Category Archives: BLS Students

Looking for a Reliable Source of Global Legal News? Try the Law Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor

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The Law Library of Congress produces many excellent legal research tools – including the Guide to Law Online.  The Guide to Law Online provides links for web-based sources of federal law http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/federal.php, state law http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/states.php, and for the laws of hundreds of foreign countries http://www.loc.gov/law/help/guide/nations.php.

Another great Law Library of Congress research tool is the Global Legal Monitor http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/?loclr=bloglaw.  The Global Legal Monitor offers coverage of legal news and developments worldwide.  Global Legal Monitor is produced by a team of Law Library of Congress editors, it is updated frequently, and its content is drawn from news stories found in official national legal publications and reliable press sources. Browse news stories from the Global Legal Monitor homepage or search for older news stories by text, topic, jurisdiction, author, or date.

National Pro Bono Week Oct. 25 – Oct. 31

Pro Bono Celebration Week, sponsored by the American Bar Association Standing Committee Volunteering-SVGon Pro Bono and Public Service, is a national event that takes place every year in late October with events all over the country.  It is an opportunity to spotlight the difference lawyers can make in their communities, to recruit and train more pro bono volunteers and to acknowledge the partnerships that form the basis for many successful pro bono efforts.

Although national in breadth, the Celebration provides an opportunity for local legal associations across the country to take the next step in their efforts to provide high quality legal services to those living on the social margins.

The need for legal services among the poor is overwhelming. According to an American Bar Association study, at least 40% of low and moderate-income households experience a legal problem each year. Yet studies show that the collective civil legal aid effort is meeting only about 20% of the legal needs of low-income people.

Interested in volunteering and want to find out more about what opportunities are available?  Check out the NYS Pro Bono Opportunities Guide.  The Guide is a database of organizations that lawyers, law students and paralegals can search in order to find volunteer opportunities.

The New York State Pro Bono Opportunities Guide is a joint project of The City Bar Justice Center, the New York State Bar Association, Pro Bono Net and Volunteers of Legal Service.

 

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Research & Citation Review Workshops

In anticipation of the first year Research and Citation Quiz, the Library will offer two review workshops.

180px-The_Bluebook_18th_ed_CoverThe workshop on Bluebooking with Success will be offered twice; you may attend either session.  Please bring your Bluebook!

Tuesday, October 20, 2015, 4:00pm – 5:00pm, Room 601

Thursday, October 22, 2015, 5:00pm – 6:00pm, Room 503

 

ContentImage-6275-95126-shutterstock_108141146You may bring your research questions to this Question & Answer Workshop.  We will also go over some sample quiz questions.

Monday, October 26, 2015, 5:00pm – 6:00pm, 7th floor Moot Court Room

 

Looking forward to seeing you at these timely and helpful research & citation review sessions.

BLS Library Databases Research Fair: September 29, 2015

computer_&_booksThe Fourth Annual Library Databases Research Fair will be held on Tuesday, September 29, 2015.  The Fair will be held in the Student Lounge from 3:00pm to 6:00pm.  Representatives from the following legal research companies will be here to demonstrate their databases:

 

  • Bloomberg Law
  • Ebscto
  • Fastcase
  • Gale
  • Hein Online
  • Lexis
  • ProQuest
  • Westlaw
  • Wolters Kluwer

Come and learn how these databases will help you with your legal research.  There will be handouts, light refreshments, and a raffle drawing for prizes including gift cards and gift bags.

Save the date:  Tuesday, September 29th, 3:00pm – 6:00pm, Student Lounge.

 

New Library Food Policy

With the beginning of the Fall 2015 semester, the Library has adopted a new food policy.  Students may now have “light snacks” in the Library.  Light snacks, such as food generally dispensed in vending machines:  candy, cookies, chips, pretzels, donuts, bagels, etc., are now permitted.  In other words, packaged foods which can be easily eaten dry and with the hands.

No plates or bowls of food which require utensils; no fast food such as pizza, burgers, hot dogs, chicken, etc.  No greasy, aromatic, noisy food which may disturb others.

