It was a banner year for the Law School’s moot court competitors, as one team brought home a championship trophy, multiple teams made deep runs in national tournaments, and several students earned impressive individual honors.

“For our external competitions against other schools, we had to have tryouts this year because we had a record number of applicants,” said Professor Lane McFadden, who teaches Legal Writing and Research and Appellate Advocacy and supervises the Law School’s appellate moot court programs. “The rising 2Ls are now excited because the students who are only a year or two ahead of them have done it and have enjoyed some success, which has elevated the visibility of our program.”

Maurer students saw great success at oral argument competitions this year. The team honors were led by 2025 graduates Annie Hoodecheck and Emma Leonard, who brought home the title in the Anderson Center Seventh Circuit Moot Court Competition, held at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago in March.

“That was exciting to win,” McFadden said. “To see Anne and Emma do so well was remarkable, but additionally, after the competition I started getting emails from the school that administers the competition and attorneys who judged it praising our students not just for their ability, but for how personable and great they were to be around. That makes us even more proud.”

In Oklahoma City, fellow Class of 2025 grads Allyson McBride and Adam Rosenthall made it to the final rounds of regionals at the ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition. The duo lost a close 2-1 decision that would’ve made them the first Maurer team in many years to make it to the National Championship. A second team at the competition, comprised of Allison McDevitt and Alivia Benedict, advanced to the semifinal rounds.

And Joy Atadoga, competing in the ABA’s First Amendment and Media Law competition with an assigned partner from the University of Mississippi, argued in the final round before a panel of federal and state judges at the ABA’s annual Media Law chapter conference.

Other Maurer students received individual recognition in competition this year. Justice Jama was the top oralist at Elon Law School’s Billings Exum Frye Moot Court Competition, and Allyson McBride was a top oralist at the ABA’s National Appellate Advocacy Competition. Aaron Hendryx and Emma Massa were both recognized as top oralists at the National Health Law Moot Competition last October.

But while oral argument is the visible part of a moot court competition, writing is also a significant component. Most competitions disallow any faculty involvement during the writing process to ensure the work is entirely that of the students.

And our students excelled, winning brief-writing recognition at five different competitions in the 2024-25 academic year. Atadoga’s team won the honors at the First Amendment and Media Law Diversity competition, while Hoodecheck and Leonard earned Best Appellee Brief honors at the Seventh Circuit Moot Court Competition. It was the second year in a row a Maurer team took home best briefing honors at that event.

“For me personally, Annie and Emma were both in my LRW class when they were 1Ls, so to see them win a writing award was a major highlight,” McFadden said.

The Class of 2025 wasn’t the only one earning accolades.

Rising 3Ls Rishav Aikat, Carissa Margraf, and Noor Qureshi were recognized with Memorial-Writing Honors at the Jessup International Law Moot Court U.S. Regional Competition in Portland.

“The Jessup team’s writing award is particularly impressive, because not only is this a difficult international law problem, but this is the only competition where students write both briefs instead of a brief for just one side,” McFadden said. Maurer teams have been recognized for their writing in three consecutive Jessup competitions.

Aaron Hendryx and Emma Massa won brief-writing honors at the National Health Law Moot Court Competition, and Victoria Bichutskaya and Maggie McComas earned brief writing honors at the Tulane Mardi Gras Invitational Sports Law Moot Court Competition in February.

For McFadden, the students’ successes are a clear sign that Maurer is a top producer of competitors and future advocates.

“These kinds of competitions really do cater to a very specific presentation style that not everyone has,” he said, “so it takes a real confidence, a real assured public speaker to do this well. Part of the trick of finding great advocacy competitors is that the most confident public speakers aren’t always the strongest writers, and vice versa. The best competitors are good at both. And these students are good at both.”

