Introduction
In 1976 Myra Raggett, Christine Miskin, Bernard Barringer, and three other law firm librarians, established a group for the benefit of law librarians working in London. They called this group the City Law Librarians Group (CLLG). Although the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians (BIALL) had been founded seven years previously, there was no organisation providing a framework for legal information professionals working in London to meet regularly and compare theories and working practices. The three founder members saw a real need for a body to facilitate networking and socialising. Some years later CLLG became the City Legal Information Group (CLIG), to reflect the changing face of the burgeoning legal information profession. From humble beginnings CLIG has grown strongly and its membership represents all sectors of the legal profession based in and around London.
CLIG's objects
Part Two of CLIG's constitution lists the organisation's objects:
• CLIG exists to develop the role of legal information professionals in and around the City of London.
• CLIG intends to organise a variety of meetings throughout the year to facilitate members' continuing professional development and to provide a forum for networking for mutual benefit.
With its primary objects in mind, CLIG continues to provide an ideal forum for people interested in attending professional development seminars and hearing from industry experts. CLIG also arranges social events including visits, walks and parties, where members and non-members alike can socialise and network.
CLIG events
How the City Works series
CLIG has always endeavoured to create a platform for discussion on a range of City and legal topics. Legal information specialists tend to be au fait with legal practice, but CLIG realised there was a desire amongst our members to know more about City institutions and how these function. Therefore a series of seminars entitled How the City works was organised. These have proved to be very successful, with many sessions being oversubscribed.
An introductory seminar was given by Christopher Stoakes, a business insider for twenty-five years, who had written a book entitled All you need to know about the City. This session, drawing on his experience as a journalist and management consultant for many large City law firms, explained how city institutions connect, what banks, brokers and institutional investors do and the instruments they work with.
Continuing this theme attendees have heard from Alex Wise, an offshore hedge funds specialist, Sarah Catley a professional support lawyer and contributing editor to PLC Finance on Islamic Finance and Stephanie Biggs and Michel Debolt, lawyers in a leading London firm specialising in private equity. (See Stephanie's article at page 247 of this issue)
Professional development
Recent seminars under this head include outsourcing and the impact this is having, or may have, on legal information (particularly in the City); Web 2.0: its impact on the legal information profession and how to utilise some tools made possible since the advent of broadband; preparing for more senior roles; researching legislation in a given jurisdiction - such as the outstanding session on researching Northern Ireland case law held at the Law Society - and researching EU case law. All such talks are given by leaders in their fields.
A range of topics is continually offered to suit both individual and organisational needs. In cases where topics are more focused on the profession, or are specifically work centred, an organisation will usually pay for its staff to attend. However CLIG is mindful that there are numerous professional development topics an organisation would likely not pay for, nor wish to - talks on such topics as raising one's profile within a department, improving one's CV etc. In keeping its overheads down and securing sponsorship, CLIG is frequently able to offer such talks at a price unmatched by other organisations.
CLIG tries to ensure its seminars and talks are highly topical. A good example of this, considering current market conditions, is a talk it hopes to run on Restructuring and Insolvency. With the City bracing itself for even more difficult times, firms specialising in this legal area are likely to get busier and hence draw more on their respective information personnel. For those not familiar with this aspect of law, understanding how to handle enquiries on restructuring and insolvency and how to retrieve information from hitherto unknown sources and databases will hopefully be as useful as it is timely.
Networking and social events
Inextricable from the personal development seminars are opportunities for CLIG members and non-aligned legal information professionals to meet, network and socialise. CLIG sees these opportunities as part and parcel of developing oneself as a legal information professional and so considerable importance is given to organising social events. These include recent visits to the British Film Institute and British Library as well as Blue Badge guide walks around legal London (such as the recent walk around Inner and Middle Temple), introducing the Inns of Court and Royal Courts of Justice to people who may not have had the opportunity to see them previously.
Each year CLIG puts on a very popular party (this now takes place in Spring), which is heavily subsidised, even with the generous support of sponsors. Such gatherings foster the development of legal information professionals - members and non-members alike - inasmuch as they can congregate in wonderful surroundings and meet and compare notes with a wide range of similarly minded professionals, book and database vendors, recruitment specialists etc. The 2008 Spring Party took place at “Shakespeare's Globe” on the banks of the Thames and included a tour of the building, exactly modelled on an Elizabethan theatre. CLIG's famous Posh Breakfast takes place twice a year in equally fascinating surroundings, most recently at the Waldorf and Zetter Hotels and soon again at Simpsons in the Strand.
CLIG's AGM is held around August each year and again provides an ideal networking opportunity. This is usually accompanied by a wine or chocolate tasting or similar. As ever CLIG is grateful for the kind sponsorship it receives which enables it to subsidise member and non-member ticket prices on such occasions.
Membership
Membership is open to everyone with an interest in the provision of legal information. The activities of the Group are, however, usually held in and around the City of London. Membership of CLIG costs £18 and members will find the cost of attending their first seminar is almost offset by the saving they make through joining. In addition to a significant reduction in attending events, benefits of CLIG membership include:
• A quarterly newsletter
• Opportunities to network with other information professionals
• Updates on meetings and events planned throughout the year sent directly to you by email or paper copy
• Only members are eligible to join the Committee
CLIG's short term plans
With the advent of broadband and much quicker transfer speeds of information across the web, CLIG has been giving serious thought to overhauling its website and making information available to its members as soon as possible after a seminar or event has been run. This would mean no member would have to wait three or so months to receive information in newsletter format. CLIG proposes improving its website to better facilitate the storage and retrieval of information and to make use of software which will allow it to make information available to members in a much accelerated timeframe, say through RSS feeds.
Bursaries
CLIG continues to welcome applications for its wide range of bursaries. This includes bursaries to attend the annual BIALL conference and study weekends and bursaries for international conferences run by BIALL's sister organisations in many Commonwealth countries and common law jurisdictions, such as the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL), Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL), International Association of Law Libraries (IALL) etc.
Particular consideration is given to applications from those who have not had the opportunity to attend such conferences before, or who have not previously been in receipt of a CLIG bursary.
