Studying abroad or traveling internationally over the summer is more than just a chance to see new places! It can also be an opportunity for law students to explore how legal systems operate outside the United States. From constitutional structures to courtroom architecture, international experiences can offer a unique perspective on comparative and international law that simply cannot be replicated in a classroom.

One fascinating example is the Palau de Justícia de Barcelona in Barcelona, the historic Catalonian Palace of Justice. Built in the late nineteenth century, the building reflects both Spanish legal tradition and Catalonia’s distinct regional identity. Even from the outside, the courthouse tells a story: statues representing justice, law, and liberty overlook the city while the architecture itself blends grandeur with civic purpose. For students interested in comparative law, sites like this raise compelling questions about regional autonomy, civil law systems, and how culture shapes legal institutions.

Whether you are spending the summer in Europe, Latin America, Asia, or elsewhere, take time to visit a local courthouse, read about the country’s legal structure, or observe how law intersects with everyday life. Exploring legal systems abroad can deepen your understanding of the law at home while helping you think more globally about the profession you are entering.

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The end of the school year is here! That means it is time to share information about accessing library databases and other resources while school is out for summer.

If you are a not graduating this April, most of your access database remains the same over the summer. But there are a few things you should know:

If you are doing paid work for a law firm, don’t use your Westlaw account except for studying up on legal concepts. Westlaw does not allow students to use their law school accounts for paid client research. However, you can use Bloomberg Law and Lexis+ as much as you want, including for paid client research. But always check with the law firm you are working for first. They may want you to use their Lexis+ or Westlaw account to do research so they can track the work you do for clients. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the firm’s policy before you start work on any projects and take good notes during your firm’s orientation. Also, note that your law firm Westlaw and Lexis accounts will probably look different and have different available features than your law school account.

If you are doing research for a law professor, externship, or non-profit: You can use Westlaw, Bloomberg Law, and Lexis+ as much as you want. 

Quimbee and other law library databases: Law students continue to have access to other law library and BYU databases over the summer, including Quimbee, HeinOnline, ProQuest Legislative Insight, etc. For assistance, contact any law librarian or Iantha Haight.

Prepping for job interviews and clerkships: You can use websites like Law360, Bloomberg Law, and Lex Machina to study up on law firms or American Bench and the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary to research judges.

Graduating students: Graduating law students have access to Lexis+, Westlaw, and Bloomberg Law for six months after graduation (or for Lexis, until December 31, 2026). Make sure you sign up for extended access when you receive an email from the company. Westlaw access reduces from 180 hours per month to 60 hours per month for graduates.

Graduating students have access to Quimbee and other law library databases until July 31, 2026. Email Iantha Haight if you are taking the bar in February 2027 and would like extended access to Quimbee. More information is available on the Law Library website (click here to view), or email Iantha Haight with questions.

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Say hello to the Reference Assistant Team for the Winter 2026 Semester! These great law students are happy to help you with any of your reference questions! They are hired and overseen by Professor Annalee Hickman Pierson, and they work along side the full-time law library faculty members who offer reference help. Please meet:

Matt Rich (3L): enjoys skiing, playing BYU intramural sports, and spending time with his family. His favorite research tip is to use HeinOnline to find law review articles relevant to your research topic.

Joseph Lopez (3L): loves enjoying and participating in music performance, playing with his baby, and listening to audiobooks. His favorite research tip is: whatever database you use, if you start with a relevant annotated statute you can generally find the biggest cases and secondary sources to explain the context. Statutes are easy to find using google or AI–which is more often right about them than about cases–so this can be a back-way into an unfamiliar topic.

Mariah Nuttall (2L): loves playing the organ and searching thrift shops for second hand books. Her favorite research tip is that students have access to additional databases through the main campus Lee Library to help with interdisciplinary research.

Albert Choi (2L): enjoys swimming, Olympic weightlifting, and a good movie. His favorite research tip is to verify the sources utilized by AI.

Need help finding a book? Formatting a Bluebook citation? Finding a court document? They can help! And best of all, they can quickly and seamlessly connect you to one of the full-time law library faculty members who can help you with in-depth research.

Come say hi to them at the Reference Desk!

Reference Desk hours are posted here.

