Library Information

Selecting Your Courses for Next Year: Why You Should Consider Legal Research

Among the most important skills all lawyers rely upon is the ability to do legal research– to find what’s needed to to interpret and analyze legal issues. Legal research is an integral part of the “competencies” that NYLS and the ABA require of law students. Effective research skills are vital to students engaged in any type of legal writing, to those who are clerking or participating in externships, and to those entering legal practice.

To help you prepare for the realities of law practice, we offer a number of courses that build upon skills learned in the first year and will make you a more efficient, confident and successful researcher.

Legal Research: Practical Skills (1 credit)
Builds on fundamental research skills through refining students’ techniques, introducing shortcuts and new approaches, and developing effective strategies. The course focuses on finding legislation, administrative materials, and related cases; using the secondary sources relied on by practitioners; attaining greater proficiency and comfort with Lexis, Westlaw, Bloomberg BNA, and other online research tools, including reliable free and low-cost sources. We also offer this class with a focus on a particular substantive practice area, including Corporate & Business Law; Criminal Law; Family Law; Foreign and International Law; Intellectual Property Law; Labor and Employment Law; and Real Estate Law.

Legal Research: Skills for the Digital World (3 credits)
Continues to build on the fundamentals described in Legal Research: Practical Skills. Students concentrate on more advanced techniques and strategies and learn to evaluate online and print materials in order to choose the best and most cost effective source for particular projects. Some assignments are geared to students’ individual subject interests. Take-home assignments test and enhance students’ ability to perform various research tasks and strengthen their understanding of important research process and strategy considerations.

Want more information? Contact Prof. Camille Broussard or Prof. Michael Roffer

Congratulations to our Valentine’s Day Info Hunt Winners!

Thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s Valentine’s Day Info Hunt!

We want to thank ALL of you for putting your research skills to work and joining us in what we hope you all found to be a great learning experience. Here are the 22 winners drawn from our renowned Raffle Drum:

Those winners who haven’t claimed their prize, please drop by the Circulation Desk to pick it up.

Celebrating Black History Month

Did you know that NYLS’s 57 Worth Street building encompasses the site (236 Church Street) that was once home to Freedom’s Journal, the first newspaper published in the United States by and for black Americans? Founded in 1827 to provide a voice against racism and intolerance, it denounced slavery and lynchings and advocated for black suffrage. The surrounding neighborhood was once home to a large number of free northern blacks who, at that time, constituted a small minority in the city. Just steps away from 236 Church Street a plaque commemorates the site of the Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, which occupied the space from 1800-1864. The church was the first church built for and by black Americans, and had strong ties to Freedom’s Journal.

To learn more about Freedom’s Journal, seek out a copy of the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of New York Law School Magazine, which contains a more in-depth article regarding NYLS’s connection to the newspaper. You can also access a copy of the article here.

 

 

Pizza Survey Results Delivered- 2017 First Week Pizza Survey Results

For the eleventh consecutive year, the Mendik Library surveyed 1Ls during First Week about some of their digital inclinations. For the complete survey results (along with the questions) and how they compare to results over the past ten years, here.

Spoiler alert—pepperoni once again repeated as the most popular pizza topping, this time based on the preferences of 347 members of the classes of 2020/21. These students also responded to questions about:

• their preferred platforms for electronic communication;
• their usage of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Twitter, Blogs & Podcasts;

• the digital devices they owned and used, including Macs v. PCs, Smartphones, Tablets and E-Book Readers.

Here are some of the highlights:

Communication

• Email remained decidedly less preferred as a means of electronic communication, with only 19% of the class preferring it over text messaging (72%). Social media apps were the preferred means of electronic communication for just 9%.

Social Media

• For the first time in ten years, Facebook is no longer the dominant social networking platform for these students. Instagram was the choice of 36%, up from last year’s 27% figure. Only 29% of this class labeled Facebook as the social networking platform they used most often.

• Snapchat also continued to gain ground over Facebook, increasing from 15% in 2016 to 18% this year.

Preferred Devices

• Continuing the previous ten-year trend, the popularity of Mac laptops versus PC laptops increased to 73%, up from last year’s figure of 68%.

• Ownership of iPhones increased to 86% of the class, with 14% owning Android phones.

E-Books

• Students are taking advantage of e-books using a variety of devices, though the large majority (79%) have done so on a computer (desktop or laptop), nearly twice as many as those using iPads (43%) and nearly four times as many as those using Kindles (20%). Only 10% of respondents indicated they had not read or viewed any e-books.

• Perhaps most significantly, students continue to manifest an aversion to the use of e-books for classes. Asked whether they had used an e-textbook for classes, only 41% said yes, a steep decline from last year’s 58% figure.

