Library News

Due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, many state and federal courts have suspended in-person operations, including jury trials. In recent weeks, more than 25 federal trial courts have canceled or extended orders canceling jury trials through the end of the year. Many court facilities struggle with social distancing guidelines due to lack of space for both court users and juries.

On November 10, the California Commission on Judicial Appointments announced the unanimously approved confirmation of Justice Martin J. Jenkins as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California. Justice Jenkins fills the vacancy left by Justice Ming Chin's retirement on August 31. A State Bar of California report found Jenkins to be "exceptionally well-qualified" to serve on the Court. Jenkins is both the first openly gay justice and the third African-American man to sit on the California Supreme Court.

The library offers a digital collection of exam prep and study materials that law students can access from computers or mobile devices. Find links to materials in the library's Exam Preparation guide.

If you have difficulty accessing any of the materials or need assistance choosing the right resource, contact a reference librarian at [email protected].

Some of the available study materials include:

Reference assistance

Reference librarians are available for remote assistance Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Librarians may be reached as follows:

On September 30, California AB 979 took effect. The new law amends the California Corporations Code to require that publicly held domestic or foreign corporation whose principal executive offices are located in California have on its board a minimum number of female directors or directors from an underrepresented community.

On October 21, the Supreme Court of California adopted Rule 9.49, creating the Provisional License Program for 2020 law school graduates, in response to bar exam delays caused by COVID-19. The rule will take effect November 17, 2020 and continue until June 2022, unless extended by the court. The program is open to anyone who became eligible to sit for the California Bar Exam between December 2019 and December 2020.

Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court by a vote of 52 to 48 on Monday, October 26. Justice Barrett has spent much of her career as a law professor at her alma mater, Notre Dame, and also clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia after her graduation from law school. In 2017 President Trump selected her to serve as a federal appeals court judge, sitting on the Seventh Circuit based in Chicago.

SB 1383, which expands family leave benefits for small business workers in California, was signed into law by Governor Newsom on Thursday, September 17th and will become effective on January 1, 2021. Currently, only companies with 50 or more employees are required to provide 12 weeks of leave to care for a new child or a family member.

On September 18, California governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1869 into law. As of July 1, 2021, state counties cannot charge certain administrative fees for criminal defendants, such as the public defense fee, the city and county booking fees, parole administrative fees, and others. The signing makes California the first state in the country to repeal such fees, which many criminal defendants cannot afford to pay.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court and a feminist standard-bearer, died of metastatic pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2020. Nominated by President Bill Clinton and appointed to the Court in 1993, Ginsburg wrote some of the Supreme Court's most notable opinions on gender discrimination. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. said of Justice Ginsburg: "Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague.