Category Archives: AALL

Meet Our AALL 2022 Raffle Winner: Tom Kimbrough

At the 2022 AALL Annual Conference in Denver, Colorado, PLI raffled off a gift certificate to Spa Finder. We are pleased to announce this year’s winner is Tom Kimbrough, Associate Director for Collection Development at Underwood Law Library at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. In keeping with tradition, Tom kindly agreed to be interviewed for this blog. Read on to learn more about Tom’s work at Southern Methodist University, his start in international law, the article that changed his life/career, and more.

Tell us a little about yourself. Why did you become a librarian?

Prior to becoming a law librarian, I spent eleven years as a transactional lawyer at four different law firms in three countries, including as a senior associate in the Mergers & Acquisitions and Korea practice groups at the Hong Kong office of Baker & McKenzie and as an associate in the Corporate Finance, China, and Korea practice groups at the Beijing office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.  I regularly worked on projects in China, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, and Guam.  That fun pretty much ended once my second child came along and I basically had a choice of whether to try to save my law career or save my marriage/family life.  The precise moment of truth came in December 2003 when the partner I worked for the most told me I needed to relocate to New Delhi for four-to-six months for a big new project (representing Samsung Electronics in a new mobile phone supply network contract with an Indian counterparty).  My reply was to submit my resignation.

I had no idea what I would do next until I stumbled across (“googled across?”) Mary Whisner’s wonderful article “Choosing Law Librarianship: Thoughts for People Contemplating a Career Move,” which changed my life.  I moved from Hong Kong to Seattle/Mukilteo, spent a year as a volunteer working with Lettice Parker at the Snohomish County Law Library in Everett, and then enrolled in the University of Washington’s law librarianship program.  After graduating from UW, I was offered a job as a Foreign & International Reference Law Librarian at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and now, sixteen years later, I am still very happily at the SMU Underwood Law Library as the Associate Director for Collection Development.

What do you like most about your job as Associate Director for Collection Development at SMU’s Underwood Law Library?

I enjoy the diverse combination of teaching students, doing research projects for faculty, and selecting new materials (print and electronic) for our law library’s collection.  This mix of various responsibilities keeps the work fresh and exciting.  And I am very fortunate to work with an extremely talented and kind group of colleagues who get along fantastically and thoroughly respect each other’s abilities and expertise.  It is by far the most harmonious work environment I have ever experienced, and I hope to go on for another decade at least.

Which PLI publication do you most frequently recommend to students and/or faculty?

I teach a course on International & Foreign Legal Research (three credits) in the SMU Law School.  I spend one class session discussing the legal systems of four very different non-U.S. jurisdictions (P.R. China, Iran, Kenya, and North Korea) from a comparative perspective.  When I discuss China I often refer my students to the interesting and useful panel discussion provided in PLI’s Doing Business in and With China 2021, which I enthusiastically recommend to my students as providing valuable information on many legal and practical issues facing lawyers who advise clients with projects in China.  Because this excellent resource is available on the PLI PLUS platform to which the SMU Law Library subscribes, it is easy for my students to access it.

What did you think of this year’s conference? What was the highlight for you?

I greatly enjoyed and learned from this year’s AALL conference in Denver.  For me the highlight was AALL Program H-4 “Shameless Self-Promotion for Law Librarians: How to Get Visible, Benefit Your Career, and Impact Your Profession (While Having Fun).”  I am currently trying to promote, especially to law students and young lawyers, my recently-published law journal article “Law Firm Dynamics: Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game,” 75 SMU L. Rev. F. 241 (2022). I believe that my article provides useful advice to lawyers working in, or planning to work in, law firms, and I greatly appreciated the suggestions that the panelists at this AALL program provided me to try to enhance the visibility of my article.  If you know any law students or young lawyers, please consider forwarding the link to my article to them. 🙂

PLI Librarians Head West: A 2022 AALL Photo Essay

Earlier this month, the PLI librarians traveled to Denver, Colorado, to attend the 2022 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference. Here are some of the highlights from our trip.

