Australian Law Librarians' Association

Keynote Speakers and Special Guests

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Emily Allbon (Keynote speaker)

 

Emily has been Law Librarian at City University London for 14 years, and is best known for the way she engages students with her innovative creation, Lawbore. Her work has been recognised in many ways, both by her profession (Wildy/BIALL Law Librarian of the Year 2012) and the academic law community (Best paper in Legal Education and Technology at BILETA 2012, Routledge/Association of Law Teachers (ALT) Teaching Law with Technology Prize 2013). In 2013 she was named one of 55 National Teaching Fellows by the Higher Education Academy – the UK’s most prestigious awards for excellence in higher education teaching and support for learning.

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Kate Arnold (Keynote speaker)

 

Kate is President of SLA (Special Libraries Association) a global organization of information professionals and their strategic partners. She has over 25 years’ experience of providing and managing the delivery of specialist information and research services to a wide variety of users.  She is based in the UK, and has worked across a variety of sectors, including the media (at the BBC and a national newspaper), health care (in the National Health Service), and not-for-profits (Cancer Research UK, National Children’s Bureau and Macmillan Cancer Support).

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Currently Kate is Information and Support Programme Lead at Macmillan Cancer Support, where she oversees the charity’s information and support strategy and innovations to support people affected by cancer.

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Mary Ellen Bates (Keynote speaker)

 

Mary Ellen Bates is an independent information professional and owner of Bates Information Services, based in Colorado, USA. Her first library job was in 1979, creating a conflict of interest database for a private law firm, which led to over a decade working in a variety of specialized libraries. Mary Ellen started her own business in 1991, and her current focus includes providing business analysis for decision makers and coaching services for info-entrepreneurs. Her seventh book, The Reluctant Entrepreneur: Making a Living Doing What You Love came out in May of this year. She is a frequent speaker in Australia and New Zealand, having come here a dozen times since 2001.

 

Alice Anderson

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Alice Anderson is the Knowledge Manager at Lander & Rogers, a leading Australian commercial law firm with offices in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Alice manages the Information Services team at Lander & Rogers and she is responsible for the firm's broad collection of electronic and print resources, the legal research service and research skills training. Alice's role includes coordinating the knowledge management program and ensuring that Lander & Rogers lawyers have access to the most current information and resources.

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Laurie Atkinson

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Laurie Atkinson has a strong background in information technology and leadership of library integration reforms. As the recently appointed Director of the Law Library of Victoria and Supreme Court Librarian, Laurie is consolidating library services for the Victorian courts as phase one of the implementation of the Law Library of Victoria. The Law Library will extend beyond the courts in phase two, and preparations are underway to pilot services to the Victorian Bar. While continuing to preserve the integrity of the Supreme Court Library print collection, Laurie and her team are assisting library users to transition from their reliance on print to being confident users of electronic content with high expectations of the library's increasing range of digital resources. As Supreme Court Librarian, Laurie sits on the Council of Law Reporting in Victoria where she plays an active part in developing healthier, more strategic relationships with legal publishers. She most recently managed the integration process of the libraries serving the Victorian public service, and has worked across all sectors of the library industry. Laurie holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Graduate Diploma in Information Services.

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Lynne Barrington

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Lynne Barrington has been a Reference Librarian at Piper Alderman’s Adelaide office for the past four years, providing legal research and training to professional staff, maintaining research portal pages on the firm’s intranet, and working proactively within designated business units. After graduating from Adelaide University with a BA, and from the University of South Australia with a Grad Dip (LIM), Lynne began her law librarianship career at Flinders University of South Australia. Some years later, she accepted the position of Manager, Library Information & Research Services at the Industrial Relations Court/Workers Compensation Tribunal SA, a position she held for ten years. Lynne’s professional interests in the past have included Professional Development Officer and Secretary, serving on the committee of the South Australian division of ALLA. She has written several book reviews for the Australian Law Librarian. More recently Lynne has assisted in teaching the PLR (Practical Legal Research) component of the GDLP (Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice) run jointly with the Law Society of South Australia and the University of Adelaide.

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Vanessa Blackmore

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Vanessa Blackmore is the Acting Director of Library Services at the NSW Department of  Justice, which includes the Law Courts Library.   Vanessa has worked at various libraries in Sydney and London, including the State Library,   the NSW Parliamentary Library, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, and the Law Courts Library. Vanessa has also taught legal research to students at the University of Technology and has published several articles on research, librarianship and the law. Vanessa has post graduate qualifications in management and law, as well as librarianship.

