Auerbach is a 32-year veteran of LexisNexis, with additional experience working in and alongside law firms and libraries. Since 2017, he has served as a Knowledge & Research Consultant, working with information professionals at AmLaw 200 law firms headquartered in the western United States. He holds a BA from Northwestern University and an MS from John F. Kennedy University (now National University). Auerbach also serves on the faculty of Atlantic University and the Rhine Research Center. Beyond his work in legal information, he is a parapsychologist, published author, mentalist, and occasional chocolatier. He is president of the boards of two nonprofit organizations: the Rhine Research Center and the Forever Family Foundation.

De Anda is a customer success manager in LexisNexis’ West Coast Large Law Division, with more than 20 years of experience at Am Law 50 and 100 firms, most recently as manager of user experience at Sheppard Mullin. A first-generation college graduate of the University of California, Riverside, she is passionate about diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and has mentored high school and college students for 15 years. De Anda is an active member of the Southern California Association of Law Libraries (SCALL), where she serves on the Community Youth Internship Experience Committee. She has presented at the AALL Annual Meeting and other local, regional, and national events on professional branding, networking, DEI, and leveraging library skills.

At Alston & Bird, Barajas leads research services supporting the firm’s legal practices and business needs. He has more than two decades of law firm research experience, specializing in legal and business research, competitive intelligence, due diligence, and research supporting attorneys and firm leadership. An active AALL member, Barajas has served on the Executive Board, chaired the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and served on the Annual Meeting Program Committee. He also contributes to the AALL Latinx Caucus.

Davison serves as director of the third-largest county in the United States. He is the first African American to lead the library in its 110-year history and brings 30 years of experience across the legal and corporate sectors. A longtime AALL leader, Davison served on the Executive Board from 2022 to 2025. He is a recipient of the AALL Innovation Tournament award, Fastcase 50, and the Houston Bar Association President’s Award, and was elected a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management in 2021. He currently serves on several access to justice and legal technology committees and advisory boards, including the State Bar of Texas Access to Justice Technology Committee and the International Legal Technology Association’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee, and is a co-host on AALL's AALLIn podcast. He holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Houston and an MS in Information Science from the University of Texas.

Winston has worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California for more than 25 years and brings over 40 years of library experience, including positions at Whittier College School of Law and two Los Angeles law firms, Munger, Tolles & Olson and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. He previously chaired the Library Advisory Group, which supports U.S. Attorney’s Offices without professional librarians, and has taught legal research to Department of Justice staff at the National Advocacy Center. Active in AALL, Winston has served as president, treasurer, executive board member, and committee and caucus volunteer. He is also a longtime member of the Southern California Association of Law Libraries (SCALL), where he served as president from 2001 to 2002. 

Penn is the Manager of Library & Research Services at Dickinson Wright, a firm headquartered in Detroit, Michigan with offices across the country and in Canada. She serves around 450 attorneys with a team of two. Before that she was a solo librarian at Butzel Long for four years. She is the co-founder of the Solo & Small Library Team Caucus within AALL. 

With more than 15 years of experience in the legal industry, Hennies has held roles across law librarianship, from research to leadership. In his current role, he works with Am Law 100 and 200 firms to manage library operations and develop and deliver internal training. Prior to joining Harbor, he served as director of library services at Dinsmore & Shohl, where he worked with the leadership team on firmwide initiatives, managed day-to-day library operations, and collaborated with leaders across administrative departments to guide the firm through a series of mergers.

Jane Meland has been with Michigan State University since 2002 and has worked as a librarian since 1997. In addition to overseeing operations at the Schaefer Law Library, she teaches Advanced Legal Research and provides research instruction as part of the required first-year research and writing course. She earned her JD from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and a master’s in library and information science from Wayne State University.  She is also a member of the Michigan State Bar. 

Ella Pieterse is a solo law library assistant with the New York State Unified Court System and vice president/president-elect of the Association of Law Libraries of Upstate New York. She is currently attaining her Master of Library and Information Sciences at the University at Buffalo, with an expected graduation in spring 2027. As part of her graduate studies, Pieterse will be conducting the research study highlighted in this session during the Spring 2027 semester.

Cohen is currently the library Relations director at Bloomberg Industry Group. Prior to joining INDG in May of 2023, she was the assistant library director and an associate professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. From 2007 to 2018, Cohen served as the circuit library director for the U.S. Courts Library for the Tenth Circuit in Denver, Colorado. She received her BA in French and her MA in Library and Information Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her JD from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.

