Law Student Research Corner: CEB’s AccessLaw

Welcome to the Law Student Research Corner! This is a resource created by law students, for law students. I’m a 3L at King Hall, and periodically I’ll highlight a legal research tool you might not know about. My goal is to share practical strategies you can use in your classes, summer jobs, and beyond. 

Today we are looking at the AccessLaw Program, offered by CEB. CEB stands for “Continuing Education of the Bar,” and is a nonprofit organization program of the University of California. In this post I’ll be showing you how to access their resources as a student, as well as a way for you to retain your access for 18 months after graduation. 

What is included in AccessLaw?

According to CEB, AccessLaw includes:

  • 2,500+ practice-oriented tools such as Workflows, How-to Guides, Strategy Notes, Standard Documents, and Charts & Checklists,
  • 150+ California-specific secondary sources across more than 20 practice areas,
  • 900+ California-specific legal education videos from leading California judges and attorneys, and
  • 3,000+ California-focused legal news articles, updated and added daily. 

Who qualifies for AccessLaw?

All UC Davis law students can register for a free AccessLaw membership.  You retain access for up to 18 months post-graduation. Some of these materials, such as the secondary sources and continuing education videos, can come at a high premium, so this free access adds value you can bring to your post-bar employment. 

How do I sign up?

Visit http://www.ceb.com/solutions/law-schools/ to register for your account. Click on “Activate Your AccessLaw Account” and use  the access code “DVX26” with  your UC Davis email. This will allow you to set up your account, which includes selecting the practice areas you are interested in. 

Screenshot of CEB AccessLaw registration page with law school code and email fields.

Once you are all logged in, click on the CEB logo in the top left, and you’ll get to your home page. 

Screenshot of CEB AccessLaw with tabs for practitioner resources and user customization links highlighted.

Once there, you have lots to explore. You can personalize your experience by choosing your favorite secondary sources to appear on the left side and by customizing your news feed according to your practice areas. Along the top you’ll see tabs for practitioner resources, secondary sources, news, cases, statutes, and rules. These are all California-specific, so are a great “quick reference” tool. 

Practitioner resources are especially useful, as the section is divided by practice area and includes sample forms you can use to draft documents. Here is an example of what I found under “Family Law” and then “Default and Uncontested Marital Actions:”

Screenshot of a CEB AccessLaw Workflow page for Default and Uncontested Marital Actions.

As you can see, there are step-by-step instructions for attorneys to assist their clients with their divorce. For someone interested in family law, this was a great way to demystify the work and see what is actually involved in these kinds of proceedings. CEB has similar resources for many other areas of law as well, making it a useful tool no matter what practice area you’re exploring.

A final thing to note about CEB is their “TrueCite” feature. TrueCite is a citator, similar to Westlaw’s KeyCite This will flag negative treatment for the case you're looking at, and will help make sure  citations you put into your legal work are still good law.  

Screenshot of CEB AccessLaw showing People v. Brown and highlighting yellow button with white text that reads "Caution 369" and yellow text below the button that says "369 citing cases."

And that’s CEB’s AccessLaw! This was a new resource for me, and I feel good knowing that I’ll be able to use such an accessible resource after law school. 

If you have any questions, be sure to contact the reference librarians here at the Mabie Law Library. You can reach them by calling (530) 752-0210, sending an email to [email protected], or swinging by the reference desk during open hours.