AALS 2024 WIP: Speakers & Papers

"Infusing Creativity into Legal Research"

Jennifer Elisa Chapman

Research & Faculty Services Librarian
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
j.smith@law.umaryland.edu
ORCID: 0000-0001-7941-3067

Jennifer Chapman is the research and faculty services librarian at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Thurgood Marshall Law Library. She assists law school faculty with their scholarship and teaches in the law school's legal research program. Her own scholarship has appeared in the Journal of International and Comparative Law, Fordham Law Review, Denver Law Review, and in the library and information science texts, Antiracist Library and Information Science: Racial Justice and Community and The Role of Citation in the Law. She has been a panelist at various symposia, including The Role of Citation and the Law (Yale Law Library) and Financial Services and Artificial Intelligence (Tulane University Law School).

"Safeguarding Legal Information for the Future: What Libraries (and Lawyers) Should be Doing"

Kenton Brice

Director of the Law Library
University of Oklahoma College of Law
kbrice@ou.edu

Sabrina Sondhi

Director of the Law Library and Professor of Legal Research
Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law
szs7112@psu.edu
ORCID: 0000-0002-8301-3127

Gabriela Femenia

Director of the Law Library and Associate Professor of Law
Temple University Beasley School of Law
gabriela.femenia@temple.edu

Kenton Brice is the Director of the Law Library at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.  With a focus on building and expanding the College-wide Digital Initiative, he created the OU Law Center for Technology & Innovation in Practice, establishing OU Law as a leader in innovation in legal education. Thanks to Kenton’s efforts, the college was the first law school in the world to receive the Apple Distinguished School award and has been listed as a Top 20 Most Innovative Law School multiple times.  Kenton is a member of the 2018 class of the Fastcase 50, a former member of the Texas Bar’s Pro Bono College, a former Texas Appellate Lawyer of the Week, and a member of the Order of Barristers.

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Gabriela Femenia is Director of the Law Library and Associate Professor of Law at Temple University Beasley School of Law.  In addition to her law and library degrees, she holds degrees in History from the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University, with a concentration in medieval European legal history. Gabriela practiced intellectual property law in California, then administered international programs at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education before entering law librarianship. Having specialized in foreign, comparative and international legal research from the beginning of her librarian career, she has focused throughout on the importance of preserving access to legal information from all jurisdictions.

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Sabrina Sondhi is the Director of the Law Library and Professor of Legal Research at Penn State Dickinson Law.  She began her career in librarianship at Columbia Law School where she spent ten years managing their extensive special collections, including unusual odds and ends such as past years of McKinney’s pocket parts and Martindale Hubbell volumes.  Prior to becoming a librarian, Sabrina practiced law as a civil trial attorney in California.

"Reimagining Legal Research Instruction in the NextGen Era"

Alyson Drake

Head of Instruction and Lecturer at Law
University of Houston Law Center
adrake2@central.uh.edu
ORCID: 0009-0000-2154-8444

Amanda Bolles Watson

Director of the Law Library and Assistant Professor of Law
University of Houston Law Center
awatson@central.uh.edu
ORCID: 0000-0001-8254-1158

Alyson Drake is the Head of Instruction and a lecturer at the University of Houston Law Library. Alyson is a nationally-recognized expert in the areas of cognitive science and evidence-based legal instruction and regularly writes and speaks on these topics. She is one of the founders of the acclaimed Teaching the Teachers conference and bootcamp.

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Amanda Watson is the Director of the Law Library and an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law Center. She has taught legal research for over 20 years to law students, undergraduates, master’s level library students, and practicing lawyers and judges. She has won the AALL/Lexis call for papers, open division, and has been invited to the University of Pennsylvania School of Law Library Biddle speaker series as well as the Yale Law Library symposium twice. She has also been granted the AALL/Lexis research grant.

"Much Ado About Credentials: The Perceived Role of Academic Credentials in Professional Law Librarian Status & Diversity"

See Talk Slides

Sarah Slinger

Head of Instructional Services Law Librarian
Florida International University College of Law
sslinger@fiu.edu
ORCID: 0000-0001-9648-9303

Sarah C. Slinger is Head of Instructional Services Librarian and Adjunct Professor of Law at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. Sarah is an active contributor to professional organizations such as the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and serves on several special interest section committees. She also serves on the Editorial Board of Legal Reference Services Quarterly. Her personal scholarship focuses on environmental law & constitutionalism, legal history, and the empirical study of law librarianship. Her past scholarship has been awarded the American Association of Law Libraries/Lexis Nexis Call for Papers Award and the Gherardi Davis Prize for Vexillological Research.