The full list of 2024-25 advocacy accolades:

Billings Exum Frye Moot Court Competition (Elon Law School, October 2024)

Justice Jama (’25) and Nathan Blair (’25)

Oralist Honors – Justice Jama (#5)

National Health Law Moot Court Competition (Southern Illinois University Law School, October 2024)

Semifinalist Team – Aaron Hendryx (‘25) and Emma Massa (‘25)

Oralist Honors – Aaron Hendryx (#5), Emma Massa (#7)

Brief-Writing Honors (#3)

National Moot Court Competition – Chicago Regionals (Loyola Chicago Law School, November 2024)

Quarterfinalist Team – Ryan Day (’25) and Kyle Pobanz (’25)

Quarterfinalist Team – Claudia Eder (’25) and LuLu Faulk (’25)

Chicago Bar Association Moot Court Competition (Dirksen Federal Courthouse, Chicago, November 2024)

Octofinalist (Sweet Sixteen) team – Elvis Riveras Salinas (’25) and Tiffany Lee (’25)

ABA First Amendment and Diversity in Media Law Competition (Austin, TX, February 2025)

Member of Finalist Team and Best Brief – Joy Atadoga (’26)

Jessup International Law Moot Court US Regional Competition (Portland, OR, February 2025)

Memorial-Writing Honors (#10) – Noor Qureshi (’26), Rishav Aikat (’26), and Carissa Margraf (’26)

ABA National Appellate Advocacy Competition (Oklahoma City Regionals, February 2025)

Finalist Team – Allyson McBride (’25) and Adam Rosenthall (’25)

Semifinalist Team – Alivia Benedict (’25) and Allison McDevitt (’25)

Oralist Honors (#5) – Allyson McBride (’25)

Tulane Mardi Gras Invitational Sports Law Moot Court Competition (Tulane Law School, February 2025)

Brief-writing honors — Victoria Bichutskaya (’25) and Maggie McComas (’25)

Anderson Center Seventh Circuit Moot Court Competition (Dirksen Federal Courthouse, Chicago, March 2025)

Best Appellee Brief and Champion Team – Emma Leonard (’25) and Annie Hoodecheck (’25)

Global Antitrust Institute Invitational Moot Court Competition (E. Barrett Prettyman Courthouse, Washington, DC, March 2025)

Connor Meyer (’26), Jonathan Hall (’26) and Bre Castenada (’26)

Kaufman Securities Law Moot Court Competition (Fordham Law School, March 2025)

Parker McGuffey (’25) and Jacob Orban (’25)

Vis International Business Law Arbitration Moot (Vienna, Austria, March 2025)

Jack Quinn (’25), Alexia Hervet (LLM ’25), and Ludovica Davoli (LLM ’25)

Vis International Business Law Arbitration Moot (Hong Kong, March 2025)

Shuwei Li (’25), Yuan Ge (’25), Philippe Lin (’26), Max Fang (’25), and Alaya Mathur (LLM ’25)

Nicholle Vandy, a rising 3L from Knox, Ind., has become the first Indiana University Maurer School of Law student to earn top honors at the American University Washington College of Law National Health Writing Competition.

Vandy’s paper, “True Man, Captive Mother: Abortion as a Fundamental Self-Defense Right,” was named the winning entry of the 10^th annual competition, which encourages law students from across the country to write scholarly papers on current topics of interest relevant to health, food, and/or drug law.

For the Law School, Vandy’s award is the latest evidence the school is emerging as a health law leader. Professor Jennifer D. Oliva was elected to the American Law Institute last fall and served as the 2023 Chair of the American Association of Law School’s Section on Law, Medicine, and Health Care. She currently serves as the 2025 Chair of the AALS Section on Biolaw.

“We are so proud of Nicholle,” said Oliva, one of Vandy’s instructors. “She worked diligently throughout the entire 2024-25 academic year to submit an outstanding paper to this competition. The AUWCL National Health Writing Competition is one of the most competitive in the country, with entries every year from 2L, 3L, part-time, and LLM students from around the U.S. It is a tremendous source of pride for the Law School to claim this year’s winner.”

Vandy developed the paper as part of Professor Luis Fuentes-Rohwer’s seminar on the Fourteenth Amendment, with Oliva encouraging her to enter it into the competition.

The honor comes with a $1,500 cash prize, sponsored by AUWCL alumni.

“Congratulations on this outstanding achievement,” members of the AUWCL Health Law and Policy Program wrote. “We’re thrilled to recognize your work.”

It is the second national honor for Vandy this spring. In April she was named an American Constitution Society Next Generation Fellow. She is interested in pursuing a career in public interest law after law school and is working as an intern this summer with the Capital Habeas Unit for the Western District of Missouri’s Federal Defender Office.

Vandy also serves as executive articles editor for the Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality and is involved in the Law School’s Protective Order Project and First Generation Law Association. She was a quarterfinalist in this year’s Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition, where she also earned oral advocacy honors.

