In making your plans to prepare for the July Bar Exam, remember to plan for where you will be doing your studying. Most NYLS students will use the study spaces in our Library, and for these students the planning is simple. All summer long, our Library will provide ample study spaces that are quiet, air-conditioned, and open every day, including evenings and weekends.
But other students will find it more convenient to study elsewhere, for any number of reasons. This may be especially true for students who are enrolled in Bar review courses held at other law schools. These students may find it convenient to study in the other school’s library, before or after the review sessions.
Many students are under the impression that NYLS Library can arrange free access to other law schools’ libraries for Bar Exam study. Please take heed that this is not the case. Our Library’s reciprocal access arrangements with other schools extend to students, not to graduates. And by the time you are studying for the Bar, you will no longer be a student, but rather a NYLS graduate. If you wish to use another law school’s library for Bar study, you must make arrangements directly with the other library. Most local law school libraries charge other schools’ graduates for a Bar study pass, and several sell only a limited number of passes. Thus, if securing a study seat in another law school’s library is important to you, you must plan ahead. In town, the schools that host Bar review courses are Brooklyn Law, Fordham and NYU. Among these schools, so far only Fordham has announced a Bar access policy for this summer. Fordham’s policy is set out at its Website, http://law.fordham.edu. (Click on “Library Access & Hours.”) Brooklyn Law and NYU have promised to inform us of their policies as soon as they have decided upon them.
Most schools set their Bar access policies as the study season approaches, in April or May. We in the Library do our best to keep track of all local schools’ policies, but we are not always given the most current information. If you have a particular library in mind, your best bet is to visit their Website, or phone them — the earlier, the better. Of course, NYLS Library’s Reference librarians can help you contact other libraries, and we will pass along any policy information that we have received. You may call us at 212-431-2332, e-mail reference@nyls.edu, or IM to AOL id “nylslib”.