Moritz Legal Information Blog

Do your summer plans include legal research? Whether you are on a journal, taking summer classes, or working at a law firm, you must follow certain steps to ensure access to the materials you need. Bloomberg Law, Lexis Advance, and Thomson Reuters Westlaw all permit summer use, at least for certain purposes. Bloomberg does not have an “academic use only” policy and encourages use for any summer research. Lexis also does not have an “academic use only” policy and will continue to provide free printing. Westlaw permits limited use for education-related purposes, and also requires registration for either summer access. For more details, see the Moritz Law Library’s Research Assistant Resources Guide or ask a reference librarian. Fastcase is another legal research option for summer use. Fastcase provides a quick and easy way to search federal and state cases and statutes, state constitutions, administrative opinions, regulations, law reviews, and legal forms. Moritz has an institutional

As a reminder for those of you who will soon be graduating from the Moritz College of Law: many Law Library and IT resources and services that you currently use as students will still be available to you as alumni. Your access to the secure OSU wireless network will extend to two years after graduation. You will continue to have 24-hour access to Drinko Hall and the Law Library through July, 2016. Even after the bar exam, you will, of course, always be welcome to visit the Law Library, and you will always be able to check out books from our collection. And whether you are in Columbus or not, you can always rely on legal research assistance from our reference librarians (whether by phone, e-mail , chat , or in-person). Your access to major legal databases will extend beyond graduation as well, although not indefinitely. Generally, your access to Bloomberg Law, Lexis Advance, and Thomson Reuters Westlaw will continue for six months after graduation, although extension procedures and re

Are you eager to find more information about the legislative process and the inside workings of Congress after attending this month’s Congressional Conversations with U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)? Or maybe your current research involves legislative history or bill tracking? If so, you may find it helpful to check out some of the Congressional Resources available through the Moritz Law Library. ProQuest Congressional is the go-to source for federal legislative history research, including in its databases the full text of bills and laws going back to 1789, hearings, debates, reports, and compiled legislative histories. The CQ Electronic Library brings together a number of different resources on Congress and American government, covering everything from current bill statuses and roll-call votes to historical election and voting data. Congressional information can also be found on federal government websites, although these si