BLS Entering Students: Consider the 2023 CALI Summer Challenge!

BLS entering students:

Want an early introduction to first-year legal concepts and foundational skills? 

The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (a law school consortium known as CALI) assembled a free collection of CALI Lessons for pre-law students.  Tenured law school professors or other educational experts authored these interactive lessons. 

Complete 10 lessons in line with CALI’s guidelines to fulfill the 2023 CALI Summer Challenge, gain skills to enter law school better prepared, and earn an online certificate of completion for your efforts. (The time to complete a lesson varies between 20-45 minutes.)

Visit https://www.cali.org/summerchallenge for details.  Obtain the CALI code for BLS law students (needed to register) from askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or the Need Help? chat link at https://www.brooklaw.edu/Library

Brooklyn Law School Library Fellows: We Thank You!

This past January the Library began a library school fellowship program. The fellowship program is designed to provide current library students with opportunities to perform foundational work in public services, reference, archives, and digital collections.

The Brooklyn Law School Fellows this year were Hannah Freeman of Pratt’s School of Information and Grace Wagner Wilson of Long Island University’s Palmer School of Library & Information Science. Hannah and Grace provided invaluable service to the library assisting patrons at the circulation desk and working on special projects. Both Hannah and Grace worked in the archives, which was recently hastily moved to a new space because of a flood. As a result, the collection was in disarray. They restored the library’s archival collection to its original order, making it easily accessible to researchers. In addition, Hannah worked on preserving fragile archival materials and identified future steps the Library can make to ensure the collection is preserved. Lastly, Hannah created a digital collection on the Internet Archives of the law school’s yearbooks. Grace, who previously practiced trusts and estates law, created a detailed research guide on wills, trusts, and estates for Brooklyn Law School students and faculty. The guide identifies casebooks, study aids, treatises, news sources, key primary sources and student writing competitions on wills, trusts and estate law. We thank them both for all their help and are looking forward to continuing this program in September.

Summer & Graduate Access To Westlaw, Lexis, & Bloomberg

Congratulations, you made it!  You finished finals, and we, at the Library, hope you are looking forward to your summer employment. This summer, if you need to use Westlaw, Lexis or Bloomberg, you can! Summer access to these platforms is automatic and you can use them for both schoolwork and your summer employment. *There is a caveat for Westlaw. You cannot use Westlaw 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

Graduate Access

Graduates have extended access to these platforms for a limited time. You can access Bloomberg Law six months after graduation. As for Lexis, the Graduate Program gives extended access to Lexis+ to spring graduates via their law school IDs through December 31, 2023. This grants them access to the Graduate Home Page and gives them a graduation gift.  The transition from a regular law school ID to a graduate ID happens on July 10, 2023. Lastly, because Brooklyn Law School participates in Westlaw’s Grad Elite program, you have access to Westlaw for 18 months after graduation.  Listed below are details for how to register for the program and what is included in it. 

Westlaw’s Grad Elite Program Details:

You can use Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for 18-months after graduation. Your “Grad Elite” access gives you 60-hours of usage per month, with no restrictions against using them for professional purposes.

These tools include:

  • Westlaw
  • Practical Law
  • Practical Law Connect
  • Drafting Assistant Essential
  • Doc and Form Builder
  • ProView
  • West LegalEdCenter -one-year, no CLE
  • Knowledge Center eLearnings and Tutorials

YOU MUST OPT IN TO THE GRAD ELITE PROGRAM:

1) Go to www.lawschool.tr.com; Log in; Use the drop-down menu by your name to go to Grad Elite Status

2) Or Click on this link:  https://lawschool.westlaw.com/authentication/gradelite


One final resource that recent grads should also check out is the library’s Affordable Legal Resources research guide.