Caleb is an AI governance leader and researcher specializing in building and scaling AI governance capabilities for enterprises across financial services, government, academia, and emerging technology sectors. At Bloomberg, he served as a principal subject matter expert in AI governance, writing and speaking on the topic. In his current role, he consults with academic stakeholders and designs supplemental curricula to integrate responsible AI use into instruction. He combines legal, product, and research expertise to advance practical governance and expand access to AI. Caleb serves on the IAPP AI Governance Advisory Board and is co-executive editor of AI Governance: From Strategy to Execution, an IAPP publication. He also serves as an adjunct professor, co-teaching a course focused on technology and law.

Carpino has proven expertise in leading legal information teams, optimizing resources, and driving innovation in top law firms. Her experience includes budget management, vendor negotiations, and cross-functional collaboration. A recognized thought leader and award-winning contributor, Lindsey has a strong track record in mentoring, AI integration, and aligning content services with firmwide goals to foster continuous improvement. She has received several honors, including the AALL’s Emerging Leader Award, the AALL Innovation Showcase award, the PLLIP Advocate of the Year Award, and the Chicago Association of Law Libraries’ Agnes and Harvey Reid Award for Outstanding Contribution to Law Librarianship. She was also named a Fastcase 50 honoree, recognizing the year’s “smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries, & leaders. Lawyer or nonlawyer.”

de Perio Wittman’s scholarship examines technology competency, legal ethics, accessibility, and how legal education prepares lawyers for the evolving demands of legal practice. She co-authored “Taking on the Ethical Obligation of Technology Competency in the Academy: An Empirical Analysis of Practice-Based Technology Training Today,” published in the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. She received the inaugural Technology & Ethics Award from the Association of American Law Schools Section on Technology, Law, and Legal Education and was named a 2024 vLex Fastcase 50 legal innovator. Her co-edited book, Organizational Structures of Academic Law Libraries: Past, Present, and Future (Volume 3), received AALL’s 2026 Joseph L. Andrews Legal Literature Award.

Davison serves as director of the third-largest county in the United States. He is the first African American to lead the library in its 110-year history and brings 30 years of experience across the legal and corporate sectors. A longtime AALL leader, Davison served on the Executive Board from 2022 to 2025. He is a recipient of the AALL Innovation Tournament award, Fastcase 50, and the Houston Bar Association President’s Award, and was elected a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management in 2021. He currently serves on several access to justice and legal technology committees and advisory boards, including the State Bar of Texas Access to Justice Technology Committee and the International Legal Technology Association’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee, and is a co-host on AALL's AALLIn podcast. He holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Houston and an MS in Information Science from the University of Texas.

Kathleen (Katie) Brown is the associate dean for information resources atCharleston School of Law. A recognized leader in legal technology and ethics,she was named a 2024 vLex Fastcase 50 honoree and received the 2024 AALSSection of Technology, Law & Legal Education Technology & Ethics Awardfor her contributions to advancing these areas in legal education. Brown holds a JD from Seattle University School of Law with afocus on intellectual property law, an MS in Library and Information Sciencefrom Drexel University, and a BFA from DePaul University. She is a frequent CLEinstructor on topics including legal ethics, artificial intelligence, legaltechnology, process optimization, and legal research. Her teaching experiencespans courses such as Legal Technology for Practice, Art of Advocacy,specialized legal research, and multiple courses on artificial intelligence. An active member of AALL, Brown has served in numerousleadership roles, including on the AALL Executive Board from 2011 to 2014. Herresearch interests encompass intellectual property, legal technology ineducation, artificial intelligence, and acting skills for lawyers. Her recentscholarship, co-authored with Jessica de Perio Wittman, is published in Volume8 of the Journal of Legal Technology at Texas and available online: Who isShaping Technological Competence in ABA-Accredited Law Schools?

Maines manages Thomson Reuters librarian relationships in DC, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New England, New York, South Carolina, and Virginia, serving librarian customers for almost 30 years. She also has worked as a reference librarian for the Legal Information Center at the University of Florida, Levin College of Law. Maines is an active member of several law librarian associations on both national and regional levels. She is a former legal division program chair for the SLA Annual Conference. Her senior thesis was published in the American Association of Law Libraries’ Law Library Journal. She earned her JD from the University of Florida, and her MLIS from Catholic University of America. 

Jenkins has more than 20 years of law firm experience that includes time as a paralegal within healthcare and corporate practice groups. This time in the "trenches" provides her with a deep understanding of research services within the greater context of the firm, translating to a commitment to enhanced collaboration with practice groups and firm administrative departments. To this end, Jenkins pioneered the firm's Practice Liaison team in 2022, which partners with practice groups to proactively identify and meet their unique needs. Earlier this year, she led the effort that made Troutman Pepper Locke the first law firm to successfully integrate CoCounsel within its proprietary AI platform, Athena. She works daily with teams across the firm to embed legal research AI into their day-to-day workflows and leads her Research Services team through the broader shift AI represents for the profession, helping the team rethink what legal research looks like at a law firm and where new value can be found as the industry continues to change. Jenkins is an active member of the American Association of Law Libraries and serves as treasurer of the Virginia Association of Law Libraries.

