This week in the Law Library we’re teaching technology in law practice, preparing for final exams, continuing to celebrate American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, and previewing United States Supreme Court oral arguments.
This Week’s Library Sessions
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Technology in Law Practice
Shannon Kemen, Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian
Room 107
11:10am – 12:05pm
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Technology in Law Practice
Shannon Kemen, Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian
Room 107
11:10am – 12:05pm
Final Exams Are Coming And We Can Help!
Stressed about exams? The Law Library can help! The Law Library has many resources to help you prepare for final exams, including 24/7 access to online study aids. These study aids can be an important tool to help you succeed in law school but the different types of study aids serve different purposes. Check out our Exam Study Guide for a look at the different study aid types to which we subscribe and how they can help you with exams.
Looking for a place to study? Reserve a study room through TWEN or study in the carrels in the basement, the second floor Law Library Reading Room, the fourth floor Quiet Reading Room, or the open seating on the fifth floor.
When you’re ready for a short break or need to decompress, the Law Library offers puzzles and coloring pages and colored pencils in room 110, the Law Library Services Suite. Best of luck to everyone!
Selected Study Aids to Help with Review & Outlining
There are issues with using commercial outlines. Your professor is emphasizing different things. You miss nuances and context. Reading an outline is not an effective learning technique. Studies have shown that if the reader has to decide which material is most important and has to think about the meaning of the text and how the different pieces relate to one another, they perform better on tests later.[1] Also, studies have shown that “writing about the important points in one’s own words produced a benefit over and above that of selecting important information….”[2] So, if you are using commercial outlines, be sure and use the review questions and practice tests. You may find it helpful to look at other outlines for structure. But be aware that each of your professors may have different ideas of what is important and what is not. Tailor your outline to the class. Also, each class is different from year to year so relying solely on other people’s past outlines may not be a good idea. Don’t just read the outline. Use it as a guide but make your own!
Outlining Basics
Available through CALI, this CALI lesson teaches you why, when and how to create outlines when preparing for your law school exams. On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to: 1. Recognize the importance of outlines as a learning and test preparation tool in law school, thus making the outlining exercise more valuable. 2. Develop outlines during an optimum timeline. 3. Create outlines that offer the student a tool that improves comprehension, synthesis, and exam performance.
Black Letter Outlines
Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, the Black Letter Outline Series is designed to help students recognize, understand and master the primary principles of law by gaining a good understanding of the rule of law first before applying it to complex fact patterns. They contain comprehensive outlines of particular areas of law, a capsule summary of each outline, practice examinations, and examples and review questions.
Emanuel Law Outlines
Available through the Aspen Learning Library subscription, the Emanuel Law Outlines series is a study aid that outlines the law, gives exam tips, and offers chances for you to quiz yourself.
Gilbert Law Summaries
Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, Gilbert Law Summaries give students a detailed, comprehensive outline to prepare for exams. Each title also includes a capsule summary that is perfect for last minute review. Students can also test their knowledge.
Quick Review (Sum and Substance)
Available through the West Academic study aid subscription, this series contains capsule summary outlines each section with a clear and concise explanation of legal concepts and terms, along with exam hints, strategies, mnemonics, charts, tables and study tips.
Be sure and see our Exam Study Guide for more information!
American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month
November is American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month! In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating November 1990 as “National American Indian Heritage Month.” Similar proclamations have been issued every year since 1994. Celebrate with us as we explore the contributions and history of the Native people in the United States of America.
5 More Selected Resources to Learn More About American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage
American Indian Histories and Cultures
Explore manuscripts, artwork and rare printed books dating from the earliest contact with European settlers right up to photographs and newspapers from the mid-twentieth century. Browse through a wide range of rare and original documents from treaties, speeches and diaries, to historic maps and travel journals.
Bibliography of Native North Americans
Bibliography of Native North Americans (BNNA) is a bibliographic database covering all aspects of native North American culture¸ history¸ and life. This resource covers a wide range of topics including archaeology¸ multicultural relations¸ gaming¸ governance¸ legend¸ and literacy. BNNA contains more than 80¸000 citations for books¸ essays¸ journal articles¸ and government documents of the United States and Canada. Dates of coverage for included content range from the sixteenth century to the present.
Native American Heritage Month Selected Audio & Video
Selected audio and video from the Library of Congress, National Archives, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Park Service, and Smithsonian Institution.
PBS, What to Watch this Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month
You can learn more about the diverse experiences of Native Americans and Alaska Natives with this collection of documentaries. You can stream these films and shows and more on PBS.org or on the PBS App.
Independent Voices: Native Americans
Independent Voices is an open access digital collection of alternative press newspapers, magazines and journals, drawn from the special collections of participating libraries. The late 1960s and early 1970s saw an increase of Native American activism and the rise of “Red Power” as an activist movement demanding greater educational and economic opportunities and tribal rights. At the same time, U.S. policy toward Native American tribes provided greater opportunities for indigenous people to manage local government and local issues. This led to the establishment of an active Native American press, with publications like NARP Newsletter, Many Smokes, and Native Movement, that championed such key issues as Native American rights, religious freedom, equal education, and preserving community, language and tribal sovereignty.
November Arguments at the United States Supreme Court
From SCOTUS Blog:
November 27, 2023
Brown v. United States – whether the “serious drug offense” definition in the Armed Career Criminal Act incorporates the federal drug schedules that were in effect at the time of the federal firearm offense or the federal drug schedules that were in effect at the time of the prior state drug offense.
November 28, 2023
McElrath v. Georgia – whether the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment prohibits a second prosecution for a crime of which a defendant was previously acquitted.
Wilkinson v. Garland – whether an agency determination that a given set of established facts does not rise to the statutory standard of “exceptional and extremely unusual hardship” is a mixed question of law and fact reviewable under 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(D), or whether this determination is a discretionary judgment call unreviewable under Section 1252(a)(2)(B)(i).
November 29, 2023
Sec. & Exch. Comm’n v. Jarkesy – (1) whether statutory provisions that empower the Securities and Exchange Commission to initiate and adjudicate administrative enforcement proceedings seeking civil penalties violate the Seventh Amendment; (2) whether statutory provisions that authorize the SEC to choose to enforce the securities laws through an agency adjudication instead of filing a district court action violate the nondelegation doctrine; and (3) whether Congress violated Article II by granting for-cause removal protection to administrative law judges in agencies whose heads enjoy for-cause removal protection.