Thursday – The Institute

Theme: Teaching and Researching Law in the Age of Generative AI: Systems, Skills, and Strategies

9:00AM – Conference Registration opens

9:50 - Welcome

Program 1, 10:00am - From Court to Case Database: What Makes the Cut, and How Does it Work? - On any given day, federal district courts produce hundreds of documents disposing of cases or making significant rulings on procedural or evidentiary matters. Any one of these documents may be vitally important to an attorney or litigant in a particular case, but how many of these documents should be added to case law databases and become part of the corpus of American law? And how might divergent practices by different legal information companies affect how legal researchers do their work?  Relatedly, what does it mean for the development of a research platform’s corpus in the age of retrieval-augmented generative AI? A law librarian and a senior director and product manager of a research platform’s case law and litigation analytics operations will discuss the factors informing how case materials are added to a research platform, the processing of these documents, and the steps taken to review and enhance selections.

Speakers: Aaron Kirschenfeld, Kathrine R. Everett Law Library, UNC School of Law; Liz Christman, Senior Director and Product Manager, Case Law Content and Litigation Analytics, at LexisNexis

Program 2, 11:00 am - It Happened to Me: Designing (and Redesigning) AI Course Policies - Most legal research syllabi now include policies addressing students’ use of generative AI. But are those policies clear, enforceable, and aligned with your learning objectives? In this session, I share a candid case study from my own teaching experience. Although I had a written GenAI policy, a student’s overreliance on AI exposed significant policy gaps, particularly ambiguities in permitted use and challenges in enforcement. The experience prompted a redesign of my policy and how I communicate it to students. Participants will explore key components of an effective policy, including transparency, student autonomy, defining misuse, and intellectual property considerations.

Speakers: Nicole Downing, Kathrine R. Everett Law Library, UNC School of Law

12:00PM – LUNCH

Program 3, 1:00pm - Designing for Change: A Practical Framework for Teaching AI-Augmented Legal Research - As generative AI changes faster than any syllabus can keep up with, this session is designed to show how to teach durable upper-level research skills even as the tools change and evolve. This session shares a practical framework from the second year of teaching a new course, AI-Augmented Legal Research, at Vanderbilt Law, covering what we updated and what held up across both years. The presentation offers concrete, adaptable teaching models, including sample activities and lecture frames on client data sanitization, AI-as-secondary-source evaluation, authority/citation checking, and verification planning, plus guidance for translating these ideas to credit-bearing courses, library workshops, and firm or government trainings.

Speakers: Emily Pavuluri, Alyne Queener Massey Law Library, Vanderbilt Law School 

Program 4, 2:00pm - Mapping Academic Law Library Structure and Essential Skills Training in the Age of Generative AI - Generative artificial intelligence is transforming the legal industry and law librarianship, and academic law libraries are responding by prioritizing law librarians’ emerging technologies skills. In recent years, more and more academic law librarian positions have included knowledge, interest, or skills in emerging technologies as required or preferred qualifications. At the same time, professional development workshops and presentations have increasingly featured topics related to the development of generative AI skills in the law library workplace. This presentation will map recent changes in the structure and skills training of academic law libraries following the rise of generative AI. The presenters will introduce their research that focuses on 1) whether and how law libraries have created different structural models to train and prioritize generative AI skills development, 2) whether and how law libraries are developing these skills within their teams, and 3) barriers to prioritizing and developing skills in generative AI. Attendees will come away with an understanding of the current state of law library structure in this emerging area, as well as ideas for training AI skills within their own law library team.

Speakers: Alex Zhang and Chelsey McKimmy, both from J. Michael Goodson Law Library, Duke Law School

3:00PM – Exhibit break

4:00PM  – Conference Registration Re-Opens

5:00PM – Opening Reception & Goodson Law Library tour

Friday

7:30 – Conference Registration Re-opens

8:00 - BREAKFAST

9:00 - Keynote speaker (TBA)

10:25 – 10:45 - BREAK  (Exhibitors available)

Session 1 — 10:45 AM – 11:45 PM (Two program options)

Option 1 - Generative AI and Copyright: A Comparative U.S.- China Perspective  - Generative AI is challenging core principles of copyright law, including authorship, originality, and the use of copyrighted works to train AI systems. The United States and China, two global leaders in AI development, are responding in distinct ways that reflect different legal frameworks and policy priorities. China has taken a centralized, regulatory-forward approach, issuing administrative rules and guidance to encourage innovation while managing legal risk, alongside court adjudication of copyright disputes. In contrast, the United States has primarily relied on existing copyright doctrine and case-by-case judicial interpretation, particularly regarding fair use and human authorship requirements. This 60-minute panel will compare how each country approaches AI-generated works, training data controversies, and the balance between innovation and rights-holder protection. Panelists will also discuss practical implications for libraries, including risk management, policy development, and opportunities for leadership.

