During the summer, current students retain access to all of NYLS databases (Fastcase, HeinOnline, ProQuest, TaxNotes, etc.). Bloomberg Law, LexisNexis and Westlaw all have summer access provisions and usage policies for continuing and graduating students. If you have not already set up access to these research databases, register now to ensure they’re there when you need them.
If you are at a firm with Lexis, Westlaw and/or Bloomberg Law, use the services provided by your employer first. Although the vendors allow NYLS students to use their services during the summer, your employers’ contracts may preclude it. Check with the librarian.
Use of Lexis for Work During Summer and School Year (for returning students): From May 1 to August 31, 2023, students may use their law school Lexis account (and any of its products and services) for any purpose at school or at work, including any paid or unpaid legal work. During the Fall and Spring semesters, students may use their Lexis accounts for paid work as a research assistant to a professor or other paid work for New York Law School, and unpaid work in an internship, externship or clinic for school credit or graduation requirement.
If you do not have a Lexis account or forgot your ID or password, please contact your LexisNexis representative below.
Law School Graduate Program: LexisNexis permits graduating students to continue to use their law school Lexis account through December 31, 2023 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.
If you have any other questions regarding access during the summer or after graduation, 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 the Reference Desk to change their graduation date on the LexisNexis system.
To apply for the ASPIRE program, please contact our LexisNexis representative, Nejat Bumin, Esq. (email: nejat.bumin@lexisnexis.com; 551-580-1920).
For 1Ls and 2Ls: You can use Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, over the summer for non-commercial research. You can turn to these resources to gain understanding and build confidence in your research skills, but you cannot use them in situations where you are billing a client (paid legal work). Examples of permissible uses for your academic password include the following:
If you are working for a firm or a for-profit organization you should use the Westlaw account provided by your employer.
You do not have to do anything to gain access to these tools over the summer. If you have any questions, please contact our Westlaw Account Manager Shawn Lopez (Shawn.Lopez@thomsonreuters.com).
Grad Elite – for 3Ls that are Graduating: Graduates have access to Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for six-months after graduation by registering for "Grad Elite" access here. 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).
Bloomberg Law is a comprehensive legal information system integrating legal content (cases, statutes, regulations, and a citator service), litigation and transactional law resources, company and client information, and news and secondary content. Bloomberg Law also offers free access to Federal and state court dockets and filings, and over 1.5 million real-world transactional documents.
Access and Passwords
Bloomberg Law offers students unlimited and unrestricted access to your Bloomberg Law accounts for any purpose, anytime, anywhere, including for use over the summer. 2023 graduating students will retain unlimited and unrestricted access to our accounts through November 31, 2023.
To register for a Bloomberg Law account, go to http://www.bloomberglaw.com/activate and fill in the form. You must register using your student email address, but you do not need an activation code. After you submit the form, Bloomberg Law will send you access information.
For more information contact the 24/7 Bloomberg Law Help Desk at help@bloomberglaw.com or 888-560-2529, or via the Live Chat feature in the Help Center. You can also contact our Bloomberg Law Client Service Partner, Stefanie Schuetten: email: sslavens@bloombergindustry.com; voice: 618.615.1413.
More information about Bloomberg Law.
Comparable in many ways to Lexis and Westlaw, Fastcase is a legal research service that offers full-text searchable access to comprehensive libraries of federal and state cases, statutes, constitutions, court rules, administrative regulations, and attorney general opinions. The service is expanding to include libraries of newspapers, federal court filings, and legal forms. We have an IP based subscription, which you can access via our list of Subscription Resources A-Z.
Remember, you always have access to our many, many other legal and non-legal databases. To see a list of the more than one hundred such databases, visit our Subscription Resources page.
All students are welcome to use these databases from off campus or on campus via their own computer, or the computer labs. You may access the databases via our Subscription Resources page. Explore the Library’s legal research databases, and don’t forget about E-Journals A to Z.
For more information, contact the Reference Desk with any questions:
T 212.431.2332
E reference@nyls.edu
Chat With the Reference Desk
Log in to Microsoft Teams with your NYLS network ID, and use Microsoft Web App to connect