This Week in the Law Library ... December 1, 2025

This week in the Law Library we're teaching AI and the Law and Advanced Legal Research Civil Litigation. We're also preparing for final exams and previewing US Supreme Court oral arguments.

• 10:40am - 12:05pm
• Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman

• 3:05pm - 4:05pm
• Laura Dixon-Caldwell​, Instructional & Reference Services Librarian

• Asynchronous Online
• Dean Michael Whiteman & Instructional & Reference Services Librarian​ Ashley Russell

• 10:40am - 12:05pm
• Profs. Laura Dixon-Caldwell, Shannon Kemen, Ashley Russell, and Michael Whiteman

As we approach final exams, you might be looking for advice on how to prepare for exams and tips on taking exams. Check out these resources below!

• CALI Attacking Exams
  • Available via CALI, this CALI lesson will teach you the best ways to prepare for exams, and the best ways to organize your response on the day of your exam. If using CALI, you will need to create an account (if you have not already done so) using a Cincinnati Law authorization code. You can obtain this code from a reference librarian.
• How to Write Law Exams: IRAC Perfected
  • Available via the West Academic Study Aid subscription, this text provides tudents of all levels with a detailed, comprehensive, and practical guide to success on law school and bar exams. It breaks the well-known IRAC method of legal writing into comprehensible segments and gives students the tools needed to master their law exams. It also provides readers with detailed student-written examples of the IRAC method in action. Annotated with line-by-line critiques, these sample essays show readers exactly what can go wrong in a law school or bar exam and how to fix those problems before they appear on a graded paper.
• Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades
  • Available via the LexisNexis Digital Library Study Aid subscription, this book offers a concise and practical strategy that can be applied to almost any law school exam, regardless of topic or level. The new edition offers unique insights by reducing the exam format to a series of repeatable steps. It also teaches students how to "prepare for exams, instead of preparing for class," with proven time-management and outlining techniques. The main focus of the book is on law school exam success, but it also includes comprehensive guidance on reading, note-taking, use of supplements, and common mistakes made by law students. The latest edition adds guidance for in-person and online testing, and three new practice exams with model answers (on the topics of Torts, Property, and Contracts).

• The Zen of Law School Success
  • Available via the LexisNexis Digital Library, this book offers a comprehensive approach to succeeding in law school. This book details how to put these principles into practice in order to maximize your ability to have a successful law school career.Like the Zen path to enlightenment, law school success is about balance (between studying and other aspects of life, as well as balancing your study time between subjects, outlining, etc.), knowing your universe (knowing not only the subject matter tested, but knowing how the questions are constructed, knowing what to look for, etc.), knowing yourself (what type of essay writer you are, what type of learner you are, what type of exam taker you are, etc.), and staying focused on your path (when to study, what to do when you are stressed out, what to do when you don't know a subject very well, etc.). It focuses on doing well on final exams, including specific strategies and tips for both essay and multiple choice exams. The book includes many exercises and model answers that will benefit any law student.

• CALI
  • CALI hosts and facilitates the creation of CALI Lessons, a library of over 1,300 interactive legal tutorials written by law professors and geared towards law students, as well as publishing open and free casebooks with their eLangdell® Press publishing wing.

• Exam Study Guide
  • Most law students find taking exams very stressful! This guide is intended to introduce you to the many ways that the Law Library can assist you in studying for exams. We can't take your exams for you but we can help you succeed!

• Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams Author Interview
  • In this interview, coauthors of the book Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams,  Jeremy Paul and Richard Michael Fischl, share their wisdom on excelling in law school exams. They discuss the origins of the book, the common mistakes students make, and essential skills for success. Discover valuable tips and perspectives to help you break into law school with confidence. Don't miss this opportunity to gain insights from experienced educators and authors who have guided countless students to success in law school.

• The Learning Scientists
  • The researchers behind this website are cognitive psychological scientists interested in research on education. Their main research focus is on the science of learning. Check out loads of helpful information on studying!

• Issue Spotting
  • This CALI lesson explores one of the fundamental lawyering skills, which is to be able to spot issues. This lesson looks at what an issue is, and best practices in spotting them in cases, with clients, and on exams. Students will go through basic issue spotting exercises to better prepare for exams.
• Hyped About Hypos
  • Law students often hear about the importance of "doing hypos" but don't know why they are important, where to find them, how to do them, and so on. This CALI lesson will cover the what, why, when, where, and how of hypos so law students can conquer the material they are learning and be prepared for exams.
• Improving Exam Writing with Deductive Reasoning
  • Most law students do not know what professors expect on law school exams. Students wonder what will score more points. In general, law school exam answers that score the highest tend to use a specific deductive argument structure. This CALI lesson explains deductive argument structure and how to employ it on an exam.
• IRAC: There Is No Better Way! Discussions in Law School Success
  • This CALI podcast discusses the benefits of using the IRAC structure (Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion) when outlining your answer to a law school exam essay. 
• A Methodical Approach to Improve Multiple Choice Performance
  • This CALI lesson teaches a methodical approach for all law school multiple choice questions. The step-by-step approach provides a framework to work through questions so students can more easily eliminate distractor answer choices. The lesson will thoroughly explore each step in this analytical approach.
• Multiple-Choice Questions: Wrong Answer Pathology
  • This CALI lesson teaches you how to select the right answer in a multiple-choice question by better understanding how to identify wrong answers, based on nine specific types of wrong answers.
• Mechanics of Memorization
  • This CALI lesson provides memorization tools and techniques for exam success. First, the lesson demonstrates the relationship between memorization and exam success. Next, the lesson explains memorization tools and techniques. After you complete this lesson you will be able to apply tools and techniques and effectively memorize important legal concepts to be successful on your exams.
• The Night Before Your Exam… Discussions in Law School Success
  • This CALI podcast includes tips students can use the night before their exam and the day of the exam to be better prepared. 

December Arguments at the United States Supreme Court

US Supreme Court by Jarek Tuszyński CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

From SCOTUS Blog:

First Choice Women’s Res. Ctrs. v. Platkin - whether, when the subject of a state investigatory demand has established a reasonably objective chill of its First Amendment rights, a federal court in a first-filed action is deprived of jurisdiction because those rights must be adjudicated in state court.

• Olivier v. City of Brandon - (1) whether this court’s decision in Heck v. Humphrey bars claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 seeking purely prospective relief where the plaintiff has been punished before under the law challenged as unconstitutional; and (2) whether Heck v. Humphrey bars Section 1983 claims by plaintiffs even where they never had access to federal habeas relief. 

Posted Dec. 1, 2025 by Susan Boland

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