Category Archives: Interview

New Episode! The Practising Law Librarian Podcast

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The Practising Law Librarian, part of the PLI Ever Current podcast, brings you conversations with — and for — the law librarian community.

Episode 10: Loretta Orndorff: A Zig-Zag Path to a Long Career

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.

New Episode! The Practising Law Librarian Podcast

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The Practising Law Librarian, part of the PLI Ever Current podcast, brings you conversations with — and for — the law librarian community.

Episode #10: Andre Davison: From Interaction to Connection

Hear why Andre Davison, Director of the Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library in Houston and AALL Executive Board member, says he’s most proud of his Seamless Access to Secondary Sources project, which allows attorneys to easily access materials – and how this reflects his commitment to creating connections, professionally and personally.

Meet Our AALL 2023 Booth Raffle Winner: Jill Brooks

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At the 2023 AALL Annual Conference in Boston this summer, PLI raffled off a pair of Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones. We are pleased to announce this year’s winner is Jill Brooks, Research Librarian at Robinson Bradshaw. Read on to learn about Jill’s path to librarianship, passion for community, and podcast recommendations.

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

I have been a librarian for twenty years and still love what I do. I’ve been a cataloguer, research librarian, competitive intelligence analyst, and library director. The librarian field is vast and diverse and there is always something new to learn and discover. Like most librarians I love to read. I also enjoy hiking, triathlons, and traveling.

Librarianship was a late career choice for me. I was a teacher working as a literacy specialist in the school system. This involved mentoring teachers and developing lesson plans. I realized that I was enjoying the researching of the lesson plans more and more. Burnout in the teaching profession is very high and I was reaching my limit.  Getting a MLIS seemed like the next best step on my career path. I did not plan to be a legal librarian but to become a media specialist in the school system. Unfortunately the school system wanted to place me back in the classroom instead of the library. There was an ad in the newspaper for a librarian and I got the position. While I miss the students and collaborating with the teachers, I don’t miss the paperwork and politics of the school system. Being a librarian has been rewarding and I am lucky that I found such a wonderful law firm in Robinson Bradshaw.

What do you like most about your job as the Research Librarian for Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson?

Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, P.A. is a North Carolina law firm. As such they focus on the community where we live. For the most part our clients are corporations, non-profits, and residents of North Carolina. That being said, what I like most about working at Robinson Bradshaw is serving our community. Besides corporate work, our firm does a lot of pro bono work for secured housing focusing on displaced mothers and children. I also love the challenge of digging into a difficult request and brainstorming ideas with my team to find answers in unusual places. Robinson Bradshaw offers a challenging and rewarding place to work.

Which PLI product do you most frequently recommend to your colleagues?

PLI’s CLE Programs are the most frequently recommended resource. The ability for attorneys to obtain CLE credit so easily is a boon. The fact you can use the platform for research needs and resources is an added bonus. 

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

This year’s conference was one of the best I have attended. Every session was spot on in delivering relevant content. I always preview the agenda and choose more than one session to attend at a conference in case the first choice session is not quite what is described. This was the first conference where I did not leave a session and have to use a second choice. 

The highlight of the conference was the opening keynote speaker Charles Vogl. He set the tone for AALL Boston: To build a community starts with you. You have to be willing to reach out and connect with your colleagues. This was a perfect lead in to the conference. I have taken his ideas and put them into practice—one of which is getting our local AALL group together for an in-person Boston recap.   

PLI recently launched PLI Ever Current: The Practising Law Librarian, a new podcast for – and about – the law librarian community. Are there any other podcasts that should be on our radar?

My podcast recommendation is 3 Geeks and A Law Blog. They have wonderful guests that provide insightful information. Their podcast on competitive intelligence was very informative.

Meet Our AALL 2022 Raffle Winner: Tom Kimbrough

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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. 🙂

Meet our AALL 2019 Raffle Winner: Caren Luckie

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At the AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in Washington, D.C. this year, PLI raffled off an Amazon Echo. Caren Luckie, Research Attorney at Jackson Walker was our winner. Check out our interview with Caren below!

