News From Lexis!

This just in, from LexisNexis ® :

I’m excited to let you know that we’re again offering students unlimited access to Lexis Advance this summer! Here’s an update on the LexisNexis® 2014 Summer Access program, Think Like a Lawyer program, and related teaching tools as you prepare your students for their summer and post graduate positions. We appreciate any assistance you can provide in ensuring your students know about the summer access program and all training opportunities prior to starting their summer jobs.

Summer 2014: All-Access to Lexis Advance®

1Ls & 2Ls: Students may continue to use their current Lexis Advance® ID for any purpose this summer– including work they perform at a law firm, corporation or government agency.

Lexis Advance ID all summer long for:

Any purpose at all
All legal content and news on their current law student ID
Unlimited hours-per-week
Graduating 3Ls, can register for one of our Graduate Program IDs that will extend their access beyond graduation. To learn more, visit www.lexisnexis.com/grad-access.

Think Like a Lawyer

Please share this Think Like A Lawyer link with your students so they can take advantage of training opportunities prior to heading out this summer. As you know, many employers require or highly recommend their incoming associates attend all applicable training offered at their school. Think Like a Lawyer training opportunities include Professional Research Certification designed to include the research skills expected among incoming associates based on feedback from commercial customers. The site also provides links to the summer access and 3L Graduate ID programs.

If you have any questions about your LexisNexis ®  subscription, please do not hesitate to contact (in no particular order):

• Reference Librarians (lawlib [at] camden [dot] rutgers [dot] edu);
• Lexis Representative Melissa Gorsline (melissa [dot] gorsline [at] lexisnexis [dot] com); or
• Lexis Student Representatives, usually seated by the circulation desk of the library.

Posted by CDS.

New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (NJICLE) Materials

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) courses are intended to maintain the professional development of practicing attorneys. Often, CLE courses yield publications or handouts, which are great resources for research into current practices in certain practice areas.

Where can you find NJICLE materials:

• In the Law Library. In the Law Library catalog, run an Author search for “New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education” (no quotes). You can search within these results to find subject-specific materials by using the “Limit/Sort Search” button above the search bar.
• On BloombergLaw. From the home page, select the Legal Analysis & News tab, and then select Books & Treatises. One of the selections will be for the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (NJICLE). Select a resource to browse the Table to Contents.
• On Lexis Advance. From the home page, select Browse Sources. In the search bar on the left, search for “NJICLE” (no quotes). By clicking on a resource, you can add that resource to a search, or you can click the link to view the Table of Contents.

For more information about NJICLE, visit their website.

Written by CDS

(HT GBT)

Judicial Internships, Externships & Clerkships

It’s that time of year, again.

Many first-year students (and probably some 2Ls and 3Ls) are applying, or have already applied for, internships, externships, or clerkships with local state and federal judges. While some of you have an idea of the most important criteria for applying or accepting a position, consider supplementing your considerations with other practical information about the judges for whom you might be interested in working.

The interview is critical for any job, especially for such competitive positions. In some cases, having some background information on a judge you wish to work for can lend insight into that judge, and can give you an edge over other potential candidates. Information can include the judge’s career summary, case history, current docket, and more. Here are some sources to get your research started:

Judgepedia.org
This free Wikipedia site allows you to search for or browse judges by state. Information includes: Education, career, and awards & associations.

Almanac of the Federal Judiciary on Westlaw Next
This well-known resource provides objective judicial profiles of every federal judge (including bankruptcy judges and magistrates) from interviews with the lawyers that have argued before them. Information includes each judge’s academic and professional background, experience on the bench, noteworthy rulings, and media coverage along with candid, revealing commentary by lawyers.

Litigation Profile Suite on Lexis Advance
Information includes rulings history, jury verdicts & settlements, dockets, cases, news coverage, publications, and more.

People Search on Bloomberg Law
Though it does not explicitly state what types of people can be searched, the People Search can provide really in-depth information about a particular judge. This information includes career history & education, cases, news, and more.

If you have any questions about applying for job, please contact the Career Planning Office.

If you have any questions about the resources mentioned, please contact a Reference Librarian.

CDS

Get an Edge with CALI

For students who are unfamiliar with CALI (The Center for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction), this organization provides a host of resources, free for law students.

CALI provides substantive law lessons that can be most helpful to law students. The Lessons are broken down into two groupings: First Year (1L) Lesson Topics, and Upper Level (2L & 3L) Lesson Topics.  Here’s what Sarah Glassmeyer, Director of Community Development at CALI has to say:

CALI lessons are written and edited by law faculty and librarians.  If you have never used CALI lessons, they are more than just multiple choice questions – they provide substantive education on legal subjects, ask questions in a variety of formats and then provide immediate feedback to students allowing for self-assessment.  This educate-test-feedback process has been shown to be an excellent method for information retention.  We currently have over 900 lessons in 35 legal subjects with more being added every semester.

As of the writing of this post, there are over 500 1L Lessons and just under 700 2L & 3L lessons, all spread across different substantive areas. The Lessons are prepared by faculty from law schools around the country (and world). Each lesson provides a description indicating what topics it covers, as well as a “lesson completion time” which is an approximation of how long it should take to finish, making it easy for you to set your own pace while you learn.

