This week we’re looking at bar exam resources, reviewing basic legal research skills for summer, and continuing our celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
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 2024 bar examination will be administered at the Roberts Centre, 123 Gano Road, Wilmington, Ohio July 30-31, 2024. The Holiday Inn Roberts Centre room block opens on May 14, 2024, at 11 am. Learn more: Ohio Bar Exam
5 More Bar Exam Resources to Help You Study
The Bar Exam is not a sprint, it’s a marathon so pace yourself! Check out this week’s Bar Exam Resource highlights below.
Acing the Bar Exam
Available via the West Academic study aid subscription, Acing the Bar Exam provides candidates with a complete guide to the bar exam — from pre-planning considerations through bar review and sitting for the exam. It features comprehensive coverage of the Uniform Bar Exam, including an explanation of each component and how to prepare for it. Every aspect of the process is explained in detail and by example. The bar exam is de-constructed, section by section, where candidates are led through the steps they need to follow to succeed. Approaches for learning the black letter law, setting study schedules, and answering essay and multiple-choice questions are combined to maximize the likelihood of success. Each of these tasks is then configured into checklist format to help candidates navigate each step.
If I Don’t Pass the Bar I’ll Die: 73 Ways to Keep Stress and Worry from Affecting your Performance on the Bar Exam
This book addresses the psychological aspects of taking the Bar Exam. The book provides practical suggestions for dealing with stress and worry and their relatives: distractive thoughts; procrastination; and poor habits in planning, managing time studying and test taking.
Office Hours on Bar Exam Success
Available via the West Academic study aid subscription, this audio book covers foundational prep, briefing cases, relationships with family and friends, dealing with the fear of failure and the fear of success, focusing on the long view, IRAC, and more.
Pass the Bar!
Available via the LexisNexis Digital Library study aid subscription, Pass the Bar! provides a comprehensive overview of the pre-bar review, bar review, and bar exam process. The authors demystify the bar exam process and take readers through the steps they need to follow to succeed.Readers are given specific information about what to do during the year before their bar exams; checklists, exercises, and reflection questions; tips for studying and completing practice questions; and sample exam questions and answers to maximize their likelihood of bar exam success.
The Zen of Passing the Bar Exam
Available via the LexisNexis Digital Library study aid subscription, The Zen of Passing the Bar Exam offers a comprehensive approach to studying for (and passing) the bar exam. Couched in neuroscience and Zen principles of focus, discipline, awareness, balance, and simplicity, the book provides guidance for the best daily practices for uplifting your mind, body, and spirit during the rigors of studying. A central theme is harnessing a Zen mindset to stay motivated and mentally sharp. In addition to lifestyle and mindset, the book also offers specific, practical advice for maximizing scores on the essay, MBE, and MPT portions of the bar exam. The book outlines specific organizational/formatting tips for how to write effective (and efficient) essays under bar exam time constraints.
Summer Legal Research Tips
Previously, we looked at initial steps to take when you get a summer research project. Once you’ve identified the resources available to you at your place of summer employment and asked questions, you may need to do background research about your issue before jumping into primary sources such as statutes and case law. A good secondary source can explain the law around your issue and cite you to primary sources. It can save you a lot of time and effort! Which secondary sources should you look at? Read on! Learn more about researching in secondary sources in our Researching Secondary Sources Guide or watch our videos on finding and searching within the various secondary source types.
Types of Secondary Sources
There are different types of secondary sources and some may be more helpful to you than others. Secondary sources can only be persuasive, they can never be mandatory or binding on a court of law. The persuasive value of a secondary source depends on its author. Below are some secondary sources that you might remember from your legal research classes and some tips on when to use them.
Research Guides
Start by searching for a research guide on a subject. Law librarians write guides on researching specific areas of law that will identify good secondary sources, as well as relevant primary sources in that subject area. Here at the Robert S. Marx Law Library, we have over 80 research guides that can help you with a summer project! These guides are available 24/7. If one of our guides doesn’t have the information you’re looking for, type in your legal subject and the terms +research +guide in your favorite search engine.
