at the time of her tragic death, gillian sands had already established a successful career in law librarianship. she had trained at city university school of information science and worked in professional posts at two of the most prestigious legal research libraries in the uk. gillian had also made friends at each stage of her career across all sectors of law librarianship and was highly valued by those with whom she had worked. she had played an important role in the social life of her workplace as well as being valued for her dedication, conscientiousness and initiative. as a tribute to gillian, this article traces her career in law librarianship and her various achievements. i record my thanks to her friends and colleagues alison, caroline, christine, emily, wendy, and others who wrote to me in february this year.