LexisNexis offers study aids/outlines for the basic legal courses.  According to LN:

These outlines provide an overview of the essential topics of a legal subject and can be used to prepare for class, organize your notes, and study for exams. For comprehensive and treatise-like coverage of these and other legal subjects, see theUnderstanding series.

These Area of Law Outlines are now available for free viewing and downloading:

Constitutional Law		html | word (512k) | pdf (428k)
Contracts		html | word (548k) | pdf (334k)
Criminal Law		html | word (315k) | pdf (364k)
Criminal Procedure		html | word (772k) | pdf (256k)
Evidence		html | word (585k) | pdf (317k)
Property		html | word (275k) | pdf (381k)
Torts		html | word (448k) | pdf (425k)
Trusts and Estates		html | word (503k) | pdf (482k)

Guess what? Summer is literally just weeks away!  

Shortly your final exams and papers will be a distant memory as you begin your summer jobs and clerkships. Starting in May, however, several of our subscription-based  legal research resources restrict student access over the summer, to help avoid the use of nonprofit educational passwords at paid summer employment. However, each service treats summer access a bit differently, and there may be further variations for continuing vs. graduating students. Here’s your guide to summer database access:

• Bloomberg Law accounts are valid between school terms and for 6 months after you graduate. Your BUSL Bloomberg account may be used for both academic and employment-related purposes, including full access to federal court filings . If you do not already have a Bloomberg Law account, you may Request A Law School Account with your BU email address.
• LexisNexis this year will provide unlimited access this summer to Lexis Advance, its next-generation research interface.In June, Lexis will be moving entirely to Lexis Advance.   That means that all current law school  home page (Lexis.com) ID’s will no longer work.  If you currently have a working Lexis Advance ID and password (http://advance.lexis.com) then you are all set and need to nothing.  If you use your old Lexis.com ID only, you need to ensure that you are registered with your Advance ID.  Please contact, Michael.campion@lexisnexis.com, to obtain that ID.  You will be able to access Lexis.com, and the law school home page with your Advance ID only.   The Lexis.com interface will be available for academic (non-commercial) use only until July. 2013 graduates will have full access to Lexis Advance through July 31; continuing students will have unlimited access until August 31.
• Westlaw offers extensions of your Law School password for academic work, including: summer classes, journal work, projects for faculty, moot court, unpaid/non-profit public interest internships or externships, or a pro bono project that is required for graduation. Commercial use of your Law School password (such as at a law firm summer job) is strictly prohibited. May graduates can also extend their Westlaw passwords to obtain 10 free hours of research time for bar exam study. If you qualify for a summer extension of your Westlaw password, log in to the extension page and follow the instructions.
• Other Law Library Databases: Access to Boston University databases for continuing students is available over the summer with your BU username and password. Recent graduates will find that their off-campus, password-based access to other subscription databases (such as HeinOnline and LegalTrac) expires very quickly after graduation. Alumni may access many University and Law School subscription databases on-site via the reading room computer terminals.
• Click HERE for more information.

For more information about access to library resources for the graduating class of 2013, bookmark our guide to Law Alumni Services.

Summer hours for the Pappas Law Library following graduation begin May 20th and will be from 9-5 Monday through Friday.

Wishing you a restful and productive Summer!

You’re invited to one of two (or both) special presentations by Lexis law firm reps from Boston and NYC.  Learn what your experience will be like, and bring your questions.

Boston Firm Rep Cost Effective Seminar (with Lunch) – Think Like a Lawyer

When: Thursday, April 4th,  1:15-2:00 PM

Where: Room 1420

New York Large Firm Reps Share Cost Savings Tips – Think Like a Lawyer

When: Monday, April 8th, 1:00-1:45 PM

Where: Room 870

The reps at these sessions work with the following firms.  Is your firm one of them?

• Blank Rome
• Quinn Emanuel
• Fish & Richardson
• Loeb & Loeb
• McKool Smith
• Phillips Nizer
• Lewis Brisbois
• Lowenstein Sandler
• Edwards Wildman
• Gunderson
• Locke Lord
• Tressler
• Goulston & Storrs

Both sessions will offer lunch, so you must register at http://lawschool.lexis.com. Click on Training Calendar (top right) without having to logon.  There will also be drawings for Lexis study guides, and a $25.00 Amazon/Rewards card for each session.

Questions? Contact Michael Campion at Michael.Campion@lexisnexis.com.

(medical or medicinal) /s marijuana /s states

What will this search turn up?  Why would you want to use this search string instead of simply typing in your terms?  Learn the answers to these questions and more at the Power Searching Certification Class.  This class will be offered Tuesday (4/2), Thursday (4/4), and Friday (4/5) from 1-2 PM in Room 334.  Questions? Email me at jekblaw@bu.edu.

One of the goals of law school is to get you to “think like a lawyer.”  Lexis is offering a program to further this goal and prepare you not only for summer jobs, but your post-graduation careers as well.  This program includes the following trainings:

• Professional Research Certification
  • This program has been created in cooperation with legal employers. It covers the skills these research professionals said students need to succeed as summer or first-year associates. Upon successful completion students’ names are added to the LexisNexis Registry of Certified Students for the printing of certificates and employer verification.
• Cost-Effective Research
  • These sessions demonstrate how to conduct online research in the most efficient manner ensuring you do not incur unnecessary costs for clients.
• Judicial Clerkship/Internship
• Time Efficient Research for those interested in working in public interest or outside of the firm environment
• Transactional Research
• New York Practice
• Know Your Judge or Employer
  • Learn how to research employers and be ready when OCI rolls around.
• Job Networking

Sign-up here for the LexisNexis Think Like A Lawyer program to help prepare for summer and permanent employment.