The Library reserves the right to determine which food items are acceptable and which are not appropriate for Library consumption.

messYour cooperation is appreciated!

Welcome Back from Vacation!

Welcome-Back-to-school-1

The BLS Library staff sends a warm welcome to both old and new students to the 2015 fall semester at Brooklyn Law School.   Here at the Library we hope to help you make it a successful and productive one.

 

Attention all New Students – Check out the Library  Research Guide – 1L Resources, Tips and Tools.   This guide covers first year law school basics and will familiarize you with the Library and its many resources.

Chat – Have a question and you are not near the Library?  Contact a reference librarian (when he or chatshe is on duty) at the reference desk.  Library Chat may be accessed via the Library’s webpage or the Library page at BLS Connect.

Library Hours for  September

Student-HourMon – Thurs            8:00 am – Midnight

Fridays                    8:00 am – 10:00 pm

Saturdays               9:00 am – 10:00 pm

Sundays                 10:00 am – Midnight

Labor Day  Monday Sept  7                         9:00 am – 10:00 pm

Rosh Hashanah Mon. Sept 14                    9:00 am – 10:00 pm

Yom Kippur  Wed. Sept 23                          9:00 am – 10:00 pm

 

Brooklyn Law at CALIcon 2015

imageOn Thursday, June 18 at CALIcon 2015 held at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, one of the opening sessions was called Incorporating Technology, Business Development and Marketing in the Law School Curriculum. The session by Brooklyn Law School Reference Librarian Harold O’Grady and Brooklyn Law School Technology Educator Lloyd Carew-Reid examined how law schools are now incorporating technology, business development and marketing in the law school curriculum. Using Google Hangouts, Harold and Lloyd were joined by Brooklyn Law School Professor Jonathan Askin and MIT’s Danza Greenwood to discuss their ABA-MIT Online Legal Appathon which took place at the ABA Tech Show 2015 in April.

Three BLS students participated remotely in the session: Alex Goldman, Class of 2014, Patrick Mock, Class of 2017 and Paula Collins, Class of 2017. Alex discussed his project on Technical Standards for Warrant Canaries. Patrick and Paula talked about their awards at the second annual Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship (CUBE) Innovators Competition held in April 2015. Patrick won 1st Prize for his proposal, Buoy, which addresses the problem of student loan debt by incorporating a crowdfunding model into a student loan service. Paula won 3rd prize for her FLIC (Film Legal Information Center) app, which would deliver a virtual law practice, direct client services, and business/entrepreneurial services to a community of Indie film artists in Brooklyn and surrounding areas.

A video of the hour-long session is available on YouTube at this link.

Being in the Know

While working at your summer job or internship, it is important to stay up to date on legal developments and current events. One way to do this is to monitor legal news by using an RSS feed. If you have never set up an RSS feed, watch this easy to follow video demonstrating how to do so. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU (Note: this video refers to Google Reader, which is no longer in service.)

As the video describes, you need to complete two steps to create an RSS feed. First, you need to sign on to a reader, which is a website where you view the latest news from your favorite sources. The second step is to set up a connection between your reader and your favorite legal news providers. You do this by subscribing to legal news sites or legal blogs.

Listed below are a few free RSS readers, and a few popular and reliable legal news sources.

RSS Readers

Feedly (Web/iOS/Andriod): Great looking design and easy to use interface.

Reedah (Web): Simple minimalist design. Good feed for beginners.

Comma Feed (Web): Designed to be superfast

FeedBooster (Web): Site is ad-free and can sort feeds in multiple ways

Legal News Providers

Law360: Very current coverage of law. Browse news by practice area or jurisdiction. Need to implement proxy instructions for off-campus access.

New York Law Journal: Covers New York legal developments. It is the go to source for attorneys practicing in New York. Browse news by practice area. Also publishes decisions from New York State and Federal Courts. Need username and password to access some articles. Contact refdesk@brooklaw.edu for credentials.

Jurist Law: Free source supported by the University of Pittsburgh, School of Law. Very current, real time coverage or U.S. and World Legal News.

