AALL 2023 Recap: Schaffer Grant Recipient Presentation – Law Librarianship from a CARICOM Law Librarian’s Perspective: Challenges, Achievements, COVID-19, and the Future

By Caitlin Hunter

Introducing Asha Moncrieffe (Caribbean Association of Law Libraries)

Each year, the Schaffer Grant enables a law librarian from another country to join AALL and share what law librarianship is like around the world. This year, FCIL-SIS was delighted to welcome Asha O. H. Moncrieffe, for a lively, interactive, and educational presentation on Law Librarianship from a CARICOM Law Librarian’s Perspective: Challenges, Achievements, COVID-19, and the Future. Asha is a native of Jamaica who worked for five years as the law librarian for the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago, before taking on her current role as the Law Librarian at the Office of the Attorney General and the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs, in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis. She quipped that she’s not sure which island she’ll go to next, but she looks forward to it.

Asha’s presentation focused on a survey that she conducted of librarians in the Caribbean Association of Law Libraries (CARALL), which brings together librarians from across the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), a community of twenty Caribbean islands and coastal states. Asha asked CARICOM law librarians about their challenges, achievements, and hopes for the future.  

Familiar Challenges

As Asha noted, most of the problems libraries face are universal. Asha asked audience members to volunteer what they thought the number one problem was for CARICOM librarians and audience members rapidly and correctly shouted “Money!”

Asha described lack of money as the root of most other challenges, hampering libraries’ ability to buy adequate print and electronic resources, get adequate space, and pay attractive wages that will bring more librarians to the profession. She observed that librarians are often caught in a Catch-22, where librarians’ successful efforts to provide excellent service with limited money is taken as proof that they don’t need more money.

Most of the other problems identified by CARICOM law librarians will also be familiar to U.S. law librarians, although some of them take different forms or are especially acute in the Caribbean:

• In a pattern most U.S. law librarians will recognize, law schools, law firms, and government agencies frequently eye the law library when they need more space.
• Caribbean law libraries are facing a succession planning crisis, as most Caribbean university students prefer more prestigious roles as doctors, lawyers, or engineers. Librarians are retiring without being able to recruit or train replacements, leading to a leadership gap and loss of institutional knowledge and expertise.
• DEI challenges are acute in the Caribbean, especially related to disability rights. Computers routinely lack accessibility features, and even recently built libraries like Asha’s own routinely lack ramps and elevators.
• Political interference with libraries takes a different form in the Caribbean because most CARICOM countries have parliamentary systems where power frequently changes hands. Law libraries must cope with regular changes in laws and funding, and librarians affiliated with one political party may find themselves pushed out when the other party takes power.
• Natural disasters are a way of life in the Caribbean, which is subject to earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. Disasters damage collections and equipment and disrupt services, as staff struggle to travel over damaged roads and bridges or cope with the damages to their own homes.

Great Achievements

Although Caribbean libraries face challenges, Asha also highlighted major accomplishments and improvements in access to the law:

• The Court Library for the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago offers both free case searching and a subscription TTCASE database, that supplements cases with headnotes written by librarians.
• Likewise, Trinidad and Tobago’s statutes have been digitized back to 1925 and made available for free online.
• The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Law Library worked with vLex to develop an extensive collection of Caribbean case law in the CariLaw database, now part of vLex Justis.
• To maintain services during the disruption caused by COVID, libraries adopted significant innovations in technology and services. This included moving meetings and trainings to Zoom and Teams; offering laptop and tablet rentals; and offering online document delivery and curbside pickup.  

To the Future

Going forward, Caribbean law librarians anticipate exploring the same laundry list of alphabet-soup acronyms that we do in the U.S., including AI, IoT, chatbots, virtual assistants, data analytics, and RFID.

However, one thing will remain the same: the importance of collaboration. To face the challenges of succession planning and limited resources, librarians must collaborate with each other and with library schools and tap into their networks to track down needed materials.  Asha highlighted the development of CARALL as one of the key achievements for librarians in the Caribbean.