As head AI technologist, Melde leads a team of AI specialists focused on legal AI strategy, evaluation, adoption, change management, and innovation for the world’s largest law firms. Throughout her tenure at Thomson Reuters, she has helped legal organizations evaluate, implement, and scale AI and machine learning technologies while establishing best practices for AI innovation across the legal industry. Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, she served as a senior product manager and strategist at NextChapter following its acquisition by Fastcase and previously served as chief operating officer of Catalyst Law in Phoenix, Arizona.

Schauder leads the Law Library's AI initiatives and the Legal Tech Series, an educational program that strengthens students' legal research skills while building fluency with legal databases and AI-driven technologies. She presents regularly on generative AI, legal research, and legal analytics, contributes to the Law School's broader AI initiatives, and has taught Advanced Legal Research. Schauder is active in the American Association of Law Libraries and previously served as president of ABLL and secretary of the Law Librarians of New England. She joined Michigan Law in 2025 after working at AmLaw 100 and 200 firms in Boston and at the Social Law Library. Her professional interests center on preparing students for practice by pairing foundational research skills with a critical understanding of how, when, and whether to use emerging AI tools.

Rebecca Mattson is the Director of Operations and Scholarship for the Montague Law Library and a Professor of Legal Research at Penn State Dickinson Law. In her role, she oversees the day-to-day operations of the law library and manages collection development, acquisitions, and digital projects for both Montague Law Library locations. Professor Mattson administers the law school’s institutional repository, Insight @ Dickinson Law, offering enhanced support for faculty scholarship and research. She also serves as the primary library liaison to law school journals, assisting with training, site development, and publication processes. She teaches first-year Legal Research as well as upper-level research courses. Her research interests include intellectual freedom, legal history, legal research pedagogy, and preservation of historical legal documents.

Bossley leads accessibility standards and practices for the Thomson Reuters accessibility program team. Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, he led the digital accessibility compliance program at The Ohio State University. He is an experienced accessibility consultant and a court-recognized expert witness in digital accessibility matters in both state and U.S. federal courts. Bossley is a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals.

Lovell has more than 25 years of experience in user experience and joined the LexisNexis Legal & Professional User Experience Group in 2010. He worked on the Lexis Advance and Lexis+ platforms before focusing on accessibility in 2017. He has also collaborated with other RELX businesses, including Elsevier and LexisNexis Risk, to advance accessibility practices across the organization. Today, Lovell leads the team responsible for testing LexisNexis Legal & Professional products for accessibility and preparing Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs) for customers. He also works directly with customers who contact LexisNexis through its Accessibility Inbox or Customer Support, helping communicate their needs to product teams. He is committed to making access to the rule of law available to everyone.

Julie Tedjeske Crane is a law librarian and Professor of Legal Research at Penn State Dickinson Law. She writes and speaks about sustainable work in libraries. She contributed two chapters to Creating Healthy Library Workplaces (Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited, 2026), one on slow librarianship and slow productivity and one on meaning and purpose in library work. She contributed an article about a "good enough" approach to work to AALL Spectrum, and on the RIPS Law Librarian Blog she addressed a diverse range of topics including the Zeigarnik effect, time management, remote and hybrid work, and emotional work in law librarianship. At the AALL Annual Meeting, she coordinated a 2026 pre-conference workshop on attention and a 2024 program on deep work and slow productivity.

Kristina J. Alayan is the Associate Dean for Library & Technology and Associate Law School Professor at the Francis King Carey School of Law.  She oversees all aspects of library and technology operations and services through innovative, strategic, and solutions-oriented leadership to support the advancement of the scholarly, pedagogical, and clinical goals of the law school.  She is dedicated to ensuring the library is an active, thriving center for learning and innovation for the law school community.  She is a frequent speaker on topics related to leadership, change management, diversity, recruitment and retention, and professional advancement. 

Before joining the law faculty in 2021, Professor Alayan was the Law Library Director and Assistant Professor of Law at the Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Law Library at the Howard University School of Law.  She also held several positions on the law library management team and served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center.  Her career began at Duke Law as the Foreign and International Law Librarian & Lecturing Fellow.  She has served in numerous leadership positions at the local, regional, national, and international levels (e.g., LLSDC, USMAI, AALL, IALL).

