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Monday, February 19, 2024

UMN Law Scholarship Repository Surpasses 3.5 Million Downloads!

 



The Law Library is very pleased to announce that the University of Minnesota Law School Scholarship Repository has surpassed 3.5 million downloads! Launched by the Library in 2015, the Repository preserves and promotes the scholarship produced by the Law School's faculty and law journals. The Repository has proven to be a highly successful tool to make the Law School's scholarship available to scholars and researchers nationally and globally.

 

The Faculty Scholarship Collection forms the heart of the Repository, providing open access, when permitted by copyright law, to the scholarship of those Law School faculty members who have consented to having their work included. This was the first content added to the Repository, and it remains its flagship collection. 

 

In recent years, the Library has broadened the scope of the Repository to include the archives of all journals published within the Law School, as well as scholarship produced by the Law School's centers and institutes. In addition, recordings of programs held at the Law School, including symposia and lectures, and scholarly podcasts are included in the Repository. 

 

As the content of the Repository has expanded, the Library has focused on improving the discoverability of this impressive body of scholarship to ensure maximum accessibility and visibility. As of today, scholarship contained in the Repository has been downloaded by scholars and researchers at close to 60,000 institutions in 237 countries. The map above displays the number of downloads by region, and the Library is confident that the Repository's reach will continue to grow.

 

The Law Library is exceptionally proud to support the outstanding scholarship produced at the Law School. We continue to strive to ensure that our community's scholarship is available to scholars and researchers throughout the world now and for posterity. 

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Spotlight on fastcase

 

fastcase

The fastcase legal research platform provides a popular and affordable alternative for accessing federal and state primary source materials such as cases, statutes, regulations, and court rules, as well as secondary materials, such as law journal articles. Check out the fastcase Scope of Coverage page for detailed information about the legal content coverage available.

Did you know?

The Law Library’s subscription to fastcase provides onsite access to all library patrons and remote access for U of MN Law students. Access to fastcase is also offered as a free benefit to state bar members in all fifty states. Membership in the Minnesota State Bar Association (MSBA) is free to Minnesota law students (apply online here). Checkout the MSBA’s Member Services Guide for more information on additional member benefits.

Using fastcase

For help on how to use fastcase visit the fastcase support page where you'll find information on webinars, video tutorials, user guides and more, or contact your friendly reference librarians.


Monday, December 18, 2023

Want to read something just for fun over winter break? The Law Library has you covered!

 For those of you staying in the Twin Cities over break, consider spending some time exploring the Hedin Law, Literature & the Arts Collection. Located just inside the wooden doors on the second floor of the Law Library, the Law and Literature collection features all kinds of law-related fiction, ranging from Kafka’s The Trial to Grisham’s The Firm. The collection also features law-related television series and films on DVD (including adaptations of the two works mentioned in the previous sentence.) 


If you’re heading somewhere else for winter break, stop by before you take off to pick up something to read on the plane–think of how fancy and cultured you’d look flipping through a physical, analog book!



Judge on plane reading The Trial by Kafka
(Image generated by DALL-E)

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Library Resources for the Home Stretch!

Research & Exam Prep Resources

Whether you’re working on a writing assignment or getting course outlines in shape and preparing for upcoming exams, the Law Library has resources to help you!  

Reference Librarians

Get research help from our Reference librarians 7 days/week in person and remotely

Study Aids

Access eBook and print copies of a wide variety of study aids covering all 1L and most 2L & 3L courses. Bear in mind that study aids are a supplement, and not a substitute for your own notes/outlines and advice provided by your course instructors. You can access eBook titles for many popular study aid series from these three major publishers:

West Academic Study Aids, includes Hornbooks, Concepts & Insights, Nutshell, and many other series.

Aspen Learning Library, includes Examples & Explanations, Emmanuel Crunchtime, Emmanuel Law Outlines, and Glannon Guides, and other series.

LexisNexis Digital Library/Carolina Academic Press, includes the Understanding, Mastering, and the Question & Answers series.

CALI Lessons

CALI has over 1,000 online, interactive tutorials covering narrow topics of law for a wide range of 1L and 2L-3L courses, including a tutorial on how to prepare for exams. To access CALI tutorials, you first need to register with an Authorization Code that you can get from the Law Library Reference Office (625-4309 or law-ref@umn.edu).

Sample Exams & Model Answers

Are there sample exams and/or model answers available for my courses? 

First, check your course Canvas site or check with your professor to see if they will be making them available.

Some faculty members will grant permission and provide copies of sample/past exams for the Law Library to place in binders for students to access. These binders are available at the Circulation desk for you to make print or digital copies using the photocopier/scanner in the law library lobby. Please be courteous and use only one binder at a time, and do not remove binders from the circulation desk area.


Friday, April 14, 2023

Bloomberg Law, Lexis+ & Westlaw Access for Grads & Continuing Students

 Summer 2023 & Beyond






*Employers may prefer/require the use of the employer-issued ID & password for client work.

