Jobs and Careers
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Who are legal information specialists and what do they do?
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Law libraries employ legal information specialists. They exist in a variety of settings including private law firms, law schools, courts, other government organizations, and the legal departments of businesses and associations.
Legal information specialists perform tasks such as researching, analyzing, and evaluating the quality, accuracy, and validity of sources; teaching and training; writing; managing; and procuring and classifying library materials.
The field of legal information offers many niches and specializations that provide opportunities to enhance job satisfaction. Examples include foreign and international law, government documents, patents, taxation, computer-related services, knowledge management, library administration; and special collections such as archives and antiquarian books.
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What are the types of careers for legal information specialists?
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Academic Law Libraries
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These large libraries offer in depth exploration of legal issues. Information specialists work closely with law professors and instruct law students in effective legal research techniques. Some law school librarians hold faculty rank, have tenure, and teach courses for credit, engage in their own professional research, publishing, and other professional activities. Academic legal specialists perform essential functions such as acquiring, processing, and cataloging new library materials; managing existing collections; and disseminating information about the holdings and services of the library. Specialists in specific subject areas may be employed.
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Government Law Libraries
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Many law libraries serve the legal research needs of government entities at national, provincial, and local levels. These libraries support legal research in the environments of courts, legislative bodies, government agencies, or other governmental offices. Government law libraries are as diverse as the institutions they serve, which makes it somewhat difficult to generalize about their environments and the services they provide. This variety is in itself appealing to many law librarians.
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Law Firm and Corporate Libraries
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Law Firm and Corporate legal information specialists work wherever there are larger law firms and corporate legal departments. They provide a broad range of services determined by the size and nature of the parent organization and the scope of their library collections. Most of these law libraries are relatively small and therefore require information specialists to perform many functions such as reference and research, processing and cataloging of library materials, and personnel supervision. Providing hard-to-locate information on a timely basis is a key role in firm and corporate libraries. Typical reference services include database searching, bibliography preparation, client development and marketing support, and current awareness programs. Private law librarians commonly perform research in non-law areas such as corporate, financial, market, medical, and news. Many private law librarians use their specialist skills to manage their parent institution’s business records, litigation dockets, and in-house education programs.
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Non-Traditional Legal Information Specialist Roles
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Public Legal Education; Legal Publishers; Knowledge Management; Information Brokerage; Consulting
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