Summer Prep Overview
Overview
There are many resources and tools that you will find useful in practice that we do not have time to discuss in the first year curriculum. Here we introduce you to some such resources, highlighting dockets.
If you wish to deepen your research skills and gain exposure to a broader array of legal research sources, we hope that you will consider enrolling in one of our upper level research courses during your second or third year: Advanced Legal Research, Business and Securities Research, or Transnational Legal Research. Furthermore, your research professor remains a resource for you beyond your 1L year. Feel free to contact them directly, or contact the librarian staff listserv with questions regarding research support.
Practical Law in Westlaw
Westlaw provides some of its more practice-oriented resources in its Practical Law Platform. Compared to secondary sources such as legal encyclopedias, treaties, and journals, these practice resources tend to be more succinct, and are typically drafted by practitioners, rather than scholars. You have access to Practical Law with your academic credentials. If logged into Westlaw Edge, you can access Practical Law by selecting the arrow next to the Westlaw Edge icon at the top left of your home screen, and selecting the Practical Law hyperlink.
Practical Guidance in Lexis
Lexis provides some of its more practice-oriented resources in its Practical Guidance platform. You have access to Practical Guidance with your academic credentials. If logged in to Lexis Advance, select the rectangular icons next to the Lexis Advance Research icon at the top left of the home screen. There you will see several Lexis platforms, and may select the Practice Advisor link.
Practice Centers in Bloomberg Law
Bloomberg Law organizes much of practice-oriented material by subject in its Practice Centers. From the academic homepage, select Browse in the upper left corner of the screen, then Practice Centers to browse by practice area.
You can also navigate to some of this content by selecting Practice Centers and Tools under Law School Resources. Content in the Practice Centers and Tools page is organized more generally by resource type, rather than by subject.
