Library & Legal Resources News
Because much of law school revolves around case law due to the Socratic Method, I find that many law students underestimate the importance of statutes in legal research. Statutory research is critical in the practice of law and students need to understand …
Supreme Court TV?
I'm sure you haven't missed much of President Obama's Health Care Law and its journey to the Supreme Court. Most people are watching it quite closely and, in fact, would like to literally watch the oral arguments that will take place before …
Quiet Reading Room with Furniture
The rest of the furniture for our new Quiet Reading Room has arrived. We invite you to go try it out. Here's a sneak peak: We remind you that this room is restricted to law student use and is accessible with your …
Most Important Class of Your Career
That's what a 2L from Oklahoma City University School of Law calls Legal Research and Writing (LRW) in these posts: Part I Part II
Finals Help
The 1Ls are putting the final touches on their memos and Thanksgiving is around the corner. That, of course, means it's time to start thinking about finals. Here in the library we feel your pain, as many of us have experienced it. …
Terminal Silliness of Secularized Religious Symbols
One of BYU Law School's most prolific authors, Professor Fred Gedicks, has posted his newest article, Lynch v. Donnelly and the Terminal Silliness of Secularized Religious Symbols, on SSRN. The article will be published in the Nevada Law Review. Check out more …
Pentagon Papers
Recently my wife and I watched "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers." It was an interesting documentary about Ellsberg and his path from a Pentagon insider to his decision to leak the classified Pentagon Papers, which …
BYU Law Ranked #2
BYU Law recently came in at number two in National Jurist magazine's ranking of Best Value Law Schools. The original list that came out a few months ago was unranked, but the November 2011 issue of National Jurist ranked the schools and …
The Utah Law of Trusts & Estates
Some of the most useful legal research resources are legal treatises. If you can find a good one on your topic you can save a lot of research time. Unfortunately for us, there aren't many Utah-specific legal treatises. But, I'm happy to …
13 Rules for Law Exams
Today I ran across a humorous look at final exams from a law professor. It's a bit dated--1971--but most of the rules (or anti-rules) still hold true (except the rule about writing illegibly--although I guess you could opt to hand write your …
Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals
Students and faculty at BYU Law have a number of international connections. Because of that, interest in foreign law is quite high. One resource you'll want to know about if you need secondary literature from outside of the United States is the …
How Not to Succeed in Law School
How Not to Succeed in Law School (100 Yale L.J. 1679) is the title of a hilarious law journal article by our very own (not the Law School's very own anymore, but BYU's at least) Professor Jim Gordon. If you haven't read …
State of Pretrial Detention
Professor Shima Baradaran has recently posted The State of Pretrial Detention to SSRN. This work is a chapter in The State of Criminal Justice, which is published by the American Bar Association. For more of Professor Baradaran's scholarship, check out her SSRN …
Safety Inspection and Free Utah Code
Every time I receive my car registration renewal in the mail I have two thoughts. First, "has it really been a whole year already." And second, "Please don't make me do Safety and Emissions inspections again." We got a "new" car last …
Bluebook Videos
Learning Bluebook is a pain. There's just no hiding that fact. Luckily, the Elon Law Library has some Bluebook tutorial videos that may help. This is a work in progress and many of the videos available now are basic, but it's nice …
Library Catalog Changes
Recently there were a few changes to the library catalog that we wanted you to be aware of. The library catalog is a great place to find print as well as electronic resources that are available to you. We are continually adding …
New Quiet Reading Room
The law library is pleased to announce that the new Quiet Reading Room in the southeast corner of the main floor of the library is now open for law student study. Additional furniture for the room is still arriving and will be …
Roman Plates Lecture – Oct. 20
As you've passed by the Reserve Library, you've probably noticed the Roman Plates exhibit we are hosting this year. More details about the exhibit can be found in this blog post I did last month. We are now proud to announce that …