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Research Guide for Ensuring Summer Success

Useful information for summer associates.

Things To Do Before Your First Day (In General)

  • Find a research guide for your state and look through it.
  • Review the resources for your state in LexisNexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law, especially for practice materials you may be less familiar with.
  • Review your state's code and court rules.
  • Learn the leading treatise(s) for your area of law.
  • Review Bloomberg News to find newsletters in your area of law (such as antitrust).
  • Determine if the Law Library has a research guide on your area of law.
  • Find out if there are other subject specific resources, e.g., VitalLaw for tax law.
  • Familiarize yourself with free and low-cost legal research resources.
  • Familiarize yourself with non-Lexis and Westlaw databases available through the University of Chicago Library.
  • Schedule a research consultation with a law librarian.

If You Are Working at a Big Firm

  • Find out whether your firm's Lexis or Westlaw contract is a flat rate/preferred plan or cost by transaction/time.
  • Know which content is within the subscription agreement and what content incurs additional cost.
  • Find out whether your firm prefers you to use firm-supplied access to Lexis Advance/Bloomberg Law rather than the summer access provided under your Law School passwords.

If You Are Doing Transactional Work

  • Familiarize yourself with the transactional tools available in Bloomberg Law (e.g., Precedent Documents and Clauses), Westlaw (e.g. Practical Law) and Lexis (e.g. Practice Advisor).

If You Are Working at a Non-Profit

  • Familiarize yourself with free and low-cost legal research resources.
  • Find a research guide for your state.
  • Review the resources for your state in LexisNexis, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law, especially for practice materials you may be less familiar with.
  • Review your state's code and court rules.

Ask a Law Librarian

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D'Angelo Law Librarians
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1121 E. 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
773-702-9631
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