BLS Library Blog

BLS Library will hold its annual LibraryFest this Thursday, September 25, from 12:30 to 4:30 pm on the first floor of the library. This year, more vendors than ever will be on hand to showcase their legal research platforms to students and give away swag. Lexis, Westlaw, Bloomberg Law, Wolters Kluwer, ProQuest, EBSCO, Oxford University Press, and CALI will all be represented! BLS librarians will also be there to show students a variety of research tools available through the library website. 

This will be an excellent opportunity to learn about the many legal research resources available to BLS students! If you are a 1L, it is a great way to be introduced to the features of these research platforms. If you are a 2L, 3L or 4L, you are likely to discover new resources that will be helpful as you tackle research papers, undertake research projects for your externship, or work on developing practice-ready skills. In addition, students who visit at least four vendors can enter the raffle. Many gift cards and other prizes, including a 50-inch TV, will be raffled off! The library will notify prize winners by email, so you do not have to be present at the drawing to win.

LibraryFest will be a lot of fun, and we hope to see you there! 

The library has recently added a helpful research resource that BLS alumni can use: Westlaw Patron Access. This is a version of Westlaw that can be accessed on one of the computer terminals located past the circulation desk on the library’s first floor. There are two adjoining terminals, and the one with Westlaw Patron Access is on the right side. 

Westlaw Patron Access includes many resources that could be useful to practitioners, including both federal and state case law (with KeyCite), and federal and state statutes and regulations. In addition to primary law, users can access a wealth of secondary sources such as:

General Secondary Sources

• American Law Reports
• Restatements of the Law
• American Jurisprudence 
• Law Reviews and Journals
• 50 State Surveys 

New York Secondary Sources

• New York Jurisprudence
• NY Practice Series 
• Carmody-Wait 2d NY Practice with Forms
• Siegel’s New York Practice

Secondary Sources by Practice Area

Many areas of law are covered, with the following being just a few examples:

• Employment Law
• Immigration Law
• Securities Law
• Criminal Law

A few tips for users of the Westlaw Patron Access terminal: 

• User Guide & Training Videos: A laminated print copy of the user guide to Westlaw Patron Access can be found next to the terminal. A pdf of the guide is also saved on the computer terminal, next to the icon used for access. In addition, you can find Westlaw’s training videos and materials for Westlaw Patron Access here.

• Navigation to Secondary Sources:  Westlaw Patron Access includes access to many secondary sources. If you are looking for secondary sources in a particular area of law, we suggest navigating first to the link for secondary sources and then to the topic of interest (e.g. immigration law). We have found that this order of navigation may provide more results than clicking on the area of law first and then trying to find secondary sources within that field. 

• “Out of Plan” Resources: Please note that some of the resources listed in the Westlaw Patron Access interface may not be available to our patrons. Typically there will be an “Out of Plan” notation for such resources.  

• Saving Your Results:  You can email documents to yourself, or download them if you bring your own USB drive. At this time, there is no option to print from the terminal. 

• Privacy and Confidentiality:  Be sure to sign off when you have finished your session by navigating to the user icon, and clicking on the “Sign Off” tab (see screenshot below). Doing so will delete your search history and results, and ensure privacy and confidentiality. 

BLS Library may limit the amount of time a patron uses the terminal, at our discretion. Our current policy is that use of the Westlaw Patron Access terminal is limited to 30 minutes if another user is waiting.

The Westlaw Patron Access Terminal is not the only dedicated research platform available to alumni. BLS alumni are also welcome to use the library’s Bloomberg Terminal for their research needs. The Bloomberg Terminal is located in the library’s cellar, immediately to the left of the entrance doors when entering the International Collection.  

The Bloomberg Terminal has a wealth of real-time and historical financial data on companies and markets worldwide. News articles and analytics can also be accessed on the terminal. For new users, the Bloomberg YouTube channel includes many training videos, and there is also a print guide designed to help new users of the terminal in an academic setting. If you wish to access the Bloomberg Terminal at BLS Library, stop by the circulation desk to obtain the username and password for our account.  

If you have any questions about these terminals, please let a librarian know at askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu  BLS alumni, we hope to see you at the library making use of these helpful research resources! 

BLS Library recently switched to a new and improved format for our list of subscription databases. This updated list has new ways to search and filter results that we think you'll find helpful and easier to use. 

You can find the new A-Z Databases list on our research guide homepage or at https://guides.brooklaw.edu/az/databases.

On the new list, you can now search by database name or keyword. Additionally, you can filter the list by database subject, such as international law or legislative history. You can also narrow down the list by types of databases or vendors.

We hope you like the new list. If you want to learn more about our databases or need research assistance, please reach out to us at askthelibrary@brooklaw.edu. We're here to help!

The website of Lenape Center describes Lenapehoking as “homeland of the Lenape.” Lenapehoking includes the land on which our school currently stands.  See: Brooklyn Law School, Programs on Creating a Living Land Acknowledgment Held with the Lenape Center.

Lenape Center is a nonprofit organization that states it is “[c]ontinuing Lenapehoking through community, culture and the arts” and “[w]orking towards the creation of a cultural center.”  Lenape Center’s work includes curating exhibitions (including the virtual exhibit Lenapehoking), developing educational programs, and creating Lenapehoking: An Anthology. Brooklyn Law School Library, Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library provide multiple copies of this insightful and powerful book. On p. 14 of the Introduction, Joe Baker (Co-Founder/Executive Director of Lenape Center) states: “This anthology of essays and interviews features leading Indigenous scholars, culture bearers, and artists offering important new scholarship and knowledge of Lenape culture and history that is not readily available to the general public.” On March 6, 2023, there was a “Live from NYPL” event at which contributors to Lenapehoking: An Anthology “explore[d] the personal journeys of people seeking welcome in their ancestral homeland while pushing back against their erasure.” This event video is available here.

