Roger Williams University School of Law is proud to announce the winning entries in its Second Annual Ruth Bader Ginsburg Essay Contest. In December, RWU Law invited Ocean State students from grades K through 12 to submit essays and artworks on how they have been inspired by the legacy of late Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who passed away on September 18, 2020. As…, Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly, generously agreed to publish the winning entries. The winning students also received cash prizes and books. “Justice Ginsburg cared about equality for all people,” said RWU Law Professor Emily Sack, who advises the Women’s Law Society, which co-sponsored the contest with its members serving as judges. “When she started her fight for women’s equality under the law, it seemed like an impossible…
Type: Article
RWU Law 3L Brooklyn Crockton contributed this OpEd to the WordInBlack column of the Sacramento Observer , March 22, 2022 edition. It is reproduced here with the permission of the author., (WIB) –, We’re surrounded by the manifestations of the greatness of Black women: We can turn on the television and see Issa Rae writing awkward Black girls into history. We can see Vice President Kamala Harris addressing the nation. And soon, we might be able to crack open a textbook and read an opinion by none other than United States Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson . As a third-year law…, I think we all know why., After my video went viral I heard from so many lawyers who have had this kind of racist experience. Imagine how many times Judge Jackson has had something similar happen to her? In 2021, only 4.7% of lawyers in the United States were Black, according to the American Bar Association’s Profile of the Legal Profession . Once the shimmer of law school wears off after graduation, the disregard for…, her, enslaved grandmother carry the weight of a nation on her shoulders. The same eyes that saw Emmitt Till’s death reported on the front page of the newspaper — a paper she held onto for the rest of her life. The same eyes that saw a fiery cross burning on a neighbor’s lawn who had bravely exercised the right to vote. My great-grandmother saw many things in her life, but justice for Black women was…, another, Black woman doing , another, incredible thing. Her presence will be the guttural croaking of a voice never before heard on the Bench. Her voice will be the song of justice resounding nationwide. I am grateful to witness Black women everywhere continue to shatter barriers — yes, please. I’m the first in my family to go to college and I’ll be the first to graduate from law school. Although I’m not sure where the law will…
Type: Article
Sponsored by the Student Bar Association and the Office of the Dean, Town Hall meetings provide an opportunity for students to ask questions and share input directly with law school faculty and administration. We hope that all community members will attend. The Town Hall meeting will be held via Zoom. Registration is required. Please check your email for the registration link.
Type: Event
Rhode Island Convention Center First Floor West Lobby One Sabin Street Providence, Rhode Island 7:45 AM – 9:15 AM Hot Buffet Breakfast Calling all RWU Law Alumni! Please join Dean Gregory W. Bowman and the RWU Law Alumni Association in welcoming the new 2022-2023 Law Alumni Association Board of Directors! The event is complimentary. Registration required. Register Here, Special Accommodations, Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation for an event should contact the RWU Law Events, as soon as possible, but no later than 72 hours before the event, so that appropriate arrangements can be made. lawevents@rwu.edu
Type: Event
On February 25, President Biden nominated Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court of the United States. Last week, the RWU Law Library published a blog post on researching Supreme Court nominations and data . As a follow up to that blog post, we wanted to send out some research updates. If you are looking to go a deep dive into Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson while you watch the…, Westlaw:, Westlaw Edge has a content category page concerning the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. There are 2 ways to find it from the Westlaw Home Screen: Click on the Federal Materials tab or Click on the Cases link from the homepage This link will take you directly to the new page. What’s on the page? This new page highlights the…, Lexis:, Context: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Profile Pages Overview Bio/Experience Page Motion Analytics Page Documents (links to cases, briefs, pleadings, motions, legal news and secondary source references) , Law360 Articles, What you Need to Know about Judge Brown Jackson 6 Judge Jackson Opinions You Should Read For help researching specific aspects of the Supreme Court or its Justices, please Ask A Librarian .
Type: Article
Where is the intersection of hip hop and the law? It depends on who you ask. Some might say that there is an intersection of hip hop with criminal and evidence law . Some point out there is an intersection of hip hop with intellectual property law . Some law schools even have classes about hip hop and the law . The ABA Journal reports , “Law professors Donald Tibbs and André Cummings are working…
Type: Article
While Congress struggles to pass federal voter rights legislation, a pair of RWU Law-affiliated lawmakers – Senator Dawn Euer L‘10 (D-RI District 13, Newport), and current 1L, House Majority Whip Katherine Kazarian (D-RI District 63) – are focusing on the Ocean State as lead co-sponsors of the Let RI Vote Act, which aims to make permanent the changes Rhode Island put in place during the pandemic…
Type: Article
National Library Week is upon us! It is a time to celebrate the people who work in libraries and what libraries offer. This year we celebrate from Monday April 4 to Friday April 8. Library social media, emails from student groups, and signs in the library and on digital screens will provide more details on the following events: Tuesday, April 5: National Library Workers Day – say “thank you”…
Type: Article
Have you seen that meme/graphic widely shared on the internet which depicts what other people think of your profession as opposed to what you do all day long? This year we will be featuring content on our blog using that format to describe what the RWU Law Librarians do all day long. Today we are talking about one of the Law Library’s services: Interlibrary Loan (ILL). It may seem simple –…, Borrowing Materials, We search OCLC WorldShare for the item requested and select the record for the entry that most closely matches the item requested. We verify the information and look at the holdings. The holdings list shows all the libraries that own the item requested and includes information about the possible cost to borrow from the library, turn-around time of requests, and location of the library. We then…, Lending Materials, When the Law Library receives an ILL request from another library, we follow our own policies and procedures to help our fellow libraries fulfill their patron’s needs. The process is very much the same: we determine whether the requested item can be provided, ensure that we track loaned books in our system, update OCLC WorldShare as needed, and then provide the item via the document sharing site…
Type: Article
Legal research is all about updating. Then along comes the tantalizing research project that relies on original wording of a statute or the statute’s legislative history. Where do you start? The answer may depend on just how old the information needed is and whether the source is federal or state. Timing is important. For those who are too young to remember a time before the ability to “google…, Congressional Serial Set , which includes House and Senate Documents and Reports is an excellent example. Digitized by the Law Library of Congress, it is now available from 1817-1952. Of course, it also illustrates the problem. The years before 1817 and after 1952 are not yet available as part of this set. Additional Congressional documents for some Congresses from 1975-1993 are available. Coverage starting with the 103rd…, U.S. Congressional Serial Set, library on HeinOnline (a subscription service) provides access to the Congressional Serial Set through 2017 as of this writing. It also includes earlier materials from 1789-1838 in the American State Papers and later Congressional documents from 2018-2021. Similarly, HeinOnline provides more complete historical coverage of many other useful resources. RWU Law community members have access to…, A Historical Archive, includes superseded state statutes for all fifty states. The difficulty with this library is that coverage stops due to copyright issues, which affects the period that would be of interest to most researchers. The, Session Laws, library on HeinOnline provides the more complete access, but does require the extra effort to “reconstruct” statutes that have changed wording over time. For those who have physical access to a library, print copies of the older versions or (dare I say it) microfiche versions may be available. [For those of you who have never used it, microfiche is a version of film in small sheets containing…
Type: Article