Looking to the future, Asha emphasized the need for continuing and increasing regional and international collaboration and praised the Schaffer Grant as a valuable part of this effort. By enabling her to attend AALL, the Schaffer Grant allows us to learn from her about law librarianship in the Caribbean and her to learn about law librarianship in the U.S. She promised to tell her fellow CARALL librarians what a great time she had at AALL!

AALL 2023 Recap: “Researching South African Government and Legal Information”

By Sarah Martin

Moderated by Yemisi Dina, the Chief Law Librarian at the Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, the “Researching South African Government and Legal Information” session on Monday, July 17 consisted of presentations from Sindiso Mnisi Weeks, Associate Professor of Legal Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town, and Michelle Pearse, Senior Research and Data Librarian at Harvard Law School Library. Each discussed unique characteristics of doing legal research in a mixed legal system.

The presentation began by breaking down South Africa’s uniquely hybrid legal system that reflects its history of colonization. In the words of Sindiso: “To tell the story of an African post-colonial country without starting with colonialism is like starting a story by saying, ‘secondly’.” South Africa’s hybrid legal system is influenced by a combination of Roman Dutch civil law and English common law, which have historically governed the white colonizers, customary law, which has historically governed the indigenous people of South Africa, and several different types of religious law.

Sindiso, whose specialty is customary law, specifically the relationship between indigenous South African law and the state legal system, provided an overview of free online legal resources to keep in mind when researching the law of South Africa.

Some examples are:

• The parliamentary website, for parliamentary proceedings, committee meetings, mandates, acts, bills currently before the Parliament and bills passed, as well as a comprehensive collection of constitutional documents,
• The Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG), for a record of Parliamentary Committee proceedings 1998-present;
• Google Scholar for legislative text;
•  South African History Online (SAHO),  a comprehensive digital collection on South African history;
• UPSpace, an open-source collection of public submissions compiled by the University of Pretoria (the Early South African Legal Sources section contains statutes and court precedents);
• The South African government website with resources relating to repeals and the latest versions of legislation;
• The Southern African Legal Information Institute (SAFLII), containing case law and consolidating materials of the South African Law Reform Commission;
• Green Gazette, the government gazette of South Africa;
• Polity, which consolidates promulgated legislation and bills, documents for public comment, and regulations, as well as select case law;
• Open Gazettes, open source, publicly accessible municipal regulation and bylaws;
• Gazettes.Africa, the result of a continental effort to make resources available;
• Sabinet, which has an open-source section focusing on law within the Constitutional Court (but even the free area does require registration).

Sindiso also used historical maps to demonstrate a history of geographical changes in South Africa. She demonstrated how the majority indigenous people of South Africa, euphemized as Bantustans, or homeland people, were confined to a small percentage of the land, while the minority white people (12% of the population) were given the rest. There was slow progress in land reform, and the examples provided by Sindiso in the maps demonstrate the relationships between historical and contemporary legislation.

Next, Michelle spoke about premium subscription services. Michelle is the Senior Research and Data Librarian at Harvard Law School Library, where she has been the selector for South African materials for 20 years and has handled collection development for common law jurisdiction for 15 years. She discussed the pros and cons of major platforms such as Jutastat (popular with her students), LexisNexis South Africa (less comprehensive) and Sabinet (steeply expensive but familiar to South African students). Additional examples of subscription-based services covered in Michelle’s presentation, include:

• Dow Jones Factiva, a global news database to find ongoing litigation;
• Pretoria University Law Press, which has open access secondary sources, legal research guides, indexes, and external links to legislation and case law;
• Project MUSE for humanities and social science research;
• Africabib.org for freely accessible African periodicals searchable by region;
• Index Islamicus, Atla, and other religious studies databases for matters influenced by religious law.