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This year, I took a closer look at the BYU Law Library’s Foreign, Comparative, and International Law (FCIL) collection to better understand its shape—where it’s strongest and where it could grow.re it could grow.

A quick look at the heat map makes the pattern easy to spot. Our strongest coverage clusters around Europe and “Global/General” materials, especially in human rights, constitutional law, and international law. By contrast, parts of Africa and Asia show lighter coverage across several subject areas. Seeing the collection mapped out like this helped pinpoint where it’s robust—and where we could build depth.

To spot smart areas for growth, I used GenAI (ChatGPT Pro) as a research assistant. I loaded it with the BYU Law Library collection policy, faculty interests, course syllabi, and past purchasing data. I wasn’t asking it to pick books for me, but to help me identify jurisdictions and subject areas where I could purchase books to add depth. After refining the results and carefully reviewing every suggested title, I focused new purchases on underrepresented regions, especially in East Asia and Africa.

Before buying any book GenAI suggested, I made sure that it fit our collection policy, supported the law school curriculum, complemented what we already own, and came from a reputable publisher and qualified author—only then did it make the shortlist. This chart also highlights how these purchases helped us strengthen thinner areas of the collection, adding depth in jurisdictions where our holdings had previously been limited.

Another comparison reveals a broader trend: where 40.8% of our FCIL orders came from outside the UK and EU before 2020, that share has jumped to 61.4% for 2025–26. In other words, a majority of our recent acquisitions now come from jurisdictions beyond our traditional core.

What does this mean for students and faculty? It means the BYU Law Library is investing in a more geographically diverse and globally relevant collection. If you’re researching human rights litigation, migration frameworks, treaty interpretation, or legal developments in specific regions, you should see stronger jurisdictional depth behind those topics. The stacks—and our research guides—are increasingly ready to meet you where your questions lead.

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Don’t miss the Winter International Criminal Law Research Seminar Series! These sessions are designed to give you hands-on experience with the research tools used by international courts, tribunals, and practitioners working in global justice!

Seminar Two: Researching War Crimes, Genocide & Crimes Against Humanity. This session focuses on researching substantive international crimes across tribunals and UN sources. We’ll work with HUDOC, ICTY, ICTR, and ICC Legal Tools to compare definitions, jurisprudence, and evidentiary standards across courts.

Come hungry to learn, lunch will be provided!

Friday, February 27, 2026 at 12pm in room 267 JRCB.

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Don’t miss session one of the Winter International Criminal Law Research Seminar Series! These sessions are designed to give you hands-on experience with the research tools used by international courts, tribunals, and practitioners working in global justice.

Seminar One: Researching the International Criminal Court
This session will dive into how to research the International Criminal Court, including how to locate judgments, filings, Office of the Prosecutor policies, elements of crimes, and situation-specific updates. You’ll learn how to read an ICC docket and practice using the ICC Legal Tools database and other key resources through guided hypotheticals.
Friday, January 30 at noon | 267 JRCB

Whether you’re preparing for a paper, moot court, or an internship in international law, these seminars will give you practical research skills you can use immediately.

Lunch will be provided—come hungry to learn!

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Last summer, the latest edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation was published.  As the most recent edition, it now governs how you should structure you citations in legal memos, briefs, and papers.  The law library has several copies available in either the reserve room or at the reference desk if you would like to consult it.  Below are a few of the more noteworthy changes:

• Pincites are now required for all citations unless preceded by “see generally.”  Rule 1.2.
• Double spaces after periods are officially not allowed unless using a monospaced font.  Rule 5.1(a)(i).
• A turned comma should be used instead of an apostrophe for old cases such as M‘Culloch v. Maryland.  The turned comma originated when printers did not have a superscript “c” type piece, so instead used an inverted comma type piece.  Compare “McCulloch” and “M‘Culloch.”  In order to type a turned comma, you can either come back to this blog post and copy-paste it, or you can type “alt + 0145” on Windows or “option + ]” on Mac.  Rule 10.2.1(a).
• Just like “Westlaw” can be abbreviated “WL” in case citations, “Lexis” can now be abbreviated “LX.”  Rule 10.8.
• “American Law Institute” can now officially be abbreviated “A.L.I.” instead of Am. L. Inst.”  Rule 12.9.4.
• Previously, a citation to a work with more than two authors would just have the first author listed, followed by “et al.”  Now, the rule applies to works with more than three authors.  For example: “Joe Cleary, Clinton Jones & Earl Hardy.”  Rule 15.1(a).
• In what was previously a section detailing how to cite to the Bible, Rule 15.8(c)(v) now also includes an example from the Book of Mormon.
• Rule 18, which covers internet, electronic media, and other nonprint resources, has been substantially updated, now covering citation forms for numerous different types of resources in detail, including AI-generated content, TV-shows, and YouTube videos.
• Any citation to an internet source should include a citation to an archived version of the source.  Rule 18.2.1(d).