• When those who had used an e-textbook were asked if they preferred it to a print textbook, 86% said “no,” a slight increase over last year’s 85% figure.

Pizza

• Pepperoni continues to reign supreme as students’ favorite pizza topping, pulling in 29% of the vote, up from last year’s 22% number. The only other toppings in double figures were Extra Cheese at 17% and Mushrooms at 12%.

The Haunted Halloween Info Hunt is Back!

Happy Halloween from the Mendik Library!

As an early Halloween Treat, here’s your opportunity to WIN one of more than a dozen great study aids, texts, NYLS swag, Starbucks gift cards, and many other prizes! Just answer any 3 of the 6 Haunted Halloween Info Hunt questions. Your answer doesn’t need to be perfect—just close!

Click here to access the questions.  Each slide includes just one question, along with step-by-step instructions to get you to the answer.

Print this PDF answer sheet (or pick up a copy at the Reference Desk) and drop it in our Reference Desk Raffle Drum by 3 pm on Tuesday, October 31 and then join us outside the library at 5:30 pm for some treats and the prize drawing at 5:45.

Got Food? (Or Drink?)

Did you know the Mendik Library has a very liberal food and drink policy?  To help maintain it, we need everyone’s cooperation.  Drinks are permitted only in spill-proof containers (e.g., bottles with caps, commuter mugs or tumblers with secure lids, etc.)  Spill-proof NYLS mugs are always available at the circulation desk for $5.00.

Library staff have been lenient for the first few weeks of school, but that is about to end.  Please cooperate for the benefit of everyone.  Thanks.

Balancing the Scales

Check your local PBS television listings.  Starting July 5 many public television stations will begin showing the documentary “Balancing the Scales,” a film by Georgia lawyer and filmmaker Sharon Rowen. American Public Media is distributing the film to affiliates in all the major markets, including New York, and stations will be allowed to air the film any time over the next two years.  Through interviews conducted over the past twenty-years, the documentary examines a wide range of topics from discrimination, persistent biases and work/life balance to what it takes to become a partner in today’s law firms.  The hour long film features U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred, State Supreme Court and Appellate Court Justices, female equity partners, women of color, as well as young associates and law students

ABA Ethics Opinion on Confidentiality of Electronic Documents

On May 11th, the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Formal Opinion 477, Securing Communication of Protected Client Information.  This important ethics opinion discusses confidentiality obligations relating to electronic client communications, including e-mail.  According to the ABA, an updated opinion was necessary given the evolution of the “role and risks of technology in the practice of law” and the 2012 “technology amendments” to the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

The Opinion states that if a lawyer has “undertaken reasonable efforts to prevent inadvertent or unauthorized access,” a lawyer can generally transmit client information over the Internet without violating the Model Rules.  Special security measures may be required, however, by “an agreement with the client or by law, or when the nature of the information requires a higher degree of security.”  The Opinion doesn’t define the reasonable efforts lawyers should take to comply with the Model Rules, but offers seven factors to help guide and inform decisions.

You can and should read the entire Opinion here:  ABA Comm. on Ethics & Prof’l Responsibility, Formal Op. 477 (2017).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer and Post-Graduation Use of Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis and Westlaw

Student access to Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis and Westlaw is based on New York Law School’s academic subscription plans.  Each has summer access provisions and usage policies for continuing and graduating students.

Students no longer need to contact LexisNexis and/or Westlaw to extend their passwords for use over the summer.

Bloomberg Law: Bloomberg Law offers students unlimited and unrestricted access to your Bloomberg Law accounts for any purpose over the summer. Graduating students will retain unlimited and unrestricted access to their accounts for 6 months after graduation.

LexisNexis: From April 30 to August 20, 2017, students may use their Lexis Advance password for any purpose at school or at work. LexisNexis permits graduating students to continue to use their law school LexisNexis account through December 31, 2017, and need not do anything further to do so. This access is intended to help you study for the bar, conduct your job search and become more efficient in Lexis Advance research.  Graduates engaged in verifiable 501(c)(3) public interest work may apply to the ASPIRE program, which provides 12 months of free access to federal and state cases, codes, regulations, law reviews, Shepard’s Citation Service and Matthew Bender treatises.  To apply for the ASPIRE program, visit: http://www.lexisnexis.com/grad-access/

Westlaw: Students can use Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, over the summer for non-commercial research.  Students can turn to these resources to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills, but students cannot use them in situations where they are billing a client.

For 6 months after graduation, graduates have access to Westlaw and Practical Law for 60 hours per month.  Usage is for non-commercial purposes.  It may not be used in situations where a graduate is billing a client.  In addition, graduates get access to job search databases on Westlaw and TWEN for 18 months after graduation for 1 hour a month.

For more information, visit: http://www.nyls.edu/library/for_students/summergradaccess/