Michelle then talked about some of the challenges facing researchers of South African laws. The civil and common law sides of the system haven’t yet been integrated, so the common law remains segregated. In the day-to-day matters outside of legal arenas that are touched in large part by international interests, customary law remains in practice. It isn’t a strict dividing line, but private international law tends to be influenced by the Dutch civil law, while the public international law more by British common law.

Overall, it was a robust and interesting presentation full of a plethora of starting points and options to keep in your tool belt for the next time you get a tough reference question on South African law.

AALL 2023 Recap: “Researching the Implementation of Foreign and International Law on International Indigenous Peoples”

By Meredith Capps

On Sunday, July 16^th 2023, at the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting in Boston, Victoria J. Szymczak of the William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaii, Alexander Burdett of New York University Law Library, and Christopher Dykes of the University of Houston Law Library presented a program titled “Researching the Implementation of Foreign and International Law on International Indigenous Peoples.” Szymczak began by introducing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the General Assembly in 2007.  The declaration was based largely upon the work of Special Rapporteur José Martínez Cobo, whose Study of the Problem of Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations was published between 1981 and 1983.  Four states initially voted against adopting the declaration: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States.  Supporters of the declaration raise continuing concerns regarding exclusion of indigenous communities during drafting, and the declaration’s non-binding nature.  The declaration was first cited in a domestic court opinion when Belize’s Supreme Court affirmed land rights of the Maya people in the country.

Dykes then discussed researching the declaration, beginning with several books and articles.  Recommended electronic resources include:

• GlobaLex Guide – Researching Indigenous Peoples International Law (updates forthcoming);
• LLMC Digital – Indigenous Law Portal, which offers jurisdiction-specific resources; 
• materials from the Indigenous Peoples’ Center for Documentation, Research, and Information (DOCIP);
• Pro 169, a site maintained by the Programme to Promote ILO Convention No. 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, located within the International Labour Standards Department of the ILO), which includes case law digests, as well as the ILO topic page for issues concerning indigenous and tribal peoples;
• materials from Tebtebba (the Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy and Research and Education); and
• the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) Indigenous World 2023, a detailed publication offering extensive source citation.

To the extent that researchers must conduct domestic legal research concerning operationalization of the declaration, Dykes noted that some jurisdictions offer sites discussing their own implementation efforts.  IGOs and regional human rights entities may also provide relevant material, including the UN Human Rights Council and Economic and Social Affairs Council, OAS/IACHR, the European Court of Justice (consider utilizing the case digest on CURIA), and the European Court of Human Rights.

Finally, Burdett discussed implementation of the declaration in Canada.  In Canada, the Constitution Act of 1867 conferred exclusive legislative authority to the federal government, but Section 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 affirms indigenous rights and imposes a federal “duty to consult” when its acts might negatively impact indigenous rights.  Though in considering support for the declaration Canadian leaders expressed concern about the declaration’s potential impact on the breadth of that duty to consult, Canada ultimately endorsed the declaration in 2010 following pressure from indigenous leaders (though offering caveats regarding its aspirational and non-binding nature).  The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, whose purpose was to document the experience and legacies of the residential school system, cited the declaration in its 2015 call to action, and in that same year liberal office seekers offered support for implementation of TRC recommendations in their campaigns. 

Photo by Social Soup Social Media on Pexels.com

Subsequent Canadian legislative action in indigenous rights included:

• The Indigenous Languages Act (2019), which recognizes language rights as rights protected by the constitution, requires provision of services and translation in indigenous languages, and establishes an office of indigenous languages;   
• The Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Metis children, youth and families (2019), which affirms rights of indigenous peoples to exercise jurisdiction over children and family services, and establishes principles of cultural continuity; and
• The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (2021), which states that the federal government must take “measures necessary to ensure that the laws of Canada are consistent with the declaration,” including drafting an action plan (released in June 2023) and annual reports. 

