First Monday in October 2020

The new Supreme Court term will begin this year on Monday, October 5, 2020. It will occur amidst political drama in light of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recent death and the nomination and confirmation process for her potential successor.

In accordance with Supreme Court tradition, Justice Ginsburg’s Bench Chair and the Bench directly in front of it have been draped with black wool crepe in memoriam. In addition, a black drape has been hung over the Courtroom doors. The flags on the Court’s front plaza will be flown at half-staff through October 20. Visit the Supreme Court’s web site for an In Memoriam.

If you want a preview of the cases and arguments that lie ahead, visit the ABA’s Preview of the United States Supreme Court Cases. You can also visit Georgetown University Law Center’s Supreme Court Institute, A Look Ahead, Supreme Court of the United States October Term 2020. Finally, summaries of the cases to be heard this term can be found at the SCOTUSblog.

To follow the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to become the next Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court, visit Georgetown Law Center’s Supreme Court Nominations Guide. It compiles a list of resources concerning Judge Barrett, including biographical information, court opinions, appellate briefs, Congressional hearings, and scholarly publications.  More information, including links to documentation for the confirmation hearings, will be posted there as it becomes available.



Happy Constitution Day!

Happy Constitution Day!

Constitution Day is observed each year on September 17 to commemorate the date on which thirty-nine delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, signed the United States Constitution in 1787. The Convention was convened as a result of dissatisfaction with the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States. In 2004, Congress changed the designation to Constitution Day and Citizenship Day, to “recognize all who, by coming of age or by naturalization, have become citizens.”

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia offers a number of educational videos, including a virtual tour of the Center’s Signers Hall. The original Constitution is held at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. but when you are in the Mendik Library (and we hope it won’t be too long before we see you there) you can pick up your own pocket-copy at the Reference desk!


Accessing Library Services During Website Migration

As you may know, the Law School recently moved to a new website. Until migration of the Library web pages has been completed, please use these links to access the Library’s resources:

Library home page
https://www.nyls.edu/academics/library

Library Catalog
https://lawlib.nyls.edu

Course Reserves
https://nylaw.bywatersolutions.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-course-reserves.pl

Electronic Resources
https://libguides.nyls.edu/electronicresources

Library Orientation Materials
https://libguides.nyls.edu/findingthelaw20

  • Bloomberg Law, Lexis+ & Westlaw Edge Registration Information
  • CALI
  • Research Skills Workshops (RSW) Registration


Research Tools

https://libguides.nyls.edu/researchtools

Please contact us if you have any questions:

Circulation 
email: circulation@nyls.edu

Reference Desk
Email: reference@nyls.edu
Chat With the Reference Desk
Log in to Microsoft Teams with your NYLS network ID, and use Microsoft Web App to connect.


Nineteenth Amendment Centennial Commemoration

As the home of the 19th Amendment, the National Archives is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Constitutional amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Visit their website to view the records that tell the story, including petitions, legislation, court cases, and more.

New York Law School has significant ties to the amendment.  Bainbridge Colby, an 1894 graduate of the law school who served as Secretary of State to President Wilson, signed the proclamation announcing the Nineteenth Amendment’s effectiveness after it had been ratified by the states. An August 27, 1920 headline in the New York Times reads: “Colby Proclaims Woman Suffrage.”


New Reserve Collection Policy

Welcome Back!  Although a number of things will be different this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Library will certainly still be supporting your learning and research efforts.  Please don’t hesitate to ask questions and let us know what you need.

In addition to reviewing our new hours, please review the new Reserve Collection policy. If you have any questions, please contact our Circulation Librarian, Elina Oyola (elina.oyola@nys.edu)


Learn Real World Legal Skills this Summer

The Practicing Law Institute, a leading provider of professional legal education, offers law students scholarships providing free access to all of PLI’s online educational programing (excluding its Patent Office Registration Exam Course). The program enables students to “quickly improve [their] skills and substantive knowledge, as well as gain a competitive edge in the job market with a better understanding of the ‘real world’ practice of law . . . [learning from] nationally known leaders in their fields on such topics as: Writing for Litigators; Trial Evidence; Trial by Jury; and Entertainment Law.”  Visit PLI’s website for additional information, www.pli.edu.  You can fill out the application for scholarships here.



Bloomberg Law for 2020 Grads

Good news—Bloomberg Law has just announced that it will provide free, unrestricted access to 2020 graduating law students through June 1, 2021. That’s six months longer than either Lexis or Westlaw!

Be sure to take advantage of what Bloomberg Law has to offer, including access to:
In Focus pages and legal news to stay on top of turbulent areas of law and legal practice
Practical Guidance and other Legal Research tools to provide support in legal practice
Company Screener and Litigation Analytics to research companies and law firms for potential employment
• A full library of on-demand training webinars


Important Notice for Students Taking Exams after May 15

New York Law School’s temporary access to casebooks, texts, and some study aids on the LexisNexis Digital Library will expire on Friday, May 15. This includes works published by Carolina Academic Press and LexisNexis. (It does NOT include works published by Aspen, Wolters Kluwer, Foundation Press or West Academic.)

We very much regret this inconvenience. We contacted representatives from both LexisNexis and Carolina Academic Press, asking for an extension. They declined our request, stating that their policies around licensing and royalties are very strict.

Thus, if you are preparing for exams using ebooks published by Carolina Academic Press or LexisNexis on the LexisNexis Digital Library, your access will terminate on May 15. However, if your exams are after that date, there are two ways that you can preserve the content you need:

Method 1: Use the LexisNexis Digital Library’s print function for the sections of the ebooks that you need. When you navigate to a chapter, you have the option of printing a section, which is the full text of that chapter. Choose “print”, and then use the “print to PDF” feature. The PDFs that you create can be saved to your computer for permanent use. Unfortunately, you cannot choose to print an entire book; you can only go section-by-section, which is chapter-by-chapter for the chapters you need. Make sure to do this before May 15.

Method 2: Ebooks you download on LexisNexis Digital’s new platform will probably remain available to you for 14 days. If you haven’t used the new platform, you can go here: https://lexisdl.com/library/nyls Our institutional code is nyls. Remember to use your NYLS network ID, not your Lexis login credentials, to use this resource. The new platform works best on the Chrome browser. You can also use the new platform on the LexisNexis Digital Library app, available for free on Google Play and the App Store. Once you have chosen “Read” for an ebook, it is automatically downloaded to your mobile device. Make sure to do this before May 15.

The publishers’ representatives could not guarantee that Method 2 would actually work.

Also, please note that the May 15 expiration affects only the group of Carolina Academic Press and LexisNexis publications that were provided to us temporarily, in response to the COVID crisis. A large collection of other useful study aids and treatises will remain available to students indefinitely on the LexisNexis Digital Library. If you’re uncertain whether the works you need are expiring, don’t hesitate to contact us at reference@nyls.edu .