As a law student, you will spend hundreds of hours conducting on-line research, writing memos and briefs, communicating with your professors and fellow students, and performing other computer-based tasks. The Law School has extensive technological resources to support you as you apply state-of-the-art techniques to your legal studies. As part of our resources, we have a local computing staff who will do everything that we can to help you.
If you are a new student, you should read the new student guide that we have prepared for you.
If you have not purchased a computer for law school, we strongly urge you to buy a notebook computer running Windows XP. We will be able to provide some limited support for computers running Macintosh OS X. Please see our Laptop Recommendations for more information. Even if you do not buy one of the recommended models, you may wish to use those specifications as a guideline for your own purchases.
We recommend you use Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Word, although, we will be providing some limited support for Macintosh computers running OS X.
You must install virus-protection software on your computer. As a condition of any service or support the Emory Law School IT department provides you must have the Emory provided Symantec Corporate anti-virus package installed. It is available from the University's website at no charge. In addition, we recommend that you install the Microsoft Windows Defender package. If you are running Windows XP, you must keep up to date with security patches.
The computing labs in the MacMillan Law Library have more than 40 full-featured computers for law student use for research, e-mail and on-line resources. All of our computers run Windows XP Professional, and they are equipped with Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, software for on-line research and other tools.
The labs are equipped with three high-speed networked laser printers. Printing utilizes the pcounter payment system. You will receive an account with a $35.00 balance per calendar year. After you use up your initial balance, you can add funds. Details on printing can be found here.
Both the law school and the law library are equipped with wireless access operating at 54Mbs (802.11b/g). You will need to authenticate to our wireless network using your University NetID and password in order to use the network. In addition to the wireless network, there are some wired 100Mbs switched ethernet ports available in the law library and in some classrooms.
Most of the tables and carrels in the Law Library are wired with electricity, as are some of the classrooms in the Law School. However, there may be times when you must rely on battery power, so be sure that your computer has enough battery life to get through an entire class session. You may even consider purchasing a second battery to increase the usability of your notebook.