Canadian courts through 2018 held that the declaration did not create rights, but have stated that it may be used as an interpretive aide; courts may soon decide whether the UNDRIP Act does provide such substantive rights. 

Planning for Next Year’s Annual Meeting

AALL 2023 is over, which means it’s time to start planning for AALL 2024 in Chicago!

The FCIL-SIS Education Committee will have a half-hour long brainstorming meeting on August 10, 2023, starting at 1:15 Pacific/2:15 Mountain/3:15 Central/4:15 Eastern. All FCIL-SIS members are welcome and encouraged to attend!

You can access a calendar invitation and Zoom link here.

Members are also welcome to email suggestions for programs directly to Caitlin Hunter, hunter@law.ucla.edu.

We look forward to putting together a great slate of FCIL programs for next year!

J. Crocker via Wikimedia Commons

New FCIL Librarian Series: Learning to Librarian

By Devan Orr

Hi! I’m Devan Orr, this year’s New FCIL Librarian blogger. I’m excited to embark on this journey of librarianship with all of you reading and following along. Together we can get through any challenges the year may bring, which after 2020 I had thought would be less numerous… but somehow it is still unprecedented times in the world, and an understanding of international (and foreign and comparative) law and legal research is more important than ever. (But I don’t need to tell all of you that!)

You can check out this post for details, but as a recap I am the new-ish FCIL Librarian at William & Mary Law School. I have been in law librarianship since 2019, but this is my first full-time position. Having been in Williamsburg for a year, I’ve learned about adapting to a new place, new student body, and new position even beyond what I had initially prepared for. I’ve learned about teaching via Zoom, behind a mask, in and out of a classroom, and the challenge of remote services. And to echo past new member bloggers, I’ve also had to learn not only law librarianship, but FCIL librarianship with its own litany of resources and particulars. But it has been a year, and I’m feeling somewhat comfortable with at least part of the day-to-day, so what now?

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Now is what I have dubbed the Year of Professional Development. I’m in a career I love, one I really want to grow in and evolve. I want to climb the mountain of law librarianship and learn more every day to assist my patrons and colleagues. This year I want to learn the ins and outs of FCIL librarianship including collection development, programming, teaching, and of course subject-specific resources. To aid my quest, I’m focusing on networking, making connections, participating in webinars and panels, and taking advantage of the incredible network AALL has to offer. And I was lucky to start with the most notable conference of them all – the AALL Annual Meeting.

I had heard a lot about the annual meeting before ever getting to step foot in one myself. Stories of giant exhibit halls stacked with vendors and swag. Tales of party hopping and letting loose for one week a year as you rub elbows with who’s who in the world of law librarianship. And most importantly, getting together with colleagues near and fall that you only see once a year. My only previous AALL experience was virtual. At the time my daughter was six months old, so I was attending talks during naps and with a heavy dose of sleep deprivation. In other words, let’s just say that first one didn’t count.

The Annual Meeting was everything I had imagined and more. The first thing that immediately struck me was the scale. I knew it would be big, but nothing quite prepared me for the fact that we were a profession large enough to make a dent in a convention center and take up what seemed like a whole hotel. The programming was tailored to the multi-faceted work we do as law librarians, and there was so much of it to choose from. Every panel was informative and helpful, and there were even several aimed at FCIL librarians and the work we do. You can check out recaps on the panels here and here, as well as some recordings on AALL’s website. There was so much to choose from, and I made some tough decisions when putting together my programming. However, this scale of things left me feeling intimidated. I started the week wondering if I would get along with people I hardly knew, and how accepted I would feel in this group of very smart and talented professionals.