BNA Law Reports: Available via Bloomberg Law. BNA publishes law reports on over a 100 different legal topics. To access BNA Law Reports, sign on to Bloomberg Law and select BNA Law Reports from the “Getting Started” menu on the home page.

New York State Adopts the Uniform Bar Examination

uniform bar examOn April 30, 2015 the New York State Court of Appeals, which oversees legal education in the state, amended the rules of admission to the bar to adopt the Uniform Bar Examination (UBE).  The UBE is a uniform battery of tests that are administered simultaneously in all UBE jurisdictions.  It consists of the Multistate Bar Examination, the Multistate Performance Test and the Multistate Essay Examination.

Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman gave notice to the bar on Tuesday, May 5th that New York State had adopted the Uniform Bar Examination.  New York becomes the sixteenth state to adopt the UBE, which is prepared by the National Conference of Bar Examiners.

New York will officially adopt the UBE in July 2016.  Those passing the exam will be able to apply for admission in any of the other states offering the UBE, thereby expanding their employment opportunities.  All of the other states currently offering the UBE are smaller than New York State.  Over 15,000 people took the bar exam in New York State in 2015.

The current UBE states are now:

  1. Alabama,
  2. Alaska
  3. Arizona
  4. Colorado
  5. Idaho
  6. Kansas
  7. Minnesota
  8. Missouri
  9. Montana
  10. Nebraska
  11. New Hampshire
  12. New York
  13. North Dakota
  14. Utah
  15. Washington
  16. Wyoming

An applicant for admission in New York must also take and complete an online course in New York-specific law, known as the New York Law Course (NYLC) and must take and pass an online examination, known as the New York Law Exam (NYLE).  It is anticipated that the NYLC and the NYLE will be available in Spring 2016.  Effective October 1, 2016, an applicant who sat for the UBE in another jurisdiction may transfer the score earned on that examination to New York in lieu of taking the UBE in New York.

For further details on the Uniform Bar Examination in New York State, see the following:

Court of Appeals Notice to the Bar

Board of Law Examiners UBE Informational Guide

2015 Commencement Speakers at NY Area Law Schools

Graduation season is here and, this year, Brooklyn Law School will hold its 114th Commencement Ceremony on May 28, 2015 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. The commencement speaker will be U.S. Senator Charles “Chuck” Schumer who will deliver the 2015 Commencement address. He will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree, the highest degree conferred by Brooklyn Law School and given to only one recipient each year. Born and raised in Brooklyn and a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Senator Schumer has represented New York in the Senate since 1998. He previously served as a Congressman between 1981 and 1998, and was a three-term member of the New York State Assembly for Brooklyn’s 45th district, serving between 1975 and 1980.

Commencement speakers at other area law schools this year are:

New York

  • Albany Law School – Hon. Leslie Stein, Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
  • Buffalo Law School – Eric T. Schneiderman, New York Attorney General
  • Cardozo School of Law — Hon. Denny Chin, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • Columbia Law School — Charles Fried, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
  • Hofstra School of Law — Hon. Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, Associate Justice of the New York Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, First Judicial Department
  • New York Law School — Cyrus R. Vance Jr., District Attorney of New York County and Joseph Plumeri, Vice Chairman of the First Data Board of Directors
  • New York University School of Law — Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • Pace University School of Law — U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
  • St. John’s University School of Law — W. Mark Lanier, founder of the Lanier Law Firm
  • Syracuse University College of Law — Mary Karr, Professor of Literature at Syracuse University
  • Touro Law Center — Richard Parsons, former chairman of Time Warner and Citigroup

New Jersey

  • Rutgers University School of Law at Newark — Hon. Barry T. Albin, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
  • Seton Hall Law School — Dean Patrick E. Hobbs, Seton Hall Law

Connecticut

  • Quinnipiac University School of Law — Harold Koh, Professor of International Law at Yale Law School
  • University of Connecticut School of Law — Tim Wu, Professor of Law at Columbia Law School
  • Yale University Law School — Class Day speaker is Joseph R. Biden Jr., Vice President of the U.S.