For a more detailed list of changes between the 21st and 22nd editions, check out this excellent guide by the Gallagher Law Library at the University of Washington.

Written by Henry Wright, Reference Specialist

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Did you just write a paper for a class during the Fall 2025 semester? If so, do more with it! You’ve worked all semester long on your paper and may have spent more time researching that topic than you did reading all the cases for that other class of yours. You may feel invigorated by the grade the paper received, but there’s more! You can submit your paper to law reviews and journals to try to get it published!

BYU Law provides up to $250.00 per student paper to support submissions for publication through the Scholastica submission system. (Learn more about Scholastica here.) To receive funding, complete the application through the BYU Law Writing Center (link to download the application here). The application requires you to have your supervising professor sign it. Then email it to me (Professor Hickman Pierson). Once your application is approved, I will add your name to the law school’s Scholastica account, and you will receive an email from Scholastica with instructions as to how to sign up using your law school email address.

If you are seeking to publish multiple papers, you must submit a separate application for each paper. For each approved application, you will receive up to $250.00 in funding for submission of that paper.

Note: Scholastica charges a set amount per paper submission–$7.45 starting on January 26, 2026. Since the law school will pay for only the first $250.00 of submissions, you will need to track your submissions, and once you have reached $250.00 “worth” of submissions, email me so that I can remove you from the law school’s Scholastica account. Any additional submissions for that paper must be paid for through your own account.

To learn more about the publishing process (when to submit to publish, where to submit, what else do you need to submit with your paper, etc.), visit the BYU Law Writing Center’s webpage (link here). Professor Catherine Bramble who created and runs the Center has provided helpful materials in all these areas.

If you have a question about or a problem with Scholastica, email me at HickmanA@law.byu.edu.

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The year 2025 brought about the new edition of The Bluebook–the 22nd edition! The last time a new edition came out, it was 2020, so it doesn’t happen too often.

You can read the preface from the editors to the 22nd edition here, where they describe that they “made hundreds of edits, large and small.”

Below are some major changes to take note of:

1. Rule 18 on the Internet, Electronic Media, and Other Nonprint Resources: Lots of changes here, including rules around AI-generated content. You won’t want to skip re-reading Rule 18. For AI-generated content, you must save a PDF and keep it on file; you cannot just share a URL. For any URL you use for a webpage, you must include an archived link (like Perma.cc) as well. Edition 21 just encouraged this, but Edition 22 requires it. Need help getting set up on Perma.cc? Check out my blogpost on that here.
2. Rule 1.2 on Signals: There’s a new signal you may use: Contrast!
3. Rule 14.4 is new, covering State Administrative Material examples.
4. Rules 22 and 23 are new. Rule 22 covers tribal nations. Rule 23 covers sources from archives.
5. For the Blue pages (which is what you use for 1L legal writing), Rule B5.3 is new and allows writes to use a “(citation modified)” parenthetical where appropriate.

If you need Bluebook assitance, you may visit the Reference Desk or email me at HickmanA@law.byu.edu.

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The law library has a subscription to a variety of AI resources for students, including Large Language Models (LLMs). Students have access to free general use LLMs and several legal-specific LLMs. Here is a list of some options and their offering and cost.

