ATL write
Profound and Candid Content
I saw the profound in a lot of the content. Judge Micah Smith’s keynote was not designed to entertain with cliches and fancy PowerPoints. It was instead designed to make us think about how we should be leading our teams and our profession: with empathy and out of concern for others. Servant leadership.
Other sessions I attended did the same. One session took on the name change of the Cleveland baseball team to the Guardians. Now that sounds like a fluff piece, just a little local interest spot. But it wasn’t. It told the story of an almost 30-year struggle by Native Americans for dignity. A struggle that involved bravery and patience and even a lot of determined lawyering. A struggle to enable them to feel welcome not only in the city’s baseball stadium but in community as well. It was all about leadership and the profession’s responsibility to stand up for those who need it and justice.
And most of the sessions other than vendor showcases were given by actual law librarians. Those with feet on the ground dealing with the issues of the day. There was a candid session about vibe coding where even the panelists admitted they couldn’t quite do it. You don’t get that kind of honesty many places. Panels also wrestled with the everlasting problem of effective lawyer training, hallucinations, and ethics. And many more I never got to.
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It’s for the good stuff that I plan to keep coming to the AALL conference. My only hope is that they keep the same atmosphere: one of learning and questioning instead of entertaining and wooing. It’s refreshing to have real discussions with people who understand the products and their clients’ needs and issues — those of the lawyers and legal professionals with whom they work. Learning more than spectacle.
So that’s why, at the end of the day, law librarians really do rock. They are Hall of Fame in my book.
Read the full piece at
https://abovethelaw.com/2026/07/law-librarians-in-the-city-of-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/
