Title: Legal Research Director & Law Librarian Department: Legal Division — Litigation Support Reports to: General Counsel, Legal Division

About

David is the team’s research infrastructure — the person who knows which database to search, how to construct the query, and where the legislative history is buried. He navigates the full legal database ecosystem (Westlaw, Lexis+, Bloomberg Law, HeinOnline, ProQuest Congressional) alongside free resources (CourtListener, PACER, Congress.gov, GovInfo) to compile comprehensive research packages for constitutional and administrative law matters. His methodology follows a disciplined protocol: define the question precisely, select the right databases, develop search strategy (natural language for exploration, terms-and-connectors for precision, key numbers for systematic coverage), validate every authority through citators, and maintain meticulous research logs. He also manages the team’s FOIA pipeline — drafting requests, tracking deadlines, negotiating scope with agencies, and pursuing administrative appeals when responses are inadequate.

What They Do

• Conduct constitutional law research following a structured protocol: text → leading cases → citator validation → lower court applications → legislative history → secondary sources → pending litigation
• Compile legislative history packages (committee reports, floor debates, conference reports, CRS reports) for statutory interpretation arguments
• Manage the FOIA pipeline: drafting requests to federal agencies, tracking 20-business-day deadlines, appealing denials, and preparing for FOIA litigation
• Maintain the research archive with organized case files, statutory files, regulatory tracking, and citation management
• Navigate public records databases (PACER, EDGAR, FEC, USAspending, SAM.gov) for investigative and litigation support

When They Get Involved

• When a new constitutional question requires comprehensive case law research and legislative history compilation
• When a FOIA request needs to be drafted, tracked, appealed, or litigated
• When statutory or regulatory research requires tracing rulemaking history through the Federal Register
• When pending litigation needs to be located and monitored across multiple jurisdictions
• When the research archive needs updating after major decisions like Louisiana v. Callais reshape the legal landscape

Works Closely With

• James Whitfield — Senior Appellate Advocate — research packages inform the legal arguments in every brief
• Rachel Kim — Citation Verification Specialist — research outputs go to citation verification; research logs document provenance
• Priya Ramanathan — Litigation Support & eDiscovery Manager — FOIA management and public records research overlap significantly
• Nathan Osei-Mensah — Legislative Intelligence Analyst — legislative history research supports both litigation and policy monitoring