Today marked the end of the 2016 conference of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS).  My discussion session on small business finance capped off the Workshop on Business Law, a series of business law programs at the conference, and closed out the conference itself just after Noon.  It was great to share programs, at various points in the conference, with co-bloggers Josh Fershee, Ann Lipton, Haskell Murray, and Marcia Narine.

Here is a list of the three business law programs in the Workshop on Business Law from this year’s conference:

  • Discussion Group: Sustainability & Sustainable Business
  • Discussion Group: Perspectives on the Future of White-Collar Crime
  • Discussion Group: The Legal Aspects of Small Business Finance in the Crowdfunding Era

Other business law programs included several of the new scholar paper panels, the annual “Supreme Court Update” on “Business, Administrative, Securities, Tax, and Employment Issues,” a discussion group focusing on “Big Data: Big Opportunities in Business and Government, and Big Challenges in Law and Ethics,” and a discussion group in the SEALS “Works-in-Progress Series” that featured papers by veteran scholars on topics ranging from international food labeling regulation, to self-interest in financial regulation, to developing a better understanding of informational intermediaries in financial transactions, to the domestic and international regulation of non-financial disclosures.

I admit to jubilant exhaustion.  As an organizer of SEALS programming, the week is always a bit of a marathon for me.  But the effort is worth it.  When I first came to the SEALS conference back in 2002, there was no organized business law programming.  I am glad that a number of us working together ensure each year that the conference features robust, timely programming for business law teachers and scholars.

And that reminds me to mention two more things.  

First, SEALS also is a great place to pick up new teaching and curricular ideas.  This year’s conference was no exception.  I participated in a discussion session on “Strategies for Designing and Integrating Transactional Simulation Capstone Courses into the Curriculum” that covered a variety of different approaches to synthesis courses in the curriculum.  I also moderated an engaging session on “Law School Specialization and Certification Programs.”

Second, if you have ideas for programs for the 2017 conference, please let me know.  Better yet, submit the program yourself through the SEALS website submission platform.  Make sure if it is a business law session that you designate it for inclusion in the Workshop on Business Law.

I head back to Knoxville tomorrow morning to prepare for the new semester, which begins next week.  No doubt some of you already are in the classroom and others will not be there for a week or more yet.  Regardless, I wish you all well.  I am happy to be recharged with new ideas from the SEALS conference–ideas that are a great stimulus to a productive semester and year.  I hope you also find something to motivate and inspire you.