Monthly Archives: May 2020

Practical Research Skills Workshop Series: Get the Edge on How to Exceed Your Employers’ and Professors’ Expectations

The librarians at the Ross-Blakley Law Library have prepared a video series for you. Our Practical Research Skills Workshop Series will help you get the edge on how to exceed your employers’ and professors’ expectations. We share our expertise on legal research, in a friendly, fast-paced format that you can watch at your own pace. We help you navigate primary law including statutes and regulations as well as help you build your practical skills by sharing our insights on topics like litigation tools and legal search algorithms.

Practical Research Skills Workshop Series

What the series covers:

Federal Statutes & State Statutes
Learn how to find and navigate statutes in research databases and on government websites. We highlight case law that courts rely on to resolve disputes concerning statutory interpretation to help you perform professional statutory research for your employer.

Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, Arizona Regulations 
Master how to navigate and use the Code of Federal Regulations, the Federal Register, and Arizona’s regulatory frameworks so that you can master interpreting and applying regulatory rules on the job.

Search Algorithms, Data Analytics, Ravel & Advanced Searching
Not all databases are transparent about how they return results based on your search terms but understanding how the search tools operate can help you research more effectively and efficiently.

Practice Tools: Settlements Data & Litigation Analytics, Litigation Tools, Standard Documents & Transactions, Practice Notes & Checklists
Practical tools can help you impress your assigning attorney. These include resources to learn the law, to manage a legal project, to efficiently draft legal documents, and to compare the client’s situation to past deals and cases.

We are always here to help you whether you are a current student or a graduate. If you have questions or want to discuss these subjects in more depth, feel free to Ask a Librarian or make an appointment to meet via Zoom.

Spotlight on Law Library Resources: Award Winning BLASE – Sports and Entertainment Law Database

Back in October 2019 we highlighted a new (at the time) database hosted at HeinOnline: Business and Legal Aspects of Sports and Entertainment (“BLASE”).

Since then, this database has received industry acclaim by receiving the Joseph L Andrews Literature Award for 2020.  The Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award recognizes a significant textual contribution to legal literature.

HeinOnline makes heavy use of the LibGuides platform to provide detailed explanations of their databases and they have a guide for BLASE.

What does it contain?

  • 1.3 million pages of sports and entertainment related content.
  • 120 landmark sports law cases.
  • 65 landmark entertainment law cases.
  • A collection of important articles on both of these topics, curated by the editors, after reading over 8,000 scholarly works. 

When would I use it?

Essentially any time you are starting research in these bodies of law.  This is a great place to start your research since it is a curated databased, created specifically for these two topics.  It can help you ensure that you’re not missing any big cases or articles.  It can also help you interpret complex statutes.  You can build your research on the foundation laid by two experts in these areas. 

This database also has a useful topic index for the categories that it covers – so that you can weed out the irrelevant hits you might receive if you did a keyword search (or if you simply don’t know which terms to use).

How to I get to it?

Please see the video below.  Soon many of these titles will be integrated into the ASU catalog.  Until then, you must access them through HeinOnline:

(Pro-Tip: if you click the image box, it will convert the .PDF original to a text format so you can cut-and-paste.  This works for nearly all HeinOnline .PDFs.)

And take a look at the Law Library’s Sports Law LibGuide.

Sean Harrington, Electronic Resources Librarian

SCOTUS Oral Arguments Audio to Go Live for the First Time in the History of the Court

For the first time in history, people outside the U.S. Supreme Court’s walls will be able to hear oral arguments as they happen. SCOTUS will be livestreaming ten arguments over the next two weeks. The live audio will begin at 7:00 a.m. Arizona time on Monday, May 4th on C-SPAN and other networks. C-SPAN is making the oral arguments available live on its main network as well as on the C-SPAN Radio app, its radio station, and on its website.

Historically SCOTUS has not had cameras in the courtroom or same-day audio. Oral arguments have been open only to the public but with very limited seating. Since the court is closed to the public right now due to the coronavirus, we will have, for the first time in the 231 year history of the court, the opportunity to witness the oral arguments as they happen.

To learn more about the Supreme Court, please consult the Law Library’s Supreme Court LibGuide.