As I write, I’m sitting on an airplane flying home from a two-week trip to Thailand and Myanmar. Just in time to escape one last Chicago snow, I traveled to Southeast Asia (in its 90+ degree glory) to accompany a group of Northwestern Law students conducting field research as part of its International Team Project.
During Spring Break, our small group of twenty conducted interviews with legal professionals, government officials, human rights NGOs, animal rights organizations, and financial officers in Bangkok and Yangon, and managed to do some relaxing and sightseeing on Inle Lake and in Bagan along the way.
I am so lucky to have had this trip of a lifetime. As if things could not get better, the Chicago forecast is for temperatures approaching 50 degrees by the time I land. Dare I say that spring is finally here?
Election Results
Congratulations to the newly elected members to the CALL 2014-2015 Executive Board!
Vice President/President-Elect:
- Julie Pabarja, DLA Piper, LLP
Treasurer:
- Stephanie Crawford, Schiff Hardin, LLP
Director:
- Robert Martin, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Thanks so much to Debbie Ginsberg, Valerie Kropf, and Jesse Bowman for your willingness to serve the Association, and thanks to Juli Jackson and the Nominations and Elections Committee for putting together such an excellent slate of candidates and running a smooth election.
New Mentorship and Leadership Development Committee
I’m happy to announce that since the last Bulletin was published, the CALL Board voted to approve the formation of the Mentorship and Leadership Development Committee! I have been extremely lucky to find several invaluable mentors through CALL, so I am very excited about this new committee, which would not exist but for the efforts of the Mentorship Task Force: Jamie Sommer, Julie Pabarja, and Eugene Giudice.
Building upon the ideas brainstormed during our August 2013 CALL Leadership Training, this superstar team developed a list of charges that will guide the new committee to (1) welcome on board and encourage involvement of new CALL members, (2) mentor new law librarians, and (3) develop leadership skills for all mentors.
This new committee will officially begin its work with the start of the 2014/2015 term. If you are interested in joining, please volunteer when Margaret puts out the call next summer! I cannot thank Jamie, Julie, and Eugene enough for all their hard work and initiative in proposing the Mentorship and Leadership Development Committee.
Continuing Education Workshop
After a couple of postponements due to the extreme weather, our Continuing Education Committee’s Legal Citation Workshop on February 5th was a huge hit. Panelists Heidi Kuehl, Clare Willis, and Phillip Johnson cleared up some common mistakes and misconceptions about legal citation.
The rapid changes in information formats and citation formats made this session a must-attend for anyone who deals with citations. The Continuing Education committee has come up with some stellar ideas for events this year; I can’t wait to see what they come up with next.
Thanks to Members
As always, thanks to Kevin McClure and Lyonette Louis-Jacques for all your hard work in putting together the Bulletin. It’s been so wonderful to read the new regular columns and contributions by new members. And thanks to the CALL Board and committee chairs for all your hard work and time this term.
Maribel Nash
CALL President, 2013-2014