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 25^th 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!