Legal Encyclopedias
Legal encyclopedias are great places to start if you need an overview of a legal subject or don’t know much about the subject. There are two general legal encyclopedias: (1) American Jurisprudence 2d (Am. Jur.) and Corpus Juris Secundum (C.J.S.). Many states also have legal encyclopedias. The Ohio legal encyclopedia is Ohio Jurisprudence 3d (Oh. Jur.).
Treatises, Practice Guides and Handbooks
Practice guides and handbooks are secondary sources that are very practitioner oriented. Often the practice guides and handbooks will include forms and procedural information.Treatises give you more in-depth treatment of subjects than the practice guides and handbooks. Treatises are usually written by experts and scholars in the field.
Law Review Articles
Law review articles are journal articles written by students, practitioners, and scholars. Law review articles are often good resources for cutting edge, controversial, or new developments in the law.
American Law Reports
American Law Reports contain two kinds of material: articles (also sometimes called annotations) and cases. The articles are what you would be interested in for research purposes. Articles cover a topic through cases that focus on a particular point of law. These articles collect the cases from a variety of state and federal courts or jurisdictions and arrange them according to how the courts have ruled. American Law Reports are great to use for researching narrow topics, doing a survey of existing law, identifying trends in the law, and finding persuasive case law.
Restatements
Restatements of the Law are highly regarded uniform statements of the law produced by the American Law Institute (ALI), an organization comprised of prominent American judges, lawyers, and law professors. They are heavily annotated and may be adopted by jurisdictions. Each restatement is arranged first by chapter, then by topic and title, and then by section. Restatement sections generally begin with a “black letter” statement of the law followed by comments, illustrations, and reporter notes. Case annotations to the Restatements can be useful to find how a Restatement provision has been applied by a particular court.
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.
UC Celebrations for Asian American and Pacific Islanders Heritage Month
UC Alumni Association Celebrates Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
Library Displays at UCBA, Asian-Pacific Heritage Month
UC Clermont Frederick A. Marcotte Library, Digital Display AAPI Heritage Month
CECH Be Historic Asian Pacific Heritage Month
5 Resources to Learn More About Asian American and Pacific Islanders
Library of Congress, Discrimination Against Asian and Pacific Islander Americans: A Research Guide
Throughout the history of the United States, Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans have been discriminated against legally, socially, and economically. This research guide provides primary and secondary sources, in electronic and print formats, regarding historical and contemporary aspects of discrimination against Asian Americans.
Library of Congress, Behind Barbed Wire: Japanese-American Internment Camp Newspapers
Behind the barbed wire of assembly centers and relocation centers around the country during World War II, interned Japanese-Americans produced newspapers to chronicle the stories and experiences of their community in a time of crisis. The Library of Congress has made available online a rare collection of the newspapers produced by Japanese-Americans interned at assembly centers and relocation centers around the country during World War II. The collection includes more than 4,600 English and Japanese language issues published in 13 camps.
Library of Congress, Chinese Exclusion Act: Primary Documents in American History
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was signed into law on May 6, 1882. Officially titled “An act to execute certain treaty stipulations relating to Chinese,” the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years. It was extended in 1892 for another ten years by the Geary Act and then made permanent in 1902. In 1943, at a time when the United States and China were allies during World War II, the ban on Chinese immigration and naturalization was finally repealed.This guide compiles Library of Congress digital materials, external websites, and a print bibliography.
Library of Congress, Filipino-American Materials: A Resource Guide
Filipino-Americans comprise the second largest Asian ancestry group in the United States. This guide provides information on how to locate all physical and electronic material on Filipino-Americans available for use at the Library of Congress and online.
Library of Congress, Patsy T. Mink Papers
Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink (1927-2002) was a vigorous and tireless champion of women’s rights, an early and vocal opponent to the Vietnam War, and a leader on issues involving education, the environment, welfare, and civil rights. With her election in 1964, Mink became the first woman of color and the first Asian American woman to serve in Congress. This guide provides context for a selection of digitized materials from the Patsy T. Mink Papers in the Manuscript Division and includes related resources for researching Mink’s life and legacy.