Welcome Future Law Stars!

This week in the Law Library we welcome our 1-L students, transfer students, and those taking short courses; and provide some law school success resources

Join us on Monday from 10:00am – 10:45an for an introduction to the law library and library resources.

• Room 140 Cohorts 2, 4 & 5 with Associate Director Susan Boland and Associate Senior Librarian, Legal Technology & Research Instructional Services Shannon Kemen
• Room 135 Cohort 3 with
• Room 160 Cohorts 1, 3, and 6 with Associate Librarian, Instructional & Reference Services Law Librarian Laura Dixon-Caldwell and Associate Librarian, Instructional & Reference Services Law Librarian Ashley Russell

Summer Circulation Desk Hours (May 18, 2026 - Aug. 23, 2026)

• General Hours:
  • Monday - Friday: 9:00am - 5:00pm
  • Closed Saturdays & Sundays

• Monday - Friday select doors open 8am - 5pm
• Law students have 24/7 access to the building using your UC Bearcat cards

Test your card before you need it! Contact Justin Ellis for UC Bearcat card access issues.

What Is CALI?

CALI stands for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction.  CALI.org is a non-profit consortium of law schools – of which UC Law is a member – that develops and distributes legal education lessons to the consortium members.Replace with your text.

How to Access CALI

Law students will need to set up a username and password to use CALI online. Go to http://www.cali.org/user/register and click the Create an Account link.  You will be asked to enter the University of Cincinnati Donald P. Klekamp College of Law’s authorization code.  You can get this code from any reference librarian.. Once you have entered the authorization code, you can set up your username and password.

CALI Lessons

CALI hosts and facilitates the creation of CALI Lessons, a library of over 1,400 interactive legal tutorials written by law professors and geared towards law students.

CALI Podcasts & Lessons for 1L Students

• Law School Lingo: How to Navigate A Brand New Vocabulary
  • If you are just starting law school, or thinking about doing so soon, it can often feel like you need to learn a foreign language. Not to mention all the abbreviations, odd acronyms, and more! This lesson is designed to help you get started on mastering the brand new language that is the field of law.
• Setting Realistic Expectations in Law School: Discussions in Law School Success
  • In this podcast, four Academic Support professionals discuss the importance of setting realistic expectations in law school, and provide guidance on how to do so.
• Law School Myths: Discussions in Law School Success
  • Everyone has heard the rumors about law school. Do your first semester grades determine the job you will get after law school? Do you really not have any time to eat, shower, or see friends? In this podcast, four Academic Support professionals take on a series of law school myths. 
• What to Expect in Law School: Discussions in Law School Success
  • Law school is a vastly different experience from undergraduate work. In this podcast, four Academic Support professionals reflect on what came as a surprise to them when they entered law school, and share things they wish they would have known then. 
• Preparing for Class 101: Preparing for Your First Day of Class
  • This lesson will run through critical considerations to think about before stepping into the law school classroom, or the "theater of learning" for the first time! Through a series of interactive diagnostic questions and teaching pages, the lesson explores many themes of first semester, including choosing your seat, class participation and how to handle the Socratic method, pre- and post-class prep, time management, using professors' office hours, and how the basics of the court system and functions of each level of court generate the "case method" of law school teaching and learning.
• Case Briefing
  • This lesson focuses on case briefing. The lesson will guide students through cases identifying the most important part of cases to prepare for classes.
• Class Participation Tips: Discussions in Law School Success
  • This podcast discusses methods to use to make you more comfortable with class participation, including case briefing templates. The podcast will provide you with the opportunity to do a freewriting exercise, explore some research in the field, and learn a few tips on how to hone your approach to speaking out loud in class.     

5 Resources to Help You Prepare for the Year Ahead

• Cracking the Case Method, Legal Analysis for Law School Success by Paul Bergman; Patrick Goodman; Thomas Holm
  • This book, available through the West Academic study aid subscription, provides an in-depth examination of these critical topics: The Case Method and its relationship to Socratic-style questioning and effective legal analysis. Semester-long strategies for learning how to "think like a lawyer" by getting the most out of reading opinions, attending classes, outlining, and preparing effectively for exams. How to read cases with a focus on legal issues, legal principles, and judges' rationales for adopting and applying those principles. How to prepare case briefs and use them to prepare for class. The major types of legal argument, with many illustrations drawn from actual cases. Using class discussions as opportunities to practice legal analysis, based on annotated excerpts from actual first-year class discussions. Preparing for exams by outlining course materials and practicing exam-taking skills. An approach for analyzing exam questions and writing effective exam answers that display legal analytical skills, with illustrations drawn from actual essay exam questions and annotated answers.
• Critical Reading for Success in Law School and Beyond (with Video) by Jane Grise
  • This book, available through the West Academic study aid subscription, identifies the reading strategies used by expert legal readers and presents the strategies in a systematic sequence. Reading cases and statutes is challenging for students and attorneys. However, everybody can learn critical reading strategies and become effective legal readers and advocates. Readers will learn: (1) the purpose for reading cases, (2) how to read with focus, (3) case structure and important civil and criminal procedure terms, (4) techniques for understanding complex text, (5) strategies for identifying the parts of a case, (6) how to brief a case, (7) legal analysis skills such as analogical reasoning and case synthesis, and (8) strategies for reading statutes. The second edition adds chapters that address reading on screens and techniques for reading bar prep materials. The second edition also has a seventeen part video series with PowerPoint slides. Each video introduces a reading strategy, provides helpful tips, includes a short student exercise, and gives students the opportunity to self-assess their proficiency.
• The Guide to Belonging in Law School by Russell McClain
  • This book, available through the West Academic study aid subscription, accomplishes two discrete goals. First, it requires readers to engage in an authentic, rigorous, mini-law school semester involving reading, studying, five Socratic classes (through the connected website), exam preparation, and exam writing. Second, the book provides a foundation for students from marginalized groups to recognize and manage both subtle and explicit barriers that can impede their progress.
• Expert Learning for Law Students by Michael Hunter Schwartz; Paula J. Manning
  • This book, available through the Lexis Nexis Digital Library study aid subscription, is a reorganization and rethinking of this highly regarded law school success text. It retains the core insights and lessons from prior editions while updating the materials to reflect recent insights such as mindset theory, attribution theory, chunking for use, and interleaving learning. The text includes exercises and step-by-step guides to engage readers in the process of becoming expert learners—including specific strategies for succeeding in law school.
• Law School Success in a Nutshell by Ann Burkhart; Robert Stein
  • This book, available through the West Academic study aid subscription, canswers questions students have as they begin their studies. What is a tort? Hornbook? Should I join a study group? It also explains and gives examples of the best methods for studying and for taking exams. It provides questions and model answers from actual law school exams. The Nutshell also provides information about the types of legal practice that are available to you when you graduate. And it describes the opportunities that will be available to you during your second and third years of law school, such as law journals, law clinics, internships, joint degree programs, and study abroad.

For more information on accessing our study aids, view our Introduction to Study Aids video and our 1-L Study Aids page on the 1-L Success Guide.

• Video Tour of the Law Library
• Introduction to Legal Databases
• Introduction to Canvas
• Introduction to Study Aids & Research Guides

Posted August 17, 2026 by Susan Boland

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