Summer Bar Study for May 2007 Graduates

In making your plans to prepare for the July Bar Exam, remember to plan for where you will be doing your studying. Most NYLS students will use the study spaces in our Library, and for these students the planning is simple. All summer long, our Library will provide ample study spaces that are quiet, air-conditioned, and open every day, including evenings and weekends.

But other students will find it more convenient to study elsewhere, for any number of reasons. This may be especially true for students who are enrolled in Bar review courses held at other law schools. These students may find it convenient to study in the other school’s library, before or after the review sessions.

Many students are under the impression that NYLS Library can arrange free access to other law schools’ libraries for Bar Exam study. Please take heed that this is not the case. Our Library’s reciprocal access arrangements with other schools extend to students, not to graduates. And by the time you are studying for the Bar, you will no longer be a student, but rather a NYLS graduate. If you wish to use another law school’s library for Bar study, you must make arrangements directly with the other library. Most local law school libraries charge other schools’ graduates for a Bar study pass, and several sell only a limited number of passes. Thus, if securing a study seat in another law school’s library is important to you, you must plan ahead. In town, the schools that host Bar review courses are Brooklyn Law, Fordham and NYU. Among these schools, so far only Fordham has announced a Bar access policy for this summer. Fordham’s policy is set out at its Website, http://law.fordham.edu. (Click on “Library Access & Hours.”) Brooklyn Law and NYU have promised to inform us of their policies as soon as they have decided upon them.

Most schools set their Bar access policies as the study season approaches, in April or May. We in the Library do our best to keep track of all local schools’ policies, but we are not always given the most current information. If you have a particular library in mind, your best bet is to visit their Website, or phone them — the earlier, the better. Of course, NYLS Library’s Reference librarians can help you contact other libraries, and we will pass along any policy information that we have received. You may call us at 212-431-2332, e-mail reference@nyls.edu, or IM to AOL id “nylslib”.

Categories: Bar

Anglo-American Legal Tradition Project Launches Website

Via Spencer L. Simons, Director of the Law Library and Assistant Professor of Law University of Houston Law Center: "The Quinn Law Library at the University of Houston Law Center is proud to announce the inauguration of the extraordinary new website, the Anglo-American Legal Tradition (AALT). The AALT is the result of over fifteen years of negotiation with the National Archives of the United Kingdom by Robert C. Palmer, Cullen Professor of History and Law at the University of Houston. The license with the National Archives permits the free, non-commercial, public display and use of the images captured by Professor Palmer’s ongoing project to acquire images of the main categories of court records over almost four centuries (c.1272 – 1650); at this point, some 450,000 images have been acquired. Access to these documents was previously possible only through use of the original documents at the National Archives itself…In order to facilitate use of these ancient documents Professor Palmer has supplied guides to paleography and overviews of English legal history, as well as links to other websites of interest to legal historians. The AALT will continue to add images from the National Archives, as well as collections of historical documents from other court systems in the Anglo-American legal world." (source: beSpacific.com)

Supreme Court Documentary Airs Beginning January 31

The Supreme Court, a four-part documentary series featuring exclusive interviews with Chief Justice John Roberts and retired Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, begins airing on PBS January 31. The series explores the role of the court throughout American History.  A full broadcast schedule is available here.

Stay on Top of the NY Legal Scene

Stay on top of the NY legal scene with a free subscription to the NYLawyer.com’s Daily Buzz email newsletter. The Daily Buzz provides links to the full text of a variety of NYLawyer.com features, including an advice column covering topics such as finding a new law firm job, career crossroads, and balancing professional and personal lives. It also includes News Watch, offering the latest stories about salaries, law firms and prominent New York lawyers.

Bar Study Room: Reminder

We’re posting new signs in the Bar Study Room, rm. 1417 on the 14th floor, reminding our users of its special purpose. This room has  been designated as a quiet enclave for NYLS graduates who are  studying for the upcoming Bar Exam. Students are asked to yield  seats in this room to Bar studiers, and all users of the room are  admonished to maintain the strictest silence. Our graduates’ special  need for quiet study space at this time should be obvious to all.  The New York Bar Exam will be administered on February 27 and 28.  After this date, the room will revert to an ordinary quiet study
space for all students.

1L Registration for Mandatory CALR II

Mandatory CALR training for first year students will be offered in the Mendik Library’s Lexis Training Room (7th Floor of 40 Worth Street / Room 716) from Wednesday, January 17th through Monday, February 12th, 2007. As with the previous CALR I class, CALR II is a requirement and failure to attend a session between the above listed dates will result in a lowering of your Written & Oral Advocacy grade.

Fifty-four CALR II sessions are being offered. Each session is 90 minutes long. Each session is limited to 12 students and you must sign up in advance and in person for the session you plan to attend. Sessions will be cancelled if no one signs up to attend.

In order to sign up for a CALR II session go to the Mendik Library on the 4th Floor of 40 Worth Street. At the Reference / Circulation Desk you will find a black binder containing the sign-up sheets.

New Supreme Court Resource

The Supreme Court Times provides ongoing coverage of the Supreme Court’s docket, including blog commentary and online access to documents (docket sheets, cert petitions, briefs, argument transcripts).  It also provides a collection of links to other valuable Supreme court resources.