At the Colorado Convention Center, where this year’s conference was held, we were greeted by a Big Blue Bear.
PLI’s president, Sharon L. Crane, speaking at the luncheon we hosted to celebrate the PLI PLUS platform’s 10th anniversary. Alexa Robertson, senior director of legal info serv & electronic publishing, also spoke at the event, followed by Kay Mitchell, associate director of library relations, who gave a live demonstration of the newly designed PLI PLUS platform.
PLI was proud to sponsor the inaugural Diversity Reception for Social Justice hosted by the Black Law Librarians SIS.
PLI President Sharon Crane speaking to attendees of the inaugural Diversity Reception for Social Justice, hosted by the Black Law Librarians SIS.
Karen Oesterle, PLI’s associate director of legal research development, poses at the conference’s photo booth.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth. It was great to see you! Visit our Training Center for digital versions of all the flyers and booklets from our booth.

PLI @ AALL 2022 – See You Soon!

As a proud Bronze-level sponsor of this year’s AALL Annual Meeting and Conference, our PLI team is looking forward to catching up with the law librarian community in Denver! After two years of remote meetings, we are excited to reconnect in person.

On July 17, our President, Sharon L. Crane, will be attending and speaking at a luncheon in celebration of our PLI PLUS platform’s 10th anniversary.

We are also pleased to be sponsoring and attending the invitation-only inaugural Diversity Reception for Social Justice hosted by the Black Law Librarians SIS.

We hope you will stop by Booth 901 to say hello, see a demo of our updated PLUS platform, and learn more about how PLI can serve you and your organization. You can also enter our raffle to win a Spafinder Gift Card — PLI PLUS got a “glow-up” and so can you!

Not attending this year? Check back later this month for a recap of our trip!

AALL 2022: Visit Us at Booth #901!

Next week Practising Law Institute will be at the 2022 AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in Denver, Colo., celebrating our profession and the experts who provide meaning to our organizations. We know with all the interesting sessions and networking events taking place, your conference schedules may get booked fast—so be sure to save some time to visit us at the PLI booth!

You’ll find us at booth #901, where you can see a live demonstration of the recently redesigned PLI PLUS and learn about new additions to the PLI Press catalog. And be sure to enter our raffle to win a gift certificate to a spa near you — PLI PLUS got a makeover this year, so we figured one lucky winner should too!

Find us at booth #901 at the Colorado Convention Center Exhibit Hall.

If you’d like to arrange a time to meet with someone on our team while at the conference, please contact your dedicated library relations manager or email libraryrelations@pli.edu.

Meet Our AALL 2021 Raffle Winner: Annie Mellott

At AALL’s 2021 Virtual Conference in July, PLI raffled off a one-year membership to MasterClass. This year’s winner is Annie Mellott, acquisitions librarian at William M. Rains Library at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. Annie graciously agreed to be interviewed about her career in law librarianship for this blog.


Tell us a little about yourself. Why did you become a librarian?
I’ve always been drawn to learning and education throughout my own studies. While getting my MA in Religious Studies, I started working in the library. I realized it was a perfect fit for me career wise because it allowed me to be in an educational environment while helping the community of students, faculty, and staff during their own research projects.

What do you like most about your job as acquisitions librarian at Loyola Law School?
I love working in the background of the library to provide everyone with what they need. It feels really useful to be able to make information accessible to our patrons so that they have the smoothest experience possible while at Loyola Law School.

Which PLI publication do you most frequently recommend to students and/or faculty?
Honestly, I don’t do much recommending as an acquisitions librarian! We have the Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic here and make sure to keep Fragomen on Immigration Fundamentals on standing order so it’s always available for their reference.

What did you think of this year’s conference? What was the highlight for you?
I thought this year’s conference went really well. I’m impressed with the online format working pretty seamlessly and loved the pre-recorded sessions and transcripts that I could revisit. It was also fun visiting the vendors in a safe way this year. I do miss the social and networking opportunities an in person conference allows us, but I’m glad we could convene safely.

