LLRX.com: Guides for Legal Research & Technology

Looking for focused research guides and articles on leading edge topics in law and technology? Try LLRX.com, a site with contributions by lawyer and law librarian experts on subjects ranging from "Animal Rights on the Road to Personhood" to "Researching Australian Law" and features on the latest courtroom technology. LLRX is edited and published by Sabrina I. Pacifici, also the founder and editor of beSpacific, another wonderful resource with daily updates summarizing and linking to new government and international organization documents, reports, and data on legal, economic, scientific and cultural issues.  

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Say farewell to Westlaw Classic

Starting July 1, Westlaw Classic will no longer be available on your law school password.  If you have not embraced WestlawNext already, here are a few resources to help you make the transition:

• Comparing Westlaw Classic and WestlawNext - a quick table comparison
• WestlawNext Learning and Support - a collection of instructional videos and pdfs
• Introduction to WestlawNext (for Westlaw Classic users) - a 12 minute "highlights" YouTube video by one of your favorite Reference librarians

As always contact one of those favorite Reference librarians if you have any questions.


Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Did you know Google has advanced searching techniques as well as cloud storage and collaborate document drafting tools?  To find out more, register for our Googlerific workshop - the last in our Research Life-line workshop series.

Date:  Wed. March 26
Time:  12:10 - 1pm
Location:  Room 014
R.S.V.P:  lawdek@hofstra.edu

Lunch and surprise gift included.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Research Strategically

Discover how to develop a research strategy with smart ways to tackle tough questions at  the first of the Library's Research Life-Line Workshop Series.  

[This workshop had been cancelled from earlier in Feb. due to snow storm #87 - o.k., maybe that is an exaggeration, but you get the point.]

Date:  Wed. March 5
Time:  12:10-1p
Where:  Room 243

Lunch and surprise gifts for all attendees.
Please R.S.V.P. at  lawdek@hofstra.edu

See complete schedule of Research Life-Line Workshop series, for details on future workshops.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Video Research Guides

Did you know the Library's web site has links to online research tutorials?  We have just added some new webcasts on ethics, tax and municipal law research.  Scroll down to  find additional webcasts on a variety of research topics.

Watch the webcasts page -  in the next couple of months as we will be adding more.  As always, suggestions for video research guide topics are most welcome.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Research Strategy: Research Life-Line Workshop Series

Discover how to develop a research strategy with smart ways to tackle tough questions at  the first of the Library's Research Life-Line Workshop Series.

Date:  Wed. Feb. 5
Time:  12:10-1p
Where:  Room 014

Lunch and surprise gifts for all attendees.
Please R.S.V.P. at  lawdek@hofstra.edu

See complete schedule of Research Life-Line Workshop series, for details on future workshops.

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

Legal Research and New Attorneys: A Survey

As the 1Ls experienced their first law school class this week, delving into Legal Writing, Analysis, and Research, a timely report appeared summarizing how legal research is really performed by new attorneys.  "Rebooting Legal Research in a Digital Age," authored by Steven Lastres, Director of Library & Knowledge Management at the New York-based international law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, is drawn from the recent "New Attorney Research Methods Survey" conducted by the Research Intelligence Group.  The 190 survey respondents from both small and large firms, nearly forty percent of them 28 or younger, included many graduates from the classes of 2011 and 2012.  If you are like most of them, in your first few years of practice you will spend more than 30% of your time doing legal research, and you will likely spend most of this time using paid online services.  Like nearly half of those surveyed, you may think that legal research should be a larger part of the law school curriculum.  So focus in on those LWR classes and those training sessions and workshops given by the librarians.  And check out this revealing report on the current state of legal research for new attorneys.

Hat tip to Law Librarian Blog.          

Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

1Ls - Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg made easier

WELCOME Class of 2016!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that you are pretty much "oriented" it is time to get down to business.  Your Legal Analysis Writing & Research professor will expect you to attend training on Lexis, Westlaw and Bloomberg Law provided by one of your favorite librarians.  You need attend only one of the classes.

Sign up at the Library Circulation desk to get your preferred time.   Here is the schedule .

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On the Ides...Beware of missing this!

Research Strategy 101 - Mon. March 18  at 12:10-1pm in Room 205
Pizza  and surprise gift included

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Article on Legal Research Litigation Practice Materials

Shawn G. Nevers (Brigham Young University-J. Reuben Clark Law School) recently published an article entitled  "Legal Research: Litigation Practice Materials."  The article is intended for 1L students who don't always get experience in the first year classes with litigation documents but definitely can find themselves working with these documents at their summer internships.  The article provides a number of legal research resources that can be used to draft complaints, summons, motions and other litigation documents.  Click here to read the entire article.

