By the terms of our license agreements, the Law Library cannot provide Westlaw, Lexis, or Bloomberg Law individual accounts to patrons who are not current affiliates of Columbia Law School.
Current Columbia University faculty, staff, and students have access via CLIO to Nexis Uni, a legal research database from LexisNexis made for the University market, as well as to most of the law databases listed in our A-Z Databases Guide.
At the Law Library, we have two computer stations where Columbia University affiliates, alumni, and other visitors can use Bloomberg Law and Westlaw Patron Access.
Visitors to the Law Library may connect to our Law Library Guest Wifi and access the law databases that don't require individual accounts on their personal devices. Ask at the Information Desk for the wifi information.
Lexis
Graduating 3Ls have continued access to Lexis upon graduation to keep their skills up to date and use for job and interview preparation.
The Graduate Program gives extended access to Lexis+ to spring graduates via their law school IDs through December 31, 2025. This ID also grants them access to the Graduate Home Page and gives them a graduation gift.
Lexis also offers a program for graduates doing public interest work. The ASPIRE program is dedicated to graduates engaged in non-profit work. It provides 12 months of free access to federal and state cases, regulations, law reviews, Shepard’s, and Matthew Bender treatises to graduates who are engaged in verifiable 501(c)(3) public interest work.
Westlaw
Alumni have access to Thomson Reuters products, including Westlaw and Practical Law, for six-months after graduation. “Grad Elite” access gives alumni 60-hours of usage on these products per month to gain understanding and build confidence in research skills. While alumni cannot use it in situations where a client is being billed, Thomson Reuters encourages graduates to use these tools to build knowledge of the law and prepare for the bar exam.
In addition, alumni get access to job searching databases on Westlaw and TWEN for 18-months after graduation for 1-hour a month.
Extend access by logging into: https://lawschool.westlaw.com/authentication/gradelite
Bloomberg Law
New graduates will have continuous access for six months from their graduation dates.