Bloomberg Law is being rolled out in Law Schools across the
country. The more I get to know it – the more I like it. Since Bloomberg is coming to offer training
here at the Law School next Monday and Tuesday, I thought it might be a good
time to pick out some of my favorite things about this new kid on the legal
research block.
I am going to start with features that appear on the opening
page when I sign in to my academic account. I’m pretty sure this page is designed exclusively
for the law school environment because there on the opening page is a section
entitled “Law School Resources,” under which appears a section entitled “Career
Insights.” There you will find sub-categories such as “Interviews, Networking
and Job Search,” “Summer Employment,” and “Twenty Tips for Thriving as a Summer
Intern.” In the same area, there’s
a link to a book entitled Thinking Like a
Writer: A Lawyer’s Guide to Effective Writing and Editing by Stephen V. Armstrong
and Timothy P. Terrell, which could be useful if one is debating between using “during
the time that” as opposed to “while” and didn’t want to go look for Strunk and
White.
Moving on to sections of more legal substance, I like that
right there on the opening page is a section for “Secondary Sources,” and “Transactional
Resources.” Under “Secondary Sources”
one gets quick access to BNA Portfolios, highly prized in practice for their
detailed information on technical topics. For example: Tax Management Portfolio, Income
Taxation of Trusts and Estates, No. 852-3rd, provides detailed coverage
of the rules governing the income taxation of estates, trusts, and their
beneficiaries. Under “Transactional
Resources” there’s a link for a resource called “Document Descriptions” which
can jump start your quest to find out what a “bear hug letter” is. The
description gives details on the characteristics, purpose, and key sections of
the document. Then, to find an example, scroll to the top of the opening page
under “Getting Started,” click into “DealMaker Documents,” scroll down to “bear
hug letters,” and hit search to get real life examples.
I am not going to do justice to the depth and complexity of
this resource but perhaps I have whet your curiosity? Bloomberg Law is not going to
take the place of Westlaw or LexisNexis (yet).
For example, it has nothing to compare to the annotated codes found on
both services. But it does make good use of freely available resources (like
Pattern Jury Instructions – Federal Courts) and the sophisticated resources formerly
available through BNA combined with the business sophistication of Bloomberg. It provides alternative access to federal
dockets AND one gets access to those documents found on a docket at no additional
cost.* So no, it is not going to take
the place of Westlaw or LexisNexis anytime soon but it sure is interesting.
*When looking at a docket list, if the number next to the
document is in blue, it means the document has been requested before and will
be instantaneously available. If the number is in green, that means no one has
requested that document, but you can still request it and there will still be
no additional charge