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Rebecca Bollen Manalac and Helen Cluff

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Helen and Rebecca have both worked in the Knowledge Centre at Herbert Smith Freehills for over five years, where Helen manages a team of around ten library staff and Rebecca manages the Centre’s subscriptions and vendor relationships nationally.  Prior to these roles, Helen had a background in University libraries, while Rebecca had held roles in both legal and public libraries.  Both worked together on the project to create a Collection Development Policy for the Knowledge Centre and Helen then gave the policy its baptism by fire when she moved the Sydney Knowledge Centre’s collection to the firm’s new premises in 2013.

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John Botherway

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John Botherway has worked in law libraries since 1985. The last 20 years have been in Court libraries both at the Victorian and Federal level, and he is currently the Deputy Court Librarian at the High Court of Australia. John is a committed member of ALLA having spent a number of years on both the Victorian Committee and National Executive, including periods as Victorian and National President.

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Alicia Cohen

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Alicia Cohen has extensive experience in the Australian and UK publishing industry. With a postgraduate degree in publishing and a passion for all things digital, Alicia currently works as the Regional Sales Manager – Southern Region and Libraries for Wolters Kluwer, CCH. Aiming to deliver the best experience for CCH’s customers, she believes the future of information services lies in collaborative projects. Alicia’s strong interest in information delivery and new technology lands her in frequent and enthusiastic discussions about the changing landscape of the industry.

 

Claudia Davies

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Claudia Davies is Legal Aid Queensland’s Library Services Manager. Her areas of professional interest include designing and developing knowledge management applications, library service design and legal research training. Claudia was ALIA’s Qld State Manager for 7 years and has held various roles on ALLA’s Queensland Division management committee.  She has 15 years’ experience in special libraries.

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Frieda Evans

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Frieda Evans is the library manager at the Northern Territory Courts Library which provides services to the Northern Territory judges and magistrates, as well as to the lawyers in private practice. Frieda’s role includes current awareness, staff development, provision of legal reference and legal research and responsibility for strategic planning.  A major exercise at present is a review of the print collections in the Darwin and Alice Springs libraries, with the need to downsize the collections and after increases in the online resources in recent years.  She is the President of the NT Division of ALLA and was a Director of ALLA Ltd in its first year of operation.

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Joanna Fear

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Joanna Fear is Library Manager at the Federal Court in Queensland.  She has extensive experience in public sector libraries including Queensland Parliamentary Library, the Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General Library, the High Court Library and the National Library.  Joanna taught legal research at Queensland University of Technology for over 20 years and has been involved in ALLA in a range of capacities including editorial coordinator of the Australian Law Librarian (1998 and 1999) and convenor of the 2012 national conference.

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Manjeet Janjua

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Manjeet Janjua is the Pacific Learning Specialist for LexisNexis Australia and works closely with a team of trainers to set up National Learning partnerships. Manjeet obtained both a degree and post graduate in law and practiced for a short time before joining LexisNexis UK where he worked for 10 years prior to relocating to Perth in 2010. 

  

Alison Jekimovics

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Alison is the Manager Library Services in the Department of Justice, Tasmania, and has managed the integration of the libraries of the Department and the Law Society of Tasmania. Prior to that, she was the Library and Records Manager at the Department of Justice from 1990. In her long career in librarianship, Alison also worked in a range of positions at the State Library of Tasmania and in special libraries in Tasmania and Queensland. Alison’s qualifications include a Graduate Diploma in Public Sector Management.

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Petal Kinder

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Petal Kinder is Court Librarian at the High Court of Australia. Prior to coming to the High Court Petal was the Manager of the Library and Information Services at the Federal Court in Melbourne and before the Federal Court she was a lecturer  in the Law Faculty at Monash University where she designed, implemented and taught legal research courses at undergraduate and graduate levels. She has been a member of the Australian Law Librarians’ Association for a number of years, serving in various capacities on the National Executive including a term as President of ALLA. Petal is presently the Immediate Past President of the International Association of Law Libraries (IALL).

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The Honourable Chief Justice Kourakis

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Chief Justice Kourakis has had a varied and distinguished career. He has worked at the Legal Services Commission, as a barrister at Edmund Barton Chambers and as Solicitor-General for the State of SA. He was the first silk in this State to relinquish his Queens Counsel title and take the new Senior Council (S.C.) post-nominals. He was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court in 2008 and appointed Chief Justice in 2012, becoming the state's ninth Chief Justice in 175 years

 

Benjamin Laing

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Benjamin Laing is a Research Librarian at Herbert Smith Freehills Knowledge Centre, Sydney. Ben is national convenor of Herbert Smith Freehills’ training group and is involved in several national and global working groups, including collection development, research desk integration and e-learning development.

