On Monday, July 18th 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!
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…
I grew up in Dixon, IL–a small town 100 miles west of Chicago best known as the home town of Ronald Reagan, former Dixon Comptroller Rita Crundwell, who perpetrated the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history, and for Class of 2001 DHS Student of the Year and Best Sense of Humor Yearbook Award winner Scott Vanderlin.
2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?
I realized two things in law school–that I loved studying the law, and that I did not want to be a practicing attorney. I have an aunt who is a law librarian (shout out to Aunt Pam!), and I quickly realized that it was the perfect career for a kid who just wanted to read and research the law and help people. I couldn’t be happier that I made the decision.
3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and/or international law?
As I’m sure many would report, one of my favorite things to do is travel, and I have been lucky to have visited 21 countries so far, and (hopefully) counting. While I’m sure it’s possible to divorce the two, I think that a love of travel is usually accompanied by a curiosity about different cultures, and a love for the sense of discovery that comes with experiencing different ways of life. Combine natural wanderlust with a recent…dissatisfaction, let’s say, with our home country and legal system, and I think that more and more of my thoughts, both professionally and personally, have been focused abroad.
4. Who is your current employer?How long have you worked there?
5. Do you speak or read any foreign languages? Not nearly as competently as I would like. In spite of being in a 13+ year relationship with a Polish partner whose second language is English, I am not nearly as proficient as I should be (as I’m reminded frequently by her mother). Once upon a time I was fairly proficient in speaking Spanish, but after years without practice outside of taquerias, I’m afraid it would be a stretch to claim anything resembling fluency. Spoiler alert: I think I would say that this is the ability or skill I most wish I had.
6. What is your most significant professional achievement?
This year, I was honored to receive the 2020 Class Award by the University of Chicago Law graduating class. It’s awarded to one faculty or staff member each year for “Outstanding contributions to improving the quality of student life and the spirit of community at the Law School.” In a school full of celebrity faculty members, it was incredible to be singled out by students for having done a good job. I told people that I either won an award that Barack Obama won, or I won an award that Barack Obama couldn’t win, and both of those are cool (I haven’t been back in the law school to check which one it is).
7. What is your biggest food weakness?
Tide pods.
8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?
I’ll let you know when I hear it. In the spirit of the question, however, I’ll reveal that I’m a big fan of indiepop, and there are many songs that make me smile and sort of rhythmically nod my head. Here are a few (feel free to let me know if these cause anyone to get up and sing/dance):
9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?
Legitimately not playing to my audience, but it would definitely be the ability to speak more languages. For personal reasons, I would love to be fluent in Polish (for obvious reasons) and then Japanese (because I love the country and culture). For professional reasons, I guess I would choose French.
10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?
I want to say “books,” but 1) I’d probably get push-back from some on the definition of “necessity,” and 2) the more accurate answer these days is probably “podcasts.”
11. Anything else you would like to share with us?
I grew up in Fort Mill, South Carolina! If you haven’t been, it’s a lovely little town outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. Fort Mill is known for its excellent peaches, which are shipped nation-wide. As a side note, my first job in high school was at the famous Fort Mill Peach Stand.
2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?
I went to law school knowing I didn’t want to be a lawyer. I was lucky enough to work with the librarians at Wake Forest Law School as a student employee. The research projects were fun—it was an easy decision after that to head into law librarianship!
3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and/or international law?
When I started at Stanford, our Head of Reference, Alex Zhang (now Assistant Dean for Legal Information Services at Washington and Lee School of Law), encouraged me to explore FCIL projects. Her mentorship drove my interest in foreign, comparative, and international law!
4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?
I can read and speak some French, though my accent is horrendous! I spent a summer in Bordeaux and quickly realized my southern accent doesn’t help my French pronunciations.
6. What is your most significant professional achievement?
Earlier this year, I was promoted from Reference Librarian to Outreach and Reference Librarian. I LOVE all types of library outreach, so this has been especially exciting for me! It’s also given me more occasions to work with SLS students, who are some of the most incredible people I’ve had the opportunity to meet!
