Stay in the Know: Our Blog is Here for You Throughout the Semester
Welcome to a new semester! Especially for those just joining us, it will be a new and exciting experience. And it’s a time to connect with those who have experience with ASU Law to learn, grow, and build ties to the legal community. The Law Library is here to help and our blog is just one of…
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Ross-Blakley Law Library Tours: Success is Just a Step Away
The Ross-Blakley Law Library is a dynamic, full service academic powerhouse. The Law Library’s upcoming orientation sessions will introduce you to the reference staff and the many ways the Law Library can help you succeed in law school. The reference librarians have JDs and have been through the wringer of law school before, so we know the…
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Online Bar Study
The Law Library has many excellent resources for students preparing to take the bar exam to supplement their bar prep courses: Online Bar Study. And please refer to our Bar Exam and MPRE Resource Guide to assist as you prepare to take the bar exam. This guide highlights important information and services for Sandra Day O’Connor College of…
Claire Newfeld, 2L and Joanna Jandali, 2L Honored for Exemplary Student Research
First Place: Claire Newfeld, Indian Boarding School Deaths and the Federal Tort Claims Act: A Route to a Remedy Second Place: Joanna Jandali, Jammed from Justice: How International Organization Immunity Enshrines Impunity The Ross-Blakley Law Library at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law announces the 2022 recipients of the Ross-Blakley Law Library Award for Exemplary Student Research.…
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Summer at the Law Library: Research Heats Up
Summer is not a vacation for the librarians at the Ross-Blakley Law Library. The end of spring semester only renews our focus on research and study services. Meet with a Librarian to get professional, expert advice from JD holding research experts on the following: Summer classes and bar exam prep Study aids for upper level classes. Hornbooks, flashcards, flowcharts,…
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Law Library Helps You Get in Shape for Finals
The Law Library has an abundance of resources to help you prepare for your exams. Our online study aids subscriptions will help build your confidence. West Academic Study Aids This resource includes a variety of study aids to help students quickly grasp concepts that may have been elusive in class, such as the Acing series.…
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New Library Titles Debate Law’s Role in Healing Our Planet
Earth Day is coming up later this month, and to mark the occasion, the law library is highlighting new additions to its collection that point to ways to protect the imperiled planet for future generations. Rethinking Environmental Law, Jan G. Laitos Historically, environmental laws have presumed an unrealistic separation of humans and nature. This has…
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Your Mindful Reminder: New Book on Harnessing the Inner Voice and Upgraded Mindfulness Guide Can Help You Succeed
The Law Library’s Mindfulness and Mental Wellness in Law School guide has been newly updated and upgraded to help you succeed even in the most stressful circumstances your studies have to offer.One new library title featured in the guide is Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It (Ethan…
Summer 2022 and Post-Graduation Use of LexisNexis, Westlaw, Bloomberg Law
The Law Library provides you with unlimited access to a number of premium resources while you are in school and even after you graduate. But it’s important for you to know that your access may change during the summer or if you graduate. You may face limitations while using these platforms for non-academic work, such…
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Practically Attorneys: Tools for Efficient Legal Work
By now, all of us in law school are familiar with using Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg to find case law, statutes, and secondary sources. But all of the Big Three can do so much more to help you at your internships, externships, and clerkships. The databases have compiled practical information on the substance and procedures of practices in various…
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Innocence Found: Former Prosecutor Turned Innocence Advocate’s New Book Takes Intersectional Approach
The Law Library is excited to launch an ongoing series in which we will be reviewing newly published books authored by faculty of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. This is the first review in the series. As a prosecutor, Valena Beety, author and law professor, had been a carceral feminist, seeking to promote…
Warrior of Freedom: Author Pivoted from Prosecutor to Passionate Advocate for Innocent Inmates
“Carceral feminist” is the phrase Valena Beety used to describe her old self, when she was a law student and prosecutor. The author of the forthcoming criminal justice book Manifesting Justice believed in the power of locking people up to “stop cycles of violence,” as many perpetrators of violent offenses are repeat offenders. “There’s a…
It’s Never Too Late to Research Efficiently: Meet with a Librarian
Legal researchers should never let a late semester time crunch let them get sloppy. Taking shortcuts in legal research can slow you down and add confusion, pressure, and tedium. The law is a vast web riddled with complexities and exceptions. Going without a plan can lead a researcher to struggle through an enormous list of…
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Internship, Externship, New Job: Stand Out from the Crowd on Day One
Starting a new internship, externship, or job during law school can be nerve-wracking. We want our work product to stand out so that we looked especially competent. To help you prepare, the Ross-Blakley Law library has put together a handful of resources from our legal research databases so that you can look your best on day one! 1 –…
