Posted on: February 3, 2025
Congratulations to Michelle Terriss, our TRU law librarian, for winning a Clawbie, the 2024 Canadian Law Blog Award for her work on the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide!
Michelle has played a crucial role in a groundbreaking initiative with a team of librarians from the Canadian Association of Law Librarians. Together, they’ve created an open-access alternative to paywalled legal citations in Canada. Over two years, these passionate law librarians joined forces to create the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide (COAL-RJAL Guide). Now, the English version of the Guide is freely available on CanLII, with a French version on the way. This guide is designed for the entire legal field and incorporates valuable feedback from reviewers spanning Canadian courts, law firms, law journals, law societies, and law schools.
Michelle’s contributions to this project have been nothing short of impressive: she served as team lead and co-writer on Chapter 7 (International and Foreign Legal Sources), co-writer on Chapters 6 (Case Law) and 8 (AI-Generated Material), and writer of the first draft of section 3.8 on websites and webpages (Secondary Sources).
The COAL-RJAL Guide promises to lighten the financial load on law students, new lawyers, and sole practitioners. It also supports self-represented litigants, libraries, and organizations committed to enhancing access to justice. The Editorial Board of COAL-RJAL, including Michelle, is a dedicated national, bilingual, and bijural team focused on maintaining the guide’s relevance and promoting continuous knowledge-building. Regular updates to the guide will prioritize the needs of the legal community by integrating user feedback and addressing emerging developments, all while ensuring long-term consistency. The unwavering support and expertise of the legal community are the cornerstones of COAL-RJAL’s success.