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

I became a librarian somewhat by default.  I was looking for a job after college, and was talking to a friend of my parents who was in charge of the Shell Oil business library.  She was a Seven Sisters graduate (Wellesley) and said she would be willing and happy to hire another Seven Sisters (Mount Holyoke) graduate.  And so it began.  I spent 4 years in the Shell Oil library as a ‘clerk’, but handled basic research and reference requests.  I went on to another job as a bloodstock researcher for a thoroughbred breeding farm, and then to law school.  I didn’t think much about becoming a librarian until I was practicing law and decided that I didn’t like being first chair in a litigation practice.  I wanted to do research and the background work.  So I went to grad school at UT and got my MLIS in one year.  With a  background in research of all types, plus a law degree, I wanted to focus on research and being a law librarian was the way to go. 

What do you like most about your job at Jackson Walker?

The variety.  Much of my work is for the litigation group, but I work with all of our practice groups.  I’m a “generalist” rather than a specialist, and it never (rarely) gets dull.  Also the people – attorneys, staff, administration – are great.  This month marks my 25th anniversary with Jackson Walker, so I think it’s safe to say that I like it here.

What is a common research question you receive?

There is no common question J  I do quite a bit of public records research, both for our real estate practice and for our litigation group.  But I also get complex legal research questions.  I think my most common research project/question is checking on the status of tenants for our commercial real estate clients.

Which PLI publication do you most frequently recommend to attorneys?

That would depend on the practice group.   For our real estate group, it’s frequently Friedman on Leases.  For my First Amendment attorneys, Sack on Defamation.

What did you think of AALL 2019? Did you do any sightseeing in Washington D.C.?

I thought it was an excellent conference.  The programs were good, and it’s always great to network with old friends and meet new colleagues.  I spent 2 days before the conference sightseeing – my husband and I toured the Capital, spent time at the Spy Museum, and got to see the pandas at the National Zoo.  I also got to see the Carnegie Library building that has been turned into an Apple Store.  They share the building with the historical society, and have kept the building’s integrity – simply whitewashed the whole thing – and have the old blueprints and quite a few old photos.

Thank you Caren! And Congratulations!

PLI’s New Guide to Financial Services Mediation!

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Did you know that Mediation Can Be a Powerful Tool for In-House Counsel? Check out the interview below with the editors of PLI’s new Financial Services Mediation Answer Book (2017 Edition) .

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Financial Services Mediation Answer Book is available on PLI PLUS, our online research database. If you’d like to order a print copy, please email libraryrelations@pli.edu or call 877-900-5291.

Meet Our AALL 2016 Orbitz Gift Certificate Raffle Winner: Dennis Sears

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Our AALL 2016 Orbitz gift card winner, Dennis Sears of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU.

Dennis Sears of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU.

At the AALL Annual Meeting & Conference in Chicago this year, PLI celebrated the global reach of Discover PLUS–which is now being accessed from all 50 states and more than 65 countries–by raffling off a $1,000 Orbitz gift card at our booth. Dennis Sears of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University won the raffle. Check out our interview with Dennis below!

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

I worked in the law library during my time as a student in law school.  After graduating, I clerked for a judge and then as a hearing officer for the the Salt Lake County Tax Administration.  A position came open and I was approached about joining the law library faculty.  Evidently, they liked the work I did for them while I was in law school.

What do you like most about your job at BYU Law?

Working with the students and teaching legal research.  Having clerked for a judge, I became acutely aware of how important effective, efficient, and accurate legal research is and to be effective and efficient, you have to be familiar with the secondary sources out there so that you don’t reinvent the wheel every time you get another research project.

What is the most common research question of law students?

Probably, where do I go to begin my research?  Usually, by this time, students have thrashed about on their own looking for cases and statutes (maybe successfully, but maybe unsuccessfully) but they don’t know where to go from there.

Have you used PLI publications for your own research? Which ones?

Yes, I used the trial practice materials, such as jury instructions, depositions, etc. as well as appellant materials dealing with brief writing and oral argument.  Now, I search for whatever will help students in the trial and appellant practice courses and even help professors find materials for the courses and their research.

 What did you think of AALL 2016? Did you do any sightseeing in Chicago?