7. What is your biggest food weakness?
I am a huge raw oyster fan! I lived in Boston for two years after law school, and I think my oyster obsession really started there (Row 34, anyone?!). At our wedding, my husband and I had a raw oyster bar for our guests with oysters brought in from each of the places we’ve lived together: North Carolina, New England, and San Francisco.
8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?
I’m not much of a dancer, but my go-to karaoke song is Mr. Brightside!
9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?
I would love to be able to sing, so my Mr. Brightside renditions would sound a little better
10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?
This isn’t a “thing,” but I couldn’t go a day without my dog, Salem. She is a four year old Shetland Sheepdog, and we do everything together. She’s even joined in on a few of my Zoom advanced legal research classes! I’ve attached a picture of Salem here (captaining a boat at the lake) for all to see!!
11. Anything else you would like to share with us?
Because I told you about Salem, I couldn’t go without mentioning my sweet horse, Glide. Though Glide is a registered American Appendix Quarter Horse, he sometimes acts a little more like a puppy than a horse. He loves carrots, peppermints, and bubble baths on hot days.
2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career? I was a young, miserable lawyer and my roommate at the time was a librarian. She encouraged me to consider librarianship because I loved research, but I was wary of making a career change. So I bugged several NYC law librarians for informational interviews and much to my surprise they all loved their jobs so I went for it.
3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and/or international law? I’ve always had an interest in it! When I went to law school, I had visions of practicing international law, but things didn’t quite work out as I had planned. Fast forward to over 10 years since graduating law school, I was offered the opportunity to teach an FCIL course, which in my opinion, is even better than practicing, as I love teaching.
4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there? Brooklyn Law School, almost 2 years.
5. Do you speak or read any foreign languages? I can read Spanish (sort of)
6. What is your most significant professional achievement? It’s only been two years, so for now, successfully teaching one full semester of international and foreign law research (and during a pandemic!)
7. What is your biggest food weakness? Nutella. I will eat the whole container and then open a second.
9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)? A photographic memory. I read a lot and it would be wonderful if I actually retained any of it!
10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without? A hug (virtual if I’m not home) from my 2-year old son.
11. Anything else you would like to share with us? I feel incredibly lucky to be here!
For the first five years of my life, I bounced around various cities due to the medical residencies of my Asian immigrant parents, ranging from Queens in New York City to the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains of Asheville and Cherokee in North Carolina. However, I spent most of my childhood in the Philadelphia suburbs, in particular, a town called Ambler. I attended undergraduate at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA, and law school at Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law in Philadelphia, PA.
2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?
During my Juris Doctor program, I was solidly set on a career in public interest law, such as public defense or working in legal aid for the indigent. My internship and pro bono experiences during law school, such as my clinic at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, reflected this desire. I ended up taking several advanced legal research courses taught by dual-degreed law librarians, which I found to be my absolute favorites due to their practicality, as well as a fun course in Anglo-American Legal History, which included a field trip to a rare book collection! I found that I had a knack for legal research. This sounds nerdy, but finding an obscure legal source brings me so much personal satisfaction. Lifestyle concerns influenced my decision too, as well as a strong desire to teach and publish. I have yet to publish, however, from 2018 to 2019, I developed and taught a multi-session Continuing Legal Education (CLE) course called “Spanish for Lawyers” for a county bar association in response to the growing need for Spanish-speaking attorneys and support staff. The course covered commonly used Spanish words and phrases in courtrooms and law offices, and students actively participated in exercises pertaining to vocabulary and grammar. In addition, my course discussed how to bridge cultural gaps with Latin American clients, who come from a civil law system. This course helped students communicate with Hispanic clients regarding legal matters including domestic relations, immigration, criminal law, etc. Students received comprehensive glossaries of technical terms, and each session included an improvisational element, allowing students to interview mock clients in Spanish. I am passionate about increasing access to justice. My course assisted attorneys in providing linguistically and culturally competent services to Latino clients. In addition, it bolstered my pedagogical skills, which are very pertinent for my goal of academic law librarianship.
