JAN/FEB 2009, v.36, no. 3
The SCALL Newsletter is published electronically five times per year (September/October, November/December, January/February, March/April, and May/June by the Southern California Association of Law Libraries, a chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries. PDF versions of the SCALL Newletter can be downloaded here: http://www.aallnet.org/chapter/scall/newsletter.htm
Getting to Know You: Benita Ghura... By Margot McLaren
Benita Ghura is originally from Eastbourne, England. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Mary Washington College (1999) and her Juris Doctor degree from Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America (2005). She has been a member of the California State Bar since June 2006.
When asked what made her pursue a career in law librarianship, Benita replied: “My greatest source of inspiration was John Adkins and Michelle Schmidt. They both have such a love and passion for what they do. I was infected with the same passion. I also love the study of law and browsing through legal books to find the elusive answers to legal questions. I like having knowledge of a wide area of law and what I love most about working at a law library is that every day can bring a new or different legal question to figure out, and I really enjoy the investigative aspect of finding what the law is and helping people find information that they may not have been able to find by themselves. For me, personally, I have found my niche and career satisfaction in law librarianship.”
Since graduation, Benita has held a number of positions. She served as legal assistant/law clerk for Paul Shearman Allen & Associates; as a student attorney for Columbus Community Legal Services; and as a judicial extern for the United States Court of Federal Claims. She left the Washington, D.C. area in January 2006 to relocate to sunny San Diego, where she secured a position as Reference Librarian for San Diego County Public Law Library (SDCPLL). Her responsibilities include assisting patrons in using online research databases to locate California and federal legal materials, preparing and teaching law-related classes, and providing tours to paralegal students, attorneys and pro pers. In addition, Benita contributes articles for the SANDALL and SDCPLL newsletters.
When asked what she considers to be the most challenging experience in her current position, she admitted: “Teaching classes because I have a fear of public speaking. I get very nervous standing up in front of a group of people and speaking, but I am learning to overcome my fear by practicing many times over in front of friends before I teach class. I also attended an NMS course on presentation skills to learn the techniques of speaking to a large group of people and engaging the audience.”
In addition to working at SDCPLL, Benita was hired as a contract attorney for Discovery Phase LLC (June 2006-August 2007), where she was responsible for assisting with trial preparation and discovery in complex securities litigation class action suits using Summation; and as a legal specialist for Qualcomm, Inc. (October 2007-February 2008), where she was responsible for auditing Qualcomm’s U.S. and foreign patents filed or pending with patent offices.
Benita is also an immigration attorney for Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP in San Diego (February 2008-present). She represents individuals and corporate clients in family-based and employment-based immigrant and non-immigrant petitions. She also conducts legal research and analyzes legal issues. Benita also serves as a self-employed contract immigration attorney (September 2007-present), working on “cancellation of removal” proceedings and application procedures to help clients obtain “green cards.”
Benita keeps active in her profession by participating in AALL and SANDALL, and serving as a member of SANDALL’s new Social Responsibility Committee. When she is not immersed in her career and professional activities, she likes reading, taking walks, and watching Discovery Health Channel. Five years from now, Benita sees herself as a successful reference librarian at SDCPLL, being active in SANDALL and outreach programs to help make legal information easily accessible and available to all people.
