From the Law-LegalEd listserv:
BEYOND EXTERNSHIPS AND CLINICS: BEST PRACTICES FOR INTEGRATING ACCESS TO JUSTICE EDUCATION
AALS 2011 ANNUAL MEETING
San Francisco, California
The AALS [Association of American Law Schools] Section on Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities will hold a program during the AALS 2011 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, featuring paper presentations by the winners of its Access to Justice paper competition.
The theme of the Annual Meeting is AALS Core Educational Values: Guideposts for the Pursuit of Excellence in Challenging Times. AALS Bylaw 6-1 identifies instilling a commitment to justice and to public service as core values. Challenges to these values include the current economic crisis and the movement towards educational outcomes assessment.
Recent research suggests that pro bono service must be connected to or part of the curriculum to achieve the desired outcome of an increased commitment on the part of graduates to solve the access to justice problem. Assembled from the
results of a Call for Papers, this program presents best practices for a wide range of curricular and co-curricular models to ensure all students graduate with an understanding of the justice gap and a commitment to justice and public service – particularly in these challenging times. It explores the question of how experiential access-to-justice education can be integrated into legal education – with faculty involvement -- beyond in-house clinics and externship programs.
Papers may focus on 1) pro bono and public service programs that involve faculty and incorporate teaching and/or reflection components; or 2) curricular offerings that teach about the access to justice gap and connect an experiential learning component to a non-clinical course. The target for the Papers is innovative curricular components – beyond the siloed (voluntary or mandatory) pro bono, externship or clinical programs -- that engage faculty in teaching that is likely to fulfill the promise of Bylaws 6-1 to instill in all graduates a commitment to justice and to public service as core values.
Eligibility:
Faculty members and administrators of AALS member and fee-paid law schools are eligible to submit papers. Under AALS rules, foreign, visiting and adjunct faculty members, graduate students, and fellows are not eligible to submit papers.
Form and Length:
Abstracts of one page or less should be submitted by e-mail to Professor Sandy Ogilvy at [email protected] on or before August 16, 2010.
Registration Fee and Expenses:
The Section cannot reimburse any speaker on the program selected from the Call for Paper process. Participants will be responsible for paying their own annual meeting
registration fee and travel expenses.
How will papers be reviewed?
Papers will be selected by members of the Section’s 2011 Annual Meeting Program Committee, chaired by Professor Cindy Adcock (Charlotte) and Karen A. Lash, with additional Section members of the committee Dena Bauman (UDC) and Anna Davis (UC-Irvine), and the chair of the Section, Professor Sandy Ogilvy (Catholic).
Will program be published in journal?
This is a paper presentation opportunity only, but the Section hopes to build a library of published (or posted) best practices for programs and courses available to law school professors and administrators interested in adopting and experimenting with new access-to-justice education models. The Section Annual Program Committee may be able to find a publication home for the final papers of the selected presenters, but publication is not promised. Consequently, submitted papers can be committed for publication prior to their submission, but cannot be actually in print prior to their submission. Each professor or administrator may submit only one abstract for consideration.
Deadline date for submission:
Abstracts are due by Monday, August 16, 2010. Selection of up to 7 submissions will be made by the Selection Committee. Authors of selected abstracts will be notified of the Committee’s decision by October 1, 2010.
Contact for submission and inquiries:
Professor Sandy Ogilvy, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America, 202-319-6195; [email protected].
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