Category Archives: PLI

Law Students! Call for Papers

TOPIC: Access to Justice: Impactful Approaches

Practising Law Institute (PLI) is pleased to announce our second annual call for law student papers. The selected article(s) will be published in the PLI Chronicle our open access periodical.

Writing a PLI Chronicle article gives law students a direct line to PLI’s extensive audience of more than 450,000 legal professionals, including 95% of Am Law 100 firms, over 900 nonprofit and public interest organizations, as well as educators, government experts, and other thought leaders. This is a great opportunity for students looking to amplify their voice and connect with the minds that shape today’s legal landscape.

For this call for papers, the PLI Chronicle is seeking submissions that explore student perspectives on access to justice initiatives.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Impactful efforts by your law school community to address access to justice issues and provide civil legal services to low-income individuals
  • The intersection of legal education and access to justice efforts
  • Resources for law students who are interested in access to justice initiatives or related careers
  • How access to justice initiatives are utilizing emerging AI technologies
  • What access to justice initiatives appear most effective from your view as a law student

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

  • Eligibility: Students currently enrolled in law school
  • Required materials: Article, brief résumé or CV, law school name, and expected graduation year
  • Word limit: 2,500 words
  • File format: Microsoft Word
  • Citation Format: No footnotes, but hyperlinks to outside sources are welcome.
  • Generative AI Policy: Submissions must reflect the student’s original thinking and writing and may not be drafted using generative AI
  • How to Submit: Email plipress@pli.edu

DEADLINE: October 30, 2026

ABOUT THE PLI CHRONICLE

The PLI Chronicle is an open access periodical available exclusively on PLI PLUS, the award-winning legal research platform of PLI Press. It offers concise, original insights from legal practitioners, scholars, and industry experts. Published in monthly issues, it features focused, timely pieces on practice-area developments, emerging trends, technology, professional development, and the business of law.

For more information About PLI and to learn more about PLI’s law student resources, visit PLI’s Law School Hub at PLI.edu/law-school.

What’s New in PLI PLUS

We add content to PLI PLUS every month to ensure our subscribers have access to the most up-to-date and relevant secondary source legal documents. Renowned legal experts regularly update our acclaimed Treatises, Skills Books, Practice Guides, Course Handbooks, Case Summaries, Transcripts, and Forms to reflect recent changes and developments in the law.

Click here to see what we added in August 2026!

AALL Meeting: Aloha from Cleveland! 

Flights cancellations and inclement weather couldn’t keep the PLI team away from this year’s AALL Annual Meeting! In July our team of librarians and membership reps ventured to Cleveland to engage with the law librarian community and share exciting new updates to PLI PLUS, including new publications, podcast updates, and more.  

Each year, AALL’s Annual Meeting and Conference brings together information professionals across the field of law and legal research, providing interactive learning experiences and allowing participants to connect and engage in a collaborative environment.  

Inspired by the city’s ties to rock & roll, PLI leaned into the rhythm with the theme “don’t miss a beat,” emphasizing PLI PLUS’s ability to support every stage of legal learning and practice, from the classroom to the real world. In an homage to the Cleveland Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, we created a visual PLI Author Hall of Fame, honoring authors who have been with us for 25 years or more. We also helped attendees “Pump up the volume” on legal research with our raffle, giving away a Bose Bluetooth speaker. 

At our Lunch & Learn, we hosted over 100 librarians for lunch and to showcase some upcoming changes involving the redesign of our research platform launching in 2027. We also highlighted some new publications, such as 

Our team thoroughly enjoyed our time in Cleveland and are already looking forward to next year in Philadelphia! 

Check out the 2026 PLI Press Catalog! 

We’re excited to share the 2026 PLI Press Catalog, which features over 140 books in several top practice areas. Designed to aid you in researching particular topics, staying abreast of developments in your practice area (or a new one!), or expanding your firm’s library, the digital catalog makes it easy to navigate PLI Press’s expansive collection of titles.  

Visit the online catalog now! 

Save the Date: PLI’s Lunch & Learn @ AALL Cleveland

SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2026 @ 12:45  – 1:45 PM

Are you attending AALL 2026 Annual Meeting & Conference in Cleveland this summer? Join us for lunch!

Don’t miss a beat! Discover the latest updates from PLI Press, as well as recent enhancements made to PLI PLUS. 

Please email libraryrelations@pli.edu to RSVP and we’ll include location details with your confirmation. We hope to see you in Cleveland! 

Shining a Spotlight on Librarians

As National Library Week draws to a close, we would like to shine a spotlight on some of the librarians who have donated their time and expertise to “The Practising Law Librarian” podcast.

Taryn L. Rucinski – Giving Back to the Profession

Taryn Rucinski, Law Library Manager at the U.S. Court of International Trade, on the importance of law librarians:

“In a world drowning in information, we need a next generation of pioneers to help the larger legal community navigate information literacy at a very different level.”

A copy of this podcast transcript is available on PLI PLUS here.

Lawyer in the Library: A Conversation with Avery Le

Avery Le, Director of the Homer M. Stark Law Library, on the importance of AI in classrooms:

“I remember spending a lot of time on creating homework assignments and exercises and coming up with new hypotheticals. I think AI would be really helpful for that. We wouldn’t have to spend our time spinning our wheels trying to come up with new creative ideas.”

A copy of this podcast transcript is available on PLI PLUS here.

Embracing Change: The Law Librarian’s Journey

Zanada Joyner, Associate Director for Collections and Information Discovery at Francis King Carey School of Law at the University of Maryland, on providing access:

“The spirit here is definitely access and as much access as we can provide. That is consistent with the mission, the values, the priorities of the university and the university system, understanding that those are not always compatible with what librarians want to do.”

A copy of this podcast transcript is available on PLI PLUS here.

Finding Your Joy on PLI PLUS

This year’s National Library Week theme, “Find Your Joy,” features Mychal Threets as an honorary chair. Threets reminds us of the important link between the care for our mental health and the joy we can discover in library usage. Below is a roundup of practical and popular resources on PLI PLUS to help users nurture their well-being, thrive, and find joy personally and professionally.

Beyond the Courtroom: Proven Strategies from the Legal Field for Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, and Well-Being in the Modern Workplace is a practical, evidence-based leadership book that translates the lessons, pressures, and interpersonal dynamics of legal practice into universal strategies for stronger leadership, management, emotional intelligence, communication, and well-being across all professions.

Taking Control of Your Well-Being: Mental Health and Wellness for Attorneys is designed to help attorneys manage their mental health by providing resources, techniques, and strategies for navigating the unique obstacles within the legal profession.

PLI PLUS also features transcripts tackling this topic, such as:

PLI PLUS also offers open access to periodical publications on the topic of mental health, such as the following articles included in the PLI Chronicle:

For more content on wellness and mental health for attorneys, browse the Attorney wellness practice area here: Attorney wellness

We’ve also compiled a research guide on the topic of wellness, which can be accessed here: Research Topic Guide on Wellness and Mindfulness. This includes sample searches and highlights even more helpful results.

Meet the PLI Library Team!

Happy National Library Week from our library team to yours! This year’s theme, “Find Your Joy,” focuses on the innumerable ways readers can cultivate joy through their utilization of libraries, inspiring all users to discover what sparks their individual joy.

Our team of dedicated librarians finds joy in helping the legal community access the resources they need. We look forward to helping you—schedule a one-on-one session with a PLI librarian today!