LexisNexis recently released a new version of Lexis Advance.  The new version includes a number of significant updates, such as the ability to browse sources and search a specific source.  New content was also added, including American Jurisprudence 2d and state legal encyclopedias. 

To learn more about Lexis Advance, visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/lawschool/ and log in to view videos, tutorials, and research guides.

Scout is a new alert service from the Sunlight Foundation, which can be used to easily monitor federal and state legislation and federal regulations. 

To get alerts, simply search for a keyword or phrase describing the issue in which you are interested and then click “Create Alert.”  Free registration is required.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently announced that their collection of Appellate and Amicus Briefs is now searchable online. The Appellate collection includes all briefs filed by the EEOC in which the United States is a party from 2000 to the present. The amicus brief collection contains all briefs filed by the EEOC in the U.S. Court of Appeals, district courts and state courts. The briefs are searchable by keyword, case name, case number, as well as by applicable statute.

Students, as you start your summer jobs, you likely will be faced with conducting research in unfamiliar areas of law, which means dealing with unfamiliar citations.  Luckily, there are a number of specialized resources that will help you determine the source affiliated with a particular legal abbreviation.

Often the best resource, particularly for U.S. legal materials, is Bieber’s Dictionary of Legal Abbreviations.  Most law libraries will have a copy, and Bieber’s is also available on Lexis.  For citations to foreign and international sources, a great resource is the Index to Legal Citations and Abbreviations by Donald Raistrick.

For more resources and tips for discerning unfamiliar citations, see our Abbreviations and Acronyms Research Guide.  Additionally, Georgetown Law students can always contact a librarian at the reference desk – even over the summer!
 

Lexis and Westlaw both restrict student access over the summer, but continuing students may request an extension of their passwords if they meet certain conditions.  Examples of these conditions include:

• Taking summer law school classes that require access for their course preparation and assignments;
• Doing research associated with law review, law journal, or moot court work over the summer;
• Serving as a research assistant for a faculty member; or
• Working in an unpaid, nonprofit public internship or externship position for school credit or to fulfill a graduation requirement.

Note that this continued access must be for academic purposes only.  Using a Lexis or Westlaw password for a commercial purpose is in direct violation of our academic subscription terms.

The extension of student passwords needs to be done separately with each vendor, and we have prepared a page with information on how to do so at http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/students/research_assistants.cfm.  (Scroll down to the section entitled "Summer Use of Lexis and Westlaw.")

If you have additional questions regarding summer password extensions, please direct them to Pedro de Lencastre at Westlaw (pedro.delencastre@thomsonreuters.com) and/or Lori Sorenson at Lexis (lori.sorenson@lexisnexis.com).

Patrons who use our Free and Low-Cost Legal Research Guide will be interested in some recent developments in the availability of free legal material online. First, Lexis recently shut down lexisOne, their site for free case law. Now, the only way to access case law through Lexis is to subscribe to their premium services (Lexis Advance and Lexis.com).

On a more positive note, however, the Public Library of Law (PLoL) is once again being kept up-to-date. The PLoL, provided by low-cost alternative Fastcase, was not being updated with current material for a brief time, but that problem seems to have been corrected.

Fastcase and PLoL are only two of the free and low-cost alternatives to the dominant legal research services. For more information, consult our research guide for the particular type of material you are interested in (cases, statutes, etc.). For each type of legal material, the guide has links to the relevant websites, dates of coverage, and available search options. 

The law library is offering a one-hour class on strategies and techniques for conducting cost-efficient legal research.  At Cost-Effective Legal Research, librarians will discuss development of a research plan, cost-saving tips for using Westlaw and LexisNexis, free and low-cost legal research resources, and how to select the right resource and method for your research.

Classes will be held in the Williams Library Computer Learning Center at the following dates/times:

Monday, April 2, 4:30pm
Thursday, April 5, 8:00pm
Tuesday, April 10, 12:15pm
Wednesday, April 11, 3:30pm

Space is limited, so sign-up today!

Legal research classes are offered throughout the year at the law library.  Now, you can find out about upcoming research classes by visiting the new Legal Research Classes page on our website.  Here, you can find out about classes taught by librarians on topics such as research strategy and cost-effective legal research as well as classes offered by Westlaw, LexisNexis, and other database vendors on how to use their products to do legal research.

The library's Securities Law Research Guide was recently updated with the most up-to-date treatises, databases and federal, state and international law material thanks to a "lawyer-future librarian". The library recently hosted 4 students from the University of Michigan's School of Information for an "Alternative Spring Break" internship. These students traveled from Ann Arbor with dozens of their colleagues who spent a week working at various local libraries. One intern with a law degree worked with our Reference Department on updating the guide and learning about the library's collections, assisting with reference services and meeting with mentor-librarians.

Did you know that a large majority of court documents from the PACER system are readily available through the library's Bloomberg Law subscription? PACER is the fee-based online service that provides access to court records and documents for U.S. Appellate, District and Bankruptcy courts, but as a member of the Georgetown Law community, all you need to do is set up your own Bloomberg Law account as outlined on our catalog record. Once you've got access to the Bloomberg Law database, select the DOCKETS tab and begin your search using the template as seen below. Court documents can be downloaded or e-mailed for no cost.  Please feel free to ask a reference librarian if you need assistance searching Bloomberg Law.