General Use LLMs:

• Open AI ChatGPT:
  • Free to use GPT-3.5.; $20/month for Pro GPT-4
  • Free: GPT-3.5 and only text generation.
  • Pro: GPT-4 includes:
    • uploads
    • image generation
    • GPT creation
    • GPT store — Which allows the user to pick a more specific LLM such as a logo creator or Planty the plant care assistant. These LLMs are created by users.
• Microsoft Copilot: Powered by GPT-4 and Free.
  • If signed into Microsoft, the LLM can do more such as generate images.
• Anthropic Claude: More focused on work tasks such as helping generate emails.
  • Basic Version: Free to use and allows uploads
  • Pro: 20$/month
• Google Gemini: Free to use.
  • Allows chat capabilities, as well as image generation.
• Perplexity: Made to explain concepts. Free to use.

Legal-Specific LLMs:

• Lexis+ AI:
  • Available for free to law students as part of their Lexis+ subscription.
  • Can draft, summarize and research using the Lexis+ database 
• Vincent vLex:
  • Contact Nick Hafen at nick.hafen@law.byu.edu to participate in a limited pilot.
  • Research assistant AI: helps with legal research, drafts legal documents, identifies authorities, designed for user autonomy
  • Access to comparative and international research 
• Paxton AI:
  • Free if a student signs up with their law school email address. 
  • Platform includes: file sharing, AI chat feature, drafting, case law searching, citations, natural language researching, employee/associate training, answers regulatory questions  
• Casetext CoCounsel:
  • does not have free access but has a free trial
  • powered by ChatGPT-4
  • legal research, deposition prep, doc review, contract revisions and other transactional & litigation tools 
• LawDroid Copilot:
  •  free academic use 
  • intake clients, document automation, research legal issues, draft emails & letters, summarize documents 
• Midpage AI:
  • litigation and research focus & free to use 
  • allows you to research case law, organize notes, draft documents & compare facts 
• Ask Blue J:
  • tax-focused program; has a demo program
  • provides answers to tax questions, helps with drafting & research assistance, 
• descrybe.ai:
  • case law research focus & free to use
  • search for and understand case law, easy access to case law, use natural language search and summarization, millions of cases summarized and searchable
• Alexi:
  • litigation and research focus, free trial
  • generates legal memos, crafts litigation arguments, can draft emails and documents, answers basic questions about law, procedure or strategy
• OpenAI GPT Store:
  • user-created specialized models
  • has different GPTs that are designed for specific tasks: writing, research as well as education, lifestyle or productivity
• Westlaw Precision AI:
  • This is part of what is available to all law students on Westlaw
  • Provides answers to legal questions, links to various types of sources on Westlaw

Possible Uses of AI as a Student:

Currently, there is no formal school-wide policy at BYU Law School on the use of AI, however professors have been given the option to include parameters allowing and disallowing certain uses of the software in their individual classes.¹ Check your syllabus to make sure you are in-line with what is allowed for your classes!

If allowed, AI might be useful in the following contexts:

• Synthesizing legal sources
• Drafting documents
• Gathering relevant sources

If you have any questions or if the information here is out of date, please contact BYU Law Librarian Nick Hafen at nick.hafen@law.byu.edu.

Information for this blog post from: https://guides.law.byu.edu/c.php?g=1386257&p=10251793)

1. https://www.google.com/url?q=https://genai.byu.edu/0000018d-1e84-d8d6-a58f-fef7e2e80001/j-reuben-clark-law-school-ai-policy&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1738876458072076&usg=AOvVaw03icD6m6KloyhMadnOC09y ︎

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All rise for holiday cheer, Christmas is almost here! If you love reading as much as we do, you’re going to love this year’s “Season’s Readings” list! Here are our favorite cozy books (legal and otherwise) to enjoy this holiday season!

1. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson. 

“From one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time comes an unforgettable true story about the redeeming potential of mercy. Bryan Stevenson was a gifted young attorney when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending the poor, the wrongly condemned, and those trapped in the furthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man sentenced to die for a notorious murder he didn’t commit. The case drew Stevenson into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship – and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever.” – Back cover.

2. A Christmas Present for the President: a short history of the creation of the federal reserve system by Gerald T. Dunne.

This book focuses on the specific year in which the idea for the Federal Reserve became a reality, tracing the legislative process that culminated in President Woodrow Wilson signing the Federal Reserve Act into law on December 23, 1913, just before Christmas. 

