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Louis Mirando
Canadian Context, Global Perspective

Canada's laws and legal culture have been influenced both by its history as a former English colony and by its proximity to the United States. On the one hand, Canada's legal system is derived from the English common law system, and England's long history of case law is still used to establish precedent in Canadian cases. (Private law in the province of Quebec is another story, derived from European civil law systems and the Napoleonic Code.) On the other hand, Canada and the United States share the world's longest border and are each other's largest trading partner, and Canada's business, commercial and cultural life are closely integrated with America. Canada has taken these foundations and forged a reputation as a unique multicultural country in a modern global culture.

Louis Mirando, Director of Library Services at Torys LLP in Toronto, finds himself conducting international research often, as a result of Canada's history and its ties to other countries. For example, Canada's relationship to the English legal system and its membership in the English Commonwealth means that Louis spends much of his time searching English, Australian and New Zealand case law. In addition, Torys is almost exclusively a commercial and corporate law firm and is also Canada's only 'cross-border' law firm, practicing both Canadian and U.S. law from its offices in Toronto and New York. Thus, Louis finds himself often searching in the legal materials of other countries, including Commonwealth countries and the U.S., for sources that have some persuasive precedential value on Canadian law and practice.

Louis' career and educational paths have given him many opportunities to experience different facets of the library profession. After receiving a B.A. and M.L.S. at the University of Toronto, Louis took on a position as a rare books librarian at the University of Western Ontario. This experience led him to Germany, where he pursued post-graduate studies in the history of printing and publishing at the University of Cologne. Upon returning to Canada, Louis worked as a Senior Legal Editor at Carswell Legal Publications, before moving into librarianship positions at the Bora Laskin Law Library (University of Toronto) and Aird & Berlis, a Toronto law firm. In his current position at Torys LLP, Louis is primarily responsible for development of policy and library services for the firm's offices in Toronto and New York; collection development; evaluation, selection and implementation of electronic research services; managing the Toronto office library staff and cataloguing and technical services; managing the firm's intranet; and helping develop the firm's KM systems.

Like most librarians today, Louis consults online information services, such as LexisNexis, when searching for international legal materials. However, because of the influence that English/Commonwealth law has on the Canadian legal system, and the important place that U.S. law has to the firm's business and clients, the library at Torys LLP is well-equipped with treatises and looseleaf services from the United States, UK and Commonwealth jurisdictions. When Louis, or others on his staff, need to find sources outside this basic collection, the Internet, email and other electronic connections obviously play a prominent role.

One email success story that Louis experienced involved a contact name that he came across while browsing for information on a German website. After clicking the 'Contact Me' button provided on the site, Louis received a copy of the information he was seeking the very next day. This type of effortless global connection is, in Louis' opinion, a distinct benefit to the research methods spawned by modern technology. By coupling the advantages that technology offers with the imagination and natural inquisitiveness inherent to a librarian's mindset, Louis believes that most any research request can be met, using the tools and technology available today.

When researching in non-English materials, Louis employs the services of numerous resources to help him overcome any language issues or other barriers that he encounters. Because Canada is a bilingual country, many people in his firm are fluent in both French and English. Torys LLP also has a Latin American practice, and thus employs numerous people who are fluent in Spanish. And, since the firm is large and the office is located in Toronto -- a truly multicultural city -- there seems to always be someone nearby who can speak just about any language that crops up. When Louis does come across some text for which he does not have any translation services available, he will turn to resources like Babel Fish -- an automatic online translating service available at http://babelfish.altavista.com.

Louis views the Internet and all that it offers as entirely beneficial to law librarians and others who tap into it for information. Louis adheres to the notion that "knowledge is power"; thus, the knowledge gained from the Internet can go a long way towards strengthening one's position in any situation. Most revolutionary to Louis has been the advent of free, public-access sources of legal information for jurisdictions around the world. What once was an elusive search for a statute from another country located halfway around the world can now be completed in a matter of minutes. Louis believes that this revolution in information retrieval has affected the role that librarians have in the research process; in many instances, librarians act as advisors and consultants to others who are seeking information, rather than as simply the sole retrievers of data. While librarians may not receive specific training in global research, the connections established with colleagues around the world, through listservs, email, and contacts at international conferences, help develop these skills. Louis believes that today's librarians must embrace technology and foster international connections as much as possible. By honing research and technical skills and developing relationships, Louis believes that any librarian can adapt to the demands of 'global research.'

Louis is loaded with advice for others who might be seeking information from Canadian sources. First, Louis believes that the Canadian legal websites are 'among the best in the world' in providing comprehensive access to up-to-date Canadian laws, regulations and judgments, both federal and provincial, in both English and French. While the document formats and search engines aren't as refined as those one finds on online services like LexisNexis, these sites (especially CanLII, the Canadian Legal Information Institute, http://www.canlii.org) can be extremely helpful when looking for a specific document or type of information. In addition, if you don't know where to turn when looking for Canadian legal information, Louis suggests that you try sending an email to CALL-L, the listserv of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries. Though Canada is geographically expansive and the distances are vast, its relatively small population enables the Canadian librarian community to stay close and connected. Thus, most Canadian librarians know their colleagues and can be helpful to others from foreign countries who are trying to establish contacts.

After 11 years in his position as Director of Library Services in the Torys LLP law library, Louis seems to have mastered the art of creative and inquisitive legal research. And the speed with which he is able to find information could be leaving him with a bit more free time than he's ever experienced in the past. To occupy his time, Louis has started taking lessons in classical piano and tries to practice at least one hour each day. Thus, if you are looking for Louis and can't find him at his computer, try another keyboard - there's a good chance he's taking a break to tickle the ivories before addressing his next legal research challenge.

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