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Ben has been in his current position for nearly seven years and has previous experience working at the New South Wales Bar Association Library, the University of Technology, Sydney and the University of Western Sydney.

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Hayley Leaver

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Hayley Leaver completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1991 at Flinders University of South Australia, a Graduate Certificate of Mediation at the University of South Australia (UniSA) in 1995, and a Graduate Diploma in Information Studies at UniSA in 2004. She is currently completing a Bachelor of Laws through UniSA. She is employed as an Academic Librarian, aligned with the Schools of Law & Business, at UniSA and prior to this worked as a Training Consultant with LexisNexis from 2002 to 2007. Earlier employment has included positions at Flinders University, the Federal Court, Hirst & Co and Legal Aid (Qld). Recent career highlights include a presentation to the Legal Practitioners Education Admission Council Accreditation Review Panel as part of the re-accreditation process for the Bachelor of Laws program, and overseeing the relocation of the law collection into the Jeffrey Smart Building. She has provided editorial content for Julia Davis’ recently published book titiled Connecting with tort law and wrote an article for the Australian Law Librarian entitled ‘Mission impossible or how to establish a special collection on time and on budget’ which was published in 2010. Finally, establishment of Foundation Law Collection at UniSA in 2007 remains one of her proudest achievements.

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Lisa Lester

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Lisa Lesterjoined the law field in 2010 and took to it like a duck takes to water.  This is Lisa’s first time presenting at a conference and she is excited to be presenting the free resources available for WA. 

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Cindy Martin

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Cindy Martin completed the Post Graduate Diploma in Information and Knowledge Management online at Monash University in 2008.  Her interests have developed in digital and social media projects along with delivering training and working as a liaison to the business development group at a former firm. Cindy has gained experience in mid and large tier firms as a research librarian, recently moving into the role as Site Coordinator at Allens. She has a keen interest in collaborating with other law librarians and is currently the Convenor of the Sterling group in Sydney.

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Sue McKerracher

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Sue McKerracher joined ALIA in 2012. Before that she was well known in library circles as director of The Library Agency, the team that delivered the National Year of Reading 2012 on behalf of 15 founding library partners. Between 2008 and 2012, she also worked with state libraries, public library services, local councils, state government departments, several not-for-profits, a publishing house and a university. Prior to coming to Australia in 2007, she was involved with the UK Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the British Library. Sue started her career as a journalist and latterly worked in marketing and communications for a number of multi-nationals, including Unilever and Ernst & Young.

 

Josephine Murfey

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Josephine Murfey has been working in law libraries for more than twenty years, and has been managing the Library and Information Service at Hall & Wilcox for the past 13 years. She has a comprehensive knowledge of legal research processes, having worked closely with lawyers in the provision of advice to clients throughout her career. Josephine's role includes managing the firm’s intranet (including internal social media) as well as overseeing the mix of research tools and databases utilised by the firm. Josephine is also responsible for the provision of relevant current awareness material to the legal staff within the firm and overseeing the provision of research training. Josephine is recognised internationally in her field, including regular contributions to the Special Libraries of America (Legal Division) newsletter and through her work for the Attorney- General's Department in Fiji as part of an AusAid International Development program, and presenting at the Microsoft Analyst Summit in Singapore.

 

Dr Roderick O’Brien

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Dr Roderick O’Brien is an Australian lawyer, admitted to practice in South Australia in 1971. He has taught law at the University of Hong Kong, and at universities in China, most recently at the Northwest University of Political Science and Law. Dr O’Brien has experience working with Chinese-language materials, and has completed his doctoral dissertation on the ethics of China’s lawyers. He enjoys writing and making work for librarians, and has published widely. His most recent publication was in the Hong Kong Law Journal. He comes us today as a member of the Law Society of South Australia, recommended by its International Legal Practice Committee. He is an adjunct Research Fellow at the University of South Australia. Nevertheless, the law is not his principal vocation, and Fr Roderick O’Brien currently serves as parish priest of the Catholic parish of Salisbury, which he happily describes as a multi-culinary parish.

 

Nicola Parkin

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Nicola Parkin has a background developing and managing learning initiatives in non-government organisations, local government and the state government sector. Then, in 2010 she joined Flinders University as the Senior Educational Designer in the Centre for Educational ICT. Her role is to support quality in the increasing use of educational technologies across the University. Nicola manages the university’s educational design service and provides leadership in the dissemination and use of good practice in online design across the University. Her particular interest is in design thinking and creative, sustainable approaches.