Spring 2023 Graduates have continued access through Nov. 30, 2023. This access is automatic (no registration required) and is unlimited and unrestricted. 

Continuing Students: you have continued access to Bloomberg Law over the summer. This access is automatic (no registration required) and is unlimited and unrestricted.

If you have any questions, please contact the Bloomberg Law Help Desk or our dedicated Client Service Partner, Debra Ngcobo.






*Employers may prefer/require the use of the employer-issued ID & password for client work.

Lexis+ Graduate Access: Lexis has extended the date through which 3L Spring Graduates can access Lexis+. Spring 2023 graduates will continue to have access to Lexis+ on their law school ID through December 31, 2023. This extended access is automatic – no registration is required and there are no restrictions or limits on research time. Your Lexis law student account will automatically switch to a graduate account. This ongoing free use of Lexis+ includes all products and features available on a law school ID with the exception of Public Records, Practical Guidance, Law360 and Lexis for Microsoft Office. Lexis Rewards Points for 3L Spring Graduates will expire on June 30, 2023. Don’t forget to spend or donate your Lexis Rewards points before that date! 3L Spring Graduates, watch your email for a special graduation gift from Lexis. Graduate gift choices include one of the following: Intelligize (6-months from date of redemption), Law360 (6-months from date of redemption), Practical Guidance (6-months from date of redemption), Lexis for Microsoft Office (6-months from date of redemption) or One of 13 LexisNexis eBooks.

Lexis ASPIRE Program: provides 12 months of free access to federal and state cases, codes, regulations, law reviews, Shepard's® Citation Service and Matthew Bender® treatises to graduates who are engaged in verifiable 501(c)(3) public interest work. Apply for ASPIRE access at: https://lexisnexis.com/grad-access/

Lexis+ Summer Access: All other continuing law school students automatically have summer access to Lexis+ using their Lexis law school ID. You may use your Lexis law school ID for academic, professional and non-profit research. It may be used during work for a firm, clerkship, internship or externship, whether in a paid or non-paid position. There is no limit on the number of hours you can use Lexis to conduct research. Employers may ask you to use a different ID when researching for a client, so be sure to check with your employer. If you have any questions, you may contact our Lexis Academic Account Representative, Sarah Bigler at sarah.bigler@lexisnexis.com





*Employers may prefer/require the use of the employer-issued ID & password for client work.

Spring 2023 Graduates have access to Westlaw Precision, Practical Law, Practical Law Connect, Drafting Assistant and Doc & Form Builder for 18 months after graduation. Your “Grad Elite” access gives you 60-hours of usage on these products per month to meet any research needs.

To extend access logon at: www.lawschool.westlaw.com.

Questions? Contact our Thomson Reuters Academic Account Manager, Peter Lippmann.

Continuing Students: you can use Westlaw and Practical Law, over the summer for non-commercial research. You can turn to these resources to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills, but you cannot use them in situations where you are billing a client. Examples of permissible uses for your academic password include:

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


You do not have to do anything to gain access to these tools over the summer. If you have any questions, please contact our Thomson Reuters Academic Account Manager, Peter Lippmann.


Saturday, April 1, 2023

New Military Legal Resources Database

 New on HeinOnline: Military Legal Resources (U.S. Army JAG School)

This new collection of military law materials contains publications produced by the JAG on military justice, war crimes, and international law. The collection was developed by Hein in conjunction with the William Winthrop Memorial Library of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's School. It also includes rare 19th century works on military law and justice, and the complete works of Colonel William Winthrop. Consult the HeinOnline LibGuide, Military Legal Resources (U.S. Army JAG School) for more information on the collection and helpful research tips.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

New State Trial Court Legal Research Database

 Trellis

Multi-state trial court legal research & analytics platform


The Law Library now has access to Trellis, a state trial court legal research and analytics platform. Trellis provides coverage of cases and judges from trial level courts in the following states: AZ, CA, CT, DE, FL, GA, IL, MA, NV, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, TX & WA. Users can access and track trial court dockets and case documents.

You can search Trellis in a variety of ways including natural language and boolean, as well as by judge, party, county and courthouse names. Users can also search by motion types (e.g., summary judgement, demurrer) and by document type, e.g., memorandum.

Trellis is a valuable resource for research related to: motions, discovery, settlements, verdicts, class actions, and expert witnesses. Trellis is also a valuable resource for researching opposing counsel. 

You can access, track and set alerts on trial court dockets and case documents. Trellis provides a Judge Analytics Dashboard. The dashboard allows users to access biographical information and a wide range of analytics data for evaluating and comparing various aspects of a judge's practice. Categories of information include: active cases, average case length, motion grant rate, verdict data, case practice area breakdowns, motion grant rates, case outcomes (dispositions) and case milestones, e.g. average case duration, time to trial, etc.

If you have questions about Trellis, contact the Reference Office.