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Bar Prep’s Not Just for 3Ls: The Library Equips You for the Ultimate Final
Graduating from law school is a huge achievement and a new beginning, maybe more so than finishing high school or college. For most students at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, even after they submit their last exams and papers, the ultimate final exam awaits. And bar prep isn’t just for 3Ls. The courses you…
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New Library Titles Provide Second Opinions on Famous Cases
Feminist Judgements: Rewritten Property Opinions (Eloisa C. Rodriguez-Dod & Elena Maria Marty-Nelson eds., 2022) This entry in the Feminist Judgments series revisits many of the cases that have achieved, or should have achieved, seminal status in property law through a feminist and intersectional lens. These rewritten opinions aim for fairer outcomes for women, marginalized people,…
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Reliable Sources: Law Librarians Can Help You Identify Sources to Boost Your Article’s Credibility
For the academic researcher working on a law review article, book, or graduate writing requirement, traditional, academic sources continue to have advantages over websites. Namely, they offer more reliable, complete, and professionally vetted information that can be and often is superior to more convenient Internet resources. (please see reference at the end of this post) The Internet…
Citations have you seeing red? Get clarity on the Bluebook at the law library
The basic rule of abbreviating, ignored by the authors of The Bluebook, is to avoid nonobvious abbreviations. The words of living judicial legend Judge Richard A. Posner in The Yale Law Journal ring out clear in the Uniform System of Citation, which includes dozens of head-scratching short versions of words. Leaving aside the 21st edition’s new rules and abbreviations, the Bluebook has always been…
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Women’s History Month: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Research Guide
It remains extremely rare for a law school to name itself after a woman, but on April 5, 2006 Arizona State University’s law school became the first, choosing Arizona native and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as its namesake. President Reagan nominated her to be the first woman to serve in the United…
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There’s Still Time to Win Library Research Contest
The deadline to enter the Ross-Blakley Law Library Award for Exemplary Student Research is Monday, March 28, 2022 at 9:00 am. Current 2Ls, 3Ls, MLS students and LLM students are eligible to submit their entries. See the rules here. The top prize is $500 and a Certificate of Recognition and second place receives $250 and…
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New library guide helps researchers track changes in the legal landscape
Have you ever noticed small bells, envelopes, or concentric semicircular lines when performing legal research? Those symbols can help you make sure that you’re up to date, and our new library guide, Keeping Current, makes it even easier to navigate the many ways databases and websites help you track developments. The law is not a…
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Slippery When Wet: New Library Books Examine the Always Smoldering Tensions of Water and the Law’s Efforts to Douse Them
Western Water Rights and the U.S. Supreme Court, James H. Davenport Western Water Rights and the U.S. Supreme Court notes that in the early years of the twentieth century, the Western United States was a very different place. Water was scarce and battles over who could access it were fierce. The Supreme Court was the…
New Books Shine Critical Light on Plea Bargaining and Forensic Evidence
Plea Bargaining Made Real, Steven P. Grossman This academic work by a law professor asks whether plea bargaining, which lacks many of the protections of a trial, adequately preserves the interests of justice. The author emphasizes that plea bargaining is a human process and that all of the actors—the prosecution, the defense, and the judge—have…
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Making the Most of Midterms
Midterm season is just around the corner. Too soon, you say? They’re here to help you! Midterms are your crystal ball showing your future exam taking self, and a window to the essence of your learning style. They may be more important in informing and adjusting your study habits to achieve your academic apotheosis in…
Black History Month: New Library Books Examine History and Ongoing Issues for African Americans in Democracy
Two new books just added to the Ross-Blakley Law Library collection detail the struggle for improved equality for Black Americans in the American democratic system. One takes a historical look at the development of constitutional principles over the centuries since the U.S. Constitution’s enactment. The other posits that ongoing problems are preventing equality from flourishing…
Don’t overlook the MPRE: It’s your professional obligation to pass
While the MPRE, or Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam, is the smaller and less grueling of the two exams required for admission to the bar in Arizona and most other states, failure to respect its significance can cost you valuable time. The MPRE is administered only three times per year, in spring, summer, and fall, so students who miss the…
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Hit the Books (and Databases) to Win Library Research Contest
The Ross-Blakley Law Library Award for Exemplary Student Research is not just any writing competition. As research experts, the librarians are looking for the best examples of effective gathering and synthesis of resources, in print or online. Current 2Ls, 3Ls, MLS students, and LLM students are eligible to submit their entries. The top prize is…