Luckily, I also learned at the Annual Meeting just how kind and inclusive our profession is. Every day had opportunities for mixers, small group discussions, and events with vendors and colleagues. Panels and roundtables were a little intimidating to attend, as I felt I had more questions than answers. But not once did anyone ignore my input because I was new. Everyone is kind and caring and really worked hard to make me feel welcome. This is especially true for the FCIL-SIS. Our annual business meeting included member recognition and awards, and it was nice to see everyone applaud and recognize hard work. Marcelo also had new members who were present introduce themselves and take a picture. We then mingled at the reception and enjoyed the delicious spread while getting to know each other. And not once did I feel like an outsider; instead, I was welcomed into the fold and left with some new contacts and a sense of confidence.

To my new friends from Denver, my current and former colleagues who I got to see, and those of you following along here, I just want to thank you for sharing your time and wisdom with everyone. We are a tight-knight profession, and I can’t wait to take this year and dive into even more professional development and learning opportunities with all of you. I’m looking forward to implementing some of the things I learned at the Annual Meeting and working on this librarian thing. Stay tuned for updates on what the year of professional development brings! 

AALL 2022 Recap: Impressions from the Brazilian Law Panel

By Anahit Petrosyan

Working with LA Law library’s renowned FCIL collection, as a non-FCIL librarian, has encouraged me to develop my global law research skills, to complement my enduring interest of learning how diverse cultures operate and interact to resolve disputes. AALL 2022 Meeting’s FCIL-SIS panel on How to Research Brazilian Law and Government Information caught my attention, as I had not previously explored the Brazilian legal system. This program considerably broadened my awareness of valuable resources available to understand Brazil’s legal order and to locate Brazilian law.

Modified version of Pumbaa80, Kelson, OAlexander, Marcos Elias de Oliveira Júnior and Giro720., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Going in, though, I wondered why FCIL-SIS selected to spotlight Brazilian law at this year’s Meeting. True, Brazil is the 5^th largest economy, and in spite of its ongoing economic challenges, plays a key role in the international legal system. Still, apparently, this October is the bicentennial of Brazil’s independence from its former colonist Portugal. Official celebrations will be held in September, which is also when Brazil’s Citizens Constitution will be up for a referendum vote. In addition, Brazil’s presidential and legislative elections are set to be held in October 2022. No wonder 2022 is a momentous year to survey Brazilian law.

Remarkably, this one-hour AALL FCIL-SIS event skillfully packed a range and depth of knowledge that can take numerous hours to assimilate. Thanks and congratulations to the entire panel of speakers and their coordinators for seamlessly facilitating this extraordinary feat!

The array of information I gleaned from this FCIL-SIS program will enable me to research Brazilian law online and navigate, more effectively, the extensive print global law collection at LA Law library. Of the comprehensive resources on Brazilian law presented in this session, the following are most useful for researching the kind of FCIL queries LA Law Library receives: free resources such as Library of Congress’ Guide to Law Online: Brazil, GlobalLex: Brazil, Brazil on ICLG.com, NATLex: Brazil, FAOLex: Brazil, WIPOLex: Brazil, and Canada’s National Document Package on Brazil, besides the fee-based Foreign Law Guide (Brill). All of these digital collections provide insight and references vital for successfully locating primary and secondary sources on various legal topics, for Brazil or other countries. For example, ICLG.com features comparative legal guides written by attorneys, for various jurisdictions, on a range of business and commercial law subjects, with references to the relevant primary law, which further can be found in full-text in other online or print sources.

Though, it was the last segment of this FCIL-SIS panel that I found most illuminating, as it unveiled Brazilian government websites, multi-source legal research platforms, and Brazilian law library digital collections which facilitate free access to full-text copies of Brazilian primary and/or secondary law sources. To access current Brazilian legislation online, I will now know to consult Planalto Legislation Portal and Brazilian Federal Legislation (Legislação Federal Brasileira) government websites, besides the Official Gazette of the Union (Diário Oficial da União – DOU). The former two websites are coherently organized, and provide user-friendly access to legislation.  For legislative history research, going back to the early 19^th century, the materials on National Congress (Congresso Nacional), Federal Senate (Senado Federal), and Chamber of Deputies (Câmara dos Deputados), utilized along with historical Brazilian law print sources, can yield better research results faster. Of the Judicial branch websites, the National Justice Council offers an innovative way to search dockets of the latest cases in various state and federal courts. Plus, extraordinarily, LexML Brasil, a Brazilian government multi-source legal research platform, enables access to primary law of different government branches all on one site. Lastly, of the Brazilian law library digital collections referenced in the program, the following three retain an enriching range of recent and archival materials on federal judicial and legislative branch Brazilian law:  Federal Supreme Court (STF) – Biblioteca Digital do STF, Federal Senate Library – Biblioteca Digital do Senado Federal, and Chamber of Deputies Library – Biblioteca Digital da Câmara dos Deputados.