A new Indiana law that expands the state’s prescribed burning capacity was signed by Indiana Governor Mike Braun on April 30, in part due to efforts by Indiana University Maurer School of Law students through the school’s Conservation Law Clinic.

The law expands a prescribed fire training program administered through the Indiana Department of Natural Resources and defines the standard of liability for those certified through the training program. Before the bill was signed, Indiana was one of only a few states nationwide without a certification program or standard of liability clearly defined through legislation. This new law will allow interested members of the public to now take advantage of the training program offered by Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The law is designed to increase the frequency and efficacy of prescribed fire as a land management tool in the state.

“This bill marks an important step forward for conservation and private land stewardship in Indiana,” said Jarred Brooke, chair of the Indiana Prescribed Fire Council. “With clearer training standards and liability protections, prescribed fire can continue to be applied safely, effectively, and more widely across the landscape.”

Indiana Law students played a major role drafting the initial version of the bill and advising Indiana Prescribed Fire Council throughout the legislative process.

“Our law students worked extensively on the background research and drafting for this legislation over the past year,” said Christian Freitag, executive director of the Conservation Law Center. “This is a particularly important tool to maintain oak-hickory, forests, woodlands, and savannas, which are critical for many species. Cerulean warblers, for example, will go extinct if we don’t figure out how to save oak-hickory climax forest and woodlands.”

Though the CLC is an independent public interest law firm, it partners with the Law School to offer the Conservation Law Clinic, giving second- and third-year law students the opportunity to work on real issues for clients who need assistance with natural resource conservation.

Freitag estimates Indiana Law students spent upward of 700 hours of time on the project, which is now state law.

One of those students is rising 3L Erin Shea.

“The fact that we could do something that will affect landowners’ rights for years to come has been an incredible experience,” Shea said. “I definitely did not think I’d have this kind of experience in law school, and, as someone who is interested in environmental law, the fact that what we did have such a big impact is really rewarding.”

“Other states have prescribed fire statutes that lay out standards to ensure private landowners can do it safely,” Shea said. “If a landowner knew about prescribed burning and wanted to do it, they’d have to go outside of Indiana to be properly trained. That’s more expensive and discourages landowners from doing it. We really wanted to find a way to encourage landowners to conduct prescribed burns in safe conditions and with local training and certification. Prescribed burning is a really good tool that’s been used for ages to help clear dead foliage and allow new life to grow.”

Shea and two of her colleagues—Joy Atadoga and Nathan Evers—researched and drafted the legislation, but first they had to gain a better sense of the problem and how best to solve it.

“Jarred Brooke meet with us and gave us some of the history and science behind prescribed burns,” Shea said. “Jarred described how fire is an important ecological process necessary for the health of fire adapted ecosystems including the oak-hickory forest ecosystem in southern Indiana. He further described the training and planning required for safely and effectively completing prescribed burns,”

Indiana State Rep. Beau Baird introduced the draft legislation, which then went through the traditional legislative process of receiving public and lawmaker input. The students then did the research to determine how proposed amendments to the bill might affect the original legislation.

“It was interesting to hear when the Indiana Senate Natural Resources Committee and the House committee held hearings where several landowners came to talk about how they’ve been doing prescribed burns and how it has made such a difference on their land,” Shea said. “They were really passionate about it and it was rewarding to see how excited they were about something we were doing and how it will impact their lives.”

Shea intends to pursue a career in real estate or environmental law after she graduates in 2026. She will serve in the Conservation Law Clinic again starting this fall.

One of the world’s most influential leaders in the health ecosystem never thought he’d make it to college, let alone to the C-Suite of a major corporation helping diversify the American health care workforce. But Steve Beard isn’t your average CEO.

Raised on the south side of Chicago, Beard just assumed he was destined for a blue collar career after high school. But a guidance counselor, seeing something in Beard that he didn’t see in himself, urged him to apply to college. Four years later Beard was a graduate of the University of Illinois. A brief stint in banking led to a desire to go even further with his own education. Three years later—Steve Beard, JD.

And now the Indiana University Maurer School of Law alumnus is a member of the TIME100 Health class of 2025, alongside a number of other prestigious leaders including Melinda French Gates, Bill Nye, and Kate Middleton.

Beard, the Chairman and CEO of Adtalem Global Education, oversees a number of higher education institutions that have more than 90,000 students currently enrolled. Over the past few years Adtalem has become one of the country’s leading educators of doctors, nurses, and veterinarians. And many are from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds.