New for you: Casebooks, Study Aids & Guides for Law School Courses & Bar Exams

This new resource highlights current editions of BLS Library’s casebooks, study aids and guides for law school courses and bar exams.  It describes sources on: Doing Well & Being Well; Preparing for Law School Exams & Bar Exams; Administrative Law; Civil Practice & Procedure; Conflict of Laws; Constitutional Law; Contracts; Corporations & Other Business Associations; Criminal Law & Procedure; Evidence; Family Law; Professional Responsibility; Property; Sales; Secured Transactions; Torts; & Wills, Trusts & Estates.  Sources are categorized by type and are listed “newest to oldest.” The home screen also includes BLS Library’s hours of access for BLS students.

TIPS: Our librarians continue to develop this research guide and Brooklyn Law School Library’s collection. When you access this guide in future, please reload the web page. If you need help accessing e-resources like CALI casebooks/exercises or study aids in the Understanding and Q&A series, please email us at askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or text us at 718-734-2432.

Current editions of print casebooks adopted by BLS faculty and many print study aids are in BLS Library’s first-floor Reserve collection.  Students can request these sources at BLS Library’s first-floor Circulation desk.  These sources circulate for two hours.  Many sources in BLS Library’s Cellar-level Main collection circulate for the semester.  

Good luck completing end-of-term work and preparing for exams!

Researching & Writing on Animal Law?

Visit BLS Library’s new research guide

Sully, companion cat to a BLS Library staff member

Seeking sources about how to write a paper for a course like Animal Law?

Visit opening page: Academic Legal Writing

Links to the Fall 2022 BLS Seminar Paper Workshop Video conducted by Associate Librarian/Adjunct Professor Kathy Darvil and Visiting Assistant Professor of Legal Writing Diana Hortsch. Highlights sources on scholarly legal writing and copies of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation available in BLS Library’s Reserve collection.

Looking for overviews of current issues to help you choose a paper topic?

Visit pages: Overviews & Starting Points + Current Awareness

Animal Legal & Historical Center, Michigan State University College of Law provides 90+ Topical Introductions ranging from companion animal issues to wildlife issues. Publication dates vary.

Brooks U (of Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law and Policy, Inc.) offers Animal Law Fundamentals, a developing collection of current videos and related scholarly papers on:

  • Animals as Property, Quasi-Property or Quasi-Person 
  • Cutting Edge Issues in 21st Century Animal Food Product Labeling 
  • Laboratory Animal Law in the United States: Past, Present and Future 
  • Standing to Protect and Advocate for Animals
  • Wildlife: Related Acts and State Management Issues
  • The Critical Role of States in Farm Animal Confinement and Sales Laws

Brooks Institute and Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School also produce Brooks Animal Law Digest. The two available editions focus on the U.S. and Canada. Digest articles update researchers on key animal law/policy issues and link to the text of pending bills, proposed regulations, case complaints, new studies and many other sources. Review recent issues or click: “View Full Archive” to search an edition of this Digest.

Wishing you could “ask an expert” or could learn more about a hot topic in animal law?

Visit page: Events

Highlights upcoming programs like:

  • March 3, 2023: Wildlife health: what is at stake? (organizer: World Organisation for Animal Health) World Wildlife Day 2023 webinar, registration required. Focus: need for wildlife conservation, current threats to wild animal species.
  • March 9, 2023: Global Animal Law Research (organizer: International Legal Research Interest Group, American Society of International Law) Online, free advance registration required.
  • March 10, 2023: Animal Law Review Symposium (host: Animal Law Review, Lewis & Clark Law School) Primarily virtual. Focus: issues re. legal protection of horses.
  • March 16, 2023: Animal Rescue Law Update ($) (host: New York County Lawyers Association) Online. Focus includes: New York animal law issues. NYCLA allows employees in the public sector, attorneys who can establish financial hardship and unemployed attorneys to apply for tuition assistance to attend its programs. Apply at least one week prior to the program’s date.
  • March 24, 2023: Animals and the Anthropocene: A Legal Scholarship Symposium (co-hosts:  Animal Legal Education Initiative, GW Law, GW Law Environmental and Energy Law Program & GW Law chapter of the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund) Website states: “Open to everyone.” Primarily in person w/ limited option to attend remotely.

