Resources for First Year Law Students

The Law Library staff welcomes you to the Law Library. We are ready to make your first year at law school a positive and productive experience. This guide will introduce you to resources and services we have developed especially for you and other helpful resources to help you have a successful law school experience.

Law Library Blog
Your first order of business should be to subscribe to the Ross-Blakley Law Library Blog. The blog aims to keep you up-to-date on the services we provide as well as a way to inform the College of Law community about key legal-education, research, practice, and law-library news, including but not limited to items of particular interest to Maricopa County and Arizona. To subscribe to the blog, click here.

Practical Information About the Law Library

• Library Hours
• Library Access Policy
• Library Code of Conduct
• Noise and Cell Phone Usage
• Food and Drink
• Printing and Copying
• Study Rooms and Meeting Rooms

Research Help from the Law Library

• Ask a Librarian
• Law Library Guide to Research at ASU
• Law Library Research Guides and Portals

Class Preparation

• How to Brief a Case from the Lloyd Sealy Library John Jay College of Criminal Justice
• Ten Instructions for Briefing Cases by Prof. Paul Bateman (Southwestern Law School).
• Get Smart About the Case Method from LawNerds.com
• Briefing Cases from Westlaw
• CALI: How to Brief a Case.
• How to Read a Judicial Opinion: A Guide for New Law Students by Prof. Orin Kerr (George Washington University Law School)
• CALI: Learning Legal Analysis Through Its Components: Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion—IRAC
• SMU Dedman Law School's First Day of Law School Tutorial
• The Law School Approach (or, "How to Live with and Learn to Love the Socratic Method")
• LawNerds.com

General Study Skills Sites

• How to Achieve Your Personal Best in Law School
• Study Strategies Homepage (University of Minnesota Duluth)
• Study Skills (Virginia Polytechnic University)
• FindLaw's Legal Learning Study Skills Workshop

Legal Research and Writing

• CALI: Legal Research 101: The Tools of the Trade
• CALI: Legal Research Methodology
• CALI Lessons Subject List - Legal Writing
• CALI Lessons Subject List - Legal Research

Legal Citation Guides

• How to Read a Legal Citation
• Introduction to Basic Legal Citation from the Cornell Law School
• Bluebook Home Page
• Lexis' Interactive Citation Station
• CALI: ALWD Citation Form 
• New England School of Law Bluebook Citation Guide
• LegalCitation StyleGuide

Dictionaries

• A Glossary of Terms for First Year Students
• One-L Dictionary
• Law.com Legal Dictionary
• Duhaime's Legal Dictionary
• Legal Lexicon's Lyceum
• Nolo's Legal Glossary

Preparing for Exams

• Study Skills Collection
• Past Law School Exams
• CALI / CALI guide
• Past Arizona Bar Exams
• Jurist Law School Exams Guide
• CALI: Writing Better Law School Exams: The Importance of Structure
• Findlaw Outlines and Exams
• LexisNexis Study Aids

Reflections, Inspiration & Advice

• Letter to a Young Law Student
• How to Survive the First Year of Law School
• First Year Survival
• Managing Your First Year
• First Year Survival Manual
• Second Semester Tips
• Nothing but the Truth: a novel about a law student
• Law School and Stress
• ONE HELL, An Unconventional Journey into Law 
• Keep Your Perspective

Law Student Blogs

• Law School Chronicles
• Law Student
• Law Career Blog  
• Frugal Law Student
• Law Student Barbie
• Overheard in Law School
• Legally Numb
• Wish I Would Have Known
• Somebody Shake me, please
• There’s No Competition in Law School
• JD2B Blog
• Law Student Blogger Directory

Legal Humor for When You Need a Break

• Funniest Law School Moments
• lawhaha.com
• Law School Humor
• Law Laughs
• Legal Humour.com