PLI Chronicle: Special AALL Edition

Dear Readers,

PLI launched the online journal the PLI Chronicle in September 2020 with a simple mission: to present engaging and timely discussions about the legal industry from a diverse range of perspectives. Chronicle editor Alyse Greer explains, “Since everyone offers value to their fellow industry associates, all legal and accounting professionals are encouraged to submit articles. The publication gives authors a platform to educate others and the freedom to write in their own voices.”

We compiled this “special edition” of the Chronicle from articles published in previous issues as a way to familiarize librarians with this new content type. The selection reflects what we identified as themes running throughout this year’s American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) conference: 1) Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession; 2) The future of legal technology, education, and research; and 3) Mental health for legal practitioners.

In the articles below, you’ll find wellness tips from an attorney who overcame depression and addiction; a two-part look into the Internet of Things and open source software; musings on the role of curiosity in fostering inclusion and diversity initiatives; and more. You don’t need a subscription to read these articles. Everything published in the Chronicle is available for anyone and everyone to read. All you need is a PLI account, which is both free and easy to set up.

Our hope is that this curated edition will enhance the conference experience and perhaps even inspire some of our colleagues in law libraries to publish with us.

Sincerely,
Jennifer Fiore, J.D., M.A.
Associate Legal Editor, Publishing and PLI Plus

Meet Our AALL 2020 Raffle Winner: Amy Eaton

At the Virtual AALL Conference this year, PLI raffled off a one-year membership to MasterClass. Amy Eaton, director of library and research services at Perkins Coie LLP, was our winner. We caught up with Amy to discuss her career path, virtual work, and more. 

Tell us a little about yourself. Why did you become a librarian?

Although I came to the profession early, it was not planned. I did know I wanted to be a librarian but I also loved art history. My plan was to get a Master’s in Art History followed by an MLS and work in a museum library. Instead we ended up in Detroit for my husband’s work and library opportunities were limited. My first job offer came from the Detroit College of Law (now part of Michigan State University). The director, Mario Ceresa, was willing to take a risk on someone with no JD and no legal background. I learned with the first year students, helping them with their exercises. It was great training and I found that I loved the work. Our ultimate goal was to return to the Seattle area and when we did, I was hired at my first law firm. I was scared to death most of the first month but learned that the work was pretty exciting and the people are great. I took a few detours during the following years but am happy to be back at a law firm.

What do you like most about your job at Perkins Coie?

The people. I work with, and am part of, a great team. The culture and respect for staff at Perkins Coie is unlike anything I have seen elsewhere.

What is a common research question you receive?

Although I occasionally chip in, my days at the reference desk are long past. Our two most common types of requests are related to document delivery and alerts.

Which PLI publication do you most frequently recommend to attorneys?

An Associate’s First Year: A Guide to Thriving at a Law Firm. We provide a link to the title in PLI Plus to all of our first year associates and keep a few print copies around also.

What part of AALL 2020 did you find most interesting and why?

I think AALL, PLLIP and AMPC did really well responding to the sudden and dramatic change in plans. The sessions I attended were well done and I had the opportunity to touch base with a few vendors. A big thank you to the vendors who continued to support AALL during the conference! I was particularly grateful to see the lower price point. I was able to “send” all my staff and hope that a virtual component will continue to be a part of the conference moving forward. This year I had the opportunity to work on several panels with people I did not know at all or did not know well. I love getting the chance to get know my colleagues who work in other types of libraries or different areas of the country. If someone asks you to be on a panel, say yes! It’s a great opportunity and we all want to hear from new faces with fresh perspectives.

What advice to you have for law librarians who are working remotely right now?

Don’t isolate yourself. In this environment it is easy to put your head down and work all day without creating or maintaining personal relationships. We all missed seeing our friends at AALL this year. Why not pick up the phone and call a few? Take a few minutes out of your day to check in on a friend or let a fellow law librarian author/panelist know that you appreciated their article or talk. Passing along a compliment is a sure fire way to improve their day and yours!