Despite the name of this app, it has nothing to do with a 4th grade class where you learned the history of whatever state you grew up in.  Lexis Social Studies attempts to bring you the best of Facebook, Google Drive, and LexisAdvance to help you organize your study group in one place.

How does it work?  After signing away your Facebook rights (allowing Lexis to post statuses and go into your notifications), you are asked to provide your Google identifier to match up with your Google Drive account.  From there, you can create your group: make it public or private, invite friends, etc.  Once you have your group set up, you can create documents that are stored on Google Drive (and have all of that functionality).  Additional features include the ability to create polls to determine the best time to meet and the ability to make comments on your group page.

Journals, think this would be a great place to put your source coordination documents?  It may be in the future, but not just yet.  PDF uploads are currently not supported.  Right now, you are limited to files that can be reformatted as Google Docs.

One thing I could not figure out is how to delete a file after uploading it.  I tried to delete it from Google Drive in my “Shared with Me” folder, but when you upload documents to the app, Lexis Social Studies is considered the author on Google Docs, not you, so that doesn’t work.  There is an arrow at the end of the file on the group page, implying there should be a dropdown (and maybe that’s where delete is hiding), but right now it is not functioning.

Want to learn more about Lexis Social Studies?  Check out the promotional video or get started creating your own group here.

LexisNexis offers study aids/outlines for the basic legal courses.  According to LN:

These outlines provide an overview of the essential topics of a legal subject and can be used to prepare for class, organize your notes, and study for exams. For comprehensive and treatise-like coverage of these and other legal subjects, see theUnderstanding series.

These Area of Law Outlines are now available for free viewing and downloading:

Constitutional Law		html | word (512k) | pdf (428k)
Contracts		html | word (548k) | pdf (334k)
Criminal Law		html | word (315k) | pdf (364k)
Criminal Procedure		html | word (772k) | pdf (256k)
Evidence		html | word (585k) | pdf (317k)
Property		html | word (275k) | pdf (381k)
Torts		html | word (448k) | pdf (425k)
Trusts and Estates		html | word (503k) | pdf (482k)

Lexis has recently developed and published an innovative and FUN way to reinforce your learning and legal skills.  The game format challenges the player to spot issues from a series of legal disciplines and keeps track of your successes and failures. It even gives you bonus points for speedy response rates.  You create a new game moniker at your visit and you’re off.  Click on the graphic below to be taken to the game home page.

Here are the dates for upcoming vendor training sessions on their respective platforms:

Lexis: Click here

Westlaw: Click here

Bloomberg Law:

American LLM Training:

October 10: 2-3 in room 820

October 12 11-12 room 1420

JD Training:

Oct. 23 1-2 room 1420

Oct. 24 330-430 room 820

Oct. 25 1-2 room 1420

RSVP to Eric Malinowski emalinowski@bloomberg.net

or, register with a Bloomberg Law student representative at the Bloomberg Law table on Thursday’s from 10-2 in the Law Lobby.

Please remember that there are important access restrictions associated with the use of our subscription-based  electronic databases.  As Summer approaches I thought a timely reminder might be helpful.

Bloomberg Law subscription remains active throughout the Summer and can be used to research federal and state cases, statutes, rules and regulations.  Bloomberg Law also includes foreign and international law databases, U.S. congressional information, federal and selected state court dockets, news and corporate information.  Bloomberg encourages law students to use their academic access to Bloomberg Law as much as possible, even when working for law firms. (For those of you graduating, BL is available for 6 months following graduation.) Sign up here if you have not yet done so.

Lexis Summer use begins on June 1st and is restricted to Lexis Advance. (This is a change from previous years’ policy.) If you have not yet registered for your Advance ID and PW, check your email(s) for notice from Lexis, and if you don’t see it – contact michael.campion@lexisnexis.com, to obtain your Advance temporary ID and PW.( Graduating students have access through August 31st on Advance.) Access restrictions include these points:

Lexis Advance:

• Summer course preparation and assignments
• Research associated with Moot Court, Law Review, or Law Journal
• Research associated with pursuing a grant or scholarship
• Service as a paid or unpaid research assistant to a professor
• An internship, externship or clinic position for school credit or graduation requirement
• Study for the bar exam
• Research skill improvement for educational purposes

Westlaw Summer access begins on June 1st and ends on August 1st.

You are eligible to register for a Summer extension if you are:
· enrolled in summer classes,
· working for a law review/journal or moot court,
· working for a faculty member as a research assistant, or
· working in an unpaid public interest internship/externship (excluding court and government settings).  Unpaid means ANY form of compensation (including stipends, fellowships, or expense reimbursements) invalidates the qualification.
The link for requesting extensions is here.

If you do not qualify to request an extension as explained above, your access will be limited to 40 hours of access in each of the months of June and July.

Graduating Students may apply to extend their passwords beyond May 31st for 5 hours of access per month in June and July.