Speakers: Dave Hansen, Authors Alliance; Alex Zhang, J. Michael Goodson Law Library, Duke Law School

Option 2 - Managing with Vision: Solve Non-Problem Problems Like An Expert! - Have you ever encountered an issue that appears straightforward, only to watch it expand into something far more complex than it needed to be? These are "non-problem problems!" Learning to manage them will help you save time and frustration. This session offers managers at all career stages a structured opportunity to explore practical strategies for resolving, redirecting, or preventing these recurring challenges. Following brief remarks from each speaker, attendees will engage in facilitated scenarios designed to reinforce key strategies, including practical solutions management, effective policy application, creative personnel management, and messaging as a strategic tool. Participants will also explore techniques for empowering employees to exercise stronger independent judgment to bring you proposed solutions with their problems. This session supports managers in building professional resilience while cultivating the decision-making talents of their broader teams.

Speakers - Ann Walsh Long, Nevada Supreme Court and Michelle Cosby, Washington and Lee University School of Law

12:00 – 1:00 – Lunch and AALL Update

Session 2 — 1:00 PM – 2:30PM - Teddy Talks (5 15-minute talks)          

Making the Most of the First Day of Class - Syllabus day feels like a bit of a free day on the course calendar: we all show up, run through the syllabus, tell the group our favorite candy or sport, and head home. But what if the first day could be fun and productive? For everyone? This Teddy talk summarizes research on the substantial impact of first impressions and student preferences on day one.  We’ll use this to build an effective first day for legal research classes that answers the “big question” of the course while still covering the important practical information students need to know.

Speaker: Andrew Wisniewsky, Kathrine R. Everett Law Library, UNC School of Law

Are you smarter than a 1L? - What a Librarian without a J.D. learned in Introduction to Legal Research - Do you ever wonder “what in the library is obvious to law students but not to me and conversely, what is obvious to me but not to law students?” or “What am I missing as a librarian without a J.D?” To narrow the knowledge gap, I sat in on some 1L Introduction to Legal Research classes where I increased my ability to use the library’s print and digital offerings, learned how class formats and technology have changed in the years since I was a student, and I developed a good understanding of what a research plan and log are and why I would use them. In this session, I’ll discuss what I learned, and how I apply that knowledge to my regular duties; and why I’d recommend this experience to other non-JD librarians.

Speaker: Jennifer Dubetz, George R. Farmer, Jr. Law Library, West Virginia University College of Law

Law & Order: Bring Order to Practice Resources with LibApps - In this Teddy Talk, hear how our librarians reimagined LibGuides for a law firm environment, creating focused guides that function as trusted practice area “cheat sheets” for attorneys. Instead of trying to include everything, these guides highlight key databases, firm-specific access notes, current awareness tools, and training resources. The session will share how our model grew out of necessity during a time of transition, as well as how we keep the guides visible through onboarding, training, and reference interactions—without adding major technical or marketing work. Attendees will learn ideas for streamlining guides into reliable and flexible research tools, strengthening visibility, and reducing maintenance labor. This session is ideal for librarians supporting practice groups who want better engagement with LibGuides while spending less time maintaining them.

Speaker: Lee Heckle, Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP

Promoting Cross-Departmental Interaction and Collaboration with Restorative Circles – In an era of increasing complexity, Restorative Practice (RP) offers a proactive and collaborative framework designed to develop, maintain, and repair the interpersonal relationships that undergird library services. Rather than relying on top-down hierarchies, RP centers dialogue, empathy, perspective-taking, and accountability.  And while widely known for promoting connection–– RP can also serve as a catalyst for creativity. At the heart of RP is the Circle, a unique dialogue format rooted in North American Indigenous traditions. Circle Practice invites participants to co-create a brave space where lived experiences can be shared in a structured environment that balances listening and speaking, autonomy and belonging; and equality and responsibility. When individuals participate in Restorative Circles, they gain insight necessary for collective innovation. Circle Practice provides more than just a meeting format. It is a transformative process that can shift transactions into interactions and competition into collaboration. Join this Teddy Talk to learn more.