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LLAGNY's "Bridge the Gap"Legal Research Program

Thinking about working as a summer associate or intern? Did you miss some of the Library's "Top 10" Legal Research Skills workshops? Here's another great chance to improve those research skills for summer success!

Each year, the Law Library Association of Greater New York (LLAGNY) sponsors a day-long program focusing on legal research skills, with the goal of easing the transition from law school to summer employment. This year's program will be held Friday, April 8, at New York Law School in Manhattan.

The day includes a general overview session on the research process and individual sessions with sample research issues created for three interest tracks: Corporate Securities; Litigation; and Public Service Practices. The afternoon panel of expert practitioners from different legal venues (firm, nonprofit, court, agency) will describe expectations for summer associates and offer advice. Breakfast, lunch, program materials, and a luncheon speaker on career development are all included for a bargain price of $40.00!

Registration forms and the program schedule are here, at the LLAGNY web site. Hofstra Law students also should have received an email about the event, with instructions for registering after April 1. Forms and information are also available at the Reference Desk.
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New Library Website Tour

Do you need some guidance on where to find articles, how to use the online catalog, or how to locate past exams? Could you use a quick refresher on finding resources for term papers or how to use Journal Finder or WorldCat? That's easy--just take the guided webcast tour of the Library's website. In the new Fall 2010 website tour, a reference librarian walks you through the resources and features of the redesigned Law Library main page and how to use some of the most popular databases for law school research. You can go directly to the website tour from the "Online Library Website Tour" link in the Instruction section of the main page. Before beginning the webcast, be sure to increase the volume so that you can hear the tour clearly. If you have more questions or want to dig deeper into any of the resources, just ask for help at the Reference Desk.
Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

JURIST

The start of a new school year is a great time to become acquainted, or reacquainted, with JURIST, the real-time legal news and research site that keeps you up to the minute with legal news from the United States and around the world. Written and maintained by faculty and students at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, JURIST is self-described as "the world's only law school-based comprehensive legal news and research service."

You may have noticed that the Law Library's home page features continuous feeds from JURIST with breaking legal news. But JURIST is much more. It's a great web resource for background, law faculty analysis and commentary, primary documents, and video clips on many legal topics. Check it out.



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Free Case Law

Related to Thursday's post with guides to low cost legal research resources, there is a new article in Law Technology News that reviews free sources of case law.

And you can add one more source to those listed in the article, the New York State Reporter. Similarly, many state governments and courts offer recent opinions online for free.



Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat

What employers want you to know - workshops next week

You have seen the emails, now find out how to handle that first scary research assignment from your new employer. The Reference librarians will be leading workshops starting Monday. The schedule and description is below. For those who are curious to read the article TOP 10 THINGS LAW LIBRARIANS WISH NEW ASSOCIATES WOULD KNOW, sign on to Westlaw and Use Find for 4/7/2006 Legal Intelligencer 7.

Monday, 3/16, 5pm-6 in Room 205 Kevin Shelton will present "Civics 101: What Every New Lawyer Should Know, But Doesn't"

In this workshop, you will learn the difference between statutes and regulations and get the basic background you will need for all legal research.

(Discussing item 1 in the article).

Tuesday, 3/17, 11am-noon in Room 227, Toni Aiello will present "Where do I start? Getting Background with Secondary Sources."

In this workshop you will learn how to find and effectively use Secondary Sources.

(Discussing item 2 in the article).

Wednesday, 3/18, 3pm-4 in Room 243, Mary Godfrey-Rickards will present "Location, Location, Location: Where to find Cases, Statutes and Regulations"

In this workshop, you will learn the best way to research cases, and where to find statutes and regulations

(Completing the discussion of item 1 in the article).

Thursday, 3/19, 4pm-5 in Room 243, David Dames and Tricia Kasting will present "Putting it all Together"

Learn how to formulate a research strategy based on your assignment, your time limits, and the resources you have available--when to use what.

(Finishing up with items 3,5-8 in the article).



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CasemakerX

Casemaker has started a new CasemakerX system for law students. CasemakerX is a sort of social networking site, but one only needs to register for CasemakerX, and doesn't need to include personal information, to get free access to Casemaker. Using Casemaker could make a law student familiar with how legal research is done at many smaller law firms (i.e. without Lexis or Westlaw). Casemaker is provided for free to members of 24 state bar associations (the closest state to New York City that provides Casemaker to its attorneys is Connecticut), and many attorneys in those states rely on it heavily for their legal research needs. While Casemaker's New York case law library only goes back to 2006, its libraries are much better for states like Connecticut where it is provided to attorneys by the state bar association.



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