Practising Law Librarian

In this interview, Shamika Dalton reflects on her path from a small town in North Carolina to becoming Law Library Director and Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Law School. A first-generation college graduate and proud HBCU alum, she describes how mentorship, service, and perseverance shaped her career in law librarianship. She discusses the growing role of law librarians as teach...

Errol Adams discusses his career path from government legal work to law librarianship, describing roles at the Department of Corrections, New York City Civil Courts, academia, and now Cooley LLP, where he manages legal resources, vendor relationships, and database strategy. He reflects on how each setting shaped his expertise and explains why the move from academia to a law firm brought new challe...

Cas Laskowski, Head of Research, Data, and Instruction at the University of Arizona’s law library, discusses how law librarianship is evolving from traditional legal research support into a more interdisciplinary, forward-facing role shaped by data, technology, and AI. Cas describes a career path from geospatial work and law school to librarianship, driven by a love of research, writing, and helpi...

Sarah Glassmeyer, Director of Data Curation at Legal Tech Hub, traces her path from academic law librarian to legal tech, sparked by the 2008 downturn and the free law movement, then through roles at CALI (including open casebooks and document-automation expert systems), a Harvard fellowship focused on free law, the ABA Center for Innovation, and RainCourt before joining Legal Tech Hub. She explai...

Jenny Wondracek, director of the law library and professor of legal research and writing at Capital University Law School, shares her path from practicing law at North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services to an academic law library career spanning Barry, Elon, University of Florida, UNT Dallas (helping launch a new law library), and her upcoming move to Southern Methodist University as director of the...

Carla Wale, a senior academic law librarian and program director, discusses her path into law librarianship and the degrees she pursued (JD, MLIS, MBA, and an online M.Ed. focused on pedagogy, access, and inclusion). She reflects on how law libraries have shifted from “just in case” print collecting to electronic “just in time” access, and how licensing raises new concerns around copyright limits,...

Jenny (Silbiger) Foster, State Law Librarian and Access to Justice Coordinator for the Hawaii State Judiciary and President of the American Association of Law Libraries, shares her path from being a Korean adoptee raised in the Midwest to teaching English in Korea, moving to Hawaii for graduate study, and unexpectedly entering librarianship before earning her MLIS and leading library services. She...

Valerie Salazar, a Law Library Service to Prisoners librarian at the Minnesota State Law Library, shares her path from volunteering and working in public and academic libraries to earning an online MLIS during the pandemic and landing this niche role. She explains how she researches and answers legal information requests from incarcerated people—often focused on case law by citation, annotated sta...

Susan Hesse, Director of Research and Information Services at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Loeb Leadership founder Natalie Loeb, and Sarnoff Group LLC founder David Sarnoff share their career paths into law librarianship, HR, coaching, and legal practice, emphasizing the role of mentorship, relationships, and serendipity. They explore practical leadership lessons—building partnerships, lead...

Greg Lambert, Chief Innovation Officer at Jackson Walker, shares his fascinating career journey, transitioning from service in the U.S. Army to law school while programming at the Oklahoma University library, working to create the Oklahoma State Court Network during his time at the Oklahoma Supreme Court, rebuilding an academic law library destroyed by a tropical storm, and his move to law firm li...

Josh LaPorte, supervisory librarian at the United States Court of International Trade, discusses his career trajectory, including stints in his high school library, as a cataloger, as a library assistant, filling in for various library jobs, in several law school librarian posts, and in his current position. LaPorte shares his experiences navigating the evolving landscape of legal research, includ...

Theresa Kim, Senior Business & Legal Research Analyst at Venable LLP, talks about how her 20+ year career has evolved from a print-dominated landscape to a digital one. With research tools ever-evolving, she discusses the use of AI as a resource supported by human input, as well as several tools Venable’s team has developed to streamline and enable attorneys’ access to information. Her advice...

