it was in an e-mail from christine miskin discussing what i could write about in this article that i learnt of the death of gillian sands. i was saddened by this news as although i never met her in person, we did “meet” via e-mail. only a couple of weeks before her death she responded to a request we had sent out on the listserve for an obscure english case. her friendliness and willingness to assist a colleague were immediately apparent. her name was also familiar to me from articles she had written for legal information management and i know that the librarian in our london office had contact with her when she worked at the institute of advanced legal studies. to gillian's family, friends and colleagues we extend our deepest sympathy.