Members of the BLS community now have access to HeinOnline’s searchable database: Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: History, Culture & Law: 

This database includes: the subcollection Indigenous Peoples Treaties (400+ full-text treaties) and treaty-related publications; each edition of United States Code Title 25 and Code of Federal Regulations Title 25; the Indian Law Reporter (published: 1974-2013) and additional serials; a subcollection of tribal codes (published: 1981 and 1988); a subcollection of constitutions, acts and by-laws; selected Native Nations Law & Policy Center publications such as The Need for Confidentiality within Tribal Cultural Resource Protection and Tribal Implementation Toolkit; Model Tribal Probate Code; nearly 50 federal legislative histories; Congressional hearings; scholarly articles; other related works (books and pamphlets); and a bibliography. This database is accessible on campus through the BLS network or off campus through a web browser that communicates with the BLS proxy server. The library team hopes this database will assist BLS students in the spring 2024 seminar: Native American Law. Feel free to email: askthelibrary@brooklaw.eduor text: (718) 734-2432 for help in using this new resource.

Congratulations, you made it!  You finished finals, and we, at the Library, hope you are looking forward to your summer employment. This summer, if you need to use Westlaw, Lexis or Bloomberg, you can! Summer access to these platforms is automatic and you can use them for both schoolwork and your summer employment. *There is a caveat for Westlaw. You cannot use Westlaw in situations where you are billing a client. Examples of permissible uses for your academic password include the following:

• Summer coursework
• Research assistant assignments
• Law Review or Journal research
• Moot Court research
• Non-Profit work
• Clinical work
• Externship sponsored by the school

Graduate Access

Graduates have extended access to these platforms for a limited time. You can access Bloomberg Law six months after graduation. As for Lexis, the Graduate Program gives extended access to Lexis+ to spring graduates via their law school IDs through December 31, 2023. This grants them access to the Graduate Home Page and gives them a graduation gift.  The transition from a regular law school ID to a graduate ID happens on July 10, 2023. Lastly, because Brooklyn Law School participates in Westlaw’s Grad Elite program, you have access to Westlaw for 18 months after graduation.  Listed below are details for how to register for the program and what is included in it. 

Westlaw’s Grad Elite Program Details:

You can use Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for 18-months after graduation. Your “Grad Elite” access gives you 60-hours of usage per month, with no restrictions against using them for professional purposes.

These tools include:

• Westlaw
• Practical Law
• Practical Law Connect
• Drafting Assistant Essential
• Doc and Form Builder
• ProView
• West LegalEdCenter -one-year, no CLE
• Knowledge Center eLearnings and Tutorials

YOU MUST OPT IN TO THE GRAD ELITE PROGRAM:

1) Go to www.lawschool.tr.com; Log in; Use the drop-down menu by your name to go to Grad Elite Status

2) Or Click on this link:  https://lawschool.westlaw.com/authentication/gradelite

One final resource that recent grads should also check out is the library’s Affordable Legal Resources research guide.

As you start preparing for finals, remember that the BLS library has an extensive collection of study guides. The Lexis Digital Library hosts the popular Understanding series as e-books which you can easily access through your Lexis+ account. Just go to the homepage, click on the small dots to the left of the Lexis+ logo and select Digital Library. Use your BLS credentials to log in and navigate to Browse Library on the left. 

Good luck studying! 

If you need to do any type of foreign or international law research, the Law Library of Congress (law.gov) offers a trove of (free!) resources that will be invaluable to your research.  Recently, the Law Library redid their website, making it easier to navigate.  Below is a summary of the resources available on law.gov. 

The Researcher Resources tab takes you to a page with links to the Library’s Research Guides, Guide to Law Online, the Legal Research Institute, Congress.gov, the Library’s blog, In Custodia Legis, databases, and story maps which are interactive web applications that describe the Library’s collections  through narrative, multimedia, and interactive maps. 

Research Guides

The Law Library has published dozens of research guides, including research guides on the laws of the 50 states and U.S. territories (e.g. Guide to Law Online: Puerto Rico); various topic areas (Nonprofit Organizations Law: A Beginner’s Guide,  U.S. Federal Appellate Courts: Records and Briefs, Public International Law: A Beginner’s Guide); and guides for foreign law (e.g. Guide to Law Online – Australia). Each guide contains links to additional free sources for caselaw, legislation, and other resources and guides to assist in your research. 

Legal Reports
The Law Library of Congress produces reports on foreign, comparative, and international law in response to requests from Members of Congress, Congressional staff and committees, the federal courts, executive branch agencies, and others. Selected reports are provided for the public for reference purposes. This can be a great brainstorming resource if you are looking for a foreign, international, or comparative topic to write on.  Some recent reports include: Citizenship through international adoption; Children’s online privacy and data protection in selected European countries; and Legal provisions on gender equality. You can browse these reports or search for reports on a specific topic using the search feature on top of the page. 

Reference Librarians at the Law Library of Congress
If you have any questions about a resource or obtaining a source of foreign or international law (or any law), you can ask the reference librarians at the Library using the Ask the Library feature.  The Law Library of Congress employs experts in different areas of the law and countries and is thus well-equipped to provide guidance on finding sources on a wide variety of topic areas and jurisdictions.