Moritz Legal Information Blog

The Moritz Law Library offers students access to web-based legal tutorials and other resources through the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI), a non-profit consortium. CALI provides law students at member schools access to nearly 1000 interactive, web-based “lessons” in many subject areas including first-year topics like torts, criminal law, and contracts. These lessons, created by law professors and librarians at U.S. law schools, are useful as a supplemental learning tool. CALI also features a growing ebook collection , which now includes casebooks, rules of procedure and evidence, and law-related coloring books. To access CALI lessons, new Moritz users must first click the “Register” link in the upper right corner of the cali.org site and enter the Moritz student code . Use your OSU email address when registering. Please contact a Moritz reference librarian if you need assistance, or if you have questions about additional study aids in print or online.

Do you need a jump start on your seminar paper this semester? The Moritz Law Library has created a list of resources relevant to this process, including books on academic legal writing, scholarly research tools, and more. Here are a few research tips for academic legal writing: Sign up for a research consultation with a reference librarian to find out about specialized sources, helpful databases, and research strategies, all specific to your topic. Explore the wide range of databases available through the OSU Libraries, and use the catalog to expand your research beyond online-only materials. Check out the Law Library’s specialized research guides on topics such as Election Law and Foreign and International Legal Research . Law libraries across the country produce research guides on almost any legal topic. Most can be found with a quick Google search. Keep track of your research process so that you don’t repeat steps and so that you can cite sources properly. Synthesize s

Looking for a cozy, out-of-the-way study space that’s all your own? The Moritz Law Library has 52 study carrels on the library’s lower level that are still available to reserve for the spring semester. All law students can reserve a study carrel in groups of two. Forms are available at the library’s Circulation Desk. If you’re hesitant to commit to one carrel for the whole semester, keep in mind that the study carrels on the second floor and those in the third floor’s reading room remain open for use without a reservation. In addition, nine private study rooms are available for individual or small group study, all with erasable white boards. For more details or to retrieve a study room key, stop by the library Circulation Desk.

Did you know that the Moritz Law Library offers many, many databases beyond Lexis and Westlaw? An ever-growing collection of ebooks? Many resources in print that aren’t available online? A legal fiction and popular DVD collection? Reference librarians available by live chat and in the summer for research guidance on your challenging work assignments? On Thursday, November 9th at 12:10 in the Moritz Law Library Reserve Room, Moritz students will share how library resources and reference librarians have been helpful when doing research for course assignments, extracurricular activities, job interviews, and more. Moritz librarians will be there to offer additional information about useful resources with which students may not be familiar. The Pro Bono Research Group and the Moritz Law Library are co-sponsoring this event. Food will be provided.

Odds are, you have spent hundreds of hours on legal writing during law school. With LAW I, LAW II, App Ad, Transactional Practice, Advanced Legal Writing, numerous seminars, writing for journals, and employment, you’ve possibly spent more time writing than reading. Even if you are only a 1L, your LAW I closed memos or judicial opinions have been completed, and writing probably took so much longer than you ever thought it would when you first sat down in class. If the thrill of learning or the hope of earning an A aren’t enough motivation or reward for all that time spent writing, consider putting your writing experience to work by submitting something to a law student writing competition. Suffolk University Law School and the Moakley Law Library have created iCompete Writing: A Compilation of Legal Writing Competitions , which arranges competitions by date and topic, giving you a chance to win glory and cash prizes up to $25,000. You can write on a wide range of subject areas—41 to b

Need an alternative to reading, reading, and more reading? Listen instead. ModioLegal offers audio files of several practitioner publications, including the Tax Lawyer, ABI (American Bankruptcy Institute) Journal, and Litigation in Practice. The company plans to announce more titles in the near future. While you commute or work out, you can learn about tax treaty shopping, whether nationwide service of process is in jeopardy in bankruptcy cases, or the reliability of expert witnesses. This is a new service being offered to law schools on a trial basis. To subscribe, go to www.modiolegal.com , click on “Law School Portal” in the box on the right side of the screen, and enter the requested information. Once you have signed up, you can also use this service on your mobile device . If you do subscribe, the Moritz Law Library would love to hear your feedback. Please email us at lawlibref@osu.edu by December 5, 2017, with your comments.

The Moritz Law Library is proud to serve as the primary study space for our law students, but as we enter the back half of the semester, some of you may find a change of scenery may be beneficial for your study habits. If so, the Law Library has a few suggestions of alternative study spaces that may help sharpen your focus and re-energize your efforts: The views from the Thompson Library ’s Campus Reading Room on the 11th floor, or the stately bearing of the Grand Reading Room on the 2nd floor, may provide inspiration for your scholarly ambitions. The 24-hour access to the 18th Avenue Library may be perfect for night owls or those embarking on caffeine-fueled, last-minute efforts. The small but secluded Fine Arts Library may be your best option if you prefer silence and solitude. Finally, if you need to get off campus and you’re tired of Market District, check out the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s newly re-built Northside Branch , just a short walk down High Street from Drinko