Pacific Islanders:
Asian Pacific American Law Journal (APALJ)
Established in 1991, the Asian Pacific American Law Journal (APALJ) is dedicated entirely to Asian Pacific American issues. APALJ is one of only two law journals in the nation that focuses exclusively on the legal issues affecting APA communities. Run by students at the UCLA School of Law, the Journal seeks to facilitate discourse on issues affecting South Asian, Southeast Asian, East Asian, and Pacific Islander communities in the United States. APALJ plays an important role by providing a forum for legal scholars, practitioners and students to communicate about emerging concerns specific to Asian Pacific Americans and by disseminating these writings to APA populations. The journal welcomes articles from academics and professionals in the field, as well as comments and case notes from law students.
The Asian American Law Journal (AALJ) is one of only two law journals in the United States focusing on Asian American communities in its publication agenda. Known as the Asian Law Journal until 2007, AALJ was first published in October 1993 in a joint publication with the California Law Review. AALJ’s first independent issue was published in May 1994. AALJ serves dual purposes for the Asian Pacific American and legal communities. First, the journal sets a scholarly foundation for exploring the unique legal concerns of Asian Pacific Americans. Second, AALJ seeks to put that scholarship in action and open the dialogue between those who study law and those who are affected by it. In pursuit of these goals, AALJ strives to provide a forum for the many voices and opinions of the Asian Pacific American community through events such as its annual Spring Symposium and Neil Gotanda Lecture in Asian American Jurisprudence.
Library of Congress Asian American and Pacific Islander Materials: A Resource Guide
This guide serves as a point of entry for researchers seeking materials in multiple formats on Asian American/Pacific Islander studies and related resources at the Library of Congress. The types of resources covered in this guide range from special collections containing photographs, diary entries, and recorded interviews to monographs, reference works, and serials.
National Archives, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
The National Archives holds a wealth of material documenting the Asian and Pacific Islander experience, and it highlights these resources online, in programs, and through traditional and social media.
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center serves as a dynamic national resource for discovering why the Asian Pacific American experience matters every day, everywhere, and all of the time.