Tip for law students: Organizations often allow students to attend fee-based programs without charge. Ask!

Needing scholarly legal articles that provide in-depth analysis?

Visit page: Articles

HIghlights useful starting points such as Animal Law Commons and Animal Law eJournal.

Hoping to compare animal protection/welfare laws in different jurisdictions? Seeking model animal protection provisions?

Visit page: Laws

Links to U.S.-focused and globally-focused databases/collections of laws. Notes that ALDF recently published its 2022 U.S. State Animal Protection Laws Rankings Report.

Desiring collections of animal law cases and case-finding tools?

Visit page: Cases

Searching for information about legal careers protecting animals?

Visit page: Careers

Provides information about this free hybrid program on March 8, 2023: Randall Abate, Assistant Dean for Environmental Law Studies at GW Law, Careers in Animal Law (host: DePaul Center for Animal Law). Links to a summary of the New York Courtroom Animal Advocate Program (CAAP) bill written by Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and a form for those who wish to encourage state representatives to champion this bill. Highlights attorney Stacey Evans’ recent article: Pursuing Pet Health Equity: A Lawyer’s Passion for Pets Prompts Career Switch, 108 A.B.A. J. 28 (2022). (Available through BLS subscription database HeinOnline. Off-campus use requires implementation of the BLS Proxy Server Instructions.) Directs researchers to videos on animal law careers provided by ALDF and Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law & Policy Program. Notes that BLS students also can search BLSConnect for material provided by the Career Development Center.

Wanting help to identify material to support your animal law research? 

Email: askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or text: (718) 734-2432

Preparing for Remote Work During the BLS Winter Recess  

If you need to conduct remote research during the BLS Winter Recess (Dec. 23–Jan. 3), these are our suggestions:

  • NOW is the time to email askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or to text (718) 734-2432 and state: “My [professor/journal editor] encouraged me to find additional articles and treatises to support [assertion X].  Can you help me?”  A reference librarian can recommend searches in our SARA library catalog to find e/books and “advanced searches” in our OneSearch discovery platform to find articles.
  • NOW is the time to implement the BLS proxy server instructions for off-campus access to many ebooks, ejournals and databases.  Prior to Winter Recess, you can still troubleshoot implementation problems with our library tech staff, accessible through: library.lab@brooklaw.edu  Librarians recommend either the Firefox (Mac) Proxy Instructions or the Firefox (Windows) Proxy Instructions. 
  • Check out needed print sources in BLS Library by Dec. 22.
  • If you find cites to articles or books unavailable through BLS Library, as of Dec. 15, 2022, you still have time to place requests for scans of articles and book chapters through the BLS interlibrary loan process. 
    • To place an ILL request, access SARA library catalog and click tab: ILL, enter your BLS username [format: firstname.lastname] & password, then click: Create Request. 
      • Fill out the appropriate template: Article, Book or Other (choose Other to request a scan of a single book chapter).
    • Feel free to email askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or to text (718) 734-2432 to learn more about making an ILL request. 
    • If you place an ILL request, please monitor both your BLS “In” box and “Clutter” folder for replies from lenders. 
    • Note: ILL requests will not be processed from Dec. 23-Jan. 3. 
  • For further information, BLS patrons can access the Canvas page: Librarians’ Research Presentations > under heading: Materials from Librarians’ “Alcove Academy” Presentations, click: PowerPoint: “Effective Remote Research.”

We hope our tips will improve your research during Winter Break.  Remember: Right now, we are here to help! 

New: Campus-Wide Access to WashingtonPost.com

In response to patron requests, BLS Library now provides campus-wide access to WashingtonPost.com for students, faculty and administrators. 

WashingtonPost.com includes: expert reporting and analysis from Washington, D.C. and locations around the world; editorial commentary; real-time Q&A Discussions (offering “behind the scenes” views of key stories); and live-streaming of Washington Post Live events (featuring “top-level government and business leaders, emerging voices and newsmakers discuss[ing] the most pressing national and global issues of the day”).

