Lexis has recently announced two programs that will allow spring 2013 graduates to enjoy extended access to the full range of content and tools on Lexis Advance – perfect for those studying for the bar or job hunting.

All new JD and LLM graduates may apply for a special account through the Lexis Law School Graduate Program anytime between now and December 31, 2013. Once activated, the account will remain active through December 31, and may be used for educational, bar review, and job-search purposes only. Please note that this program will not extend existing Lexis Law School accounts, but rather create a new ID for each registered graduate.

Graduates conducting verifiable 501(c)(3) public interest work may instead sign up for the Lexis ASPIRE Program, which will permit job-related access to Lexis Advance for the duration of the public interest work, even if beyond December.

All May graduates’ Lexis Advance accounts will continue to function fully through July 31, and continuing students will also automatically enjoy full access to Lexis Advance throughout the summer. No application process is required for these extensions.

See the library's page on Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law for details on summer and new grad extended access on all of these platforms.

Westlaw has recently announced that spring 2013 graduates will be able to enjoy access to the full range of content on WestlawNext and Westlaw Classic through the end of November – perfect for those studying for the bar or job hunting.

Graduating students can extend their access by registering for Westlaw's Grad Program. Once registered, May graduates will retain access to Westlaw through November 2013. Although all content is included, please note that this extension will be limited in the number of hours allowed per month. All graduates will also automatically retain access to a number of career-related databases for 18 months following graduation.

Continuing students involved in academic or non-profit research can also take advantage of full Westlaw access through the summer by registering for a password extension.

See the library's page on Lexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law for details on summer and new grad extended access on all of these platforms.

To supplement this spring's successful Equal Justice Film Festival and encourage further research and exploration, the Georgetown Law Library has compiled a brief bibliography of resources, including books, scholarly articles, and other films on related topics.

You can view or download it in PDF: Georgetown Law Library Equal Justice Film Festival - A Concise Bibliography.

For more information about the films and speakers that were part of the series, see the Film Festival website at www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/125/filmfestival.cfm.

The CQ Electronic Library, a product of Congressional Quarterly publishing, has added three new resources to their already rich collection.

• World at Risk is a sourcebook of global issues which features indepth reports on topics such as human trafficking, international criminal justice and climate change. The reports can be searched by keyword or browsed in full-text.
• CQ Press State Stats is a data resource of state statistics on topcis such as crime rates, employment and environmental health. Researchers can browse by state or topic and search by keyword.
• The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biography 1789-2012 includes detailed biographical information on all justices of the U.S. Supreme Court since its inception.

With summer just around the corner, the Library wants to be sure you’re aware of the options and requirements for continuing to use your student accounts with Westlaw, Lexis, and Bloomberg Law. A summary of the relevant policies and procedures is below and can also be found at www.law.georgetown.edu/library/about/services-policies/lexis-westlaw.cfm.

Of course, you’ll also want to check with your supervisor or librarian at your place of employment to understand any institutional policies or preferences they may have for using these platforms for your research over the summer.

Westlaw:

Westlaw passwords will automatically remain active over the summer for a limited number of hours of research each month. Students can get full access over the summer if they have a valid educational need under one of the following provisions:

• Summer School
• School-Related Research Assignment
• Moot Court Research
• Law Review or Journal Research
• Working as a Professor's Research Assistant
• Non-Profit Externship (receiving academic credit AND unpaid)
• Unpaid Internship/Externship (receiving academic credit AND unpaid)

If one of the above describes your summer activities, please apply to extend your full access at Westlaw's Password Extension page. If you take no action, your account will remain active but limited in the number of hours for June and July. Live Chat support on WestlawNext will remain active throughout the summer.

Graduating students can extend access while studying for the bar by registering for Westlaw’s Grad Program. Once registered, May graduates will retain access to Westlaw through November 2013. Please note that this extension will be limited in the number of hours allowed. All graduates will automatically retain access to a number of career-related databases for 18 months.

