S1: 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. - Statutory Research presented by Patrick Butler

This session will provide an introduction to statutes and statutory research. The focus of the session will be on researching both Federal and Minnesota statutes using free and commercial resources.  Attendees will learn different approaches to effectively and efficiently research statutes and use that information to find other relevant law.

Patrick Butler, Director of Library and research Services - Larkin Hoffman

Patrick combines his legal background with over a decade of research experience to support the attorneys, business development team, and law firm administration of Larkin Hoffman. Prior to joining the firm, Patrick was the Electronic Resources/Reference Librarian and an Adjunct Professor at his alma mater, the University of Connecticut School of Law.

S2: 7:15 - 8:15 p.m. - Minnesota Legislative History presented by Liz Reppe

Liz Reppe will talk about the process of doing Minnesota legislative history research, including what resources are available (print and online), what information they contain, and where to find them. She will also include a discussion of where else to look for information when legislative documents do not exist, or do not provide the detail you are seeking.

Lizz Reppe, Minnesota State Law Librarian

Liz Reppe is the Minnesota State Law Librarian. In this role she oversees all aspects of library operations. Her previous positions include County Law Librarian, academic law librarian, and Manager of Technology Product Development at Thomson Reuters. She received her J.D. from Hamline University School of Law, and her M.L.I.S. from Dominican University.  

S1: 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. - Administrative Law Research presented by Karen Westwood

This hour will cover how to research Minnesota Administrative Law – the agency rules and regulations that govern much of daily living.  Attendees will understand the rulemaking process, contested case hearings, and judicial review of both contested cases and the rules themselves; as well as the sources in which to find administrative law.

Karen Westwood, Director of the Hennepin County Law Library

Karen Westwood has been Director of the Hennepin County Law Library since December 2015.  Her background is in law firm, government and academic law libraries.  She also practiced law in Minneapolis.  Her J.D. is from Hamline University School of Law (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law) and her M.S. in Library and Information Science is from the University of Illinois.  She is passionate about meaningful access to justice, equity in our society, knitting, cooking and, of course, reading.

S2: 7:15 - 8:15 p.m. - Tax Law Research presented by Jean Boos

A review of basic research techniques and resources to help you locate tax materials. This session is about federal tax research and focuses on U.S. transactions and the law. This session will describe the various types of authoritative documents used in researching tax issues and discuss various secondary sources that can be used to identify and locate these documents.

Jean Boos, Adjunct Faculty, Advanced Legal Research at Mitchell Hamline

Jean Boos was a research and instructional librarian at the Warren E. Burger Library at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law from 2008-2018. She received her B.A. in History from the University of Dallas in Texas and her J.D. cum laude from the University of Minnesota. She was in private practice for many years before receiving her M.L.I.S. from the University of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is currently a research librarian at Fredrikson & Byron, P.A. in Minneapolis, Minnesota where she works with the Research and Knowledge Management team to provide training, legal research and business and competitive intelligence to the 270 lawyers in the firm. She is currently teaching Advanced Legal Research at Mitchell Hamline as an adjunct faculty member.

S1: 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. - Case Law Research presented by Vic Garces

This session covers basic strategies and sources for researching federal and state case law (with an emphasis on Minnesota case law). Both commercial and freely available resources will be discussed. Case citators for updating case law and sources for locating docket and case filings will also be discussed.

Vic Garces, Reference Administration & Web Services Librarian, University of Minnesota Law Library 

Professor Garces specializes in the area of legal research and teaches in the library’s legal research instruction program. His areas of specialized legal research interest include legal history, criminal law & justice, and American Indian law.  Professor Garces received his B.A. degree from UCLA, and a master’s degree in library and information science from UC Berkeley. He earned his J.D. degree at the University of San Francisco School of Law.

S2: 7:15 - 8:15 p.m. - Social Media Law presented by Nancy Sims

In this session, we'll look at social media as a tool for legal research, both via professional networks, and via social media search functions. We'll also consider some practical issues in social media use - some of general interest such as sharing third-party content, and some of interest specifically to legal professionals, such as setting boundaries around providing "advice" online.

Nancy Sims, Copyright Program Librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries

Nancy Sims is the Copyright Program Librarian at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Her interests in the law arose out of her library work in technology support. Though her daily work focuses on copyright and related areas of licensing and intellectual property law, she also has interests and experience in privacy and telecommunications/internet law. Her library degree is from Rutgers, and her law degree from the University of Michigan.

S1: 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. - Patents & Trademarks presented by Michael Fleming

Michael Fleming, Deputy General Counsel for Operations and Technology with Cray, Inc.

Michael Fleming (Mitchell Hamline '92) is Deputy General Counsel for Operations and Technology with the supercomputer manufacturer Cray Inc. He's represented many technology companies regarding their business treatment of intellectual property and related matters.  Today, he has responsibility for Cray's intellectual property and other technology matters, and frequently needs to refer to outside data respecting Cray's or other parties' IP assets. Rather than pay outside lawyers to look up simple items, he taught himself to use tools out on the open web to do this research - And now he will teach you some of what he's learned on how to research for IP assets like patents and trademarks from openly available resources on the Internet!  Michael is a frequent CLE speaker locally and nationally, and also participates in leadership roles with the American Bar Association including a recent term as Chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Technology and Information Systems.

S2: 7:15 - 8:15 p.m. - Researching Companies with Confidence and Certainty, Elizabeth Hadden-Peck & Kallie Wass

Answering a seemingly simple question like, “Who owns this company?” can be a surprisingly difficult project with multiple answers. In this session, Elizabeth Hadden-Peck and Kallie Wass will lead you through the twisty road of company research. Along the way, you’ll learn the different strategies in researching public and private entities, the most important sources of information, and shortcuts to help you get what you need. We’ll look at free/low-cost information and some of the larger vendors. You’ll leave this session confident in your ability to answer the questions that only look easy. 

Elizabeth Hadden-Peck (Left), Research Librarian, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP

Elizabeth Hadden-Peck, JD, has worked for some of the world’s largest law firms and corporations and two things remain consistent: her curiosity and love of research. She joined Faegre Baker Daniels LLP in 2018 as a Research Librarian. Previously, she worked for Thomson Reuters as both a Reference Attorney and trainer/contract account manager. Other firm experience includes Simpson Thatcher Bartlett LLP in New York, and Robins Kaplan LLP in Minneapolis. She is an active member of Minnesota Association of Law Libraries and the American Association of Law Libraries. Ms. Hadden-Peck earned her BA from New York University and JD from William Mitchell School of Law (now Mitchell Hamline School of Law).

Kallie Wass (Right), Research Librarian at Gray Plant Mooty

Kallie Wass is a Research Librarian at Gray Plant Mooty in Minneapolis, where she has spent the last 10 years following the rabbit trails that are the thrill of any research junky. She happened across law librarianship right before beginning library school when she discovered that a BA in History and English was a great double un-employment degree. Kallie loves all beverages except beer and has switched almost completely to audiobooks. In her spare time she mainly sleeps, chases her two little hellions, and naps to recover from the bad sleep and the chasing of the hellions.