3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?
My pre-law internships and volunteer work in human rights non-profit organizations abroad sowed the seeds of my passion for foreign, comparative, and international law. For instance, in summer 2008 through the NGO, Cross-Cultural Solutions, I interned in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India at an anganwadi (“courtyard shelter” in Hindi), a governmental child welfare and public health program for youth of low socioeconomic status and/or caste. In India, I also tutored Tibetan exile monks, nuns, and laypersons through small group English conversation classes at a then up-and-coming NGO called Tibet Hope Center, which piqued my interest in refugee work. My coursework during law school, such as Refugee & Asylum Law taught by an Immigration Judge, also fed this interest. In addition, I performed especially well in a course called Immigration Legal Research, which included units on foreign, international, and comparative law and hands-on experience searching foreign law databases, such as Légifrance. The law librarian who taught that class has been a true inspiration and still provides me mentorship and guidance as I switch gears to law librarianship. Lastly, during law school, I served as a keynote speaker for a student organization event called “Buddhism & the Law”, and I really enjoyed researching for my talk.
4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?
I am presently clerking for the Superior Court of New Jersey in Elizabeth, NJ. During my time there, I have dealt with fascinating family law cases implicating the Hague Convention against international child abduction. I am pleased to announce that in October 2020, I will begin a Reference Librarian position at Western State College of Law in sunny Orange County, California.
5. Do you speak any foreign languages?
Yes! I am trilingual at the moment. My native language is Hindi, which I learned simultaneously along with English. My experience growing up bilingual led to a facility with picking up languages. I began learning Spanish in elementary school, and continued studying it through middle school and high school, and minoring in the subject in college. I started learning French in 2019, but I am very much a beginner at this point. I’ve heard French referred to as the “language of diplomacy”, so I figured learning it would be useful in foreign, comparative and international law librarianship.
6. What is your most significant professional achievement?
8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?
“Just Like Heaven” by The Cure fills me with jubilation.
9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?
Astral projection, or in other words, the ability of a person’s spirit to travel to distant places. It’s gotten stronger during the pandemic, for sure!
10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?
Journaling-I find it so therapeutic!
11. Anything else you would like to share with us?
During summer 2019, I lived as a nun at the Southern Shaolin Temple in Fujian Province, China through the Woodenfish Foundation’s Humanistic Buddhist Monastic Life Program. I spent my days meditating, practicing martial arts, chanting, completing coursework on Buddhist and Daoist philosophy, and painting calligraphy. The program culminated in a pilgrimage tour at Mount Putuo, a holy site on an island dedicated to Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of compassion.
2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?
I’ve always been interested in the law and legal research without ever wanting to be a lawyer. Law librarianship seems like the perfect fit.
3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?
My upbringing and language skills have always seemed a natural fit for any FCIL research questions. I’d like to think that my open mindedness and keen observations also play a part.
4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?
Spanish is my mother tongue. Besides English, I also speak French very fluently. And I have some reading fluency in Hebrew and German.
6. What is your most significant professional achievement?
In the last two years, I have managed to coordinate 4 panels for the AALL Annual Meetings. This coming summer, I may be coordinating 4 more. Not only it has been a significant professional achievement, it has also been a transformative experience to network and exchange ideas with people equally passionate on the rule of law and legal information.
7. What is your biggest food weakness?
Pizza. I can eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner and even in between meals. Please do not share this questionnaire with my mother or my doctor.
8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?
Si tú te vas by Juan Luis Guerra. It’s the best thing ever! It reminds me of Puerto Rico in the early 1990s, friends and family gatherings.
9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?
American Sign Language (ASL). I would love to one day begin classes and become somewhat fluent.
10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?
Coffee. No sugar, no milk, no nothing, just pitch black coffee. I can always drink coffee and for all kinds of reasons either because I have to stay awake or even after a meal to just soothe myself.
