Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law
and Director, Dual Degree Program, Paris and Berlin
Cornell Law School
365 Myron Taylor Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853-4901
Phone: (607) 255-5857
Fax: (607) 255-1357
Email: cmg13@cornell.edu
Claire M. Germain holds law degrees from the University of Paris and Louisiana State University, as well as a degree in German from the Sorbonne, and a Masters in law librarianship from the University of Denver. She is currently the Edward Cornell Law Librarian and Professor of Law, after many years of service at Duke Law Library. At Cornell since 1993, Professor Germain has been a champion of technological and service innovation in the library, in collaboration with an expert library staff. She is interested in all aspects of legal information, from rare books to digital libraries, and often writes on these topics, most recently "Legal Information Management in a Global and Digital World: Revolution and Tradition." She is actively advocating for the authentication of digital law and the introduction of a legal research test on the bar exam.
Beyond the administration of the law library, Professor Germain is the director of the dual degree programs between Cornell and Paris I and Humboldt, and she writes and speaks on comparative law topics. She teaches a course in French law, in Ithaca, and during the Paris Summer Institute. She has authored two books, including the award-winning Germain's Transnational Law Research, and numerous articles on legal research and comparative law, including one on French statutory interpretation, which appears in a leading comparative law casebook published by West. She frequently speaks in the U.S. and abroad, most recently in Brazil. She has served on the boards of numerous associations, notably as President of the American Association of Law Libraries in 2006 during its centennial year, as Chair of the American Association of Law Schools Committee on Libraries and Technology, and as the Chair of the AALS Section on Law Libraries. She is currently Secretary of the newly established Law Libraries Section of the International Federation of Library Associations, which has a special focus on helping law libraries in emerging countries. Professor Germain was recently honored with the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur medal, France's highest honor, for her efforts in bridging the American and French legal cultures. She was featured in the Chronicle Online.