Q: How can I access WashingtonPost.com?

A: Visit WashingtonPost.com while connected to Brooklyn Law School’s wireless network (bls-secure), while using computers in BLS Library’s computer labs, or while off campus using a web browser that communicates with the BLS proxy server.

Q: Where are Brooklyn Law School’s proxy server instructions to access WashingtonPost.com from off campus?

A: Click here to access BLS proxy server instructions for various web browsers.  Many patrons have reported that Firefox browser works well to provide off-campus access to BLS databases.  After implementing the proxy instructions for one web browser, close/reopen the browser.  You should now see a prompt requesting your BLS username/password.  If you have trouble implementing the BLS proxy server instructions, email: library.lab@brooklaw.edu for initial help.

Q: Can I print an article from WashingtonPost.com?

A: Yes.  Use your web browser’s “print” function.  The printout might not display the article’s complete URL.  We recommend copying a WashingtonPost.com article’s URL from the website if you plan to include this URL in a citation.  A member of The Washington Post’s Enterprise Client Success team told us that “URLs for our original content will be permalinks.”

Q: Can I create a personal WashingtonPost.com account?

A: Yes. Use your BLS email address to create a personal WashingtonPost.com account.  Below is a summary of the instructions to create a personal account.

Visit: WashingtonPost.com

Click: Sign In in the upper right-hand corner.

Click: Sign up link (near the bottom of the screen next to: “Need an account?”) to register a new account.  Enter your BLS email address and choose a password.  Click: Create account.

Once you have been redirected to the home page, click on your name in the upper right-hand corner.

This will result in the menu being displayed.  Click: Account Settings.

Make sure your email address is Verified – if not, click “Unverified” to be sent a verification email.

Click on the My subscriptions tab.  Click: Activate free digital access.

Your subscription should now be active.

Finding Casebooks & Study Aids in BLS Library

Questions & Answers, Torts
by Prof. Anita Bernstein

In its first-floor Reserve collection, BLS Library provides current editions of casebooks/textbooks that are required for classes.  There also are current editions of many treatises, hornbooks and other study aids in the Reserve collection.  Note: Study aids are only supplements to required course readings.  These print books circulate for two hours.  You can search for a specific source by title, author or keywords in SARA catalog.  Feel free to email askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu or to text (718) 734-2432 if you have questions about finding or accessing specific sources.

BLS Library’s guide 1L Resources, Tips and Tools highlights 1L casebooks and study aids available through BLS Library in both print and digital formats.  The top-level guide tab: 1L Course Study Aids provides a pull-down menu of subjects.  Click a subject, like: Civil Procedure.  There are “quick links” to boxes highlighting:

  • Selected CALI Lessons (online lessons on specific legal topics created by law professors/librarians – these lessons include review questions)
  • Casebooks
  • Treatises & Hornbooks
  • Study Aids Containing Multiple-Choice Questions
  • Additional Study Aids

In the 1L guide, sources in a box appear in reverse chronological order (“newest first”).  Guide pages also include a search feature (top right).  Recently, vendor EBSCO began supporting BLS Library’s desire to circulate Reserve copies of ebooks for two hours.  So, EBSCO ebooks like Mastering Multiple Choice for Federal Civil Procedure and A Short & Happy Guide to Torts circulate for two hours.  BLS Library’s e-copies of study aids in the Q&A, Understanding and Gilbert Law Summaries series (available through Lexis Digital Library) circulate for three days. 

Additionally, the 1L guide identifies print sources and online tools to support legal research and writing.  Top-level guide tab: Research, Writing & Citation provides a pull-down menu of resource pages on:

  • Legal Research
  • Legal Writing & Analysis
  • Legal Citation

Please reload the 1L guide’s web page when you visit this guide – BLS Library frequently adds new sources.  Reference librarians are happy to help you identify BLS Library’s sources!   

