The Institute for Law Teaching and Learning 2016 summer conference is focusing on “the many ways that law schools are preparing students to enter the real world of law practice.” The conference is being held at Washburn University School of Law. The agenda and registration information are available here.
Keynote Speakers Announced for Emory Law Conference on Transactional Law and Skills
I am looking forward to attending and presenting at Emory University School of Law’s upcoming conference (June 10-11) focused on the art and science of teaching transactional law and skills. I received word yesterday from Sue Payne, the Executive Director of Emory Law’s Center for Transactional Law and Practice, that the keynote speakers for the conference are “the dynamic duo of Martin J. Katz and Phoenix Cai will deliver a keynote address entitled – ‘Encouraging this Particular Form of (Very Fun) Madness – Roles for Deans and Faculty Members.'” The notice se sent to me on the keynote speakers offers the following information about Professors Katz and Cai and the conference as a whole:
Marty Katz is Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law. Under his leadership, Denver Law developed and implemented a major strategic plan that included initiatives in experiential learning and specialization. He is a founding board member of Educating Tomorrow’s Lawyers, a national consortium of law schools that serve as leaders in the experiential education movement. Dean Katz’s recent publications include “Facilitating Better Law Teaching – Now” (Emory Law Journal) and “Understanding the Costs of Experiential Legal Education” (Journal of Experiential Learning).
Phoenix Cai is
Old Dog, New Tricks: Acquiring Empirical Skills
The shimmering mirage of summer has cast its spell on me, which means I am laboring under the delusion that I will have so much more time to do the thinking, learning, and writing that I want to be doing. My work is increasingly dependent upon statistical evaluations that others do, and occasionally involves my own work in the area. Several years ago I attended an empirical workshop for law professors at USC (something like this) taught by Lee Epstein and Andrew Martin that was an instrumental introduction and my only formal foundation in the area. I have the bug and want to learn more! But I don’t know the best way to go about it– piecemeal or full immersion–or even what all is available. I compiled my research below and share the list for interested readers. Comments encouraged by anyone who wants to share their experience with a listed option, general advice, or add to this meager list.
Empirical Skills Resources:
Blogs like: Andrew Gelman & Empirical Legal Studies Blog
Introduction/Immersion Workshops like:
- George Mason’s empirical workshop
- Duke/Northwestern’s causal inference workshop
- SELS pre-conference empirical training
- Estimate–Michigan State’s summer econometrics workshop
- ICPSR summer offerings –
Free electronic
Reflecting on the MALSB Conference
Last week I attended the Midwest Academy of Legal Studies (MALSB) Conference in Chicago, IL. MALSB is one of the 12 regional associations of legal studies professors in business schools that has an annual conference. The Academy of Legal Studies of Business (ALSB) is the national association and the annual national conference is similar to AALS.
Given that I started my academic career at a law school, and still attend some law school professor conferences, I notice differences between law school and business school legal studies professor conferences. While there are plenty of similarities between the conferences, I note some of the differences below.
Pedagogy Presentations. While law school professor conferences do usually address pedagogy in a few panels, the business school legal studies conferences I have attended seem to have a much stronger emphasis. For example, I think the regional and national ALSB conferences tend to have 30%+ of the presentations dedicated to pedagogy. Many of the business school legal studies conferences have master teacher competitions as well, where finalists present their teaching ideas or cases to the audience and a winner is chosen by vote. I think some of this focus on pedagogy is because a fair number of business school legal studies
Call for Papers-The New Corporatocracy and Election 2016
ClassCrits IX
The New Corporatocracy and Election 2016
Sponsored by
Loyola University Chicago School of Law
and The Loyola University Chicago Business Law Center
Chicago IL * October 21-22, 2016
Call For Papers and Participation
We invite panel proposals, roundtable discussion proposals, and paper presentations that speak to this year’s theme, as well as to general ClassCrits themes.
Proposal due: May 31, 2016.
As the U.S. presidential election approaches, our 2016 conference will explore the role of corporate power in a political and economic system challenged by inequality and distrust as well as by new energy for transformative reform.
How might a sharper understanding of corporate power shed light on the current context of inequality and distrust? How have legal changes in corporate rights and regulation reshaped political and social as well as economic activity? Does the contemporary corporation simply empower individual human interests, as the Supreme Court suggested in the recent Hobby Lobby decision, or do the legal rights of corporations operate to narrow, distribute, and distort human rights and interests and citizenship? What kind of person is the contemporary corporation and what does this mean for society, government, and law? What is missing from the prevailing
2016 Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) Teaching Conference – Call for Panels and Papers
Call for Panels and Papers
Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) Teaching Conference
in partnership with the
LatCrit-SALT Junior Faculty Development Workshop
www.saltlaw.org
Friday and Saturday, September 30 and October 1, 2016
The John Marshall Law School, Chicago, Illinois
From the Classroom to the Community: Teaching and Advancing Social Justice
In 2015, law school applications hit a fifteen-year low. The drop reflects a radically changed employment market and a prevailing view that law school is no longer a sound investment. To attract qualified applicants and respond to a changing marketplace, many law schools have embraced experiential learning mandates and other “practice-ready” curricular shifts. The plunge in applications has also prompted law schools to lower admissions standards. In turn, the admission of students with below-average LSAT scores and modest college grade point averages has created new concerns about bar passage, job placement, and prospects for longterm professional success.
