Over the course of the academic year, the law library will present a series of instructional sessions covering useful electronic and print resources in our collection.
These sessions are valuable to students, supporting and supplementing work in the classroom, student organizations, internships and externships, and clerking. Most importantly, understanding these resources will help you be a better attorney.
Most sessions are half an hour long, held over the lunch hour. In a typical session, students are provided with a basic introduction to the resource, including information on how to sign up, access, and navigate the resource. Some sessions, such as those provided by Lexis and Westlaw, will go in to greater detail. Those who would like more in-depth instruction on any of the resources are encouraged to make an appointment with one of our law librarians.
Upcoming Sessions:
CALI - Computer Assisted Legal Instruction
CALI, the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, provides over 1,000 interactive tutorials, written by law professors and librarians across the country. The lessons, geared towards law students, cover 40 legal subject areas. Lessons are based on specific legal topics as well as the general law school experience.
Target audience: all students
LexisNexis
LexisNexis is a powerful legal research tool, providing full-text access to a wide range of news, business, legal, and reference sources. Billions of searchable documents and records are available from more than 45,000 legal, news and business sources, including medical & health, federal, state & international legal materials and corporate news & financial information.
Westlaw
The foremost provider of e-information and solutions to the U.S. legal market, Lawschool.westlaw.com is the virtual law school community where law students and faculty can access a variety of legal resources including Westlaw, The West Education Network (TWEN), current legal news, career services and other content.
HeinOnline
HeinOnline is a fully-searchable database containing more than 173 million pages and 270,000 titles. It allows for broader historical research, providing coverage, from inception, of more than 2,700 law journals and publications. In addition, the entire Congressional Record, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, and U.S. Reports back to 1754 are included. Other portions of the database are dedicated to treaties, constitutions, case law, world trials, classic treatises, international trade, foreign relations, U.S. Presidents, American Indian law and much more.
Target audience: all students
Court Documents (Bloomberg Dockets, PACER, ND Odyssey)
This session will demonstrate resources for accessing and searching electronic records and documents filed in state and federal courts. Coverage will include an overview of Bloomberg Dockets, PACER, and ND Odyssey.
Target audience: all students
Trial practice materials
This session will discuss electronic and print resources related to civil practice. Coverage will include practice forms, as well as materials useful in conducting client and expert interviews and testimony, creating checklists, documents, and sample questions from discovery through trial and appeal. Resources covered: Pleading and Practice forms, Causes of Action, Trials, Proof of Facts and more.
Target audience: all students, especially those involved in Moot Court, Trial Advocacy, or working in law firms with a focus on trial and appellate work
Legal periodicals searching / accessing
This session will cover searching and accessing legal periodicals, along with locating materials in non-law databases. Search tips will be provided for using ODIN (our law library catalog) as well as Legaltrac, HeinOnline and other legal research sites. If time permits, we will reach into searching within other University databases related to other interest areas.
Target audience: all students, especially those conducting research for interdisciplinary writing projects
Legislative Materials
This session will provide an overview of accessing state and federal legislative materials. Materials covered will include information on interim committee work, bill versions, committee hearings and publications, and a brief overview of locating legislative history.
Target audience: all students
Appellate practice materials
An in-depth demonstration of the breadth of the materials available.
Target audience: all students
Historical caselaw & materials
This session will delve into accessing and researching historic cases and foundational materials in the law. The legal profession is built upon historical precedents. A deeper historical perspective allows for broader understanding of the practice of law.
Target audience: all students
Casemaker X
North Dakota, along with more than 25 state and local bar associations, provides its licensed attorneys access to Casemaker as part of their the state bar membership. The service provides low-cost legal research in the U.S. Casemaker libraries include all Federal Supreme, Circuit, District, Bankruptcy decisions, and more. Casemaker’ s state libraries are comparable to the high-cost providers in many cases going back 100 years or more.
Target audience: all students, especially those students and 2020 graduates who may be working in firms with limited access to other major legal databases