“At Adtalem, we believe that expanding access to quality education is one of the most powerful ways to advance health equity,” Beard said. “Across our institutions, we are building a healthcare workforce that not only addresses critical shortages, but also reflects the diversity of the patients they serve. This mission is urgent and it is personal.”

Adtalem’s schools include the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Ross University School of Medicine, Chamberlain University, Walden University, and Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. Its medical schools educate more Black doctors than any other American medical school, and five times the number of women physicians than the national average.

“Our medical students achieve a 95 percent-plus first-time residency attainment rate—many in primary care and underserved communities,” Beard said. “And our nursing programs lead the nation in degrees earned by students from culturally and socioeconomically diverse backgrounds.”

It comes as little surprise, then, to learn TIME honored Beard as one of 18 “Titans” on the TIME100 Health list. He is alongside Alice Walton, the wealthiest woman in the world who is launching her own school of medicine in her native Arkansas; Dr. Sumbul Desai, Apple’s vice president of health; and head of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and other major players advancing health care across the globe.

“Steve Beard has established himself as one of America’s leading champions of health care diversity,” said Indiana Law Dean Christiana Ochoa. “Not only is that evident by his TIME100 recognition, but also by the nearly 90,000 future physicians, nurses, vets, and social workers enrolled in Adtalem’s schools. Steve is an invaluable member of the Indiana Law community, and we’re so proud to see him recognized on the global stage.”

Beard is a member of the Law School’s Board of Visitors, supporting the school’s mission and enhancing its programs and reputation. After graduating from Indiana Law, Beard served as a clerk to the Hon. Frank Sullivan on the Indiana Supreme Court. He served as an associate with Schiff Hardin, LLP for four years in Chicago before joining Heidrick & Struggles, where he rose from assistant general counsel to executive vice president and chief administrative officer before joining Adtalem as its COO in 2018.

In addition to his degrees from the University of Illinois and the Maurer School of Law, Beard is a graduate of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Indiana University Maurer School of Law Professor Hannah L. Buxbaum has been elected to the American Journal of International Law’s Board of Editors.

She will serve a four-year term running through April 2029.

The AJIL is a leading peer-reviewed journal, published quarterly since 1907, that serves as the flagship publication of the American Society of International Law. The journal features articles, essays, editorial comments, current developments, and book reviews by preeminent scholars and practitioners from around the world addressing developments in public and private international law and foreign relations law.

Buxbaum has previously served in a number of leadership roles in the American Society of International Law, including as Vice President.  She is a leading scholar of private international law, international jurisdiction, and transnational litigation. She also currently serves as President of the American Society of Comparative Law.

An Indiana University Maurer School of Law faculty member is one of six professors on the Bloomington campus to earn the university’s Outstanding Junior Faculty Award.

Associate Professor Asaf Lubin will be recognized this fall with the award, which is the most prestigious campus-level award available specifically to pre-tenure faculty. The award is designed to identify the most promising untenured faculty and assist them in the development of their research programs and creative activities.

“Professor Lubin has become an integral part of the Law School faculty since he joined us in 2020,” said Indiana Law Dean Christiana Ochoa. “At a time when law struggles to keep pace with the realities of cyber conflict and pervasive surveillance, Professor Lubin’s research has a global impact. As an instructor, he’s quickly established an outstanding reputation as evidenced by the three teaching awards he’s earned in just five years.”

Professor Lubin’s scholarship examines how law mediates the exercise of power in domains shaped by mandated secrecy, technological complexity, and national security imperatives. His work explores the regulatory architectures that govern everything from artificial intelligence and cyber conflict to intelligence gathering and informational privacy.

Drawing on tools from human rights law, private law, and international law, Lubin maps the shifting boundaries of accountability in an era where governmental authority is increasingly delegated to opaque systems and distributed technologies. In doing so, he reveals how code now functions as a central medium for twenty-first-century statecraft and argues for legal frameworks equipped to confront this reconfiguration of authority.

In addition to dozens of published academic articles, book chapters, and invited symposium contributions, Lubin is the author of two forthcoming books: “The International Law of Intelligence: The World of Spycraft and the Law of Nations” (Oxford University Press) and “Teaching Cybersecurity Law and Policy” (Edward Elgar). The Law School hosted a book launch event for “The International Law of Intelligence” earlier this month, and the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies—where Lubin is an affiliated faculty member—also hosted a panel discussion with Lubin and two national security law scholars in advance of the book’s publication at the end of the year.

