The Evolution of the Law Firm Library Function
Transformation and Integration into the Business of Law
CJ Anderson, Scott D Bailey, Cynthia Brown, Kara Buzga, Patrick DiDomenico, Jim Haggerty, Tunisia Johnson, Monice Kaczorowski, Jill L Kilgore, Jocelyn K Sagherian, Sean Tate, Ed Walters
Published: 2021
Pages: 92
eBook: 9781787425743
Often seen by firm management as unnecessary and outdated, legal libraries are facing a double-pronged challenge: it is now essential for librarians to demonstrate the continuing value of their profession whilst battling with shrinking budgets and the development of new, disruptive technologies.
Table of Contents
| Cover | Cover | |
|---|---|---|
| Title page | i | |
| Copyright page | ii | |
| Contents | iii | |
| Executive summary | vii | |
| About the authors | xi | |
| Chapter 1: The value of metrics in the modern library | 1 | |
| Fiscal responsibility | 2 | |
| Demonstrating value | 3 | |
| Need for improvement | 4 | |
| Conclusion | 7 | |
| Chapter 2: Collaboration and coordination – the integration of the library into the “business of law” | 9 | |
| Start by saying “yes!” | 10 | |
| Communication | 10 | |
| Practice being a connector | 12 | |
| Knowledge management | 12 | |
| Marketing/business development | 13 | |
| Procurement | 14 | |
| Paralegals | 14 | |
| IT department | 15 | |
| Network | 16 | |
| Trend spot | 16 | |
| Conclusion | 17 | |
| Chapter 3: Absorbing library services into knowledge management | 19 | |
| Formation of the knowledge management department | 19 | |
| Evolution of the library – an objective look | 20 | |
| The end result and how we got there | 22 | |
| Lessons learned | 24 | |
| Conclusion | 25 | |
| Chapter 4: Proactive research and anticipatory intelligence | 27 | |
| The relentless need for business development (BD) intelligence: a major challenge for law firms | 27 | |
| Transitioning from reactivity to proactivity | 29 | |
| Conclusion | 36 | |
| Chapter 5: How law firm professionals can make an impact on practice orientatedlegal education | 37 | |
| What’s the problem? | 37 | |
| The basic versus the cool | 39 | |
| Conclusion | 45 | |
| Chapter 6: Are you running a 24-hour law library? | 47 | |
| Facing an increasingly complex set of requests | 47 | |
| Putting in place strategies to keep up | 49 | |
| Reflecting on the future and past | 51 | |
| Advice for the pros from the pros | 51 | |
| Chapter 7: How strong relationships and expertise aid business development with clients – a case study | 53 | |
| The project finds its way to the library | 53 | |
| Tailoring a project solution | 53 | |
| The users put it to the test | 54 | |
| Learning from a case study | 55 | |
| Connecting librarian skills to client needs | 56 | |
| The next step: find another need | 57 | |
| Chapter 8: The evolution of a law library from physical to mobile | 59 | |
| Introduction | 59 | |
| Drivers for and direction of change | 60 | |
| Getting to everything, everywhere | 65 | |
| Collection management | 66 | |
| Procurement and vendor management | 69 | |
| Other impacts | 70 | |
| Identity and brand | 70 | |
| Impact on the people in our team | 71 | |
| Conclusion | 72 | |
| Chapter 9: Makers in the library – the new age of hands-on artificial intelligence | 75 | |
| Understanding the AI workbench | 76 | |
| The AI dichotomy: read-only and read/write | 77 |
CJ Anderson
Head of information and research at Linklaters LLP, London
Scott D Bailey
Global director of research services at Squire Patton Boggs LLP
Cynthia Brown
Cynthia Brown is the director of research services at Littler Mendelson, the world's largest employment and labor law practice representing management where she has bridged the worlds of the Library and Knowledge Management since 2007. Her previous experience includes working as in-house counsel for four years at a small risk management firm, as an account manager and training consultant at LexisNexis, and running a solo library in Salt Lake City at Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough.
Kara Buzga
Paralegal manager at Mayer Brown LLP
Patrick DiDomenico
Chief knowledge officer at Ogletree Deakins
Jim Haggerty
Vice president of LAC Group
Tunisia Johnson
Legal information administrator at Mayer Brown LLP
Monice Kaczorowski
Vice president of library strategy and innovation for Feit Consulting
Jill L Kilgore
Research librarian at Littler Mendelson PC
Jocelyn K Sagherian
Reference librarian at the Maloney Law Library of the Fordham University School of Law
Sean Tate
AI sandbox product manager at Fastcase
Ed Walters
Ed Walters is the CEO of Fastcase, a legal publishing company based in Washington, D.C. Fastcase is one of the world's largest legal publishers, serving more than 800,000 subscribers from around the world. He is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he teaches The Law of Robots, a class about the frontiers of law and technology. Before founding Fastcase, Ed worked at Covington & Burling, in Washington D.C. and Brussels, where he advised Microsoft, Merck, SmithKline, the Business Software Alliance, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. His practice focused on corporate advisory work for software companies and sports leagues, and intellectual property litigation.