Faculty and students at PSL can get FREE (well, no additional charge) access to materials from the Practical Law Company. Most of these materials are business law oriented and from the perspective of the business attorney, although some have applications in other areas of law and other contexts. The kinds of materials available include:

• Practice notes (including "Overviews" and "Toolkits")
• Standard documents and clauses
• Checklists
• Articles
• Updates

Practice notes, standard documents and clauses, and checklists are continuously updated. Some examples:

• Tribal Finance: Overview (Practice Note)
• Confidentiality Agreement: General (Mutual) (Standard Document)
• Fiduciary Duties of the Board of Directors (Practice Note)
• Bankruptcy: Overview of the Chapter 11 Process (Practice Note: Overview)
• Sexual Harassment Toolkit (Practice Note: Overview)
• US Copyright Duration Flowchart (Checklist)
• Drafting arbitration agreements: checklist (Checklist)
• Removal: How to Remove a Case to Federal Court (Practice Note)
• Office Leasing: Tenant Estoppel Certificate (Standard Document)
• Debt v. Equity Tax Classification Checklist (Checklist)

To set up your own account, click on "PLC LAW SCHOOL", click on "FREE PLC Access for Students, Faculty and Staff", fill in the blanks (use your phoenixlaw dot edu email address), agree to their terms of use, and click on "Register". They will send you your password (your email address will be your Username).

Want to gain a competitive edge with how to use WestlawNext efficiently?

Thomson Reuters is offering a service, WestlawNext Tip of the Week. Subcribe to get a weekly research tip. The description from Thomson Reuters (West):

"Subscribe today and begin each week with a quick, practical research tip on using the world’s most advanced legal research system. When you sign up, you’ll receive a weekly research tip that addresses a common question, shows you how to use a specific feature, or informs you about new content and enhancements. With each tip, you’ll get valuable knowledge that will help you maximize your efficiency and gain a competitive edge in delivering better answers, faster.

These complimentary tips are delivered directly to your email inbox.  Anyone is eligible to sign up – simply provide us with your name, email address and the name of your organization. It’s that easy!

Interested in seeing past tips?  Please check out the archive and browse prior tips by topic or date."

 

Hat-tip to the West Librarian Relations Update. Image belongs to Thomson Reuters.

Hi all!

The Law Library is pleased to announce a new service for you as part of our subscription to The Chronicle of Higher Education online!

You can now go straight to the Chronicle's website when you're off campus and view premium content (with the gold key). All you have to do is create a free account with the Chronicle, using your @phoenixlaw.edu or @student.phoenixlaw.edu email address.

The Chronicle has really great articles all about higher education. My personal favorites have to do with technology in higher education. With the account you create, you can sign up for email newsletters (from their various blogs) to be delivered to your email inbox daily. I currently subscribe to the daily Wired Campus newsletter. I also enjoy reading the ProfHacker blog.

Alternatively, you can visit our databases page or our homepage database drop-down menu (below the catalog search box) to select the Chronicle of Higher Education. If you're off campus and go to the Chronicle's website through the law library's website, you'll be asked to enter your name and library barcode number, just like for our other databases.

We hope this new service is easier for you to access the Chronicle off campus! Feel free to email me with any questions you may have!

Enjoy your summer...

Ever need to find out what court handled customs appeals before the creation of the Court of International Trade? What the trial courts are called in Massachusetts? Well, you can quickly find answers to questions like these in an unlikely reference book that you almost certainly have within reach.

The BLUEBOOK.

What?

Yes, the BLUEBOOK. The book that has all those fussy rules about how to cite cases, statutes, and kitchen sinks. (Maybe not kitchen sinks, but I wouldn't be surprised.) Because it must provide complete guidance on how to cite cases from all courts over all time, with appropriate abbreviations, somebody has done extensive research on which courts have existed when. For United States jurisdictions, go to Table T1. It will tell you which courts were reported in which reporters at what times. This doesn't work as well for foreign jurisdictions in Table T2, because the focus is on reporters rather than courts, but it's worth a shot. At least it will give you some words to start searching on in other resources.

For the solo practitioner that may not be able to afford the overhead of a LexisNexis database package, the credit card "pay-as-you-go" plan offered a panoply of paths to your legal preferences. Unfortunately, in the recent overhaul, Lexis decided to discontinue this feature.  When you go to the Lexis® Total Research System page and choose "sign in using a credit card" option, you are directed to the LexisNexis™ by Credit Card page that delivers a message that reads in part:

“LexisNexis no longer offers the website LexisNexis™ by Credit Card. This decision is part of our effort to create and support products that better meet those needs identified through collaboration with our customers. . .”

The message goes onto say that users could take advantage of lexisONE for free unenhanced state & federal case law and also directs users to LexisWeb®; which is their version of Google but with vetted sites.

This all comes as an unfortunate surprise.  On the bright side though, Westlaw® still offers a pay-as-you-go plan and hasn’t mentioned ending this option any time soon!