Continuing our theme focusing on legal education research this year, we welcome guest blogger Professor Judith Wegner, former Dean of the University of North Carolina School of Law, and one of the authors of the Carnegie Report on legal education. Her post brings exciting news of a new section at the American Association of Law Schools, which seeks to bring together law professors interested in empirical research on legal education. Researchers outside of the legal academy can tune in to the activities of the new section as well by emailing Professor Wegner (see below). In upcoming months, we at NLR will be looking for ways to help in connecting researchers outside of the legal academy with this new section, including researchers associated with the Law & Society Association and other empirical legal scholars who focus on studying legal education. Stay tuned — and thank you to Professor Wegner for sharing this important news!
***
Readers of this blog may be interested in the creation of a new section in the Association of American Law Schools, one that is devoted to empirical study of legal education and the legal profession.
The creation of the section was spurred by conversations among scholars interested in law and society and legal education, particularly those attending a conference at UC-Irvine in June. Judith Wegner broached the idea of proposing a new section as a means of helping more colleagues become proficient in understanding and conducting empirical scholarship. Over the summer, within a month, she and others collected more than double the number of petition signatures needed to submit a proposal for the next section, and we were gratified by the swift approval we received from the AALS’s leadership.
The section’s executive committee has developed an excellent program to be offered on January 3 from 3:30-5:15 p.m. That program, entitled “Framing an Agenda for the Work to Come,” will include both a panel presentation and break out discussion groups.
Panelists include the following speakers and topics:
* Professor Victor Quintinilla, Mauer School of Law, Mauer School of Law, Indiana-Bloomington, “Productive Mind-Set, the Power of Belonging, and Bar Passage”
*Assistant Professor of Academic Support and Director of Bar Examination Programs, Raul Ruiz, Florida International College of Law, “Predicting Student Outcomes: Data Mining for Law Schools”
* Chancellor’s Professor Bryant Garth, UC Irvine School of Law, “Understanding the Changing Legal Profession”
* Kelley Testy, Dean Emerita, University of Washington, and President, Law School Admissions Council, “The LSAC’s Emerging Research Priorities”
* Aaron Taylor, Associate Professor, St. Louis School of Law; Former Director, Law School Survey of Student Engagement; Director of Educational Programs, AccessLex: “AccessLex’s Emerging Research Priorities”
The subsequent break out groups will be led by members of the section executive committee and will focus on questions and strategies for supporting and launching additional scholarly work in areas such as professional development for interested colleagues relating to empirical scholarship, admissions and academic success, the bar exam and associated performance, institutional excellence and assessment, and professional identity and success.
The section’s executive committee welcomes readers of this blog to join the section (go to AALS.org, and review links under sections). The section strives to engage and foster synergies among colleagues who work in a wide spectrum of roles relating to legal education, including legal writing, academic support, clinical teaching, admissions, scholars, podium teachers, and colleagues from non-law disciplines. For those who are not able to attend the January 3 session, the section will publish an update in its spring newsletter, summarizing the annual meeting and break-out discussions, and announcing possible associated working groups. If you would like to remain informed, please feel free to email Judith Wegner, section chair designate, at judith_wegner@unc.edu.
Special thanks to Bryant Garth and Ann Southworth for their work in sponsoring the UC-Irvine conference that spurred the creation of the new section and to Elizabeth Mertz for the suggestion to share related information with readers of this blog.
Judith Wegner, Burton Craig Professor of Law, Emerita
University of North Caroline School of Law