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
Assistant Dean Raquel M. Ortiz has worked in academic law libraries for over 25 years in the areas of patron services, reference, and library administration. In her current position, she oversees the law library. Dean Ortiz teaches Advanced Legal Research and Introduction to Legal Research and Citation. She previously taught Legal Information Sources at the Simmons College School of Library and…, Books, What Color is Your C.F.R.?, (Chicago, Illinois: CALI, 2016)(with Nicole Dyszlewski, illustrated by Liz Gotauco), Articles, Mass Incarceration: An Annotated Bibliography, , 21 Roger Williams University Law Review 471 (2016)(with Nicole Dyszlewski & Lucinda Harrison-Cox)
Type: Faculty & Staff Profile
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
Please join us as we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Roger Williams University Law Clinics and bid a fond farewell to Margie Caranci, who is retiring after many years of service to the School of Law. RWU Law Clinics, Featuring a speaking program with:, Dean Gregory W. Bowman Former Dean Bruce I. Kogan Andrew Horwitz, Assistant Dean for Experiential Education Reception & Cash Bar Kindly register by Tuesday, June 7, 2022. 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
Roger Williams University School of Law is proud to welcome a new member to its outstanding faculty: Professor Bernard K. Freamon is already hard at work refining and refocusing the law school’s new required course, “Race and the Foundations of American Law,” and attending planning meetings for the course. He will also teach a number of other courses, including Evidence and a seminar on slavery…, law, , we’re teaching about, justice, .” Professor Freamon brings a unique and impressive set of qualifications to the job. A Professor of Law Emeritus at Seton Hall Law School, he has visited on the law faculties of the University of Nairobi, Washington and Lee University, Rutgers University (Newark), and Pace University’s School of Law; and he has served as an adjunct faculty member at New York University School of Law for the…, I’m, trying to do, too, in my teaching and in my scholarship.” It was a confirmation of what I was already thinking and doing. It was just a natural fit.” Professor Freamon envisions the “Race and the Foundations of American Law” course as a potential springboard for the establishment of a center that serves both the School of Law and the wider University. “I see it serving as the hub for what could…, place, ; a think tank of sorts, where we could strive for a critical mass on the problem of integrating race into the American legal curriculum. It would be a resource for other law professors and law schools, in terms of creating a law school curriculum that is more justice-oriented, and more sensitive to the problem of race in American law—because race is, in fact, central to how American law…, race-neutral, practice, but an, anti-racist, practice.” Professor Freamon expects that these demands will only grow with time, and that a Center on Race and the Foundations of American Law could help legal education rise to the challenge. “In five or 10 years, I think a course like this will be a mandatory course in a lot of law schools,” he said, while observing that every student will initially approach this material through their own…
Type: Article
Final exams are upon us again here at RWU Law. It is the culmination of a semester’s work for students, with the support and guidance of faculty and staff, taking what they learned and applying it to final papers, exams, etc. Unfortunately, it also brings out a lot of stress and anxiety in many of us but thankfully, there are many ways to lower our stress and anxiety levels. Here in the library…
Type: Article
The following Op-Ed was published in the print edition of the Providence Sunday Journal, April 24, 2022, p. A27., ~~~~~~~~~~, Gregory W. Bowman The war in Ukraine dominates our daily news. Russian President Vladimir Putin justifies the invasion with historical fictions and denies the atrocities being committed by his forces. The violence has wrecked Ukraine’s infrastructure, cost thousands of lives, and displaced millions of people. Watching the news feels like watching color footage from World War II. In hindsight,…, Gregory Bowman serves as dean of Roger Williams University School of Law. He has spent his career practicing and writing about U.S. international trade law and sanctions., To access the digital flipbook edition of the, Providence Journal, , use RWU Law library access or direct access .,
Type: Article
As a 1L you learn all about citator services. You even learn a new verb, “Shepardize.” But as you get to the end of the year you may have a class where the law librarians introduced you to Fastcase. According to their website, Fastcase “was established in 1999 to democratize the law and encourage smarter legal practice with data and visualization tools.” As a law student you have access to…
Type: Article
