Jennifer Laws
Senior Lecturer III
Education
- B.A. 1994, University of Kansas
- M.L.I.S. 1996, University of Texas at Austin
Contact Information
Ph.:
505-277-8654
Office:
1329
laws@law.unm.edu
Website
Bio
University of New Mexico students and faculty know Jennifer Laws from their interactions with her at the reference desk or in the classroom where she teaches the 2-credit hour Legal Research course. She also serves as the library’s Electronic Resources Coordinator.
Professor Laws came to UNM’s law library faculty with 16 years of wide-ranging library experience including public, law firm, and court libraries. From 2002 through 2012, she was a law librarian with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals serving all federal judges across 90,000 square miles of Southern and Western Texas. She began her legal information career as the law librarian for the San Antonio, Texas office of Jenkens & Gilchrist, P.C.
She is an active member of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) and the Southwestern Association of Law Libraries (SWALL). Her participation in these professional organizations has included work on numerous committees and holding several elected offices including SWALL President.
Book Chapters
The Lawyer in Society: Popular Culture Images of Lawyers and Your Self-Image, in Lawyering From the Inside Out (Cambridge University Press, 2018). Co-authored with Nathalie Martin.
Available at: Law Library
Book Reviews
A Legal History of the Civil War and Reconstruction: A Nation of Rights by Laura F. Edwards, 108 Law Libr. J. 292 (2016).
Available at: UNM-DR
All the Missing Souls: A Personal History of the War Crimes Tribunals by David Sheffer. 105 Law Libr. J. 381 (2013).
Available at: UNM-DR
An Introduction to Islamic Law by Wael B. Hallaq, 102 Law Libr. J. 294 (2010).
Available at: UNM-DR
Courses
Introduction to Legal Research
Applied Legal Research
Presentations
More Bang for Your Buck: Essential Legal Research for the New (and Not So New) Attorney, State Bar of New Mexico Annual Meeting (2018).
How I Flipped the Switch: A Case Study About Online Course Development, Student Learning Outcomes, and ABA Standard 306 in a Skills-Based Law Course, The Institute for Law Teaching and Learning Summer Conference (2018).
Diversify with Video Content: Video Outreach for Law Librarians, Southwestern Association of Law Libraries Annual Conference/Houston Association of Law Libraries Joint Annual Meeting (2018).
Digitization on the Cheap: Using your Limited Resources to Do It Right, New Mexico Library Association Annual Conference (2017).
Legal Research Resources for Public Librarians, Albuquerque Bernalillo County Public Libraries (2017). Co-presented with Keeta Harnett.
The Politics of Food in the Southwest: The Complex Example of New Mexico, Southwestern Association of Law Libraries Annual Conference (2017). Panel moderator.
Open-Access Textbooks in Academia: A Case Study in Law, Digital Collections Special Interest Group (2016).
Legal Research Learning Outcomes: Meeting the ABA Standards on Setting and Assessing Learning Outcomes, Southwestern Association of Law Libraries Annual Conference (2015).
Academic and Professional Journals
Universal Citation and the American Association of Law Libraries: A White Paper 103 Law Libr. J. 331 (2011). Co-edited with Timothy L. Coggins and John Cannan.
Available at: UNM-DR
Resourceful and Tough: The Fifth Circuit Libraries Pull Together to Weather Hurricanes, 10 AALL Spectrum 28 (2006). Co-authored with Amy Hale-Janeke.
Available at: UNM-DR