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Black History Month: Law Library’s Racial Justice Guide Supports Researchers and Activists
The Ross-Blakley Law Library is no stranger to the movement for racial justice still progressing across the country. Librarians have compiled resources for researchers as well as information for demonstrators in our Racial Justice research guide. We have compiled national as well as local organizations dedicated to the pursuit of racial justice. These organizations advocate…
Research and Reference Resources to Support Your Journal Ambitions
At the end of the semester, you will have the opportunity to take a marathon write-on exam to test your Bluebook and writing skills under challenging conditions. The reward could be a staff position on Law Journal for Social Justice, Jurimetrics, Sports and Entertainment Law Journal, Corporate and Business Law Journal, or the Arizona State Law Journal. Working on a journal…
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Talk the Talk: Law Library Resources Enhance Oral Advocacy
Lawyers and librarians alike have a way with words, spending much of their time with books and internet databases, reading, researching, and writing. But we also must step up and let our voices be heard. Whether law students are undergoing the first year rite of passage of delivering oral arguments in their finest legal attire…
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Know Your Future Boss: Law Library Offers One-on-One Help in Job Hunt
Advances in technology aren’t just making our jobs as attorneys easier. They’re making it easier to land a job in the first place. The Ross-Blakley Law Library’s research experts know the tools that can be the difference maker when employers decide who will get a callback. Our Law Employment Research guide gathers materials to help…
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Trust Us, Our Antitrust Guide Will Make Your Research Competitive
Antitrust law is the body of federal and state rules designed to prevent unfairness and promote competition in the business sphere. The Ross Blakley Law Library’s Antitrust guide is designed to help students, researchers, and practitioners make sense of and make use of these rules. The Primary Sources tab gathers resources that contain all the…
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May It Please Your Prof: The Law Library Can Help You Develop Your Persuasive Skills
Legal research is not a one size fits all process. Different tasks require different strategies, different databases, different secondary sources. Few assignments will be as jarringly different as the first semester objective memo and second semester persuasive brief in Legal Advocacy class. The Law Library is here to help. Our JD holding reference librarians have all been…
The Law Library Can Help You Shine for On Campus and Virtual Interviews
Law students send resumes far and wide with the hope of landing their dream placement. During On Campus Interviews, or OCI, you won’t have to venture far, or maybe you’re interviewing via Zoom or similar software. The Law Library can help you highlight the knowledge and skills that will help you stand out from the crowd. The…
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New Titles in the Law Library Collection – Indigenous Peoples
In January the Indian Legal Program (ILP) at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and the American Bar Association (ABA) are hosting the Intersection of Tribal Rights with Environmental, Energy and Resources Development Conference. The conference will focus on natural resource development, water quality and water rights, clean energy and…
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New Titles in the Law Library Collection – Animal Law
The descendants of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s four captive hippos have made their way to the Magdalena River and now number nearly 100 animals, becoming a major problem for Colombian officials. A Colombian court case, in which the Community of Hippopotamuses Living in the Magdalena River is the plaintiff, is considering officials’ plans for…
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Magna Carta Display in the Law Library
Magna Carta, which means “The Great Charter”, is one of the most important documents in Anglo-American legal history. It established the principle that everyone is subject to the law, even the king, and it guaranteed due process protections to citizens. The Law Library was gifted a beautiful illuminated copy of Magna Carta by Emeritus Professor…
Highlights from Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s Personal Library
Justice O’Connor’s interests were wide – the items received by the Ross-Blakley Law Library from the Justice’s personal library include joke books, photography volumes of the American West, historical texts, and fiction titles, among many other categories. Today we highlight a few books from the Justice’s collection that are in some way about one of…
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Highlights from Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s Personal Library
Last year the family of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor generously gifted the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and the Ross-Blakley Law Library with a significant collection of books from Justice O’Connor’s personal library and mementos from her long legal career. Many items from this gift will be added to the print collection of the…
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First Monday in October
The Supreme Court’s 2021-2022 term begins today, the “first Monday in October” as laid out in 28 U.S.C. § 2. There are some changes coming to the way arguments will be held this year – while the Supreme Court building remains closed to the public in response to the coronavirus pandemic, oral arguments will resume…