Questions can be directed to our Westlaw account representative, Pedro de Lencastre, at pedro.delencastre@thomsonreuters.com.

Lexis:

For summer 2013, Lexis offers students unlimited use of Lexis Advance for any research purpose, educational or commercial/job related. No additional steps are necessary for access besides registering your Lexis Advance ID (please contact the Reference Desk if you need an ID).

Lexis.com will also remain active over the summer, and may be used to access materials (e.g., international legal materials) that are unavailable on Lexis Advance. To use Lexis.com over the summer, you may log in the same as during the school year at www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool using your Lexis.com ID, until the consolidation of IDs into a single Lexis Advance ID/password and portal in late June or early July. After this, Lexis.com will be accessible by logging onto Lexis Advance and selecting the Lexis.com link in the system.

Questions can be directed to our Lexis account representative, Lori Sorenson, at lori.sorenson@lexisnexis.com.

Bloomberg Law:

Bloomberg Law accounts remain fully active over the summer for registered law students, including access for research conducted during summer employment. For additional information, contact Georgetown's Bloomberg Law representative, Beth Goldfinger, at egoldfinger@bloomberg.net.

Interested in learning strategies and techniques for conducting efficient legal research?
Attend a one-hour library session on developing a research plan,  tips for using Westlaw Next and Lexis Advance, free and low-cost legal research resources, and how to select the right resource and method for your research. 

These are the same classes we provide to the first-year JD students in the Legal Research and Writing program. 

Please sign-up for a class online, “Cost Effective Research Class (LL.M. & J.D.).” If you have questions, please stop by the Reference Desk.

Cost Effective Legal Research Class (LL.M. & J.D.)
•    Tuesday April 9, 2013 11:10am
•    Wednesday April 10, 2013 3:30pm

Classes held in the Williams Library Computer Learning Center (CLC).

As the Georgetown Hoyas advance in their last Big East tournament, as we know it, you can bet that there are hundreds of lawyers out there not only watching the conference tournament games, but also negotiating the athletic contracts of their NCAA clients, the basketball officials, the arena owners, etc. A simple search for NCAA in FeeFieFoeFirm, the legal search engine, locates thousands of legal guidance memos, law firm profiles and practitioner work product in the area of college sports law.

Georgetown Law Library maintains a Sports Law Research Guide for those looking to do more than just watch the games this weekend and strategize about their upcoming March Madness bracket. If you have any questions about researching in this practice area, feel free to ask a reference librarian for assistance and good luck with those brackets! Hoyas all the way!

If you are interested in New York City's much-discussed plan to block the sale of large sugary drinks by restaurants and other establishments, make sure to read Georgetown Law Professor Lawrence Gostin's March 13th CNN opinion piece Banning Large Sodas is Legal and Smart

For more on the background of the ban, check out NYC's Department of Health & Mental Hygiene Sugary Drinks web site, which includes links to selected relevant documents, and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog's A Legal Guide to the Soda Ban Ruling, a short explanation with links to New York State Supreme Court documents, including the March 11 ruling.

Thirsty for more? Learn about researching the laws of New York City from the City of New York section of our New York Research-in-Depth Guide.

The Cayman Islands are making it easier for legal researchers to access statutes and case law. Westlaw currently has the unannotated code updated through June 2012, while the Cayman Islands Judicial Authority is making cases available at http://www.judicial.ky/.You do have to register on the website to get access to case law.

While this is great news for those of us who are glued to our computers, others may be sad to know that they've lost an excuse to take a Caribbean vacation to get the cases and statutes they need.

The answer to this, and many other questions you might have about the upcoming process for selecting a new pope, can be found in the Papal Election Research Guide. This guide contains information on recent changes to the rules that guide the conclave, as well as a look at some of the top contenders for the position.

Additionally, the guide includes resources that are available to you both here at the Law Center and on the Main Campus, as well as electronic resources that may be helpful.

Please feel free to consult a reference librarian for more information on using any of the resources identified in the Papal Election Research Guide!