This week in the Law Library we’re teaching our final research session on cost effective searching, helping you study for final exams, looking at summer and graduate access to legal databases, and watching US Supreme Court and Ohio Supreme Court oral arguments.
This Week’s Research Sessions
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
- Prof. McCord’s Advocacy, section 4 with Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian, Shannon Kemen
- Cost Effective Legal Research
- 9:00am – 10:25am
- Zoom
- Prof. McCord’s Advocacy, section 6 with Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Librarian, Shannon Kemen
- Cost Effective Legal Research
- 12:30pm – 1:55pm
- Zoom
Accessing Law Library Study Aids
For an overview of our study aid subscriptions and a demonstration of how to access them, see:
Introduction to Study Aids & Research Guides Video
- This video introduces you to our four online study aid collections, demonstrates how to access the study aids, and looks at research guides that will help you throughout your law school career. The video is 7:36 minutes long and features closed captioning.
CALI
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.
Lexis OverDrive
If accessing study aids from Lexis OverDrive, you will need to login using your UC credentials.
West Academic
To create an account, click the Create an Account link at the top right corner of the Study Aids Subscription page. Use your UC email as the email address. Once you have filled in the required information to set up an account, you will need to verify your email address (they will send you a confirmation email that you will need answer to verify the email address — be sure and check your junk mail). Once you have created an account and logged in, you can use the links below to access individual study aids or you can access all study aids through https://subscription.westacademic.com.
Wolters Kluwer
If accessing study aids from the Wolters Kluwer subscription, you will need to login using your UC credentials.
Selected Study Aids to Help with Exam Studying Techniques
- The Eight Secrets of Top Exam Performance in Law School
- Available through the West Academic subscription
- This work teaches the eight secrets that will add points to every exam answer you write. You will learn the three keys to handling any essay exam, how to use time to your advantage, issue spotting, how to organize your answer, and the hidden traps of the IRAC method. Once you have mastered these skills, you can put your knowledge to the test with sample exam questions and check your answers against those provided. A special section on how to do well on other types of exams, such as open-book, multiple-choice, or policy exams, is also included.
- How to Write Law School Exams: IRAC Perfected
- Available through the West Academic subscription
- Provides students of all levels with a detailed, comprehensive, and practical guide to success on law school exams. This text breaks the well-known IRAC method of legal writing into comprehensible segments and gives students the tools needed to master their law exams. Provides readers with detailed student-written examples of the IRAC method in action. Annotated with line-by-line critiques, these sample essays show readers exactly what can go wrong in a law school exam and how to fix those problems before they appear on a graded paper.
- Hyped About Hypos
- Available through CALI
- Law students often hear about the importance of “doing hypos” but don’t know why they are important, where to find them, how to do them, and so on. This CALI lesson will cover the what, why, when, where, and how of hypos so law students can conquer the material they are learning and be prepared for exams. Learning Outcomes On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to: 1. Define the term “hypothetical” in the law school context. 2. List several reliable sources of hypotheticals. 3. Explain how to use hypotheticals to prepare for an exam. 4. Discuss why using hypotheticals is important for success in law school.
- IRAC
- Available through CALI
- This CALI lesson will cover the basic structure of written legal analysis: IRAC. IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Application/Analysis, Conclusion. There are slightly different versions of IRAC which may be used for different legal documents. This lesson will focus on IRAC for essay exam writing. Some faculty may prefer CRAC, or CIRAC, where the conclusion is placed first. You may also learn CRREAC for writing legal memos and briefs, which stands for Conclusion, Rule, Rule Explanation, Application, Conclusion. Make sure you know your professor’s structural preferences regarding exams and other assignments. Whether you have the conclusion up front or not, all of legal analysis follows the same basic IRAC framework. It takes some getting used to, but once you understand how to properly work with the IRAC structure, you will be able to analyze any legal question.
- Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades
- Available through LexisNexis Digital Library (Lexis OverDrive)
- This text is a handbook for students who want to significantly improve their performance in law school. This book strips the exam format into a series of repeatable steps and building blocks. It also teaches students how to prepare for exams, instead of preparing for class, with proven time-management, outlining, and case-briefing techniques.
- Law School Exams: Preparing and Writing to Win
- Available through the Wolters Kluwer subscription
- Exercises and practice exams, with a focus on essay questions and model answers, help students identify their strengths and weaknesses, plan strategies, and organize their efforts. The text offers techniques for maximizing scores on several types of essay questions, as well as on multiple-choice and other questions. Exam anxiety is tackled by a helpful, positive perspective: the right amount of stress can
- Legal Writing v. Exam Writing
- Available through CALI
- This CALI lesson explains some key differences between legal writing and exam writing. First, the lesson demonstrates the relationship between legal writing and exam writing. Next, the lesson explains the differences between legal writing and exam writing. After you complete this lesson you will be able to transfer writing and analysis skills learned in your legal writing course to your final exams.
- Mastering the Law School Exam: A Practical Blueprint for Preparing and Taking Law School Exams
- Available through the West Academic subscription
- Covers both essay and multiple choice exams.
- exams.
- A Methodical Approach to Improve Multiple Choice Performance
- Available through CALI
- This lesson teaches a methodical approach for all law school multiple choice questions. The step-by-step approach provides a framework to work through questions so students can more easily eliminate distractor answer choices. The lesson will thoroughly explore each step in this analytical approach.
- Top 10 Tips for Successfully Writing a Law School Essay (podcast)
- Available through CALI
- Professor Jennifer Martin discusses the top ten mistakes law students make in law school examinations: poor issue spotting, poor knowledge and understanding of the law, poor application of the law to the facts, giving only conclusory answers, lack of organization, errors in the facts, failure to understand the role you are given in the examination, padding, fact inventing, and question begging. She also discusses the hallmarks of a good essay answer.
- Writing Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure
- Available through CALI
- This CALI lesson begins with an explicit discussion of legal writing its structural implications. Within that specific context, the program goes on to discuss the tasks to be performed, the tools used in performing those tasks, and methods of sharpening those tools. The program concludes with some interactive opportunities to try the techniques described.
- Tips for Multiple Choice Exams in Law School (podcast)
-
- Available through CALI
- Prof. Scott Burnham, provides students with advice on multiple choice exam questions. He looks at the parts of a question and identifies types of multiple choice questions such as those that test recall, those that draw on materials discussed in class, and those that require analysis. At the end of this lesson students will know how to decipher what type of question is being asked, how to spot the specific issue in the question, and how to eliminate the other choices.
-
- Multiple-Choice Questions: Wrong Answer Pathology
- Available through CALI
- This lesson teaches you how to select the right answer in a multiple-choice question by better understanding how to identify wrong answers, based on nine specific types of wrong answers.
- Your Brain and Law School
- Available through LexisNexis Digital Library (Lexis OverDrive)
- Before you can learn to think like a lawyer, you have to have some idea about how the brain thinks. The first part of this book translates the technical research, explaining learning strategies that work for the brain in law school specifically, and calling out other tactics that are useless (though often popular lures for the misinformed). This book is unique in explaining the science behind the advice and will save you from pursuing tempting shortcuts that will take you in the wrong direction. The second part explores the brain’s decision-making processes and cognitive biases.
Reminder — UC Libraries Platform Change (beginning May 3rd)
User access to library electronic resources is controlled by UC credentials and the library proxy server. To improve management of this, the libraries are changing proxy servers at the end of the spring semester. All URLs containing the library proxy will need to be changed to the new server address. The library has created tools to assist in changing/creating proxy URLs. Please plan to change library resource links in course syllabi, Canvas, personal bookmarks, etc. starting in the month of May. The library will maintain the old server through the end of 2021, so access will be continuous for summer semester and ample time is provided for the URLs to be updated.