Lorin Jackson, MA, MI, is Assistant Director of the Holman Biotech Commons at the University of Pennsylvania, where she co-leads strategic direction and operations for a flagship biotech library. With over a decade of progressive leadership across academic, health sciences, and special library settings, she has built a national reputation for trauma-informed practice, critical librarianship, and inclusive organizational culture-building. Previously, as Executive Director of Region 2 for the Network of the National Library of Medicine, she led a hybrid team from inception to operational maturity, managed a $1.3 million annual budget, and served as Executive Director for a five-year, $6 million NIH cooperative agreement. Her earlier career includes leadership roles at Swarthmore College, the AIDS Library at Philadelphia FIGHT, and Mastery Charter Schools, where she directed programs, supervised staff and students, and guided service continuity through the COVID-19 pandemic. Jackson holds an MI in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University, an MA in Philosophy and Religion from the California Institute of Integral Studies, and a BA in Philosophy and Education from Haverford College. She taught for five years as an Adjunct Professor at the Syracuse University iSchool, as an instructor for Library Juice Academy, and as a facilitator for the Medical Library Association, covering cultural competence and trauma-informed librarianship. A widely published scholar, she is lead co-editor of the forthcoming volume Embracing Slow Librarianship (Bloomsbury Libraries Unlimited) and has contributed chapters to volumes including Critical Perspectives on AI in Librarianship and Inclusive Leadership in Academic Libraries; she also co-founded and served as Editor-in-Chief of WOC+Lib. Her honors include the Medical Library Association's President's Award (2024), an NLM/AAHSL Leadership Fellowship (2025–2026), and a NISO Plus Fellowship (2021). She is past chair of the MLA's Social Justice and Health Disparities Caucus and mentors through the Association of Research Libraries' Kaleidoscope Program.

Caitlin Hunter is current chair of the Annual Meeting Program Committee. She is a reference librarian at UCLA School of Law and regularly teaches basic treaty research to law students as part of Advanced Legal Research and guest lectures. 

Davison serves as director of the third-largest county in the United States. He is the first African American to lead the library in its 110-year history and brings 30 years of experience across the legal and corporate sectors. A longtime AALL leader, Davison served on the Executive Board from 2022 to 2025. He is a recipient of the AALL Innovation Tournament award, Fastcase 50, and the Houston Bar Association President’s Award, and was elected a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management in 2021. He currently serves on several access to justice and legal technology committees and advisory boards, including the State Bar of Texas Access to Justice Technology Committee and the International Legal Technology Association’s Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee, and is a co-host on AALL's AALLIn podcast. He holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Houston and an MS in Information Science from the University of Texas.

Kathleen (Katie) Brown is the associate dean for information resources atCharleston School of Law. A recognized leader in legal technology and ethics,she was named a 2024 vLex Fastcase 50 honoree and received the 2024 AALSSection of Technology, Law & Legal Education Technology & Ethics Awardfor her contributions to advancing these areas in legal education. Brown holds a JD from Seattle University School of Law with afocus on intellectual property law, an MS in Library and Information Sciencefrom Drexel University, and a BFA from DePaul University. She is a frequent CLEinstructor on topics including legal ethics, artificial intelligence, legaltechnology, process optimization, and legal research. Her teaching experiencespans courses such as Legal Technology for Practice, Art of Advocacy,specialized legal research, and multiple courses on artificial intelligence. An active member of AALL, Brown has served in numerousleadership roles, including on the AALL Executive Board from 2011 to 2014. Herresearch interests encompass intellectual property, legal technology ineducation, artificial intelligence, and acting skills for lawyers. Her recentscholarship, co-authored with Jessica de Perio Wittman, is published in Volume8 of the Journal of Legal Technology at Texas and available online: Who isShaping Technological Competence in ABA-Accredited Law Schools?

Rubin oversees editorial workflows, content strategy, and production operations for legal and regulatory publications and digital platforms.

Arora leads efforts to accelerate AI adoption, integrate AI into next-generation solutions, modernize content workflows, and drive innovation. He brings more than 20 years of experience developing content-driven products powered by emerging technologies, with deep expertise in data, AI, and product innovation.

With a background in both librarianship and publishing, Robertson has held roles at Wiley, the American Psychological Association, and the New York County District Attorney's Office. Alexa earned a BA from Penn State University and an MLIS from Pratt Institute. Today, she leads PLI Press, overseeing the development of legal publishing and information resources. She is passionate about the intersection of legal information, publishing, research, and emerging technologies

O’Brien oversees PLI's Programs and Publishing Departments. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan as well as a JD from The George Washington University Law School. Prior to joining PLI, O’Brien worked in both state and federal prosecutors' offices as well as in private securities litigation. She volunteers her time representing veterans on a pro bono basis and is an active member of the New York State Bar.