Program 1

Hitting an Orientation Home Run: Training Legal Rookies for the Big Leagues

Step Up to the Plate: Success Strategies for New Associate Onboarding. Join Alexis and Jaime as they walk you through BakerHostetler’s all-star onboarding playbook for summer, fall, and new lateral associates. From introducing firm guidelines and AI policies to delivering practice-specific training and key research skills, their approach covers all the bases. Learn how their mentorship program, bullpen-style research support, and vendor training lineup help rookies hit the ground running. With post-season surveys to refine the game plan, this session offers top tips and proven strategies to ensure your new associates knock it out of the park.

Program 2A

Old Dogs, New Insights: What Decades of Writing and Publishing Have Taught Us – and What’s Next

Join a candid and practical conversation with experienced academic law librarians as they reflect on lessons learned about writing and publishing during their careers. This session will cover topics such as identifying and understanding your audience, overcoming the inertia of beginning to write, making time amid professional demands, and selecting the right publication venues based on your career stage. Panelists will share insights into collaboration, building partnerships, and strategies for sustaining writing habits. Whether you're an aspiring writer or a seasoned scholar, you'll leave with encouragement, concrete advice, and a better sense of how your own writing path might evolve.

Program 2B

ORALL Private Law Librarians SIG Meeting

Program 3A

Meet the Bots: Exploring AI Personas for Legal Information Needs

This session will explore three types of generative artificial intelligence tools: legal, general consumer, and deep search. These types of GAI are not interchangeable. This session will help law librarians understand the differences between these tools and when it might be appropriate for law students/lawyers/law librarians to use each.

Program 3B

ORALL County Law Librarians SIG & County Consortium Business Meeting (2 hours)

Program 4

Sun Tzu’s Legal Research Strategies: The Art of War for Law Librarians

This session will demonstrate potential pedagogical and practical applications of the Art of War to legal research. On a conceptual and pedagogical level, the lessons of the Art of War will be compared and contrasted with the traditional Rombauer Framework. On a practical level, the nuances of the Art of War will be revealed through an examination of a famous historical case and then applied to the current context, including the use of Generative AI.

Program 5A

Protecting the People: Providing Law Library Benefits to Public Patrons in a Time of Misinformation

Law Libraries primary focus is on our primary patrons (lawyers, judges, students, etc.). However, the public is a vital part of any library, whether they are open to the public or not. This session will explore ways that ALL libraries can provide assistance to the public, either actively or passively.

Program 5B

Developing Learning Outcomes for Legal Research Courses

This program will introduce and discuss methods for creating learning outcomes for legal research courses, utilizing concepts such as backwards course design and course alignment. The presenters will begin by discussing common learning frameworks, explaining backwards course design, and then focus on the importance of establishing learning outcomes at the course-level and module- or unit-level. Most of the program will focus on the crucial task of crafting clear, measurable and actionable learning outcomes. Attendees will be invited to participate in exercises to assess and edit a set of learning outcomes, and finally work on drafting their own.

Program 6A

Teaching the Ethical and Effective Use of Generative AI to Students, Faculty, Practitioners and Beyond

As AI is becoming more and more prevalent in law school and in practice, it is important that students, faculty, and practitioners alike are trained to use it effectively and ethically. Join our speakers as they share how they have spread their knowledge of best practices in the effective and ethical use of generative AI with students and faculty at the law school, and to the greater legal community through outreach. Hear how they develop learning activities around the use of AI, ethical considerations, and upcoming AI trends.

Program 6B

Law Libraries and ADA Title II

In 2024, the Department of Justice published its final rule on Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which includes requirements for state and local governments to ensure that web content and mobile applications are accessible to people with disabilities. Most entities have until April 24, 2026 to comply. This rule covers third party e-resources, repositories, digitized content, webpages, videos, social media, and more. Although making materials accessible is the right thing to do, and libraries are often at the forefront when it comes to accessibility, this is still an enormous undertaking. How are law libraries managing this task?

Program 7A

Guarding Your Sources: How to Teach Bluebooking Without Putting Your Students to Sleep

Do you teach citation format? Are your students falling asleep? In this session, we will discuss how we teach our students about citations to prepare them to practice in law firms.

Program 7B

Community Engagement Roundtable

Discussion will encompass topics of interest to law libraries, including but not limited to how to set library policies and maintain communication with colleagues/patrons, to support mental health efforts for library staff, to continue to support engagement efforts without an institutional mandate or while facing pushback, and other ways to be productive and constructive in an increasingly changing environment. Additional discussion topics that are of interest or concern are also welcomed to be introduced and discussed by attendees.