John Davey, Research Manager at Alston & Bird and a seasoned law librarian with over 30 years of experience, shares insights about his career journey, the evolution of law libraries, and the integration of technology and AI in legal research. The conversation highlights his current role at Alston and Bird, reflections on changes in law librarianship, and his personal interests outside of the p...

Dean Mason, the London-based head of Sidley Austin’s award-winning Library & Research Services team, shares his perspective from over two decades working in legal and commercial information. He discusses his thoughts on several differences in legal research at British and U.S.-based firms, how his department successfully raised awareness of its services internally with "Just Ask", and how work...

CJ Pipins, Director of the Law Library and Professor of Practice at the University of Baltimore School of Law, shares his journey from a BFA in musical theater to law librarianship, detailing the pivotal moments and mentors that guided him. CJ recounts his diverse experiences at various institutions, highlights his contributions to creating educational tools and managing public services, and discu...

Avery Le, the director of the Homer M. Stark Law Library, recounts her shift from aspiring trademark lawyer to law librarian, working in academic, corporate, and county government settings. She discusses her innovative 'Lawyer in the Library' program, which offers public legal consultations through a partnership with Atlanta's Legal Aid Society. Avery emphasizes the importance of exploring various...

Vicenç Feliú, Associate Dean of Library Services and Professor of Law at Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law in Fort Lauderdale shares his career journey from a marine officer, FBI agent, and high school teacher to an esteemed law librarian and professor of intellectual property and copyright law. In a departure from the practice of many law schools, his Panza Maurer Law Libr...

Zanada Joyner, Associate Director for Collections and Information Discovery at Francis King Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland describes with joy her role overseeing collections and facilitating resource access.  She discusses how law libraries have changed since the 1990s, including the transition from print to digital collections, the impact of COVID-19 on accessibility, and the i...

Chris Laut, Director of Library and Knowledge Services at Sullivan & Worcester, shares his serendipitous journey into law librarianship, starting from his initial role as a paralegal to his current position. He discusses his early days at Goodwin Procter, his pivotal experiences at Hemenway & Barnes, and his formal education in journalism and library science. Chris highlights his significa...

As the newly appointed Law Library Manager at the U.S. Court of International Trade, Taryn Rucinski brings a decade of experience as a librarian in the U.S. federal court system as well as leadership in professional organizations. Hear her observations on why print still has a role to play in legal research and records, how she overcame personal and profession-wide challenges during the COVID pand...

Before becoming Director of Research Training and Engagement for Morgan Lewis & Bockius, Michael Saint-Onge spent nearly two decades in library relations at LexisNexis. He shares his perspectives from this role — as well as his thoughts on librarians as knowledge managers. The Practising Law Librarian brings you conversations with — and for — the law librarian community. PLI is proud to offer...

Donna Nixon has many responsibilities in her roles as Electronic Resources Librarian and Clinical Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Listen to her conversation with Karen Oesterle about her work curating the school’s archives, digitizing critical historical documents for accessibility, and her research and law review article on integration at UNC-Chapel Hill. The P...

In this episode, hear from Miriam Childs, Director of the Law Library of Louisiana in New Orleans, about meeting patrons’ needs in her state’s complex court library system, the limitations of AI, and her work on connecting Spanish speakers in the New Orleans area with essential legal information. The Practising Law Librarian brings you conversations with — and for — the law librarian community. PL...

Alison Alifano, Manager of Library and Research at Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC in Vermont, shares her perspectives from working in three very different library environments. She tells Karen Oesterle about her ongoing work on digitizing resources, including what she learned from introducing online resources at the New York County Lawyers’ Association. The Practising Law Librarian brings you conversat...

Host Karen Oesterle catches up with one of her mentors, Loretta Orndorff, who recently retired after more than two decades at Cozen O’Connor. Loretta discusses her “zig-zag path to librarianship,” changes she’s observed over the course of her long career, her work on an important salary survey for law librarians, and more. ----more---- The Practising Law Librarian brings you conversations with — a...