Research

Learn to Use BNA Online for Legal Research

BNA, a leading legal publisher used extensively by practicing attorneys, can be a valuable component in your legal research toolbox.  Don’t miss these opportunities to learn how to use it effectively. No preregistration is required for any of the 45-minute sessions.

Legal Research Using BNA

Students will learn how to conduct legal research using BNA online resources. Using BNA’s current awareness services, students will learn how to recognize emerging legal trends, locate paper topics, and sign up for e-mail alerts in subject areas of interest. Using BNA’s online Web libraries, students will gain an in-depth exposure to specific sources such as tax, labor and employment law, and intellectual property law, and will gain an understanding of how to use these secondary sources of law to conduct comprehensive legal research.

Friday September 23rd at 11:00 am – 11:45 am
Tuesday September 27th at 11:00 am – 11:45 am
Room L206

Federal Tax Research with BNA Tax Management Portfolios

Participants will learn how to use BNA’s Tax and Accounting Center (BTAC) — an all-in-one resource—to get the complete answer to any federal tax question quickly.  Learn how to use a variety of search methods, including code section or word searching, and how to use BNA’s topical indexes. The Tax and Accounting Center fully integrates all BNA Federal Tax Management Portfolios— US Income, Estate Gifts & Trusts, Foreign — as well as news and analysis in the Tax Management Weekly Report and primary sources.

Friday September 23rd at 12 noon – 12:45 pm
Tuesday September 27th at 12:00 noon – 12:45 pm
Room L206

 

Free Federal Rules Ebooks

Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute (LII), in partnership with the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI), now offers free electronic versions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Evidence.  These electronic files become ebooks when viewed on a Kindle, Nook, iPad, iPhone, or any other device that supports .epub or .mobi files.

The federal rules ebooks include the text of the rules and the Advisory Committee notes.  They support handy electronic features such as internal hyperlinks and external links to the LII website’s version of the US Code.

To download these ebooks, visit http://elangdell.cali.org/content/federal-rules-ebooks-legal-information-institute.  You’ll find links and complete tech help instructions on that site.

 

Expand your Research Toolbox

As you begin a research project, remember to take advantage of one of our most valuable electronic resources, HeinOnline.  Although best known for its Law Journal Library, a PDF-based collection of more than 1,400 law review/journal titles (in most cases beginning with the first issue of each), HeinOnline also offers archival libraries of federal and state primary law (including the CFR, the Federal Register, and the Statutes at Large), federal legislative histories, U.S. treaties, foreign and international law sources, and classic American law treatises. Each library is full-text searchable, and search results are PDF files that can be printed and downloaded.

The Challenge is On!

Join us next Wednesday June 29 (and on any or all of the following Wednesdays through July 20), for the Mendik Library’s 2011 Summer Research Challenge! Hone your research skills and have some fun (and snacks) at the same time. Get all the details here.

Loislaw in Transition

Wolters Kluwer, the company that produces the Loislaw service for computer assisted legal research, has advised us of their intention to discontinue their program of free Loislaw access for law students, effective in June of 2011. Wolters Kluwer is developing an enhanced Loislaw product for law schools, and we in the Library will be reviewing this product when details are finalized.

In the meantime, NYLS students with registered Loislaw accounts will find that their accounts no longer provide research access in June. Loislaw had been an electronic legal research alternative during the summer, when Lexis and Westlaw student passwords are restricted. This will no longer be true. For details regarding summer password extensions and other summer research options, please click here:

http://www.nyls.edu/library/for_students/extend_passwords

New York Law Journal (and other ALM Publications) Moved to Lexis

As of May 1, 2011, you can no longer find the New York Law Journal, the National Law Journal, the American Lawyer, or any other ALM (American Lawyer Media) publication on Westlaw.  Lexis has become the exclusive online provider for ALM publications (with the exception of ALM itself, which provides direct online access via subscription).

If you are looking only for the New York Law Journal, the best way to access it from the main directory page is States Legal – U.S. >> New York >> Search News >> New York Law Journal.  If you’re looking for content in other ALM publications, go to Secondary Legal on the main directory page and click the link for ALM.

Coverage for the New York Law Journal begins as of August 1, 1991. (We have full coverage in microfilm back to March 26, 1888.)  Lexis coverage for the National Law Journal begins as of January 3, 1983.  Coverage for other publications varies.

One caveat to keep in mind, courtesy of New York Times Co. v. Tasini, 533 U.S. 483 (2001):  Access to certain freelance articles and other features (e.g., photographs, classifieds, etc…) may not be available.

Please Help Us Serve You Better

Earlier this week, NYLS students received an email message from Camille Broussard asking for your participation in a short nation-wide survey on how law students research and why they choose the research methodologies they do.  If you have not done so already, the Library would appreciate your taking the few minutes to complete the 12-question survey.  The results are all anonymous but the researchers will be able to send us a summary of the NYLS responses.  This information will be very helpful in how we plan our services, courses and workshops.

You can take the survey here.

Preparing for Your Summer Employment

Just a reminder that this coming Friday April 8, you can take your research skills up a notch (or two) by attending the annual Bridge the Gap Program, which this year is being held right here at NYLS.  Registration has been extended until Friday and you can register at the door for no extra cost.  All the details, including registration information and the schedule of sessions, are available here.

The program will enhance your research skills in a number of specific practice areas and it concludes with a panel discussion among a variety of law practitioners.  Panel members will describe the typical expectations for summer law student employees, and offer advice on how to be successful in a summer law job.

Have You Tried Loislaw Yet?

Loislaw is a comprehensive, user-friendly, low-cost electronic legal research service.  It offers access to a wide range of primary and secondary materials for federal as well as all fifty state jurisdictions.  Secondary sources and bar association materials are somewhat limited in the law school edition.  Loislaw also offers an electronic clip service, a citator (GlobalCite), and a variety of productivity features and services. 

Once students register for Loislaw, they have access throughout their law school program.  Service continues through summers and there is no restriction on use.  Best of all, it’s available free to law students for 6 months following graduation.  If you’d like help with Loislaw, stop by the Reference Desk or contact The Loislaw Support Group at 1-800-364-2512.

To sign up for Loislaw you need to get New York Law School’s code for registration.  Once you have the code follow the instructions for registration found here.  Look for the New to Loislawschool.com link.

New Look for Lexis

Lexis has just introduced a brand new interface. The change in look is not dramatic and after a few uses, you should feel right at home. The new design lets users experience the enhanced features at their own pace.  To oversimplify, the gray background has become white and the top tool bar has moved over to the right side. The “Related Content” section in the left frame of the search results screen has case background information, related secondary source links, and tools to allow one to move easily around and within documents.  Lexis has also introduced Lexis for Microsoft Office, a productivity tool that automates certain Lexis research tasks and frees users from having to leave a Word document or Outlook message to sign onto Lexis.  It is now available on all Mendik Library computers and you can download it to your laptop or home computer (including Macs).