The UNC Law Library’s own Julie L. Kimbrough is a co-author of the newly published third edition of North Carolina Legal Research with Brenda D. Gibson, Laura P. Graham, and Nichelle J. Perry. This text provides legal research instruction for an audience ranging from law students to laypersons to practitioners. After beginning with legal research …
How to Access Advanced Search on the New Lexis Advance Home Page
Lexis Advance recently redesigned its homepage to streamline search functions. The search bar and content type box remain in the same place, but they have hidden the “advanced search” link under a “more options” tab. Advanced search is one of the more powerful tools available to a legal researcher on Lexis. Options on this page …
New UNC Law E-book Library – Digital Access to More Major Legal Books & Treatises
Just in time for the fall semester we have many of the major legal treatises and desk books you need all in one place, your mobile device! That’s right, you can download high-demand legal texts to your device and (coming soon) highlight and add your own notes. Need to spend quality screen time curled up …
A Law Student’s Experience Using Casetext – Part 2: Using CARA
This post is my second in a series about Casetext. If you didn’t get a chance to read my first post, check it out here. In this post, I discuss my experience using Casetext’s Case Analysis Research Assistant (CARA). CARA is an artificial intelligence research tool that examines a brief, complaint, or memo you’ve uploaded and returns …
Current Awareness Resources for Summer Associates
We’re getting close to summer and that means starting summer jobs at law firms, government agencies, externships, etc. Perhaps you want to prepare for your job by learning more about the hot topics in an area of law, or perhaps you want to learn about some of the clients and industries you’ll be working with. Current …
Exploring NC Legislative Materials Online: Committee Materials
In my last blog post, we looked at the various bill tracking features on theNorth Carolina General Assembly’s (“NCGA”) website. Ideally, the legislative history research process tracks a bill as it makes its way through the legislative process, and that means our next stop is researching legislative committee materials. Legislatures cannot collectively scrutinize and hear …
A Law Student’s Experience Using Casetext – Part 1: Introduction to Casetext
Calling all law students! Have you heard of the newest legal research database Casetext? If not, listen up! Dedicated to “eliminating inefficiencies in legal research,” Casetext was developed with litigators in mind, but it is intended for use by all types of legal researchers, including law students. This week, I blocked some time out in my …
Edit PDFs with Free Access to Adobe Acrobat Pro for UNC Students and Faculty
Whereas most users access PDFs via free programs such as Adobe Reader that do not allow editing, Adobe Acrobat Pro gives users full control over editing PDF files. UNC Law students may not be aware that Acrobat Pro is available to them (and all UNC students and faculty) at no cost, because the process for …
Exploring NC Legislative History Materials Online: Bill Tracking
State legislative history research can be a daunting task even for the most experienced legal researcher. Luckily, North Carolina makes many legislative history materials freely available online, which saves legal researchers both time and money. This blog post will be the first in a series highlighting some of the online resources available to those interested …
Citation Management Software for Seminar Papers
It’s that time in the semester when you have to start drafting seminar papers. Maybe you have already begun your research, or perhaps you are using your time over spring break to dig in. Either way, citation management software could help your research stay organized. Citation management tools can help you organize your research beyond just creating …