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 …
How to Cite a Concurrence In or Dissent From a Denial of Certiorari
The Bluebook does not provide clear guidance on how to cite every authority that law students or legal practitioners need or wish to use in their papers, memos, and briefs. Sometimes, researchers will toil in vain looking for a particular rule or example to cover a less common type of source, only to find that …
Get Ready for the MPRE with the Law Library’s Resources
For 2Ls and 3Ls who have taken professional responsibility, the March Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) is right around the corner! Whether it’s your first or your fifth time tackling the exam, the Law Library has some resources to help you prepare. If you’re looking for online study aids to test out your skills, the law …
Locating Historical Legal Materials: Three Databases to Try
Do you need to search criminal cases from the 1800s? Or find state statutes from 1903? What about an old English treatise on contract law? Tracking down historical legal materials can be difficult, but there are a number of online sources available to aid your research. An impressive number of old legal texts, reporters, and …
New Privacy Law Research Guide Provides Access to Rapidly Evolving Legal Trends
According to a news report from Bloomberg Law, a wave of state legislatures are currently considering consumer privacy legislation, driven by the 2018 Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data-harvesting scandal, the new California consumer privacy law set to take effect in 2020, and the European Union’s comprehensive approach to privacy under its GDPR framework. Privacy law in the …
Using HeinOnline’s Advanced Search Features: Keyword Search Builder & “More Like This”
Whether you are running a preemption check or reviewing legal scholarship to support your own research, HeinOnline’s Law Journal Library is an important resource for accessing legal scholarship published in law journals around the world. In an effort to make the contents of this resource more accessible and customizable for researchers, HeinOnline introduced two new …