C-M Law Library Blog

Although the end of July is still relatively far away and you are still likely celebrating finishing law school, some of you are probably already thinking about the steps you need to take to pass the Bar Exam. The library wants to help you with the most important step of all in this endeavor – studying for the test.

With this goal in mind, library staff have placed a number of Bar Exam study materials directly above the book drop at the Information Services desk. These books can be checked out or simply used in the library. Two study series that are represented include Steve Emanuel’s Bootcamp for the MBE and Aspen publication’s MBE Refresher Course. Some unique titles in the selection include If I Don’t Pass the Bar I’ll Die and How to Pass When You Failed the Bar Exam. Please visit our Bar Exam Resources research guide for additional helpful hints on how to do your best on the test.

All of the librarians are confident that our students will maintain the college’s high pass rates. In the February Bar Exam, Cleveland-Marshall had 92% of its first-time takers pass, which was the highest percentage in the state of Ohio. Best of luck studying.

According to our friends at Hannah Report, “Gov. John Kasich signed three bills Tuesday, including Republican lawmakers’ bid to undo disputed election law changes and avoid a fall referendum.

With the governor’s signature on SB295 (Coley), the battle over its repeal of HB194 (Blessing-Mecklenborg) could now move into the courts. Democratic lawmakers and Fair Elections Ohio charge that the repeal undermines voters’ constitutional rights to have final say on acts of the General Assembly. They also maintain that SB295 is a not a true repeal of HB194 because of overlapping language related to early voting between HB194 and HB224, which deals with military and overseas voters.

Republicans have argued that, with repeal, they’re simply giving opponents of HB194 what they want, and saving a lot on election administration expenses in the process. They also have claimed Democrats want to keep the referendum on the ballot to help drive turnout.

Rep. Kathleen Clyde (D-Kent), a vocal opponent of HB194, released a critical statement in reaction to Kasich’s signing of SB295:

“One year ago, Republicans rammed through one of the worst voter suppression bills in state history, HB194. HB194 dramatically limited early voting opportunities, created meaningless reasons to throw out perfectly good absentee and provisional ballots, and took away local control from counties who adopted practices to eliminate the long lines that plagued Ohio voters in the 2004 presidential election,” Clyde said. “SB295 does not repeal all of the vote suppressing provisions of HB194. By signing this into law today, Gov. Kasich is disregarding the wishes of over 400,000 voters who want the busiest three days of early voting back. This overreach by the Republicans could again mire Ohio in expensive litigation during a busy election year.”

Under the current Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which was passed over 40 years ago – long before the Internet age – pets can be sold online sight unseen, without regard to the health or humane treatment of the animals. A rule proposed by the USDA would close this loophole in the federal law.

Traditional retail pet stores are exempt from certain basic provisions of the AWA, under the premise that potential buyers would walk into the establishment and judge for themselves the health and treatment of the pets for sale. This is not an option for Internet pet sales, and in fact, many consumers have received sick puppies and kittens as a result of their online purchases. The USDA proposes changing the definition of the term “retail pet store” in order to address this problem.

The USDA states in its recent news release that the proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register within a week. Our Federal Administrative Law research guide gives you several options for accessing the Federal Register online. The USDA has also already posted the text of the proposed rule to their website.

Shout out to the Companion Animal Law Blog for the tip.

Photo URL: momaya.com

Summer’s almost here! If you’re lucky, maybe you can take break from your course-related reading, and slip in a few more casual reads. Here are some suggestions from our collection on women of color in the practice of law.

What It Takes: How Women of Color Can Thrive Within the Practice of Law (2010) [Find it]

“Succeeding as a Woman of Color” in The Woman Advocate (2010) [Find it]

From Visible Invisibility to Visibly Successful: Success Strategies for Law Firms and Women of Color in Law in Law Firms (2008) [Find it]

Visibly Invisibility: Women of Color in Law Firms (2006) [Find it]

Of interest might also be –

Michelle: A Biography (2008) [Find it]

Best Friends at the Bar: What Women Need to Know about a Career in the Law (2009) [Find it]

The Law Firm Associate’s Guide to Connecting with Your Colleagues (2009) [Find it]

Preparing for Reentry: What Lawyers Need to Know to Navigate the Road Ahead After a Career Break (2009) [Find it]

The ABA’s Law Practice Management Section’s latest helpful book is Locked Down: Information Security for Lawyers [Find it] written by two practicing attorneys and an engineer technologist.  The book succinctly covers a wide range of information security issues, such as:

Desktops and laptops

Email, smartphones and portable devices

Wired, wireless, and remote access

Outsourcing and cloud computing

Securing documents and securely disposing of them

Cyberinsurance

The appendices reprint various key laws, regulations, and guidelines including ethics opinions, FTC rules, selected Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and security checklists.