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Susan Phillips

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Susan is a founding partner of Phillips/Pilkington Architects and has been Director in charge of many of the practice's award winning buildings, including Seymour College Performing Arts Centre, Woodcroft College Administration Building, Wilderness School Hall and Monarto Zoological Park Visitor's Centre. She is superintendant for the University of South Australia's New Learning Centre, a project being undertaken in association with John Wardle Architects.

Susan has worked extensively on community and cultural projects, including Performing Arts Facilities, Galleries, Libraries and Community Meeting Spaces. She has a passionate commitment to Environmental Design as evidenced by the Environmental Awards received for the practice's work. 

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Susan has a strong interest in Urban Design and is currently a member of the Capital City Design Review Panel and the Bowden Design Review Panel.

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Susan has extensive community engagement experience and has prepared many Master Plans. Susan maintains a key involvement in all stages of a project's development and is committed to achieving design excellence within strict budget and program constraints.

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Jennie Rothville

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Jennie Rothville has been Knowledge Management Director at Piper Alderman for the past year, and for the previous nine years she was Piper Alderman’s National Library Manager. Her main area of responsibility is the strategic development and management of the Library, Knowledge Management and Knowledge Sharing, and Precedents within the firm. Jennie began her librarianship career at the SA Museum, and has worked in law libraries for the past 25 years. Jennie was Library Manager at Philips Fox Adelaide for several years before moving to the public sector as Manager, Information Resource Centre at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in Adelaide. Jennie has been involved with ALLA as a committee member, and then Convenor of the South Australian division of ALLA. After her time as Convenor, Jennie became the President of the Australian Law Librarians’ Association. She held the position for two years during the transition period of the Australian Law Librarians’ Group to the Australian Law Librarians’ Association.

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Karen Rowe-Nurse

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Karen Rowe-Nurse is the Law and Business Liaison Librarian for St Benedict’s Library at the University of Notre Dame Australia, Sydney Campus. She has worked in law libraries over the past twenty years across law firms, tribunals and academic law libraries.  Karen teaches within the university and is currently undertaking the first subject of her MBA. Career highlights include establishing law firm libraries at Roseblum & Partners and also Norton Smith; developing a new academic law library in Sydney for the University of Notre Dame Australia; convening the 2013 ALLA conference, joining the ALLA Board and creating 4 beautiful boys whilst managing an interesting and varied career.

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Heidi Savilla

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Heidi Savilla is the Law Liaison Librarian at Flinders University. She holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Graduate Diploma in Information Science. She is passionate about teaching legal research skills and has a strong interest in the transition of law students into university and out into practice.

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Di Thompson

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Di Thompson has been the librarian at the Legal Services Commission since 1988. During that time she has also worked in the Pacific as Law Librarian at the University of the South Pacific in Vanuatu, and developed and delivered legal research training programs to librarians, lawyers and judges in several Pacific countries. In recent years she has been part of a team involved in teaching the Legal Research Component of the University of Adelaide/Law Society of SA’s Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice.

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Richard Vankoningsveld

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Richard Vankoningsveld works as a librarian at Legal Aid Queensland. His current role focuses on technical and training services. He has worked in various roles in Brisbane law libraries since 2002 including for a number of private law firms and the Queensland Law Society. Richard holds a Graduate Diploma in Library and Information studies from Curtin University and a BA(Hons) from Buckinghamshire University College, UK. He also works as a casual reference librarian at QUT Clayton Utz Law Library.

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Diane L. Velasquez

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Diane L. Velasquez the Program Director of the Information Management Program which has specialisations in library and information management and archives/records management at the University of South Australia in Adelaide. Her research interests include management and administration of libraries and archives, assessment and evaluation of library websites, digital libraries and marketing, and readers’ advisory. Dr. Velasquez has a Ph.D. in LIS from the University of Missouri, an MA in LIS from the University of Arizona, and an MBA from Golden Gate University. She was a refugee from the corporate world before switching careers to librarianship and the academy

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Kirsty Wilson

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Kirsty Wilson is a Senior Reference Librarian at the Law Library of Victoria. She previously worked as a Liaison Librarian at the University of Melbourne Law Library, which involved delivering legal research classes at an undergraduate and postgraduate level, providing legal research advice and developing the Law Library’s online presence.  Prior to working in libraries, Kirsty worked in social and market research.

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Kirsty completed a Master of Library and Information Management at the University of South Australia in 2011 and is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Laws.

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Kirsty is a member of the ALLA web communications committee, which involves working on the ALLA website, ALLA Twitter and moderation of the ALLA National e-list.