3. Please Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas: a critical history of the separation of church and state by Stephen M. Feldman.

Nearly all discussions regarding the role of religion in American life build on two dominant assumptions: first, the separation of church and state is a constitutional principle that promotes democracy and equally protects the religious freedom of all Americans, especially religious outgroups; and second, this principle emerges as a uniquely American contribution to political theory. In Please Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas, Stephen M. Feldman challenges both these assumptions. He argues that the separation of church and state primarily manifests and reinforces Christian domination in American society. Furthermore, Feldman reveals that the separation of church and state did not first arise in America, either at the time of the constitutional framing or later.

4. Charles Dickens in Chancery by Edward Tyrrell.

This book provides a look into the legal proceedings of the time, specifically focusing on copyright infringement cases, and offers “gossip” about the old Westminster law courts. It is considered a culturally significant work, though some modern reprints may have imperfections from the original artifacts.

The post Season’s Readings! Cozy legal (and not so legal) books to curl up with this season! appeared first on Hunter’s Query.

Thinking about a clerkship? I recommend it. You get to see good legal research and writing, sometimes BAD legal research and writing, and practice those skills themselves. Clerks learn what judges look for when ruling on a case or motion, discover what is persuasive and what isn’t, and see how law gets made.

Before applying for a clerkship, research the judge. The Law Library has tools that can take you beyond the basic biographies found on judicial websites.

1. Judicial Biographical Databases. The Law Library has two biographical databases for judges with in-depth information on judges: one for federal judges (Almanac of the Federal Judiciary) and another for state judges American Bench.
   • Almanac of the Federal Judiciary (federal judges): Type the name of the judge in the search bar or browse by clicking on the circuit or court. The Almanac includes district, appellate courts, and bankruptcy courts, and also specialized courts like the Tax Court. Profiles are quite extensive and include awards, publications, and reviews by attorneys who have appeared before the judge. Current and past financial disclosures are available and listed by year. Click here to access Almanac of the Federal Judiciary.
   • American Bench (state judges): Enter the first and last name of the judge and their state and click search. Profiles are basic, but you can see the judges prior positions and affiliations. You can also download a list of all judges who attended a specific university (including all undergraduate and graduate degrees, not just law school graduates). The resulting spreadsheet will list the degrees obtained next to the judge, sometimes including the major area of study (but not always). Click here to access American Bench.
2. Litigation Analytics. Lexis+ and Westlaw both have litigation tools that let you look at the case load, time to trial, and other stats for judges. They’re both easy to use; just type in the name of the judge. Access information for both is listed below. Lex Machina, which is owned by the same company that owns Lexis+, is a superior analytics tool that the Law Library subscribes to, providing more analytics information and direct access to dockets. See below for information on how to set up an account.
   • Lexis+ Analytics: Locate the vertical, purple menu bar on the left side of the homepage. Locate “Litigation Analytics” in the middle of the bar and click it. Click “Compare Courts & Judges.” Enter the names of up to four judges and click “Compare.”
   • Westlaw Analytics: Click “Content Type” on the home page, then “Litigation Analytics” under “Specialty Areas.” Select the Judges and type in the name of the judge.
   • Lex Machina: BYU Law students can create an account by registering with their Law School email account. Click this link to register. Once you’re logged in, click on “Courts & Judges” in the top menu bar. “Search for Judges” is on the right.
3. Opinions. Familiarize yourself with the judge’s writing and legal reasoning by reading their opinions. Here’s how to locate judge-specific opinions on Westlaw and Lexis+:
   • Lexis+: Navigate to the court by jurisdiction, e.g. “UT Supreme Court Cases from 1861.” Use the “Opinion by” or “Written by” box to search for opinions authored by the judge. “Opinion by” locates majority opinions written by the judge. “Written by” will locate an opinion in which any part was written by the judge, including dissents and concurrences.
   • Westlaw: Locate the court by jurisdiction. Click “Advanced” to the right of the search box (under “Parallel Search). Scroll down to the bottom to locate the “Written By” box to locate any opinion or part of the opinion (including a concurrence or a dissent) written by the judge. Westlaw has separate fields for concurrences and dissents if you want to search just for those.

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