Practising Law Librarian

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 Underwood Law Library. She reflects on how law libraries have shifted from print Shepherd’s and judge-required print research to today’s generative AI landscape, and describes tools she has built, including early browser toolbars, AI prompting worksheets, a tracker of AI hallucination cases, and immersive 360-degree stack tours to teach citations and library resources. Wondracek also discusses teaching AI-neutral research skills, community and bar education, leadership lessons from professional associations, and the growing challenges of misinformation and interdisciplinary research.

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, data privacy, FERPA, and vendor tracking—making enterprise contracts and data agreements essential. She describes arriving at the University of Washington during COVID, updating collection policy and documentation, expanding remote consultations and hybrid teaching with a high-flex classroom, and launching an online modality for the law librarianship program. She also outlines the library’s role as in-house generative AI experts, training students and clinics on responsible use while adopting tools like Harvey and university-supported AI.

Jenny Silbiger, 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 describes the Hawaii Supreme Court Law Library’s long history and how the 2008 recession accelerated a shift from primarily internal court support to stronger public-facing access-to-justice services, partnerships, and self-help resources. Jenny discusses major changes in law libraries, from CD-ROM-era systems to generative AI, including a judiciary website chatbot, AI-informed outreach and trainings, and potential uses like transcription backlogs and plain-language resources—while emphasizing ethical, cautious adoption. She closes with leadership lessons centered on collaboration, inclusion, and lifting others up.

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 statutes, briefs, criminal appeals, and 1983 civil rights claims—as well as family law and court forms. Salazar describes how the work has shifted rapidly from print-heavy workflows to digital tools like Microsoft Lists, Excel reporting, and legal databases, alongside evolving prison mail policies and experiments with sending materials by email for local printing. She discusses limited but practical AI use for document summaries, the value of conferences and professional networks, and her commitment to equitable information access.

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, leading through others, tailoring management styles, and leveraging complementary “non-redundant” skill sets—grounded in emotional intelligence, feedback, and accountability. The group discusses how PLI resources inform their work and highlights PLI’s collaborative editorial support and openness to new ideas. They also examine generative AI’s rapid rollout in law firms, including tools like Westlaw Precision, Bloomberg AI, and Microsoft Copilot, the need for clear policies, training and prompting, careful verification, and the impact AI may have on associate development and workplace change management.

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 libraries. He discusses how his contributions to legal innovation and technology, including the implementation of AI tools, began and later progressed. Greg also talks about his insights on the transformation of law firm operations, the evolving role of law librarians in the legal industry, and the importance of communication.
The Practising Law Librarian brings you conversations with — and for — the law librarian community. PLI is proud to offer resources including PLI PLUS, the award-winning legal research platform, to support the essential work of law librarians and practitioners.
Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

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, including the integration of AI tools. He emphasizes the importance of understanding bias in AI-generated results and its potential benefits and limitations in legal applications. LaPorte also highlights the challenges and opportunities associated with developing library skills and the role of paralegal education in enriching legal librarianship.
The Practising Law Librarian brings you conversations with — and for — the law librarian community. PLI is proud to offer resources including PLI PLUS, the award-winning legal research platform, to support the essential work of law librarians and practitioners.
Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

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 to new law librarians includes embracing the unexpected nature of the work, maintaining curiosity, and never giving up on difficult research tasks.
The Practising Law Librarian brings you conversations with — and for — the law librarian community. PLI is proud to offer resources including PLI PLUS, the award-winning legal research platform, to support the essential work of law librarians and practitioners.
Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

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 profession.
The Practising Law Librarian brings you conversations with — and for — the law librarian community. PLI is proud to offer resources including PLI PLUS, the award-winning legal research platform, to support the essential work of law librarians and practitioners.
Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.

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 working to be “the person that gets stuff done” has made an impact on his firm and his career.
The Practising Law Librarian brings you conversations with — and for — the law librarian community. PLI is proud to offer resources including PLI PLUS, the award-winning legal research platform, to support the essential work of law librarians and practitioners.
Please note: CLE is not offered for listening to this podcast, and the views and opinions expressed within represent those of the speakers and not necessarily those of PLI.