The Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress is an entity of the ABA’s Center for Public Interest Law, which is committed to "Making Justice Real" for people and communities across the country, at the border, and around the world through advocacy, research and education. To learn more about the Center and its other constituent entities, please visit.
July 12, 2019
About Us
The Standing Committee serves 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). The LLC is the world’s largest collection of law books and associated legal materials, with a growing electronic database to access those resources. The Standing Committee and the LLC work collaboratively to raise awareness within the legal profession and by Congress of the vast and unique array of legal materials at their disposal. The Committee achieves its goals through programming, legislative advocacy, research demonstrations, and training workshops, and by reaching out to other ABA groups to introduce their respective members to the Law Library staff and resources, among other initiatives.
Established in 1932 as the Standing Committee on the Facilities of the Law Library of Congress, with a name change in 1993 to the Standing Committee on the Law Library of Congress, the committee serves to this day as the voice of the legal profession concerning the Law Library of Congress (LLC). Over the years, working with Members of Congress and their staffs, the committee has obtained higher levels of funding for the LLC. In addition, collaborating 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 the LLC as a national resource serving not only Congress but also the legal profession, universities and law schools, and the public.
Our principal mission is to support several defined ABA goals, including ABA Goal 1 – to serve ABA members by providing benefits, programs, and services which promote members’ professional growth and quality of life, and ABA Goal 2 – to advance the rule of law. The committee supports Goal 1 by promoting awareness of the Law Library throughout the ABA and in other institutions likely to benefit from LLC services; and aids in maintaining and expanding the legal resources and services available to the legal profession from the LLC and the acclaimed Global Legal Information Network (GLIN). The committee pursues ABA Goal 2 by promoting GLIN within the ABA, the federal government, international bodies, and institutions likely to employ and support GLIN’s services worldwide. The committee collaborates with both ABA and outside groups in this regard, allowing it to reach new segments of the legal community, specifically law librarians and lawyers in the United States and abroad.
2019-2020 Committee Members Sheila Slocum Hollis, Chair, Partner, Duane Morris LLP
Mark D. Agrast, American Society of International Law
Billie Jo Kaufman, American University Washington College of Law
Daniel B. Magraw, Johns Hopkins University
Maria L. Soto, National Legal Aid & Defender Association
P. Matthew Sutko Mark Wojcik, John Marshall Law School
Special Advisors
Lisa Helem, The National Law Journal
M. Elizabeth Medaglia
Hon. William S. Sessions
Advisory Commission
Hon. Judith Boggs, Administrative Appeals Judge, U.S. Dept. of Labor
Adrienne E. Clair, Partner, Thompson Coburn LLP
Donald R. Dunner, Partner, Finnegan Henderson Hon. Leslie Hayashi
Donald J. Kochan, Professor, Chapman University School of Law
David S. Mao, Associate VP for Administration and COO, Georgetown Law
Janet Sinder, Professor, Brooklyn Law School