Program 8A

Data-Informed Law Libraries: Exploring Benchmarking Methods & Resources

Law libraries collect and report copious amounts of data about operations, resources, and services. However, the effective use of data in decision-making and advocacy is inconsistent. Thoughtful benchmarking – that is comparing data to peers or set standards – is a valuable starting point for leveraging data. This session will explore the value and methods of benchmarking for law libraries, identify available data sources and their limitations, and discuss key factors when working with benchmarking data. Understanding these aspects will empower law libraries to make informed decisions, advocate for their needs, and, in turn, better serve their users.

Program 8B

“They’re Going to Use It Anyway”: Rethinking Legal Information Literacy in the Age of AI

Gen Z researchers increasingly rely on AI tools like Lexis+ AI and ChatGPT as their starting point for legal research. Rather than discouraging this behavior, law librarians must guide it. This session rethinks legal information literacy in the age of AI by exploring how to help users verify, evaluate, and supplement AI-generated content. Through messaging strategies, teaching frameworks, and hands-on exercises, attendees will learn to support responsible AI use in academic, firm, and government settings—without sacrificing research rigor. Participants will leave with adaptable resources for integrating AI literacy into instruction and research consultations.

Program 9A

Guarding Ourselves: Intro to Self-Defense for Librarians

This session will cover an introduction to basic self-defense techniques that anyone can use to respond to a few common situations. We will begin with a brief discussion of situational awareness and distance management, then move on to establishing a ready stance, and finally cover a few specific techniques. Introductory self-defense utilizes concepts such as balance, leverage, and momentum for skills that are repeatable and easy to remember. While this is not a traditional proposal, practicing skills unrelated to typical day-to-day job duties can spark creativity, foster communication and team building, and increase overall functionality.

Program 9B

Law Librarians/Guardians Discuss Book to Action Social Justice Themed Book

The MAALL Book to Action session continues a tradition held since 2015. Each year at the MAALL Annual Meeting, attendees read and discuss a book on a social justice theme. In addition, MAALL Book to Action supports a book drive at a local independent bookstore to support a local charity.

Program 10A

Law Librarians and DEI: Where Are We Now?

Since January of this year, efforts have been made to eliminate any efforts to consider diversity, equity and/or inclusion in a host of institutions, including libraries. How have different law libraries and/or their parent institutions if applicable, responded to these efforts? Is it still viable to consider or lift up DEI where you work and in your state? If so, how are you doing so?

Program 10B

Uncovering Buried Treasure: Tips and Tricks for Searching Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright Records (2 hours)

Searching for IP records can be a chore - especially if you aren't familiar with the databases. Add in a frantic law student or a demanding attorney, and you'll have a frustrating, headache-inducing, and exhausting day. Save yourself the aspirin and learn how to navigate USPTO as well as the multiple catalogs/collections from the Copyright Office, each with its own platform. We'll cover the pros and cons of AI searches and find out how IP records can be used in multiple ways. You never know when a genealogist asks to find the attorney on file for the Newman's Own Company!

Program 11

All Aspects of Law Librarianship

The panel will discuss the work they do in law librarianship and discuss moving rom one type of law librarian to a different type (i.e. firm librarian to academic librarian).

Program 12A

Always a Bridesmaid Never a Bride: The Important Role of the Interim

The interim role in law libraries is often seen as a placeholder, however it is an important role and work to advance the institution can be accomplished. Interim positions are more than holding steady, they provide opportunities and challenges for the person in the role. An interim can ensure the library continues to move forward, can make their mark on the institution, and ensure the library is ready for new leadership. In this session we will discuss approaches to being an interim, major projects that were undertaken by interims, and why not wanting to be a director, but being happy in the interim role is a professional success.

Program 12B

Guardians of the Legal Research Galaxy: Developing a Framework to Ethically Review AI Output

ABA Op. 512 clearly requires lawyers to review all outputs of Generative AI tools to comply with ethical responsibilities of Competence and Candor to the Tribunal when submitting their research to courts, clients, and colleagues. However, the potential problems that have presented in legal research outputs of Generative AI tools are diverse and plentiful, and continue to growth. By developing a framework to categorize these potential output issues and to use traditional legal research approaches to vet the outputs, law librarians can help lawyers comply with their ethical duties all while combating hallucinations, contrafactual biases, and misinterpretations.