Lubin plans to use part of the Outstanding Junior Faculty Award prize toward promoting the book, which offers a groundbreaking exploration of how international law intersects with the clandestine world of espionage. Drawing on insights from intelligence studies, moral philosophy, and international and national security law, the book charts a comprehensive framework for understanding the rights, limits, and responsibilities that govern peacetime intelligence activities.

Outside the classroom, Lubin has established himself as a leading voice on the legal and policy challenges posed by emerging technologies. He is a faculty affiliate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society and a Visiting Fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project. He has also held leadership roles within the American Society of International Law, the American Association of Law Schools, and the Junior International Law Scholars Association. He has been called upon to advise both government agencies and non-governmental organizations on complex issues at the intersection of international law and technology governance.

Frequently quoted in the media, Lubin joined Lawfare, one of the world’s most prestigious nonprofit multimedia publications dedicated to legal, policy, and security issues, as contributing editor this spring.

In announcing the 2025 Outstanding Junior Faculty Award recipients, IU Bloomington Provost and Executive Vice President Rahul Shrivastav said, “IU Bloomington is proud to recognize these outstanding early-career faculty whose innovative research and dedication to their fields exemplify the excellence we strive for as an institution. Their achievements reflect the vibrant intellectual culture of our campus, and we are excited to support their continued growth and discovery.”

For the fourth consecutive year, an Indiana University Maurer School of Law student has been chosen as an American Constitution Society Next Generation Leader.

Nicholle Vandy, a 2L from Knox, Indiana, is one of three Indiana law students selected for the honor.

“I’m excited to introduce this year’s class of Next Generation Leaders, who represent the future of the progressive legal movement at a time when we need them more than ever to join us in the fight for the rule of law and our democracy,” said Zinelle October, ACS Interim President.

Launched in 2007, the Next Generation Leaders (NGL) program recognizes and supports law school students who have shown exceptional leadership in their work with their ACS student chapters. The program offers various opportunities that empower the students to develop their leadership skills and make a long-lasting impact in their communities.

“These student leaders have worked tirelessly across the country to meet this moment,” October said. “They are working to strengthen their local progressive legal networks; connecting students with thought leaders, changemakers, and state and federal court judges; educating their community about priority and urgent topics; and inspiring their fellow students to proactively engage in protecting our democracy and upholding the Constitution. I look forward to watching this impressive class enter and grow within our profession and join the more than 400 NGL Alumni making meaningful contributions across the country.”

Vandy graduated from Indiana University in May 2023 with high honors from the Department of Political Science and the Department of History. She currently serves as executive articles editor of the Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality, and is actively involved with the Law School’s ACS chapter, Protective Order Project, and First Generation Law Association. She hopes to pursue a career in public interest law after graduation.

“I am honored to be selected as a Next Generation Leader and I am grateful to my peers and mentors who helped make this year a success for ACS at Maurer,” Vandy said. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to continue my work with ACS as an NGL and look forward to making connections with others at a national level.”

Vandy was a quarterfinalist and won Oral Advocacy Honors in this spring’s Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition.

She is the fourth Indiana Law ACS Next Generation Leader in as many years, following Ethan Dawson (2022), Laura Rusk (2023), and Allyson McBride (2024).

A panel of three distinguished judges will hear final arguments in the Indiana University Maurer School of Law’s Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition on Friday, April 4.

The Hon. Diane S. Sykes, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit; the Hon. Richard L.  Young, Senior Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana; and the Hon. Alison Conlon, Judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County (Ill.) will hear arguments in the DeLaney Moot Court Room beginning at 5 p.m.

The jurists will also meet with students before the event.

The Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition is the Law School’s annual appellate advocacy competition open to all second-year students. Seventy 2Ls participated in this year’s competition, collectively writing 35 briefs and giving nearly 200 oral arguments.

Four finalists were ultimately selected to participate in Friday’s last round: Kayla Behforouz and Lily Rutledge will represent the petitioner, and Braxton Miltengerger and Laura Stancato will represent the respondent.