Study Rooms – Now You Can Use a QR Code to Check in and Out!

Several BLS students requested that the library reconsider its policy of locked study rooms during the regular (non-exam) part of the semester.  We heard you!  In response to your requests, the library will not lock study rooms during the regular semester. 

It is important for the library to continue tracking study room usage, however, as the law school regularly reevaluates the library’s space requirements.  As a result, to ensure that the library continues to meet student demand for study room space, students will now use QR codes to check in and out of study rooms.

We’re glad you asked!  Here is how it works in four easy steps:

STEP ONE: Make your study room reservation HERE, just as you always have.

STEP TWO: After making your reservation, you will receive a confirmation email that looks like this:

STEP THREE: Before you enter your study room, you must check in:

1. Scan the QR code posted on your study room door or click this link.

2. You will be directed here:

3. Now click Check In and you will be directed here:

4. Enter the unique reservation code provided in your confirmation email.  You are now checked in!

STEP FOUR: At the end of your study room reservation, you must check out:

1. Once again, scan the QR code posted on your study room door, or click this link.

2. You will be directed here:

3. Now click Check Out and you will be directed here:

4. Once again, enter the reservation code provided in your confirmation email.  You are now checked out!

Please make sure you follow these 4 easy steps.  If students regularly use study rooms without making reservations, or if students fail to check in and out of study rooms, the library may reconsider locking study room doors during the regular semester.

Contact the Reference Desk at askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu.

Need to find and research a paper or presentation topic? BLS librarians (and their guides) can help!

BLS librarians have created 40+ publicly-accessible legal research guides. Tips: A BLS student can email askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu, text (718) 734-2432 or chat with us for help determining whether there is a guide to support research on a specific topic. Off-campus use of many subscription databases described in BLS research guides requires implementation of the BLS proxy server instructions.

Also, your librarians serve as liaisons to the BLS full-time faculty–we can tell you which librarian works most closely with a particular professor. A librarian liaison might have created research links in the Canvas page for a paper-writing course or other material to support students’ research. Note: BLS librarians can highlight resources to support any type of law student paper, article or presentation.

A useful starting point for many types of paper research is the guide: Selecting & Developing Your Seminar Paper Topic. This guide’s home page includes videos on: selecting/researching a topic; developing a thesis for a seminar paper topic; and avoiding plagiarism. Guide tab: Selecting a Topic links to: indexes of legal blogs; legal news sources; and selected legal journals and newsletters. All of these sources highlight new and developing legal topics. Guide tab: Developing an Argument through Commentary links to both full-text sources of articles and indexes of articles. Guide tab: Developing an Argument through Grey Literature includes sources to find material published by think tanks, NGOs and interested organizations.

Moreover, there are BLS guides to international law research. The broadest two guides are: Paper Topic Selection: International (highlights news/legal news sources) and Paper Topic Development: International (highlights sources of articles and primary law). If you need to find a topic for a “Rule of Law/Law of War” seminar, you could access the Paper Topic Selection guide > tab: Pull-down Menu of News: Specific Topics and choose sub-tab: Law of War. The English Legal Sources guide includes links to newly available resources in Westlaw Edge UK.

Additionally, there are many subject-focused BLS research guides. If you need to develop a topic in the “Art Law” seminar, the Art Law guide > tab: Other Resources links to websites of organizations and the searchable ArThemis database of news/case notes on art and cultural property disputes. If you need to conduct research for the “Topics in White Collar Crime” seminar, you could link to many resources through guide: White Collar Crime Research. If you are writing in the “Civil Practice Workshop,” the New York Civil Practice guide might be helpful. (This is a guide BLS librarians like to highlight to all BLS students who might wish to become litigators.) If you are writing on a tax topic, see: Federal Tax Research Guide and International Tax Research Guide. These guides include instructions to access BLS subscription databases to support tax research.

COMING IN EARLY OCTOBER: A presentation for students on selecting a paper topic and avoiding plagiarism. We will provide the date/time soon!