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This week in the Law Library we’re we’re celebrating July 4th; looking at more bar exam resources; reviewing additional basic legal research skills for summer; and celebrating Disability Pride Month.

Happy July 4th!

The Law Library will be closed July 4, 2025 to celebrate Independence Day. Law students and faculty will still have their 24/7 access. All of our online resources are also still available 24/7!

Bar Exam Study Resources

Congratulations! You have made it through law school but now the bar exam looms. Don’t worry, the Law Library’s got your back. When you’ve caught your breath and you’re ready to start your bar studying, we have resources that can help. Check out our Bar Exam Research Guide.

The July 2025 bar exam will be held in three locations: Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland. 

Examinees will be tested at the following locations:

• Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati College of Law, 2925 Campus Green Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45221
• Columbus: Ohio Union, 1739 N. High St., Columbus, OH 43210
• Cleveland: Cleveland State University College of Law, 1801 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44115

Accommodations testing will be located at OSU Moritz College of Law (Drinko Hall, 55 W. 12th Ave., Columbus, OH 43210).

Learn more: Ohio Bar Exam

5 More Resources to Help You Study for the Bar Exam

The Bar Exam is not a sprint, it’s a marathon so pace yourself! Check out this week’s Bar Exam Resource highlights below.

• Ohio Supreme Court, Ohio Law Component Course Outline (PDF)
• NCBE, MBE Sample Test Questions (PDF)
• NCBE, Free MEE Questions 2015-2019 (scroll down to the bottom of the page to access the links)
• NCBE, Free Summaries of Current MPTs (2021-2025) and Older Free MPT Tests & Point Sheets (2015-2019) (scroll down to the bottom of the page to access the links)
• Texas Board of Bar Examiners, Texas Bar Exam Questions & Selected Answers (UBE & Texas Law Component)

Be sure and take a look at our previous June 23, June 16, June 9,  June 2, May 27 and May 19 posts on Bar Exam Resources.

Summer Legal Research Tips

Previously we covered:

• Basic tips to think about before starting a research project 
• Initial steps to take:
  • Identify the resources available to you at your place of summer employment and ask questions.
  • Develop a research plan. Read more about developing a research plan on our Research Strategy & Documentation Guide.    
• Using secondary sources to jump start your research. Learn more about secondary sources with our Researching Secondary Sources Guide or watch our videos on finding and searching within the various secondary source types.
• The structure and organization of annotated codes.
• Using Statutory finding tools.like indexes, tables of contents, parallel reference tables, and the popular names table to find the statutory sections you need.
• Checking the currency of your code and making sure your statutes are still good law.

This week we will cover how to research historical codes. Learn more about researching statutes in our Researching Statutes Guide or watch our videos on using citators to validate statutes.

Effective Dates

You will need to connect the timeline of your cause of action or issue with the statute version that was in effect at that time. If the statute has been amended or repealed since the time in question, it is likely that the prior version is the one you will need to research. Always be aware of the timelines and any amendment history of relevant statutory provisions, including the date on which the amendment became or becomes effective!

The effective date is the date on which a statute becomes operative and enforceable. This date may or may not be the same date as the signing date or the date that a bill was passed. Generally, in the federal system, a law becomes effective when it has been enacted. There are exceptions to this since a law may have a specific effective date stated within it. The date of enactment is most easily located by looking at the list of session laws creating and amending a statute that are directly after the text of a statute in a code.

Many states have codified the effective dates for their statutes so that a law generally becomes effective on a certain date or number of days. For example, some states provide that laws become effective 90 days after signed. Other states provide that they become effective 6-months after being signed. Still others may provide a specific month such as October 1. Do be aware, however, that there are emergency effective dates for statutes. In Ohio, a signed act becomes law after 90 days. If the governor takes no action within 10 days of receiving the act, it becomes law without his or her signature. The Kentucky Constitution specifies that an act becomes law 90 days after the General Assembly Adjourns, unless the act contains a delayed effective date or an emergency clause.

Where to Find Historical Codes

HeinOnline has the United States Code going back to 1925. Govinfo.gov has the United States Code going back to 1994 as does Bloomberg Law. Fastcase has the United States Code going back to 2006. Westlaw’s USCA goes back to 1990 and the Lexis USCS goes back to 1992.

State code archives vary. HeinOnline has a library called State Statutes: A Historical Archive that covers superseded state statutes for all fifty states some going back until 1717. HeinOnline also has a library of state session laws that contains the session laws of all 50 U.S. states as well as Canada, Australia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and the D.C. Register. All states are current within 60 days of the printed publication, and all states are available back to inception!

Comparing Current and Historical Codes

Lexis and Westlaw have features that allow you to pull up two statutory sections from different time periods and compare them. Use this feature to quickly compare any 2 versions of a statute to see where language has changed. In a Document view, you can click the Compare Versions button to compare the current version and a previous version of the statute. 

July Is Disability Pride Month!

Ann Magill, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

About Disability Pride Month

Disability Pride Month is an annual worldwide observance holiday during the month of July. It promotes awareness of disability as an identity, a community, a culture & the positive pride felt by disabled people. It directly challenges systematic ableism and discrimination. President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law in 1990 and in July of that same year, the first Disability Pride Day was celebrated in Boston.

This month, the American Bar Association’s Commission on Disability Rights invites you to take part in the #BeCounted campaign. Many law schools, firms, courts, and legal employers do not collect data on disability status and many law students, lawyers, and judges choose not to disclose their disabilities due to fear of stigma, bias, and discrimination. The #BeCounted campaign encourages lawyers with disabilities across the country to add themselves to the ABA's U.S. map so that the profession can make measurable progress toward a more accessible legal profession.

Posted June 30, 2025 by Susan Boland

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