If you want to dig into the law and history that surrounds presidential impeachment, HeinOnline has built an entire online research collection. You’ll need to first sign in with your NYLS network credentials.

Here is a brief description from HeinOnline:

Organized by the four affected presidents, this collection brings together a variety of documents both contemporaneous and asynchronous to each president’s impeachment, presenting both a snapshot of the political climate as each impeachment played out and the long view history has taken of each proceeding. Congressional Research Service reports round out a general discussion of presidential impeachment and a curated list of scholarly articles, external links, and a bibliography provide avenues for further research on this topic.

Hein will continue to add material to the library as it develops.

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 LexisNexis Digital Library (under Electronic Resources) and then enter your NYLS credentials.

The service is easy to use, but if you have any questions, just contact a Reference Librarian.

Digital Study Aids

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 LexisNexis Digital Library (under Electronic Resources) and then enter your NYLS credentials.

The service is easy to use, but if you have any questions, just contact a Reference Librarian.

Although the Library will be closed Thanksgiving Day (Thursday November 26), the Mendik Library space will be open with regular hours on Friday November 27 and Saturday November 28. Extended exam study hours will begin on Sunday November 29 through Monday December 21. The full schedule of exam study hours is set out below.

Thursday, November 26 — Library and all services CLOSED.

Effective Sunday November 29 through Monday December 21:

ACCESS TO LIBRARY:
Mon – Fri: 8 am to 10 pm
Sat: 8 am to 8 pm
Sun: 8 am to 8 pm — first floor reading room only

LIBRARY SERVICES:
Mon – Fri: 10 am to 7 pm
Sat – Sun: 12 noon to 6 pm

VIRTUAL REFERENCE:
Mon – Thu: 11 am to 8 pm
Fri: 11 am to 6 pm
Sun: 12 noon to 6 pm

Wishing everyone a happy (and healthy!) Thanksgiving.

A Firm Perspective is written by Martha Goldman, a retired BigLaw firm library manager who then returned to NYLS’s Mendik Library where her career began…

How Are Your Database Skills?

If you think you know all about Westlaw, Lexis, Bloomberg Law and/or FastCase, please rethink your comfort level.  Learning should be ongoing while in law school and throughout your career.  There is always something new to know for each database, especially when vendors release new versions, add new enhancements, rearrange content or remove resources.

Take advantage of as many instructional opportunities at NYLS as your schedule permits so you can be ahead of the game at an internship, summer job or work after graduation.  You probably won’t have access to all these services wherever you land, so it is a good idea to become sufficiently skilled with each of them to demonstrate your value to a supervising lawyer and show that you are a cost effective and efficient searcher.

For more information about database instruction workshops at NYLS, please contact the reference desk (reference@nyls.edu).  Vendor representatives offer training sessions as well.

Do you need a quiet place to study with stable internet and socially distanced seating? The Mendik Library is open Monday-Friday: 8:00am-8:00pm & Saturday: 8:00am-6:00pm. Remember to wear your mask and to fill out your LiveSafe Daily Health Survey before arriving!

Remember to follow our new Instagram @nyls_mendiklibrary!

November 3, 2020 marks the five-year anniversary of publication of Prof. Michael Roffer’s book, The Law Book: From Hammurabi to the International Criminal Court, 250 Milestones in the History of Law. The book explores 250 of some of the most significant, far-reaching, and often controversial cases, laws, and trials that have changed our world—for good and bad.

This five-year anniversary falls on election day, with a presidential election enveloped in acrimony and controversy. Two highly charged legal disputes that underlay some of the political battle comprise the last two entries in the book—the Affordable Care Act (2012) and The Legal Fight for Gay Marriage (2015)—which address the Supreme Court decisions that upheld the Affordable Care Act and affirmed the constitutional right of gay couples to marry.

Despite the seeming resolution of those issues eight and five years ago, respectively, both have reemerged as hot-button topics in this year’s presidential election and the recent confirmation hearings for Justice Amy Coney Barrett.  (The politicization of the Supreme Court appointment and confirmation process is another topic covered in the book, Robert Bork’s Supreme Court Nomination (1987) and Confirming Clarence Thomas (1991).)