Contact Information
Biography
Dr. Joel Fishman is the Law Library Faculty Fellow at the Duquesne Kline Law School
of Law (2025-2026). He has been a law librarian for 53 years: Assistant Law Librarian
at Seton Hall University School of Law (1973–1977); Law Librarian, Allegheny County
Law Library (1977–1999); Assistant, and then Associate Director for Lawyer Services,
Duquesne University Center for Legal Information/Allegheny County Law Library (1999–2016).
Dr. Fishman is a specialist in Pennsylvania legal history and bibliography. He has
written more than 500 publications, including books, articles, chapters in books,
book reviews, blogs, and web projects. He has compiled fourteen bibliographies for
the William S. Hein Co. Legal Research Guide Series and publishes annual indexes for
the Journal of Supreme Court History, Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly, and Pennsylvania Family Lawyer. Two recent web projects are the Biographical Dictionary of the Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Law Academy of Philadelphia for HeinOnline. He is co-Director of the Pennsylvania Constitution Website at Duquesne
University Kline School of Law. He also serves as Consulting Historian to the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court Historical Commission and consultant to the Pennsylvania Commission
for Fairness & Justice. He also teaches an online Introduction to Legal Research course
at the University of Pittsburgh Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences/College of General
Studies and an American Legal History course in the Forensic Science and Law Program
and Advanced Legal Research in the Paralegal Program at Duquesne University.
Education
- B.A. History, Hunter College
- M.A. History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Ph.D. History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- M.L.S. Library Science, Queens College (CUNY)
Expertise
- Legal Research
- Pennsylvania Legal History and Bibliography
- Anglo-American Legal History