This year’s case, developed by Professors Cindy Cho and Ryan Scott, involves the use of force by two police officers that resulted in the death of an armed robbery suspect. The key legal question centers around whether the officers’ use of deadly force was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

“Our distinguished panel of judges is remarkable,” said Indiana Law Dean Christiana Ochoa. “I want to extend my thanks to Professor Steve Sanders for his work organizing this incredible group of jurists and to the Sherman Minton Moot Court Advisory Board for its tireless work running this year’s competition.

The Court of Appeals of Indiana will hold oral arguments at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law on Thursday, April 3 inside Baier Hall.

The event is part of the court’s Appeals on Wheels series and is open to the public. Arguments begin at 1:45 p.m. and are expected to conclude around 2:45 p.m.

“The Appeals on Wheels program is the best trust-building tool we have as a judiciary,” said Anne Fuchs, the Court’s director of communications. “The court brings real oral arguments to communities around the state so the public can understand how the judiciary really works. We want them to have experiential knowledge of the courts and to get to know the people ‘behind the robes.’

A panel of three judges will hear arguments in State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company v. DiPego et al., a case involving an Indiana woman struck by an unidentified person on an electric scooter in Baltimore, Maryland. Michelle DiPego, the woman struck, asked her insurance company, State Farm, to cover her injury-related expenses through the company’s uninsured motorist provision, but State Farm denied the request.

The dispute largely centers on whether an electric scooter qualifies as a “land motor vehicle,” the term used in DiPego’s insurance policy. Although her policy did not expressly include or exclude an electric scooter from the definition of “land motor vehicle,” Indiana has expressly excluded electric scooters from the statutory definition of “motor vehicle.”

The trial court determined that the DiPegos were entitled to coverage under the uninsured motorist provision of their policy as a matter of law and therefore granted summary judgment to the DiPegos. State Farm appealed the judgment, claiming that an electric scooter is not a “land motor vehicle” under either the uninsured motorist policy or Indiana law and that the DiPegos failed to show that the scooter was uninsured.

“It is an honor to once again host the Court of Appeals of Indiana for its traveling oral arguments series,” said Indiana Law Dean Christiana Ochoa. “The event offers a unique opportunity for our students, the Indiana University community, and local citizens to see our courts in action.”

Expected to hear arguments are Judges Nancy H. Vaidik, Paul D. Mathias, and Leanna K. Weissmann.

The Jerome Hall Law Library at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law is expanding its preservation of U.S. government documents in print, one of several dozen Federal Depository Libraries across the country stepping up to ensure public access to vital records of American history.

Of the more than 1,100 FDLs nationwide, only 63 serve as Preservation Stewards, a national program launched by the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) in 2016 to support the long-term preservation of federal government publications. The Jerome Hall Law Library is one of them.

“We were eager to contribute to preserving legacy print collections that continue to serve Law School faculty and students, the broader IU academic community, and researchers throughout the Midwest,” said Jennifer Morgan, the Library’s Government Information Librarian. “Our participation as a Preservation Steward makes the Jerome Hall Law Library an essential part of the National Collection of U.S. Government Public Information—a coordinated, government-wide initiative to ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of federal publications.”

The Law Library maintains collections of superseded laws such as the United States Code and the Code of Federal Regulations, preserving historical statutes and regulations in order to provide a critical context for understanding the country’s legal landscape at any given time. The Library also preserves the Congressional Record and the U.S. Congressional Serial Set, two critical publications that ensure continued access to legislative history, government accountability, and historical research.

“These records document congressional debates, reports, and proceedings, supporting legal interpretation, policy analysis, and public transparency while offering valuable insight into U.S. lawmaking and government decisions,” Morgan said. “They are an important resource for anyone interested in how laws were made and how the U.S. government has addressed major issues throughout its history.”

Preserving the documents involves many steps, including processing, cataloging, and inventorying—work carried out by Amy Cheek, government documents cataloger in the Law Library. The turnaround time depends on the size and condition of each collection—a relatively small collection in good condition can typically be inventoried in about a week.

The Congressional Record can take several months to inventory due to how large the collection is, Morgan said, and because volumes may require repair work, which is handled by Katy Bull, the Law Library’s archives and digital preservation specialist. The Jerome Hall Law Library signed its original agreement with the GPO to preserve 11 collections, a number that has now expanded to 31.

“We’re proud to expand our work as a Preservation Steward and be part of the team of libraries preserving and providing access to these historic documents,” said Law Library Director Susan deMaine. “Ensuring perpetual access to our nation’s laws and history is a mission we hold dear.”