Category Archives: Uncategorized

Trying to Research/Develop an Int’l. Law Topic? BLS Library Provides 4 Fab Online Overviews

Note: BLS students, faculty and administrators can access the sources below on campus, in BLS housing, and elsewhere off campus if one has implemented the BLS proxy instructions.

Cambridge Compendium of International Commercial and Investment Arbitration

  • In BLS Library’s SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION – CAMBRIDGE.
  • Preface states: “Like an encyclopedia, the Compendium contains [67] entries for most of the foundational principles and concepts underlying arbitration.”  Each Compendium entry provides an overview of key issues.  Footnotes in an entry highlight many more sources. 
  • Either search this Compendium by keyword(s) + link to search results or skim the table of contents + link to a potentially useful entry.
    • Re. the “Related content” to the right of each Compendium entry: BLS researchers will need to search SARA catalog (by a book’s title) or SARA catalog’s “Find a Source” tool (by a periodical’s title) to determine if BLS Library provides a related source.  (Contact askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu for help.)
  • Publication of this online Compendium occurred in Feb. 2023.  

Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law

  • In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION – ELGAR.
  • Comprises 12 reference volumes organized around “top level” subjects (e.g., water, energy and climate change).
  • Expand the table of contents to identify pertinent chapters.  Chapter authors are “international experts.”
  • Publication of this Elgar Encyclopedia occurred on Mar. 30, 2023.

Elgar Encyclopedia of Human Rights 

  • In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION – ELGAR.
  • Includes 340+ entries on the study and practice of human rights.  Entries include bibliographies.
  • Click a letter of the alphabet in the table of contents or use “Search within Book” feature (on right).
  • Publication of this Elgar Encyclopedia occurred on Sept. 6, 2022.

Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law

  • In SARA catalog record, click: ACCESS ONLINE VERSION – OXFORD.
  • Provide 1,700+ peer-reviewed articles on key international law topics.  Contain articles from both Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law and Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law.  Articles highlight many primary legal sources and include bibliographies.  
  • Tab: Subject lists articles arranged by topic.  Also, use the search box (top right).
  • Tip: Be aware that articles have different dates.  Example: article Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (1969) states: “last updated: March 2023.”

Hundreds of additional resources to support international law paper topic research and development appear in these two publicly-accessible BLS Library guides:

Paper Topic Selection: International (focus: sources to identify new developments)

Paper Topic Development: International (focus: tools to identify articles, books, treaties, UN documents, jurisprudence and other sources)

BLS librarians want to help!  Contact us to obtain more information about library sources and services:

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.

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! 

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!

Library Reading and Exam Period Policies

The reading and exam period is from Thursday, April 21 through Friday, May 6, 2022. 

During the reading and exam period you must make a reservation to use a library study room. Mandatory study room reservations begin on Thursday, April 21 at 8:00am; at that time, all study rooms will be locked, and you must go to the first-floor circulation desk to charge out the key to the room at the time of your reservation. The link to the study room reservations is on the library webpage. 

Study Room Policies: 

  • Study rooms are for the use of groups of two or more students. 
  • Study rooms may be reserved for the current day and three days ahead. 
  • The default reservation time is 2 hours, although study rooms may be reserved in 30-minute time slots; your time slots must be contiguous. Use the grid to select your start time and use the drop-down box to select your end time. 
  • Study room use is limited to 4 hours per user per day to ensure availability for all users. 
  • You must use your brooklaw.edu email address to reserve a study room. 
  • Study rooms are subject to availability and reservations may be modified by library staff at any time. 

Library Hours for the Reading & Exam Period: 

  • Thursday, April 21-Thursday, May 5:  8:00am – 2:00am. The circulation/reserve desk closes at 12:00am
  • Friday, May 6: 9:00am – 10:00pm.

Reminders About Noise & Food in the Library: 

  • Please keep your voices down in reading rooms and study rooms.  Your colleagues are also studying. 
  • If you need a space for discussion, the collaboration areas are: the Bernsen reference & reading room (1st floor), the Nash reading room (3rd floor) and the study rooms.  
  • Drinks are allowed in the library. Please use the law school’s designated dining areas for eating. 
  • Brooklyn Law School is a smoke and tobacco free campus. Smoking or vaping is not permitted anywhere in the school, which includes the library.  If you have any questions, please read Brooklyn Law School’s Smoke and Tobacco Free Policy on BLSConnect. 
  • Good Luck on Your Exams! 

New York Family Law Research Guide

For those interested in practicing or researching in the field of family law, the library recently published a

research guide for family law resources. The guide focuses on the law of New York State. It includes links to practice aids, treatises, and blogs and news sources for researching New York family law. There are also quick links to the relevant titles in the New York state statutory code and to case law databases focusing on family law. This summer, if you are interning with a family law organization, it would be useful for you to become familiar with both the news sources and the secondary sources listed.

Research Guide on Climate Change and Environmental Law

A climate change demonstration in Erlangen, Germany.

Unsplash/Markus SpiskeA climate change demonstration in Erlangen, Germany.

Whenever you are researching an issue, whether for a paper or a note, one of the most efficient ways to get started is to find a research guide. The BLS librarians have created dozens of research guides, available on the library’s homepage (just click on the Research Guides tab), including guides on Career Resources, Paper Topic Selection and Development for International and Foreign Law, Federal Legislative History Research, New York Civil Practice, Researching Copyright Law, and Antitrust and Competition law.

Our latest guide summarizes resources for researching climate change and environmental law . This guide includes links to books, treatises, databases, major environmental treaties, blogs and news sources for researching U.S. and international climate change and environmental law. As noted in a recent report issued by the UN Environment Programme , there has been a rapid increase in climate change litigation with over 1,500 cases filed in 38 countries as of July 2020. Our research guide includes links to climate change litigation databases and other resources that will assist students researching this burgeoning field of law.

Find our Climate Change and Environmental Law Guide under the Research Guides tab at brooklaw.edu/library. Happy Researching!