Our Favorite Guide to Arizona Legal Research
Our favorite guide to Arizona Legal Research.
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Last Call: Law Library Research Contest
Win up to $500 for a short write-up.
It’s Never Too Late to Research Efficiently: Meet with a Librarian
It’s never too late to meet with one of us – reach out now.
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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
Bar Exam and MPRE Prep for ASU Law Students
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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 27, 2023 at 9:00am. 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 a…
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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…
The Old Library at Trinity College
Have you seen a picture of this library? It is one of the most iconic historically preserved libraries in the world. The Old Library at Trinity College was one of many pictures that I’d downloaded as part of a “Library Wallpapers” image bundle for my computer’s desktop when I started this job years ago. When…
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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Database Spotlight: Gale
An overview of Gale, Cengage databases available at ASU Law (and why you would use them).
Keeping Current: Staying Updated Across Many Platforms and Services
Alerts and Updates for Lexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline, Law360 and more.
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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 May…
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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Writing a Large Paper? Consider a Citation Manager
What is a citation manager? How can members of the ASU Law community use them to organize papers?
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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 or…
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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Hit the Books (and Databases) to Win Law Library Award for Exemplary Student Research
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 Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law 2Ls, 3Ls, MLS students, and LLM students are eligible to submit their entries.…
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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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…
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, and 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 through the…
Database Spotlight: Tax Law-Specific Databases
A summary overview of tax research resources available to the ASU Law community.
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Using Bloomberg Law to Get Access to Dockets: Complaints, Pleadings, Orders, and More
BLaw has our best access for dockets and you can bill against your institutional account. No fees, more documents.
All the News You Can Read at ASU Law
ASU Free New York Times (NYT), Free Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Free Economist, and News subscriptions.
Database Spotlight: ProQuest Databases
You may have seen this logo when you logged into Supreme Court Insight or even when you’re doing interdisciplinary research on medical abstracts in MEDLINE. You will know you’re in a ProQuest database because you will see some variation of this at the top of the page: Below I’m going to highlight some unique features…
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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Introducing Westlaw Precision to ASU Law
Westlaw is providing an exciting update to your law school account on Wednesday, 01/11/23: Westlaw Precision. Westlaw Precision is an update to Westlaw Edge. Your account will automatically convert to this update and you do not need to do anything. The update will include a new interface and new features. The underlying content of the…
Exam Time – Stay in Control During Times of Stress
Medical studies indicate that staying aware of the present moment can improve your focus and performance in stressful situations. It doesn’t take a deserted forest lake (although that sounds really nice), perfect lotus posture, or hours of a silenced mind to achieve mindfulness. It’s a skill useful for everyone, and particularly worthwhile for law students…
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Research Certifications Keep You in Business During Winter Lulls
Bloomberg Law, a research platform best known for its extensive collection of court dockets and for integrating business and legal research, has a new certification program. This program, along with similar offerings–Westlaw’s Knowledge Center and Lexis Learn—provides opportunities to hone your research skills and stand out to employers. They’re perfect for downtime during winter break.…
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The Law Library Can Help with Homework on Employers
No matter how glorious your resume or how many glowing recommendations you collect, you have to know a lot about a job opportunity to let a potential employer know that you are the right person for the position. Success in the legal job market, as in law school, takes a lot of homework. And we…
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It’s Never too Late to Research Efficiently
Legal researchers should never allow a late semester time crunch lead to disordered research. Taking shortcuts in legal research can slow you down and add confusion, pressure, and tedium to the process. In addition, going without a plan can lead you to struggle through an enormous list of irrelevant results, misunderstand the law, or even…
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Study to Your Strengths with the Law Library
Everyone learns a little differently and when it comes to acing a law school final, studying with tools that work particularly well for you can be critical. The resources listed below address a number of learning styles and format preferences across a broad range of legal subjects, and we hope they will prove helpful as…
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Online Research: The Domain of Skepticism
Your writing and your research will be put to the test if you try to publish an article you write during law school. Most law students are strong writers, and professors or librarians can help you find a worthy topic. But research is another matter. It’s sometimes easier to find things online than in books…
Costumes gone awry, haunted houses, and nasty decorations – oh my!
Have care while celebrating Halloween this weekend, because as these cases show, Halloween is fertile ground for legal issues: Mary and her (flaming) little lambSusan and Frank Ferlito attended a Halloween party dressed as Mary and Her Little Lamb. Frank’s lamb costume consisted of hundreds of Johnson & Johnson cotton balls glued to a set…
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Outlining in the Alternative: Anki’s Online, Multimedia Flashcards
Students learn differently from one another, and the traditional law school methods may not resonate as strongly with one student as the next. And that’s OK. Students who may not feel inspired by the traditional outline can do more to remember the key information necessary for an optimal finals performance. One tool that will make…
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Flow Charts Made Easy: Whimsical.com Website Eliminates Much of the Formatting Effort
Flow charts are an amazing resource for final exams when time is of the essence; they pack in a lot of information and help break down complicated legal analyses into simple steps. They also help ensure that students write about each step of their legal analysis rather than resort to conclusory statements. https://www.youtube.com/embed/DSCCPSZp3XY The tradeoff…
Flash Cards and Flowcharts: Optimizing Study for Your Learning Style
Legal study aids are increasingly catering to the vast diversity of learning methods that suit different students best, from visual aids such as flow charts to practice questions to audio and visual resources. Below we have highlighted tools for creating and accessing flow charts (great for visual learners) and flashcards (useful when you need to memorize a lot of information). We highly…
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Courtroom Drama: New Books Detail Famed Criminal Cases and “Bad” Decisions
The basic curriculum of law school tends to stay out of the courtroom, with analysis of appellate opinions largely supplanting study of the day to day activities of trial courts. But what happens even at the trial level can have profound impacts on society, with famous criminal cases capturing the public imagination. Judges can also…
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Adding terms and connectors searching to your legal research toolkit
Have you ever searched on Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg and found that your “Google”-like keyword searching is bringing up an overwhelming list of 10,000+ resources, and worse, none of those resources seem useful? When this happens to you, we recommend terms and connectors searching. Terms and connectors searching, also called Boolean searching and advanced searching,…
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