- May 3rd: server address changes
- From: http://proxy.libraries.uc.edu/login?url=http://www.abc.com
- To: (May 3rd): http://uc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://www.abc.com
- The proxy tools page will be updated May 3rd to assist with editing URLs
- After May 3rd, example of new proxy URL for the title “very short introductions”
- https://uc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://www.veryshortintroductions.com/
- May 3rd through 2021: change library resource links in course syllabi, Canvas, personal bookmarks, etc.
- January 2022: outdated URLs will no longer work for library resources
The libraries will continue to send information about this platform change. We appreciate your assistance and attention!
Access to Lexis, Westlaw, & Bloomberg Law for Summer or After Graduation
Summer 2021 Access
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
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.
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.
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
May 2021 Graduates will see grad access info when they sign on to the Westlaw Law School Portal. 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
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)
2021 Graduating students will have unlimited and unrestricted Bloomberg access until Nov. 30, 2021.
April Arguments at the United States Supreme Court
From SCOTUS Blog:
Monday, April 26, 2021
- Thomas More Law Center v. Bonta — whether exacting scrutiny or strict scrutiny applies to disclosure requirements that burden nonelectoral, expressive association rights; and whether California’s disclosure requirement violates charities’ and their donors’ freedom of association and speech facially or as applied to the Thomas More Law Center.
- Guam v. U.S. — whether a settlement that is not under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act can trigger a contribution claim under CERCLA Section 113(f)(3)(B); and (2) whether a settlement that expressly disclaims any liability determination and leaves the settling party exposed to future liability can trigger a contribution claim under CERCLA Section 113(f)(3)(B).
- Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta — whether the exacting scrutiny the Supreme Court has long required of laws that abridge the freedoms of speech and association outside the election context – as called for by NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson and its progeny – can be satisfied absent any showing that a blanket governmental demand for the individual identities and addresses of major donors to private nonprofit organizations is narrowly tailored to an asserted law-enforcement interest.
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
- U.S. v. Palomar-Santiagor — whether a defendant, charged with unlawful reentry into the United States following removal, automatically satisfies the prerequisites to asserting the invalidity of the original removal order as an affirmative defense solely by showing that he was removed for a crime that would not be considered a removable offense under current circuit law, even if he cannot independently demonstrate administrative exhaustion or deprivation of the opportunity for judicial review.
HollyFrontier Cheyenne Refining, LLC v. Renewable Fuels Association — whether, in order to qualify for a hardship exemption under Section 7545(o)(9)(B)(i) of the Renewable Fuel Standards, a small refinery needs to receive uninterrupted, continuous hardship exemptions for every year since 2011.
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
- PennEast Pipeline Co. v. New Jersey — whether the Natural Gas Act delegates to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission certificate-holders the authority to exercise the federal government’s eminent-domain power to condemn land in which a state claims an interest; and whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit properly exercised jurisdiction over this case.
- Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. — whether Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, which holds that public school officials may regulate speech that would materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school, applies to student speech that occurs off campus.
April Oral Arguments at the Ohio Supreme Court
You can view the live stream of oral arguments on the Court’s website or see them after the arguments take place in the Ohio Channel archives.
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
- The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company v. City of Cleveland, et al.
- State of Ohio v. Brooke E. Jones
- State of Ohio ex rel., Jamie Suwalski v. Judge Robert W. Peeler
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
- State of Ohio v. CSX Transportation, Inc.
- State of Ohio v. (P.J.F.)
- Maternal Grandmother, as Administrator of the Estate of G.B., a deceased minor, and Maternal Grandmother, Individually v. Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services, Hamilton County, Ohio, Denise Driehouse, Chris Montzel, Todd Portune, Shamara Stephens a.k.a. Shamara Hooks-Ware, Kassie Setty, and Lumadi Lavusa, and Father of G.B. and Mother of G.B. Hamilton
- State of Ohio v. Clarence Leyh Summit
