Celebrating Black History Month provides the opportunity to highlight some of New York Law School’s  most distinguished Black alumni. This week, we honor James S. Watson, class of 1913, and his daughter Barbara M. Watson, class of 1962. In 1930, the senior Watson became one of the first two elected Black judges In New York City, serving 20 years in the New York City Municipal Court. Thirty-eight years later, his daughter Barbara became the first African American and the first woman to serve as Assistant Secretary of State, for then President Lyndon B. Johnson.

More information relating to these and many other prominent alumni can be found in the Law School’s Digital Commons.

Love is In the Air in the Mendik Library!

As an early Valentine’s Day treat, beginning on Monday, February 7 you have an opportunity to WIN great prizes such as study aids, Lexis points, law dictionaries, NYLS commuter mugs, and online subscriptions to the Bluebook!  Just answer our seven Valentine’s Day Info Hunt questions.  Your answers don’t need to be perfect—just close!

Click here to access the questions.  Each slide includes just one question, along with step-by-step instructions that will get you to the answer.

And don’t forget to stop by the Reference Desk on Monday, February 14 for some Valentine’s Day chocolates.

Below is the schedule for the Mendik Library’s hours of operation from Tuesday, February 1 to Monday, February 7, 2022.

* Reference hours will be virtual

The COVID-19 pandemic has focused much debate on vaccines and vaccination.  An important resource providing expert treatment of this specialized area of the law is Brian Dean Abramson’s treatise, Vaccine, Vaccination, and Immunization Law, available via Bloomberg Law (NYLS email and password required).

The treatise covers a wide range of relevant laws and regulations.  Topics include the research and development process, public mandates, including mandatory child vaccinations and the legal consequences of failure to vaccinate, as well as medical, religious, and philosophical exemptions.  State-by-state coverage of each jurisdiction’s common requirements and the unique legal characteristics of childhood and adult vaccinations, isolation and quarantine laws, patent law elements relevant to securing and enforcing protection for vaccines, and other intellectual property protections such as trademark, trade secret, unfair competition, and copyright law are also included. Additional topics are compensation for vaccine injuries, products liability, failure to warn, medical malpractice and punitive damages.

Here are the Mendik Library’s hours of operation from Wednesday, January 19 through Monday, January 31, 2022.

Below are Mendik Library’s revised hours of operation from Thursday, December 23, 2021 through the end of Intersession, Tuesday, January 18, 2022.

Exam period is here and your easygoing nature probably is diminishing quickly. Little things that you ignored last week are a big deal today. So, if it bugs you, say something.

Tell us about the light bulb over your favorite study spot that is out or the outlet that doesn’t work. Or the person with the malodorous lunch or dinner. Or the guy in the stairwell talking on his cell phone at full volume.

If you see, hear, or smell something, say something. It’s your library and you are here to study without distractions. Let us help do that. Contact the Reference Desk at 212.431.2332, the Circulation Desk at 212.431.2333, or email us at reference@nyls.edu

With finals approaching, your thoughts may be turning to study aids. If you’re interested in digital versions, you’re in luck. Our LexisNexis Digital Library, a collection of eBooks that you can check out and read on your computer, includes dozens of study aids and treatises.

You can access all of them from the Library’s home page. Click on Electronic Resources and then on LexisNexis Digital Library. (From off campus you’ll need to enter your NYLS network credentials.) If you have any questions, just contact a Reference Librarian.

Does your phone or laptop need a charge? Stop by the Library’s Circulation Desk and the juice is on us; no charge to charge – it’s free! Charging is limited to 30 minutes if another student needs the charger too. Otherwise, you can fill ‘er up.

As exam season approaches, please help keep the library quiet. We want you all to be able to study with as few distractions as possible.

If there’s noise or conversations that don’t belong, please email us at reference@nyls.edu or call us at 212.431.2332.  We’ll be happy to do some shushing!

Good luck on your exams!