In this environment, the legal academy is faced with unprecedented challenges. On one hand, pressure exists to ensure that students are adequately prepared to navigate a courtroom, draft legal documents, and exhibit other “practice-ready” skills upon graduation. At the same time, law professors are urged to cover a wide spectrum of theory, rules
SAVE THE DATE: Central States Law Schools Scholarship Conference
The Central States Law Schools Association 2016 Scholarship Conference will be held on Friday, September 23 and Saturday, September 24 at the University of North Dakota School of Law in Grand Forks, ND.
CSLSA is an organization of law schools dedicated to providing a forum for conversation and collaboration among law school academics. The CSLSA Annual Conference is an opportunity for legal scholars, especially more junior scholars, to present working papers or finished articles on any law-related topic in a relaxed and supportive setting where junior and senior scholars from various disciplines are available to comment. More mature scholars have an opportunity to test new ideas in a less formal setting than is generally available for their work. Scholars from member and nonmember schools are invited to attend.
Registration will formally open in July. Hotel rooms are already available, and more information about the CSLSA conference can be found on our website at www.cslsa.us.
Can Consumer or Investor Pressure Make a Difference on Corporate Actions? The Carnival Conundrum
Today in my Business and Human Rights class I thought about Ann’s recent post where she noted that socially responsible investor Calpers was rethinking its decision to divest from tobacco stocks. My class has recently been discussing the human rights impacts of mega sporting events and whether companies such as Rio Tinto (the medal makers), Omega (the time keepers), Coca Cola (sponsor), McDonalds (sponsor), FIFA (a nonprofit that runs worldwide soccer) and the International Olympic Committee (another corporation) are in any way complicit with state actions including the displacement of indigenous peoples in Brazil, the use of slavery in Qatar, human trafficking, and environmental degradation. I asked my students the tough question of whether they would stop eating McDonalds food or wearing Nike shoes because they were sponsors of these events. I required them to consider a number of factors to decide whether corporate sponsors should continue their relationships with FIFA and the IOC. I also asked whether the US should refuse to send athletes to compete in countries with significant human rights violations.
Because we are in Miami, we also discussed the topic du jour, Carnival Cruise line’s controversial decision to follow Cuban law, which prohibits certain Cuban-born citizens
So Lucky (And Grateful) in So Many Ways . . . .
There are those I-need-to-pinch-myself moments in life that come along every once in a while. I was lucky enough to have one last week. I was invited to attend a conference and comment on two interesting draft papers written by two law faculty colleagues whose work I have long admired and who are lovely people. And the location was Miami Beach. Does it get any better than that for a law professor who likes the beach? I think not.
The event was the annual conference for the Institute for Law and Economic Policy (ILEP). The conference theme was “Vindicating Virtuous Claims.” The papers will be published in the Duke Law Journal, which co-sponsored the program.
I will save details on the papers for later (when the papers are finalized). But I will briefly describe each here. The first paper on which I commented, written by Rutheford B (“Biff”) Campbell (University of Kentucky College of Law), argues for federal preemption of state securities regulation governing the offer and sale of securities, since federal preemption would be more efficient. The second paper, written by James D. (“Jim”) Cox (Duke University School of Law, who was honored at the event and received the most amazing tribute from his Dean, David Levi, at
Fed Financial Stability Conference Call for Papers
2016 Financial Stability Conference – Innovation, Market Structure, and Financial Stability
CALL FOR PAPERS
2016 Financial Stability Conference
“Innovation, Market Structure, and Financial Stability”
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Office of Financial Research invite the submission of research and policy-oriented papers for the 2016 Financial Stability Conference to be held December 1-2, 2016, in Washington, D.C. The objectives of this conference are to highlight research and advance the dialogue on financial market dynamics that affect financial stability, and to disseminate recent advances in systemic risk measurement and forecasting tools that assist in macroprudential policy development and implementation.
PAPER SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2016. Please send completed papers to:financial.stability.conference@clev.frb.org Notification of acceptance will be provided by September 30, 2016. Travel and accommodation expenses will be covered for one presenter for each accepted paper.
A pdf version of this call for papers is available here