To create a CALI account, follow the instructions on the intranet for registration information. A link is available from the Law Library’s Study & Practice Resources page (camlaw.rutgers.edu/study-practice-materials). Then you can visit cali.org at your convenience, sign in and get started on the lesson(s) of your choice!

CALI has even come up with a fun way to test your knowledge of legal history with their Time Trial card game (pictured above)! This card game will challenge your familiarity with Supreme Court opinions, justices and federal laws! You can pick up as many card packets as you wish near the student mailboxes on the second floor of the west law building. These card packets contain the registration information you need to create a CALI account. You can even play online at http://www.cali.org/timetrial/.

Written by CDS.

Really Short Survey!

Hey Followers!

We’re curious about what kind of platform or software you prefer for taking notes, whatever that note-taking task may be!

It’s only 2 questions!

WestlawNext’s Advanced Search

All too often , you’ve probably heard your colleagues, professors, representatives, or librarians  talking about ‘natural language’ searching versus ‘terms and connectors’ searching in online databases. Maybe you’ve shied away from using terms and connectors in your searches because you’re unfamiliar with all of the tricks and tips.

Don’t get me wrong, natural language searches have their time and place. But when you’re looking for something very specific, even if you don’t know exactly what it is yet, typing a Google-style question into a search box and using post-search filters to try to whittle down the huge number of results can seem overwhelming and almost a waste of effort.

Here’s why: vague searches return vague results. Sure, sometimes you get lucky  and what you’re looking for floats to the top of the results list. But more often than not you’ll end up trying to be clever with post-search filters to find a given document.  Maybe you don’t have time for that.

Try using a ‘terms and connectors’ search. In WestlawNext, the main search bar allows you to search for databases, not just cases, statutes, articles, etc. When you’re in a specific database, the name of that database will appear in a tab above the main search bar.

In any of WestlawNext’s many databases,click on the “advanced” link immediately to the right of the “Search” button. This will take you to an advanced search form where you can input information into different “fields.” (Depending on the database you’re in, these fields will change.)  For example, a Cases database will allow you to search for parties, judges, attorneys, docket number, holding, and more; a Statutes database will allow you to search the caption, preliminary, text, historical notes, etc.

Pro Tip: When you are on the advanced search page for any database, there should be an image of a document above the list of “connectors and expanders.” This will open a PDF document that informs you how Westlaw defines each field with respect to the database that you’re in.

Entering your search terms into the form fields on the advanced search page will automatically build a terms and connectors search in the search bar at the top of the page. The search will begin with “advanced:” followed by abbreviations for the field in which you entered text below, as well as the exact text you entered in that field.

There’s no need to memorize field abbreviations to build a more precise search. Use the advanced search forms and you’re on your way to better search results!

 

Written by CDS.

Go Go Gadget…

Whether you’re a fan of Apple or Android, you’ve probably thought about how to make your more-than-a-cellphone device work for you and work for your client(s).

The Law Library has several titles offered by the ABA that can enlighten you as to how your gadget can be useful to your practice. These titles include:

• iPad Apps in One Hour for Lawyers, KF320 .A9 M478 (review by iPhone J.D.)
• Android Apps in One Hour for Lawyers, KF320 .A9 S54
• iPad in One Hour for Lawyers, KF320 .A9 M48
• iPad in One Hour for Litigators, KF320 .A9 M485

As the titles imply, these are fast reads! If nothing else, you might learn about one new app or neat trick that will have made your curiosity worthwhile!

 

Written by CDS.

Are you LinkedIn? (Updated!)

LinkedIn is a professional network that enables you to connect with colleagues whom you already know and those you have yet to meet! This networking platform allows you to keep up with company and industry news as well as job and career opportunities. It’s also a great way to project a professional image of yourself to prospective employers.  With only so many hours in a day, this online network can save you a great deal of time and effort in your job search.

Here’s a great post on the Lawyerist blog about How law students should use LinkedIn. This blog post happens to mention a blog post by Kevin O’Keefe from 2009 that is also worth reading.

According to LinkedIn, one of its best tools for law students is the ability to “connect with like-minded individuals” in LinkedIn Groups. You can post topics to these groups, start and continue conversation threads and, most importantly, keep up with information relevant to that network.

As law students and future attorneys, here are some groups that you might consider joining, for both networking and information purposes (this list is nowhere near exhaustive):

• ABA Young Lawyers Division
• Just Law Jobs
• DRI – The Voice of the Defense Bar
• Corporate Lawyer Network
• National Bar Association Network
• Leadership for Lawyers
• INHOUSE LEGAL
• Solo Attorney Practitioner’s Forum
• Law Student Career Network

You can also perform a keyword search within the Groups You May Like section of LinkedIn to find groups that interest you and are relevant to your career.   For example, you might want to search for your law fraternity, or existing networks of attorneys in the practice area you are interested in (such as “Family Law Network” or Bankruptcy Attorney Network”).  Public groups allow you to join with a simple click of your mouse; private groups screen their membership, which means that  you must request to join , and the group’s content will only be visible once your request has been accepted.

Don’t see anything that speaks to your particular interests? You can create a group by clicking on Groups from the top menu, and then click Create a group at the top of your groups landing page.

*UPDATE* Some useful tips from the National Law Review on Navigating LinkedIn Ethically and Efficiently.

Written by CDS.