Chastek Blawg

A Law School Student's Guide to Study Aids By Macy Disney Gonzaga University School of Law 2L  and Chastek Library Reference Desk Assistant CALI CALI is an online source that develops and distributes legal education to law students. CALI lessons are known to be in depth and challenging, ensuring each student has a concrete understanding of the concepts. You can access CALI online at cali.org . Barbri Barbri provides 1L, 2L, and 3L Mastery Packages that include study materials for first-year courses and many upper level courses. Barbri has in depth, lecture style videos known for clarifying difficult course concepts. Barbri also contains practice multiple choice and essay questions. Access Barbri online at barbri.com or talk to a Barbri campus representative to get a book of commercial outlines. Examples & Explanations E&Es explain core legal concepts and contain practice questions at the end of each section for students to apply their knowl...

Ashley Sundin is the Head of Public Services Librarian at Chastek Library and provides reference assistance to library patrons.   Ashley grew up near Seattle alongside her big sister, Kaitlin, and moved to Spokane five years ago when she began working at Gonzaga. Law librarianship, and even law school, wasn’t initially on the radar when she began her education. She earned her B.S. degree in Biology from Washington State University with the intention of going into veterinary medicine.  Life events and a change of plans led to law school at Seattle University, and then to the University of Washington for her Masters in Library and Information Science.  It seems that she can’t get enough of school as she earned her M.B.A. from Gonzaga University in 2017.   Ashley enjoys all things music, especially playing classical piano and listening to her all-time favorite, Tom Waits.  As a true Taurus, art and food are always at the top of her list of ways to s...

Chastek Library was closed over summer to members of the general public due to construction taking place on the first and second floors. Those projects, for the most part, have been completed and the library is now open for use by those seeking legal resources.  General public hours are still Monday - Friday, 8am - 6pm. Additional information, including holiday hours, may be found here . Public patrons seeking legal resources must present a valid photo ID at the circulation desk, sign-in as a guest, and receive a visitor's badge. Please leave any used materials out for our circulation assistants to put away. Please return the visitor's badge to the desk upon leaving and sign-out.  Free printing is also available for public patrons. You may pick up a $5 print card at the circulation desk. This will print/copy roughly 50 pages of materials. You may only use 1 print card per daily visit. Additional assistance on how to use the printer/copies may be requested at the circulat...

Today is Juneteenth. Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States. It is a holiday that commemorates the issuance of General Order No. 3 in Texas by the Union Army: "The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes    that between employer and free laborer." https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth

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I’m often asked for advice about taking the bar exam, usually in the spring semester when students start thinking about the marathon that awaits for them after graduation.   Here are some of the tips I have offered students over the past few years, and I hope that you find something useful in it for your own bar prep.   For reference, I took the bar exam (and passed) in 2013, the first year the UBE was offered in Washington State. Before Bar Prep Should I take my law school bar prep course? Photo by  Green Chameleon  on  Unsplash Students often wonder whether they should take the bar prep course offered by their law school during their 3L year.   My answer is – “maybe.”   It depends what you are hoping to get out of it.   I took the one offered by my law school in the spring of my third year, and there were a few things I found helpful*: 1)     It will give you a preview of what to expect on the exam   ...