State Dockets Research

Description: Please join us on Wednesday, May 10 at noon (central time) for our next program, which will  explore what we as librarians need to know and what our users need to know about state dockets. Presenters and CALL members Clare Gaynor Willis and Shari Berkowitz Duff will focus on trial courts in Cook County and the collar counties. They will compare and contrast the tools available to law firms and law schools and talk about the ever-increasing number of vendors offering state dockets and court records. They will also talk about how to teach our users what they need to understand and how to manage their expectations. The program will discuss the quirks and difficulties of requesting dockets and court records from the courthouse, an option that is necessary when database coverage is not available. Participants can expect to come away with a lot of practical information and a better understanding of how their fellow librarians navigate the challenges of state docket research.

Presenters: Clare Gaynor Willis is the Research and Instructional Services Librarian and Coordinator of Educational Outreach for the Pritzker Legal Research Center at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. She teaches upper level law students how to search for dockets and court records in her Advanced Legal Research course. Clare is also the co-author of a forthcoming article exploring what happened to defendants in famous U.S. Supreme Court criminal procedure cases. The article highlights how the difficulty of obtaining court records obscures the truth of what happened to those defendants.

Shari Berkowitz Duff is a Research Librarian at Jones Day. Shari has extensive experience searching and working with state courts across the country as part of her various research requests at Jones Day, and previously during her time at Reed Smith.  She is the “go-to” team member for her Library colleagues and a key point of contact for several Partners, Associates, and Paralegals working on high-profile litigation nationwide when they have questions, if they need to know if something is possible to research and obtain easily, and to assist with coordinating aspects of complex research and on-going projects. Shari has also been a source of guidance and training for the Jones Day docket team on many occasions over the past 5 ½ years.  Shari is also currently leading an internal Library Team Project with two other Librarians to put together a living document that provides detailed information on access, costs, coverage and what is available for courts in all 50 states not only through several of the major vendor platforms, but also via court websites.

When: Wednesday, May 10, 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.

Where: At your desk via Zoom. Registrants will receive webinar details prior to the program

Please register here.

Legal Research at the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission: a Panel Discussion

Description: Please join us on Wednesday, April 12 at noon for a discussion of the legal research that takes place at the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Attorneys Lauren Moynihan Skerrett (U.S. DOE, OCR – Chicago) and Kirsten Peters (formerly with U.S. EEOC – New York) will discuss various types of legal research performed by at the two agencies and how that research relates to the laws the agencies enforce, as well as the agencies’ structure. Come prepared with any questions you wish to ask of our panelists.

Presenters: Kirsten Peters is an Assistant District Director with the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) in its New York District office, a position she has held since July 2022. Prior to that, she worked for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in various offices from 2004 to 2022. During her last eight years with the EEOC, she litigated as a trial attorney in its New York office. She also worked as an investigator with the EEOC’s Chicago office from 2007 to 2014. Kirsten attended law school at DePaul University College of Law.

Lauren Moynihan Skerrett is an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education – Office for Civil Rights (OCR) in Chicago.  Lauren has been with OCR for almost 17 years.  Before joining OCR, Lauren worked with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and represented parents in special education matters in private practice in the D.C. area.  Prior to that, she worked as a litigator for two large law firms in New York City, specializing in securities fraud litigation.  Lauren is also the parent of two boys who qualify for services under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) and the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act (IDEA).  She attended Georgetown University Law Center.

When: Wednesday, April 12, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Where: At your desk via Zoom. Registrants will receive webinar details prior to the program.

Please register here.