As you graduate and prepare for the bar exam, we wanted to remind you about the ways in which you can still benefit from the Mendik Library.
Please contact the Reference Desk (voice: 212.431.2332; email:reference@Nyls.edu or sign into Microsoft Teams during Reference hours) if you need any assistance.
NYLS is dedicated to providing each graduate the tools and help needed to successfully pass the bar exam. We hope that many of our graduates will use the comfortable facilities available here in our Library and on campus to study and prepare for the bar exam. Except for Memorial Day weekend and July 3rd and 4th, the Mendik Library will be open every day, including evenings and weekends. Our hours for the summer are posted on the Library’s home page and on Mendik Matters. Extended bar study hours will begin on Tuesday, July 5.
If you wish to use another law school’s library for bar study, you must make arrangements directly with the other library. Most local law school libraries charge other schools’ graduates a fee for a bar study pass, and several sell only a limited number of passes. This may be true whether or not you are enrolled in a bar review course hosted at the school. Please note that our Library’s reciprocal access arrangements with other law schools extend to our students, but not to our graduates.
The Mendik Library staff wants to support you and make your Bar prep experience as stress-free as possible. We hope this guide will provide helpful resources and we hope you will contact us if we can be of assistance.
Alumni are welcome to use our print and ebook collections, get help with research projects and access to our electronic subscription resources such as HeinOnline, Congressional Insight, Law.com, and Westlaw while on campus.
CALI Lessons are interactive tutorials designed to help law students improve their knowledge of legal concepts through a process of presenting a concept and then immediately testing them on it. CALI lessons are available for up to 6 months after graduation.
Bloomberg Law offers students unlimited and unrestricted access to your Bloomberg Law accounts for any purpose, anytime, anywhere, including for use over the summer. 2024 graduating students will retain unlimited and unrestricted access to our accounts through November 31, 2024.
Graduating students to continue to use their law school Lexis+ account through December 31, 2024 and need not do anything further to do so. Use the same Lexis account log on credentials you used during law school. This access is intended to help you study for the bar, conduct your job search and become more efficient in Lexis+ research.
ASPIRE Program: The ASPIRE (Associates Serving Public Interest Research) program provides 12 months of free access to federal and state cases, codes, regulations, law reviews, Shepard’s Citation Service and Matthew Bender treatises to graduates who are engaged in verifiable 501(c)(3) public interest work. Graduates who apply to this program must work directly for a non-profit or charitable organization, and be able to provide documentation (e.g. email) from a superior of the same. Exclusions include government work (even if unpaid), work for a law firm (even if it represents a non-profit organization), and solo practice (even if it encompasses non-profit work). A 501(c)(3) organization is defined as one that is organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes. Graduates should receive a new Lexis+ ID about a week after they submit the completed application.
To apply for the ASPIRE program, please contact our LexisNexis representative, Nejat Bumin, Esq. (email: nejat.bumin@lexisnexis.com; 551-580-1920).
Students who have changed their expected graduation date since first issued a LexisNexis ID their first year must contact LexisNexis Customer Service (800-45 LEXIS) to change their graduation date on the LexisNexis system.
Graduates have access to Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for six-months after graduation by registering for Grad Elite access. The Grad Elite access gives graduates 60-hours of usage on these products per month to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills. While you cannot use it in situations where you are billing a client, Thomson Reuters encourages you to use these tools to build your knowledge of the law and prepare for your bar exam. In addition, you get access to job searching databases on Westlaw and TWEN for 18-months after graduation for 1 hour a month. If you have any questions, please contact our Westlaw Account Manager Shawn Lopez (Shawn.Lopez@thomsonreuters.com).