Speaker: Yolonda P Harrison, Georgetown Law Library

Relax, Refocus, and Reenergize: Active Workspaces in the Law Library – A study found that students who live closer to the Campus Rec Center use it more often and that students who utilize the Campus Rec have higher GPAs and retention rates. In this session, I’ll discuss how the Active Workspaces initiative brought exercise equipment into the spaces students were already occupying including the Law Library. Participants will learn about the ease of implementing an Active Workspaces program in their own libraries including partnering with the campus rec center, identifying locations for the equipment, acquiring the equipment, marketing, and student response. 

Speaker: Jennifer Dubetz, West Virginia University College of Law Library

2:30-2:45 - BREAK  (Exhibitors available)

Session 3 — 2:45 PM – 3:45PM (Two program options) 

Option 1 - Better Guides, Better Access: Getting the Most Out of Bootstrap 5 in LibGuides - For many libraries LibGuides has become the primary platform for delivering content and information to their patrons and users. And though LibGuides does provide a number of tools for creating and managing content, it has not always been easy for Librarians to know how to ensure effective delivery of that content to all users or how to utilize available tools most effectively. However, Springshare's upgrade from the Bootstrap 3 CSS Framework to Bootstrap 5 introduces a number of options for ensuring both effective and aesthetically pleasing delivery of library information. This presentation will have two main foci. The first will cover upgrades and enhancements that improve accessibility (particularly in light of WCAG 2.2 compliance), and the second will show administrators and content contributors how they can leverage the new features in Bootstrap 5 to deliver more dynamic and more engaging content to their users.

Speaker: Timothy Wilson, Alexander Campbell King Law Library, University of Georgia School of Law

Option 2 - The Next Generation: Perspectives on Law Librarianship from Early Career Law Librarians - In recent years, much professional discussion has centered on the challenges associated with filling open positions at law libraries around the country. During this program, a panel of early-career law librarians, all within the first three years of the start of their law library careers, will candidly discuss their experiences. With a variety of backgrounds, our panelists will describe the process, challenges, and rewards of learning about law librarianship, entering the profession, and beginning their careers. We hope to introduce a wider audience of law librarians to the perspectives and experiences of new members of the profession. The goal is to leave the audience with a greater understanding of and actionable insights into finding and bringing new law librarians into their law libraries and the profession as a whole. The hour-long program will include forty-five minutes of moderated panel discussion and fifteen minutes of audience Q & A.

Speakers: Anjelica C. Violi, Alexander Campbell King Law Library, University of Georgia School of Law; Madeleine "Mads" Ball, Muse Law Library, University of Richmond School of Law

3:45 - 4:00 - BREAK  (Exhibitors available)

Session 4 - 4:00PM - 5:00 PM (Two program options)

Option 1 - Collaborative Systems Analysis: A Relational Approach to Improving Library Workflows               

Library workflows are often shaped by external pressures and tight timelines. Following an ILS migration or staffing change, email chains substitute for documentation, spreadsheets emerge alongside official systems, and new steps layer onto old. Libraries can be left with hodgepodge processes that are confusing and inefficient.  Drawing on examples from Duke’s collections team, we will discuss how we have used a collaborative systems analysis approach of structured conversations, workflow mapping, and guided reflection to update our workflows for processing faculty monograph requests and reviewing database renewals. In this approach, staff serve as co-analysts—defining problems, surfacing constraints, and generating solutions together—rather than subjects of evaluation. Participants will then engage in small-group reflection on their own workflows, examining communication patterns, dependencies, and recurring misunderstandings. Attendees will leave with practical tools, worksheets, and strategies for applying systems thinking as a collaborative, team-based practice that strengthens relationships and improves evolving library workflows.

Speakers: Emilie Menzel and Michael McArthur, both from J. Michael Goodson Law Library, Duke Law School

Option 2 - Side Bar – Non-Legal Research Essentials for Legal Professionals - As law librarians, we are legal research experts, and eager to train aspiring and new lawyers to develop core legal research competencies. We emphasize research planning and identifying beneficial legal secondary sources at every opportunity, adeptly demystify statutory and regulatory codes, and nudge novice researchers beyond their natural language comfort zones when researching case law. But what might new attorneys be researching beyond the law?  In this session, law firm professionals will discuss common non-legal research questions, the contexts in which they arise, and how attendees might incorporate non-legal research skills in their teaching training.  Topics will include researching people, researching businesses, and researching property.

Speakers: Meredith Capps and Laura Huber, both from Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

5:00 – 6:00 – Executive Board Meeting

6:00 – Dine Arounds TBA

Saturday

8:00 – 9:00 – Breakfast and Business Meeting

Session 5 — 9:00 AM – 10:00AM (Two program options)              

Option 1 - Happiness Meets Productivity: Harnessing Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies - Each of us approach the work we need to accomplish in different ways. Are you an Obliger, a Questioner, an Upholder, or a Rebel?  Gretchen Rubin, a former Supreme Court clerk to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, gave up the law to study and write about happiness and human nature. In the course of studying habits—how to have more good habits and fewer bad ones—she developed the Four Tendencies framework.  It divides people into categories based on their relationship with inner and outer expectations.  Knowing your tendency, and the tendencies of those you work with, makes everyone both more productive and happier.