Even after you have completed your studies at Cleveland-Marshall, there are many ways in which you can continue to benefit from the law school and library.

Most importantly, you can continue to use the library’s resources if you apply for an alumni borrower’s card. The application can be found here.

You will also still be able to access important databases, such as LexisNexis Academic, Casemaker, HeinOnline, and others from the public computers in the library.

In addition, when you do come back to visit the law library you will be able to access our wireless using the free unsecured CSUGUEST network.

You will still be able to ask library staff for help with any reference questions you may have in person, by email (research.services@law.csuohio.edu), or by phone (216 687-6877).

Finally, we will do all that we can to help you prepare for the bar exam. CALI lessons will be available to you for up to six months after graduation to help you perfect your legal knowledge. While studying for the bar, you are also welcome to use the student lounge or any of our study rooms.

Best of luck in the future.

A recent study by TheLadders revealed that recruiters typically look at a resume for six seconds before deciding whether there is a fit or not.  The study used heat map tracking to determine which parts of the resume gained the recruiter’s six seconds of attention.  Looking at the heat maps in the study and reprinted in this article , one can see that recruiters focus on bold headings, and don’t read large blocks of text.  It is important to have a well organized resume with a clear hierarchy.  Also, pictures tend to be distracting and result in less time looking at a person’s qualifications.  (Thanks to Professor Karin Mika for pointing out this article).

The library has several books available for check out on resume writing, including Resumes for Law Careers, KF297.Z9 R47 2008.  And be sure to take a look at Career Services’ Resumes/Cover Letters Handbook.

Photo by C. Frank Starmer

C|M|Law students can register for “summer access” (ie, 1 June 2011 – 1 August 2011) to LexisNexis and Westlaw if they are researching for any one of the following reasons:

• registered for a C|M|Law class
• registered for an unpaid internship/externship
• working on moot court or a law review/journal article
• working for a C|M|Law professor
• graduating students who are studying for the Bar Exam*

LexisNexis also allows summer access for:

• students doing research associated with a C|M|Law grant/scholarship
• students working on their research skills (ie, for educational, not commercial, purposes)

*Westlaw only allows graduating students to register for a limited summer access program – you get five hours in June, five hours in July, and five hours in August.

Registering for summer or graduating access is easy:

• After signing on LexisNexis, click on Summer Access within the top changing announcements box.  At the next page, there are two options:  (A) If you’re not registered for Lexis Advance, and want to use it, click as noted and follow the directions.  [If you're already registered for Lexis Advance, you do not need to do anything to get summer access.]  (B) To have access to Lexis.com, you will need to complete the lexis.com registration form — click as noted and follow the directions.  Note:  You can have access to Lexis.com and Lexis Advance.
• After signing on Westlaw, click on Need Your Westlaw Password This Summer? at the lower right.  At the next page, click as noted for “Current Student” or “Graduating,” then follow the prompts and directions.

LexisNexis also offers its ASPIRE program to Law School students and recent graduates (including December 2011 graduates).  This program provides free access to many resources until 1 September 2012.  You must be directly working for a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and engaged in verifiable public interest work.   For details, and to register for the program, sign on to LexisNexis, then click on the ASPIRE program within the top changing announcements box.

There’s always time to learn new technology. The ABA Law Practice Management Section has published a series of handy books to help busy lawyers quickly master three useful tools:

• iPad Apps in One Hour for Lawyers [Find it]
• LinkedIn in Ohio Hour for Lawyers [Find it]; and
• Microsoft OneNote  in One Hour for Lawyers [Find it]

Each illustrated guide walks you through how to use the site/application and highlights the application to law practice.