This Week in the Law Library ... May 12, 2025
It's the last week of exams so hang in there. The Law Library's got your back!
Exam Study Aids
The Law Library has many resources to help you prepare for final exams, including 24/7 access to online study aids. These study aids can be an important tool to help you succeed in law school but the different types of study aids serve different purposes. Check out our Exam Study Guide for a look at the different study aid types to which we subscribe and how they can help you with exams. Overwhelmed by the number of study aids? Check out our previous blog posts on Study Aids for the 1st Week of Spring 2025 Exams and Study Aids for the 2nd Week and Take Home Exams of Spring 2025 for selected study aids.
Study Spaces
Looking for a place to study? Reserve a study room through TWEN or study in the carrels in the basement, the second floor Law Library Reading Room, the fourth floor Quiet Reading Room, or the open seating on the fifth floor.
Decompress & Relax
When you’re ready for a short break or need to decompress, the Law Library offers puzzles and coloring pages and colored pencils in room 110, the Law Library Services Suite. While you're at it, pick up some ear plugs and candy. Need more help relaxing? Check out the resources in our Resiliency & Wellness for Law Students & Lawyers.
Library Services Platform Upgrade
The OhioLINK consortium, which includes the University of Cincinnati Libraries, is upgrading the Library Services Platform (LSP) in summer 2025 to Ex Libris Alma/Primo VE.
This cloud-based, enterprise system software is the backbone of day-to-day library operations (acquisitions, cataloging, circulation/fullfillment, etc.). The new system will provide user benefits to help students, faculty and other library users find (and access) information critical to learning, teaching and research. Its user-friendly interactions will be more user intuitive.
Although we are working to minimize any disruption to services, the cut over to the new system will impact acquisitions and summer borrowing of print materials among other OhioLINK institutions.
May 23, 2025
OhioLINK and Search Ohio borrowing and renewals will be unavailable. Physical books from other Ohio universities, as well as materials from public libraries, will not be able to be requested nor will previously borrowed materials be able to be renewed. While OhioLINK and SearchOhio services are unavailable, work with UC librarians to find alternatives that fulfill teaching and research needs.
June 25, 2025
We go live with Alma, Primo and Rapido (replaces OhioLINK requesting)
The Library LSP upgrade website includes more information on the project, including a FAQ.
May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Establishment of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
After decades of celebrating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week, Congress finally passed Public Law 102-450 which annually designated May as Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. The month of May was chosen to commemorate the immigration of the first Japanese to the United States on May 7, 1843, and to mark the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869.
Learn more about the establishment of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month by visiting the Law Library of Congress guide to the laws and presidential proclamations related to establishing and designating Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month (May).
Selected Resources about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
ABA Asian American and Pacific Islander Legal Trailblazers
A presentation featuring leaders in activism and the legal profession who are of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage.
Library of Congress, Asian American and Pacific Islander Materials: A Resource Guide
This guide serves as a point of entry for researchers seeking materials in multiple formats on Asian American/Pacific Islander studies and related resources at the Library of Congress. The types of resources covered in this guide range from special collections containing photographs, diary entries, and recorded interviews to monographs, reference works, and serials.
May ABA-Wide 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge © AAPI Heritage Month
The goal of the Challenge is to assist each of us to become more aware, compassionate, constructive, engaged people in the quest for racial equity, and specifically to learn more about the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. It transcends our roles as lawyers. Non-lawyers are also welcome to participate.
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
The Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center serves as a dynamic national resource for discovering why the Asian Pacific American experience matters every day, everywhere, and all of the time.
U.S. Courts, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month is observed throughout May to pay tribute to the achievements of generations who have contributed to American life. The federal courts join in celebrating their accomplishments at every level of the Third Branch of government.
Ohio Supreme Court Oral Arguments
You can view the live stream of oral arguments on the Court’s website or see them after the arguments take place in the Ohio Channel archives.
Tuesday, May 13, 2025
- State v. Reed - (1) whether a court of appeals errs in finding abuse of discretion on a motion to sever if the motion is comprised of general assertions and is unsupported by facts and analysis; (2) whether the appellate court must find abuse of discretion under both prongs of the severance test when it overrules a trial court's decision on a motion to sever; and (3) whether all judges sitting on a court of appeals review of a three-judge panel decision vote on a request for en banc consideration. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
- Durig v. City of Youngstown - (1) whether the defense of political subdivision immunity pursuant to Ohio Rev. Code ch. 2744 is sufficiently raised and preserved where the immunity defense is readily discernible from the face of the complaint and the defendant’s answer asserts that the complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted; and (2) whether “undue delay” sufficient to overcome the presumption that pleading amendments should be liberally granted must be attributable to the party seeking the amendment. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
- State v. Musarra (2024-0540/2024-0541) - (1) whether it is improper for an Ohio court to grant a jeopardy-attached judgment of acquittal after finding that the State failed to establish venue; and (2) whether an acquittal under Rule 29(A) of the Ohio Rules of Criminal Procedure is a final verdict. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
- Claugus Family Farm LP v. Harris - (1) whether the Department of Taxation erred in assessing a use tax for the purchase of a 2015 Mercedes-Benz utility vehicle that the taxpayer contends was purchased for use directly and primarily in the business of farming timber; and (2) whether the taxpayer satisfied the burden of proof required for an exemption from the sales and use tax for the purchase because the vehicle is used on its farm and is tax exempt. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
Wednesday, May 14, 2025
- State v. Brown - (1) whether the state met its burden to prove that a retailer selling illegal drugs was part of a drug selling wholesaler's "enterprise" as defined by Ohio Rev. Code secs. 2923.31 and 2923.32 when the retailer controls her own work; and (2) whether a member of a drug-selling gang in Lucas County be tried for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity in Henry County if the member was not involved in the sale of drugs in Henry County. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
- NC Enter. L.L.C. v. Norfolk and W. Ry. Co. - (1) whether lawn maintenance, in and of itself, is sufficient as a matter of law to establish adverse possession; (2) whether the 21-year timeframe to establish an adverse possession claim begins only when the person or entity seeking to take the property engages in a legally sufficient use; and (3) whether lawn maintenance can only be considered relevant evidence to support continuous use when a structure or change to the land apart from maintenance has existed for twenty-one years. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview -
- Disciplinary Couns. v. Rossi - whether suspension from the practice of law was appropriate for an attorney who drafted and made a false statement to the court regarding a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) he drafted for a friend charged with sexual assault. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
- State v. Roberts - whether an appeals court wrongly granted a new trial after finding the trial judge improperly admitted the defendant's statements and prior acts. Court News Ohio Oral Argument Preview
Posted May 12, 2025 by Susan Boland