I thought the annual meeting was a good experience.  The workshop I attended was outstanding.  There was good programming and a lot to learn in the exhibit hall.  I did visit the Chicago Institute of Art the afternoon that I arrived for a couple of hours.

Tell me about your best vacation ever.

My best vacation was after the annual meeting in Boston (which was also great for sightseeing historical sights) to Plymouth, Massachusetts.  I had never traveled in the northeast, but visiting Plymouth,  Plimoth Plantation, and Mayflower II and drinking in the ambiance of that area was a real treat for me and my wife.

 Where do you plan on traveling with your Orbitz gift card?

To be honest with you, I was so caught off guard by winning this gift card that my mind has been in a whirl.

Thank you, Dennis. And bon, voyage!

Meet Our AALL 2015 Orbitz Gift Card Winner: Nicole Dyszlewski

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Nicole

Tell me a little about yourself?  Why did you become a librarian?

I am the new Research/Access Services Librarian at Roger Williams University School of Law in beautiful Bristol, RI. I just moved to Southern New England in January from Maine in hopes of avoiding some of the snow. I became a librarian because I like working with patrons.  

 

What do you like most about your job as at Roger Williams University School of Law?

My patrons, of course! My second favorite thing about RWU is that we are surrounded by water on nearly every side of the campus.

 

What is the most common research question of law students?

I am fairly new to RWU and I don’t think I have a good sense of what the most common questions are here, yet. Surprisingly, I have not gotten a single question about the father of religious freedom, Roger Williams!  

 

Have you used PLI publications for your own research? Which ones?

I particularly like the Answer Book Series. It is like Yahoo Answers…but written by actual experts…

 

What did you think of AALL 2015? Did you do any sightseeing in Philadelphia?

The AALL Annual Meeting was great. I really enjoyed some of the presentations. As a tourist, I visited Eastern State Penitentiary (at http://www.easternstate.org/) and The Franklin Fountain ( at http://www.franklinfountain.com/).

 

Tell me about your best vacation ever.

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

 

Where do you plan on traveling with your Orbitz gift card?

I don’t know. I’m hoping somewhere relaxing!

 

Interview with our AALL 2013 Kayak & Paddle Sweepstakes Winner: Ruck DeMinico

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On Monday July 15th 2013 at the 106th American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Annual Meeting & Conference, Practising Law Institute announced its lucky sweepstakes winner, Ruck DeMinico of Merlin Law Group.

Tell us a little about yourself, your work, and what a typical day looks like for you:

I started off my legal career as a trial attorney and litigated for the first dozen years, trying a couple hundred jury trials. I had always been interested in librarianship and decided to go back to get my degree and work at what I really enjoyed. I don’t know that there is a typical day – unless controlled chaos can be considered typical. Being a sole librarian for a firm with offices on both coasts and in seven states, research questions can come in on any jurisdiction and, as in any private firm, they are all considered rush/priority by the sender and can come at any time of the day or night. I also handle the traditional library functions, vendor relations, DMS/KM, edit and maintain the firm blogs, create handout materials and PowerPoints for presentations by firm attorneys at seminars, and along with the Managing Attorney and COO am a member of the firm’s Management team.

Have you kayaked before? Where will you take your Discover PLUS branded Kayak:

I have, in the Miami/Everglades area. I love canoeing and spend as much free time as I can on the rivers here in Florida. I’m looking forward to exploring the mangroves around Tampa Bay with the kayak and may take fishing back up now that I can maneuver in the mangroves.

What do you like most about your job as Knowledge Manager of Merlin Law Group:

The constant change in what I’m doing. Every day is different, with new challenges.

As an attorney and law librarian, what do you think are the most challenging issues/trends shaping the legal industry today?:

I would say ESI/e-discovery, especially for smaller cases that may still have large amounts of electronic data to provide – where the use of vendors may be cost prohibitive.

Are you familiar with Discover PLUS, PLI’s eBook library?  Did you receive a demo at PLI’s booth at the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Conference in Seattle:

I did see the demo at AALL.  I like the ‘all-inclusive’ business model, rather than having to choose which individual books to purchase or subscribe to.

 

Discover PLUS provides complete online access to PLI’s Course Handbooks, Treatises, Answer Books, Legal Forms and Program Transcripts.