11. Anything else you would like to share with us?
If anyone is interested in Puerto Rican literature, I’m happy to recommend the following: Macho Camacho’s Beat by Luis Rafael Sánchez, Sirena Selena by Mayra Santos Febres and/or Eccentric Neighborhoods by Rosario Ferré and in Poetry: anything by Julia de Burgos.
2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?
It was fortuitous. I had the fortune of knowing very wonderful and kind-hearted law librarians at a time when my possible career direction was in a flux. First on the list is the former library director at the Underwood Law Library, SMU, the very kind Gail M. Daly. She was very supportive of my career. The second was Greg Ivy who succeeded her. He has always been a source of inspiration to me. And I still regard him as my informal mentor. There was also the immense support and guidance I received from Professor Yvonne Chandler. In addition to these fabulous people I received tremendous encouragement from Femi Cadmus. Allen R. Moye of DePaul Law Library graciously served as my mentor in midwifing my career as a law librarian. Mr. Moye helped me to find my feet in law librarianship. Yes, I selected law librarianship (and I am glad I did) probably because of the indirect influences of all these wonderful people who believed in me. In a sense, I am following in their footsteps. And every step of the way, it has been an exciting professional journey!
3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?
My view of law has always been cosmopolitan. First off, I hold a law degree from Nigeria. Nigerian law is a smorgasbord of British common law and traditional law and customs. Second, my areas of legal specialization are: Comparative Conflict of Laws, Comparative Constitutional Laws, Comparative Criminal Law and Procedure, and, Law of the Sea. My interest in comparative and international law is the offshoot of my legal training.
4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?
My native tongue is Yoruba, a language widely spoken in the southwestern part of Nigeria but the mode of instruction in schools (in Nigeria) is English.
6. What is your most significant professional achievement?
Successfully managed my department’s transition to a new Integrated Library System (ILS).
7. What is your biggest food weakness?
I will always cherish banana split ice cream.
8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?
I am an acute introvert. No, I am not blessed with either the ability to dance or sing even if I wanted to. I will rather curl up in a quiet place with a nice literary work.
9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?
To play the keyboard.
10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?
Absolutely that will be coffee.
11. Anything else you would like to share with us?
I hold the degree of Master of Divinity with focus on Pastoral Counseling.
I was born in Mutare Zimbabwe but grew up in the small remote town of George, Western Cape, South Africa.
2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?
I trained to be a teacher and librarian, and then trained as a lawyer. I was ultimately able to combine these interests.
3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?
In 1997 when I was appointed to the Squire Law Library at Cambridge, having previously managed the Law Library at City University, London. I came to the Squire Library having trained in a foreign jurisdiction (mixed Roman Dutch and Common Law), and therefore had a foreign, international perspective.
4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?
Afrikaans, Flemish. Working knowledge of German and French.
6. What is your most significant professional achievement?
Founding and developing the Cambridge Eminent Scholars Archive. During this time I’ve had the privilege of interviewing many international lawyers/jurists.
7. What is your biggest food weakness?
White bread and jam
8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?
9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?
To be able to play the violin well.
10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?
Some form of exercise. Swimming, cycling or walking.
11. Anything else you would like to share with us?
I greatly value my ties with colleagues world-wide. I have made wonderful friends through FCIL activities, both home and abroad. Similarly, my research in the course of compiling the ESA has brought home to me the variety of adversities and amazing contingencies that direct the course of most people’s careers.
2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?
When I was in law school, I started working in the law library because I loved spending time in the library and learning from the librarians. After law school, I worked closely with my firm’s law librarian. I loved researching and the process of finding the answer, more than the answer itself. The law librarian at the firm encouraged me to pursue a career in law librarianship, and I did!
3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?
I have an undergraduate degree in international relations, and thought I would work in international development. But I found a love for the law while working as an International Program Specialist for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Commercial Law Development Program (CLDP)—providing technical assistance programs to foreign governments on topics related to international legal reform. I further developed my interest in FCIL topics while working at Georgetown’s Wolff International & Comparative Law Library during library school and after graduating.
