The Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress has served as the Association’s connection to and voice of the legal profession concerning the continued development and effective operation of the Law Library of Congress (LLC) since 1932.  The LLC is the world’s largest collection of law books and associated legal materials, with a growing electronic database to access those resources. Over the years, the Committee, working directly with Members of Congress and their staffs, has managed to obtain higher levels of funding for LLC.  In addition, working with other nationally recognized professional societies, the Committee facilitates efforts to increase Law Library visibility and supports the digitization of legal materials and other efforts that improve access to legal literature and resources.  The Committee has continued to work toward the development of LLC as a national resource serving not only the Congress, but also the legal profession, universities and law schools, and the public.

Our principal mission is to support several defined ABA goals through the work we accomplish: 

• ABA Goal I - to serve ABA members by providing benefits, programs, and services which promote members’ professional growth and quality of life.  Our obligation in this regard is to promote awareness of the Law Library throughout the ABA and in other institutions likely to benefit from the Library’s services; and to aid in maintaining and expanding the legal resources and services available to the legal profession from the Law Library of Congress and its acclaimed Global Legal Information Network (GLIN).  
• ABA Goal IV - to advance the rule of law by our promotion of GLIN within the federal government, international bodies, and institutions likely to employ and support GLIN’s services worldwide. The Committee collaborates with both ABA and outside entities in this regard, allowing it to reach new segments of the legal community—specifically, law librarians and lawyers both in the United States and abroad.

American Bar Association
Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress
740 15^th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005-1022
202/662-1694
202/638-3844 (fax)

Congress established its Law Library in 1832, recognizing its need for ready access to reliable legal materials. The Law Library has grown over the years to become the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over three million volumes spanning the ages and covering virtually every jurisdiction in the world. For more information, please visit  http://www.loc.gov/law/

When Is a Law the Law? Why Authenticity
and Quality Matter

The Division offers two Clerkship opportunities:

The first is a ten-week Spring/Summer Clerkship open by competition, reviewed on a rolling basis and offering students entering into their second or third year at an ABA-accredited law school the opportunity to design and complete a legal research and writing project in substantive areas of Division concern. If of acceptable quality, the Division may publish the resultant monograph. Applicants must be members of the ABA Law Student Division and may join at http://www.abanet.org/lsd/home.html.

The second is a Fall/Winter Clerkship and typically involves conducting project research and writing; developing information for directories and other databases; coordinating survey development, distribution and results; or editing manuscripts for publication. Applicants may be undergraduate or law school students depending on project need.

• NEW!! 2009-2010 Clerkship Flyer
  
• Shanda Moyers, a 3L at Stetson University School of Law, was the winner of the 2007-2008 PSD Clerkship. Shanda's research focused on the small segment of the long-term homeless population with the most pronounced barriers to self-sufficiency, primarily mental health and/or substance abuse issues. Her research evaluated the effectiveness of legislation and the use of the criminal justice system in combating street homelessness in comparison with the effectiveness of measures employing outreach and the Housing First model.
  
• 2005 Winner of the PSD Summer Internship
• Article by 2005 Winner, Dr. Andrea Blau, Mental & Physical Disability Reporter, Vol. 30, Issue 1
  
• Criminal Responsibility and Multiple Personality Defendants, a monograph produced by our 1997 Internship winner,
  Ms. Sabra Owens.
  

For information about the Clerkships and how to apply, please call 202/662-1691 or email cccoleman@staff.abanet.org.

Also, see our article in the September issue of the ABA Law Student Division's Student Lawyer magazine. Visit the ABA Law Student Division at http://www.abanet.org/lsd/home.html.