Current Awareness Services in Print
Some services providing analysis of current development in the field and reports of recently decided cases are available in print in the Law Library. Searching the catalog for these tools can be difficult at times. Consider using “reporter” and your legal topic as a keyword search. Other words that may prove useful include “weekly,” “alert,” “current,” “news,” “analysis,” or “newspaper” and then use one of these in conjunction with “law” or “legal.”
Social Media Tools for Current Awareness
Social media is another great place to discover and keep up on the latest legal issues.
Blogs
There are a number of law blogs ("blawgs") in specialized subject areas written by attorneys, professors, judges, students, and other legal specialists. Use the links below to find a blog of an interest.
- LexBlog
Subscribe to email newsletters for any of its collections by topic - ABA Journal Blawg Directory
- BlawgSearch
- Law Professor Blogs Network
Finding a Paper Topic
Finding a topic is the first and often the most vexing challenge for law students writing a paper, note or comment for a class or law review. Choosing a paper topic that is neither too broad nor too narrow, both pertinent and topical, and not over nor under written about can be an exercise in frustration. Here we present a number of strategies to help you find the right topic for your law school paper.
Ready to get started? Check out the resources on this page, as well as the resources on the Finding & Researching Your Paper Topic guide, which includes slides from a recent workshop.
Current Awareness Tools Online
Practicing attorneys use current awareness tools to stay up-to-date with breaking news, statutory and regulatory changes and appellate court opinions in their field of practice. You should learn how to use these tools in law school.
- American Society of International Law InsightsASIL Insights provides brief, balanced accounts of the international law issues raised by newsworthy late-breaking events.
- Circuit Split RoundupMonthly circuit splits as reported in U.S. Law Week. Log in with your L&C Law School Bloomberg Law account. Don't have one? Contact the Reference Desk at lawlib@lclark.edu. You will search the US Law Week for "circuit splits reported".
- E&E News This link opens in a new windowE&E News is a subscription-based news organization that reports on essential energy and environment issues in five daily publications: E&E Daily, Climatewire, Energywire, Greenwire, and E&E News PM.
- Environmental Law Reporter (ELR) This link opens in a new windowFind environmental law news and analysis; the ELR Update; laws & regulations; federal, state & international materials; briefs & pleadings.
For subscriber access to the Guidance & Policy Documents section, ask a law librarian for username and password. - In Focus This link opens in a new windowBrowse Bloomberg's editorially curated pages to find the latest news, commentary, litigation filings, regulatory developments, and practice tools on emerging issues and other topics of note to legal practitioners. Log in with your Bloomberg Law username and password. Don't have one? Ask at the reference desk.
- Law360 This link opens in a new windowLogin to with your Lexis account to access Law360.com and to sign up for newsletters:
1. Log into Lexis as usual at https://plus.lexis.com/
2. Click on the 9-dot grid up top, then select Law 360 - LawMemo This link opens in a new windowLawMemo provides labor and employment appellate law updates. Sign-up for your personal law school account and receive the Employment Law Memo, the NLRB Law Memo and the Arbitration Law Memo.
- Law Commons (bepress Digital Commons)Working papers and pre-prints from scholars and professionals at top law schools around the world, organized by subject or search.
- Portland Business Journal This link opens in a new windowUnlimited and full-text access to the Portland Business Journal online. For off-campus access, go to https://bit.ly/2sY3Fnx and sign into your Primo account to view the login information. You must login with these credentials to view full-text articles from off campus.
- SSRN Legal Scholarship Network This link opens in a new windowWorking papers related to law, economics, and business in 61 different subject areas. Part of the larger Social Science Research Network (SSRN).
- Supreme Court Current Awareness Tools (L&C Law)SCOTUSblog, Supreme Court Today, U.S. Law Week, and more.
- Law.com (Bloomberg Law)Access law.com articles and over three dozen ALM legal news titles on Bloomberg Law.
- National Law Journal This link opens in a new windowNLJ and other ALM publications are available through your Lexis account. NLJ covers Federal and state court litigation; the U.S. Supreme Court; legislative issues; verdicts; and more.
Writing Advice
Academic Legal Writing by Call Number: Reserve KF250 .V64 2010ISBN: 9781599417509
Scholarly Writing for Law Students by Call Number: KF250 .F35 2011ISBN: 9780314207203
- Submission of Law Student Articles for PublicationSuggestions for law students who want to publish their law school research papers. Contains a chart of the policies of 194 law reviews.
Research Help
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