Speaker: Heather Simmons, Alexander Campbell King Law Library, University of Georgia School of Law

Option 2 -  Law Library as (Geographic) Place: Why Region and Locality Matter - Law library as “place” is an important paradigm. It denotes that law libraries are more than a collection of resources, services, or even study areas. Instead, law libraries constitute a broader social and civics “place” that transcends such instrumental value. But law libraries are not places in a vacuum: Every law library, after all, is located somewhere. This panel therefore investigates how law libraries can be situated in geographic place. Geographic place in this context is not primarily jurisdictional. The focus is rather on how geographic region and locality intersect with law library as place and with law librarianship more broadly. Using the Southeast and Appalachian region as the case model, this panel explores how we can not just explore but also proactively cultivate the law library as a geographic place. Illustrative examples include collection development, programming, instruction, content creation, and partnership-building opportunities with the community and external organizations.

Speakers: Ellie Campbell, Kathrine R. Everett Law Library, UNC School of Law; Nicholas F. Stump, George R. Farmer, Jr. Law Library, West Virginia University College of Law

10:00 – 10:15 – BREAK  (Exhibitors available)

10:15 – 11:00 – Demo and Discovery Hour (TBA) – Vendor demonstrations

Session 6 — 11:00 AM – 12:00 pm (Three program options)

Option 1 - From Partners to Pathways: Building Law School & Law Firm Collaborations to Advance Access to Justice - Access to justice is not just a gap. It is a daily crisis for people facing eviction, debt, family instability, and other life issues that quickly become legal problems. This program shares a practical, partnership-driven model for expanding access to justice by aligning law schools, law firms, courts, libraries, and community organizations into a coordinated service network. Attendees will learn how to design collaborations that leverage supervised law students, pro bono attorneys, and trusted public access points to deliver clear legal information, navigation support, and targeted referrals. The session will highlight strategies for building ethical, user-centered programs that incorporate multilingual resources and technology-enabled pathways to assistance without replacing legal representation. Participants will leave with actionable guidance on defining partner roles, creating workflows and training, promoting the program through community relationships, and measuring impact through both qualitative and quantitative data so the model can be adapted and replicated in their own communities.

Speaker: Andre Davison, Harris County Robert W. Hainsworth Law Library; Avery Le, Gwinnett County Homer M. Stark Law Library

Option 2 - Evaluating Legal GenAI - As information professionals, law librarians specialize in understanding information science principles like search, retrieval, accuracy, and completeness. How can we create systematic methods to test the performance of large language models (LLMs) in these areas when it comes to legal research? To do so, we must understand how legal AI platforms work in theory and practice and identify prompts that expose meaningful comparison between platforms. This program will work through several possible frameworks that could be used to evaluate and benchmark various LLMs. With such frameworks in mind, the program will attempt to meaningfully evaluate various AI platforms using prompts specifically tailored to stress the vulnerabilities of specific LLMs.

Speaker: Kerry Shibib, Georgia State University

Option 3 - Beyond the Desk: Building Community in the Library  - Law libraries occupy a unique position within legal education, serving as both academic support centers and community spaces. Yet library services and expertise can be underutilized without intentional outreach to students. This session examines one law library’s strategic efforts to increase visibility, strengthen partnerships, and deepen engagement. The presentation will highlight student outreach initiatives tailored to a legal academic environment, including collaborations with career services, legal research drop-in sessions, engagement surveys to gather student feedback, curated book displays highlighting law library resources and emerging legal issues, and wellness-focused initiatives during high-stress periods such as exams. Several of these initiatives were developed in collaboration with interns, whose perspectives helped shape programming that reflects student interests and needs. Together, these efforts demonstrate how intentional, responsive outreach can increase awareness of library resources while reinforcing the library’s role in legal education. Attendees will gain insight into developing sustainable outreach initiatives within common constraints such as limited staffing and demanding academic calendars. The session will include time for participants to share outreach efforts from their own institutions, and attendees will leave with practical ideas for strengthening engagement in their law school communities.

Speakers: Da’Lisha Kirk, Chelsey McKimmy, and Elizabeth Simmons, all from J. Michael Goodson Law Library, Duke Law School

1:30 – Optional Outing, TBA