Collectively, the impressive expertise the speakers shared at this year’s Brazilian law panel will save me much time and energy in determining how to conduct Brazilian legal research, and that of other, at least, Latin American countries, too. I look forward to attending more in-person and virtual AALL FCIL-SIS programs to expand my global law research skills

AALL 2022 Recap: Teaching FCIL Research Roundtable

By Meredith Capps

On Monday, July 18^th during the AALL annual meeting, the FCIL-SIS held its first in-person roundtable discussion in several years (hip hip hooray!) to discuss teaching FCIL research.  Meredith Capps of Vanderbilt University Law School introduced the featured speaker, Janet Kearney of Fordham University Law School.  Janet spoke about her efforts to enhance her own FCIL resource course, which she described in brief in the February 2022 FCIL-SIS newsletter article, Work-in-Progress: A Research Framework in FCIL Teaching?, for which she received the SIS’s Newsletter Article of the Year award. 

Janet described the first iteration of her 2-credit course as “disparate.”  In considering how to better organize the course, she considered the four-step research process upon which she relies in her first-year legal research course: 1) research planning, 2) secondary sources, 3) statutes and regulations, and 4) cases.  To adapt this framework for FCIL research instruction, Janet opted to reframe steps 3 and 4 and collapse them into a single category of primary sources.   Approaching each week’s content with this framework, Janet encouraged students to first plan their research, then identify secondary sources that might answer their question, and then locate relevant primary authorities.  Janet asked students to consider which sources of law might govern their problem, which would be binding, and in what way they would be binding (or persuasive).  Her students responded positively to the new framework, and as of this writing Janet is drafting a longer article discussing her experience in designing the course – stay tuned!

 

Breather breather, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

            As is typical in a roundtable format, after discussing the initial topic of utilizing process frameworks in instruction, participants explored a number of other topics, questions, and concerns informally for the balance of the time, including:

• The needs of JD v. LLM students, and whether and when to teach separate JD and LLM research courses,
• How to better incorporate private international law problems into our courses, including utilizing trade and family law hypotheticals,
• How many sources to cover in a typical class, and how best to organize those sources for student reference,
• Encouraging students to first consider the subject before the jurisdiction,
• To what extent we utilize niche databases in our courses that students may not have access to in practice,
• Challenges associated with students’ variable knowledge of international law upon enrolling in an FCIL research course,
• Addressing student confusion in distinguishing between primary and secondary authorities…

…and more – it was a busy hour!

AALL 2022 Recap: Kyoto, Paris, COP26 – International Climate Change Mechanisms

By Devan Orr

This presentation focused on a review of international climate change mechanisms, the role the United States has played (or not played) in their passage and implementation, and the overall politicization of climate change and environmental science. It was an American view of the proceedings, but still a very in-depth look at the international issues and treaties surrounding the bigger issue.