4. Who is your current employer?How long have you worked there?
I currently work as the Reference Librarian at Caplin & Drysdale, in Washington, D.C. I’ve been at Caplin & Drysdale for five years. The firm primarily works in tax law and bankruptcy litigation, so I still use my FCIL knowledge when helping our attorneys find resources on tax treaties and other international tax issues.
5. Do you speak any foreign languages?
My family is originally from Brazil, so I speak fluent Portuguese. I’m also fluent in Spanish.
6. What is your most significant professional achievement?
Redirecting my professional path to law librarianship and graduating from library school. I’m very proud of graduating from law school, but as soon as I made the change to law librarianship, I knew it was the best decision for my professional career and thus has been the most significant so far.
7. What is your biggest food weakness?
BBQ
8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?
Any Brazilian music
9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?
Speed reading
10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?
My phone (unfortunately)
11. Anything else you would like to share with us?
I lived in Minnesota for college and law school, but came back to D.C. for library school. I’m not sure how, but people tell me I still have a bit of a Minnesota accent. So I’m probably one of the only native Washingtonians with a Minnesota accent!
2. Why did you select law librarianship as a career?
Did I select it?? I certainly didn’t mean to – it just sort of … happened.
The final requirement for my library degree at the University of Brighton (they no longer offer this course) was a dissertation based on a research project at a host library. Middle Temple Library, a law library in London, was looking for someone to research their users’ training needs, and since I had a background in education I thought this sounded interesting. I ended up learning A LOT about legal research, and enjoying it more than I expected to. Just before graduation a related law library, Gray’s Inn Library, had an opening in their graduate trainee program, which was designed for library graduates without any legal experience. I applied and was hired, and once again I ended up learning A LOT about British law and legal systems, and really enjoying the experience. When they invited me to stay on for a second year, I was delighted, and then when a job opened up back at Middle Temple Library, where I had done my dissertation research, I immediately knew I wanted to apply. I became a law librarian because of a string of opportunities, some first class training and support from amazing law librarians, and the fact that I ended up enjoying the work a lot more than I ever expected to!
3. When did you develop an interest in foreign, comparative, and international law?
Gray’s Inn Library had a specialist collection of international law, but as an American working in British libraries all the law was foreign to me! It was really becoming the European Librarian at Middle Temple Library that made me realize how much I enjoyed FCIL work specifically though. I loved learning about the intricacies of the EU and the challenge of finding foreign legal materials from across Europe.
4. Who is your current employer? How long have you worked there?
Not really. I took several years of Spanish in high school and at college, and started to work on developing a reading knowledge of French and German while working at Middle Temple, but I simply don’t use any of this enough to have retained very much.
6. What is your most significant professional achievement?
Probably just the reality of being the European Librarian at Middle Temple Library for a little while. It’s an incredibly cool library and I really respect the librarians and library users at all the Inns of Court, so it felt like an achievement just to be hired there. In retrospect I also realize how much the job as a whole pushed me to develop a whole range of new professional skills and confidence, in a way that I didn’t even recognize as I was just getting up and doing the work to the best of my ability each day.
On the other hand, presenting at the British and Irish Association of Law Libraries annual conference in 2014 felt like a significant professional achievement at the time. It was fun to be aware of actually doing something significant (for me at any rate!), but also kind of intimidating.
7. What is your biggest food weakness?
Macaroni and cheese. I’ll eat it as a side dish or a main, homemade or from a box, fresh or frozen.
8. What song makes you want to get up and sing/dance?
Honestly, I ‘m not really a dancer or a singer – see below.
9. What ability or skill do you most wish you had (that you don’t have already)?
I have always wanted to be able to play some sort of musical instrument or sing well. Unfortunately, I lack any sense of rhythm and can’t carry a tune in a bucket.
10. Aside from the basic necessities, what is one thing you can’t go a day without?
Orange juice – it’s my coffee.
11. Anything else you would like to share with us?
I’m the current chair of the European Law Interest Group and would love to hear from anyone who would like to get involved with the group or share an idea for a project!
1. Where did you grow up?
1. Where did you grow up?
DipLawMatic Dialogues 
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