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.
Attention all 1Ls
Have you submitted your Legally Clueless Info Hunt entry? The drawing will be on Monday August 28 at 3:50 pm for day students and at 5:50 pm for evening students, just outside the Library. The deadline for submission is 3:30 pm (5:30 for evening students) on the 28th.
As promised, we’ll be picking many winners from the raffle drum and awarding lots of prizes, including Starbucks cards, study aids, law school swag, and more! If the prizes aren’t incentive enough, remember that submitting your entry is a requirement of your First Week Introduction to the American Legal System course.
Say Goodbye to Mendik Mobile
With the new semester, the Library is changing the way we offer services on mobile devices.
In place of the Mendik Mobile app many of you have used, we’ve created a responsive webpage – http://lawlib.nyls.edu –that gives you easy access to all our services in a format that looks good and works well on a mobile device.
You should eliminate the Mendik Mobile app and create a shortcut in its place to our responsive webpage. If you don’t know how to do this, just follow these instructions: Take the Library with you!
Although the Mendik Mobile app may continue to work, it won’t have current information. Make sure you delete it and start using the new system.
If you’ve never experienced the convenience of checking course reserves, renewing your loans, or searching our catalog on your phone, you should give it a try.
Balancing the Scales
Check your local PBS television listings. Starting July 5 many public television stations will begin showing the documentary “Balancing the Scales,” a film by Georgia lawyer and filmmaker Sharon Rowen. American Public Media is distributing the film to affiliates in all the major markets, including New York, and stations will be allowed to air the film any time over the next two years. Through interviews conducted over the past twenty-years, the documentary examines a wide range of topics from discrimination, persistent biases and work/life balance to what it takes to become a partner in today’s law firms. The hour long film features U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred, State Supreme Court and Appellate Court Justices, female equity partners, women of color, as well as young associates and law students
ABA Ethics Opinion on Confidentiality of Electronic Documents
On May 11th, the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Formal Opinion 477, Securing Communication of Protected Client Information. This important ethics opinion discusses confidentiality obligations relating to electronic client communications, including e-mail. According to the ABA, an updated opinion was necessary given the evolution of the “role and risks of technology in the practice of law” and the 2012 “technology amendments” to the ABA’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
The Opinion states that if a lawyer has “undertaken reasonable efforts to prevent inadvertent or unauthorized access,” a lawyer can generally transmit client information over the Internet without violating the Model Rules. Special security measures may be required, however, by “an agreement with the client or by law, or when the nature of the information requires a higher degree of security.” The Opinion doesn’t define the reasonable efforts lawyers should take to comply with the Model Rules, but offers seven factors to help guide and inform decisions.
You can and should read the entire Opinion here: ABA Comm. on Ethics & Prof’l Responsibility, Formal Op. 477 (2017).
Summer and Post-Graduation Use of Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis and Westlaw
Student access to Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis and Westlaw is based on New York Law School’s academic subscription plans. Each has summer access provisions and usage policies for continuing and graduating students.
Students no longer need to contact LexisNexis and/or Westlaw to extend their passwords for use over the summer.
Bloomberg Law: Bloomberg Law offers students unlimited and unrestricted access to your Bloomberg Law accounts for any purpose over the summer. Graduating students will retain unlimited and unrestricted access to their accounts for 6 months after graduation.
LexisNexis: From April 30 to August 20, 2017, students may use their Lexis Advance password for any purpose at school or at work. LexisNexis permits graduating students to continue to use their law school LexisNexis account through December 31, 2017, and need not do anything further to do so. This access is intended to help you study for the bar, conduct your job search and become more efficient in Lexis Advance research. Graduates engaged in verifiable 501(c)(3) public interest work may apply to the ASPIRE program, which provides 12 months of free access to federal and state cases, codes, regulations, law reviews, Shepard’s Citation Service and Matthew Bender treatises. To apply for the ASPIRE program, visit: http://www.lexisnexis.com/grad-access/
Westlaw: Students can use Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, over the summer for non-commercial research. Students can turn to these resources to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills, but students cannot use them in situations where they are billing a client.
For 6 months after graduation, graduates have access to Westlaw and Practical Law for 60 hours per month. Usage is for non-commercial purposes. It may not be used in situations where a graduate is billing a client. In addition, graduates get access to job search databases on Westlaw and TWEN for 18 months after graduation for 1 hour a month.
For more information, visit: http://www.nyls.edu/library/for_students/summergradaccess/
Exam Prep Help!
There are three important Library resources to keep in mind as you prepare for upcoming exams.
First: The Library’s Exam Preparation Resources guide offers a host of materials containing practical advice and strategies designed to help you navigate the exam process. Make sure to look for the link to Study Aids, which identifies a variety of study aids for first year subjects, including new digital study aids, part of our LexisNexis Digital Library of E-Books.
Second: The Library maintains an archive of previous years’ exams for most courses. You can access these exams by course or professor name. You will find them on the NYLS Portal. Go to Student Resources >> Exam Archive.
Third: CALI offers a variety of lessons and podcasts with helpful tips and advice from faculty on preparing for and taking exams. To access these materials, log in to CALI and navigate to Lessons >> First Year >> Legal Concepts and Skills. Then scroll to one or more of these lessons:
- Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students (Panel 1 PodCast)
- Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students (Panel 2 PodCast)
- Exam Taking Skills, Outlines, and Advice for Law Students (Panel 3 PodCast)
- Tips for Multiple Choice Exams in Law School (Podcast)
- Top 10 Tips for Successfully Writing a Law School Essay
- Writing Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure
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, smartphone, or tablet, includes dozens of study aids and treatises.
To sign on to the LexisNexis Digital Library, follow this link: http://nyls.law.overdrive.com/
Enter your NYLS network credentials, and you’re in! The service is easy to use, but if you have any questions, just contact a Reference Librarian.
Food for Fines
If you are graduating this year and you owe any library fines, here’s a chance to save some money and do some good. For every can or unopened package of food (no glass!) you donate at the Circulation Desk, the Library will reduce the amount you owe by $2.00. So, for example, if you owe $10 in fines, bringing five cans of food would reduce your fine balance to zero! You can’t beat a deal like that. (We donate all food collected to the Salvation Army’s Bensonhurst Corps and Community Center.)
Donations must be made prior to May 25, 2017. Note: this offer does not apply to fines for lost or damaged materials.