The first speaker, Marilyn Averill, gave an overview of the treaties and legal discourse surrounding the treaties, and focused most on the international aspects of climate change and environmental science. Averill has attended several COPs, and her portion of the panel was interspersed with personal anecdotes. She explained the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which established an international environmental treaty to combat climate change. She then discussed the Kyoto Protocol, created during COP3 in Kyoto in 1997, followed by the Paris Agreement from 2015. A discussion of the difference between COP (parties to the UNFCCC), CMP (parties to the Kyoto Protocol) and CMA (parties to the Paris Agreement) followed, and a note that the US is only party to the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement, but not the Kyoto Protocol. This means that when the meetings are taking place, the US cannot vote on or discuss the Kyoto Protocol issues, and even requires a special nameplate to differentiate themselves (a fascinating tidbit from her personal experience!).

Map of parties to the Kyoto Protocol.
User:Canuckguy, User:Danlaycock, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Both panelists discussed equity in climate change. Averill stated equity provision of the UNFCCC makes it as much about social justice and human rights as it is about science and economics, and numerous types of fairness, ethics, and justice are routinely addressed. She divided equity into four areas: international equity, intranational equity and responsibility within borders in relation to international discussions, intergenerational ethics and the critical decisions of the extent those alive today are beholden to the future, and interspecies equity or how responsible humanity is to preserving nature and the environment for other species without autonomy. The interaction between these areas combined with commitments and capabilities of each individual nation is what makes these decisions so complex. Equity in the Paris Agreement is, according to Averill, why the US signed on, because commitments were based on national circumstances. The individual nation makes their own decisions about contributions to mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and developed countries should support developing countries. Like other international agreements it lacks enforcement mechanisms or guidelines on how to achieve those goals.  

The second panelist, Alice Madden, focused on a discussion of domestic issues and politicization of climate change that led to current issues with United States climate change policy. Most telling was the definitive shift from early bipartisanship in the 1970s and 1980s to partisan politics in the mid-2000s. Madden highlighted how conservative think tanks cast doubt and skepticism on climate science, keep actors in political office, direct corporate funding, and insist that a debate exists regarding climate science with two sides. She then moved into defining equitable climate action as the developed world’s obligation to the least responsible countries assistance in building clean energy, dealing with climate change effects, and the mitigation of change that has already occurred. Her principles of equitable climate action include balanced power structures and responsibilities to communicate to developing countries; assisting the acquisition of electric vehicles, clean and efficient energy to those countries; and assuring equal access to new clean energy and technology.

Questions largely focused on the global south versus the global north, which both panelists felt was another indicator of developed versus developing as far as how to think about their role in climate change regimes. There was also some discussion of what may be happening globally under the Paris Agreement. This was largely speculative but continued to highlight portions of the presentation – namely that partisanship of climate science will continue in this political climate. The panel highlighted the intersection of law, politics, and environmental science well. As someone without a lot of background knowledge on the COP meetings or climate change agreements in general, this was a great introductory lesson.

AALL 2022 Recap: How to Research Brazilian Law and Government Information

By Devan Orr

The presentation was broken into three parts. The first part gave a holistic overview of Brazil and how its government and legal system sits in the greater aspect of global politics. The second portion focused on legal research in English, particularly secondary sources and research guides. The third part of the presentation was focused on using Brazilian government-run websites and other free resources.

First, Juan-Andres Fuentes contextualized Brazil, showcasing the importance of learning more about their government and legal system. Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world, borders ten of twelve South American countries, and is an important part of international commerce as one of the most active parties of the World Trade Organization. Most striking to me was the relative similarity of governmental structure between the United States and Brazil. Brazil also uses a federalist system of government, and has both federal and state courts, as well as special jurisdiction courts. Brazil uses a civil law system with one exception – there are opinions from the highest court called sumulas vinculantes. These decisions answer constitutional questions, are precedential and binding at all levels of the court, state and federal. Approximately 60 sumulas vinculantes have been published since their creation in 2004. This introduction allowed the audience to easily understand and follow the next presenters speaking about researching law.

Second, Karina Condra discussed secondary sources and English language research. She identified the most useful free and paid secondary sources for the audience. She noted Introduction to Brazilian Law, edited by Fabiano Deffenti and Welber Barral, as one of the most comprehensive secondary sources to Brazilian law. Condra’s presentation emphasized free secondary source research guides when possible. GlobaLex and the Library of Congress Guides were mentioned for their links to primary sources, and explicit mention of the language those sources are available in. For individual topics, she recommended various UN resources like NatLex and EcoLex depending on the practice area of interest. In paid resources, the Foreign Law Guide mentions availability of English materials, the governmental structure and background information, and has a list of primary and secondary sources. Vlex and Bloomberg were two highlighted paid legal databases, Vlex in particular because of the built-in translation tool for primary resources.

Finally, Abby Dos Santos gave an overview of using Brazilian primary sources, in particular government websites. She started by recommending in-browser translation rather than using the English website. The native language version tends to be better updated and offer more comprehensive information, and translation has improved over the years. That combined with a Portuguese-English legal dictionary (like Noronha) should give English-speaking researchers enough ability to decipher primary sources. Dos Santos then showcased Brazilian government websites to use for primary source research. Her top pick was Planalto, the website of the presidency and the most important up-to-date legislation portal. It has federal, historic, and international legislation subsections and links to relevant case law via gavel icons next to the statutes. It leads to the Portal da Legislacao to search for laws by number, year, type of law, or general keyword search term. For legislative history, both branches of the legislature, the Senado Federal and the Camara dos Deputados, have their own websites with Atividade Legislativa links where you can find notes and links to YouTube videos of session. For case law, the National Justice Council website allows you to search jurisprudence by case number, date of judgment, session, legislation, and keyword. She also pointed out some multisource legal research platforms, public and private, but noted that practitioners in country prefer to use government websites rather than aggregated legal databases.

This panel was packed with information and covered all aspects of Brazilian legal research. This is the second or third country-specific AALL panel that the FCIL-SIS sponsored, and I hope the tradition continues. As a new librarian, I really enjoyed seeing the parallels between legal research in the United States and legal research in other jurisdictions. It emphasized how universal some research techniques can be while also emphasizing the difference in resources (looking at you, government websites). Everyone was knowledgeable, clear, and engaging, and I am excited to implement new skills.

Denver 2022: On y va!

By Marcelo Rodriguez

After two years of virtual annual meetings, I’m excited to confirm that our FCIL-SIS will be present at this year’s Annual Meeting in Denver with several events and opportunities to network, learn from each other, and get to know all of you. 

We will have two FCIL-SIS sponsored panels as well as one in-person roundtable and our traditional business meeting. 

• FCIL Board Display in the Exhibit Hall – Thanks to our colleagues, Katie Siler and Kay Ming Cadena, our SIS will have a beautiful board showcasing our group. Please stop by any time. Let’s make it the meeting point for everything FCIL during the Annual Meeting!

• How to Research Brazilian Law and Government Information – Sunday, July 17 2:30-3:30pm

• Kyoto, Paris, COP26: International Climate Change Mechanisms – Sunday, July 17 4:00-5:00pm

• Teaching FCIL IG roundtable – Monday, July 18 12:15-1:15 pm

• FCIL-SIS Foreign, Comparative and International Law Business Meeting – Monday, July 18 5:30-7 pm

• International Attendees Joint Reception (FCIL/IALL/AALL) – Monday, July 18 7-9 pm

A few questions to keep in mind during the Annual Meeting and beyond:

• How to leverage our virtual experience and webinars throughout the year before and after the Annual Meeting? 
• How to find more ways to collaborate with other SISs and Caucuses? 
• Anything you would like to propose as a panel proposal to Boston 2023 or in a webinar throughout the year? 
• Would you like to review a panel or write something related to Denver for our blog, newsletter or both?
• Anything you would like to see and work on for Boston 2023 and beyond?

I will be attending the annual meeting and running around with panels and meetings. However, please do not hesitate to stop me, say hi or just share any ideas or comments you might have.

Looking forward to meeting so many of you in person. 

Saludos!