Proposals Due: May 12, 2014
The Association of American Law Schools is seeking proposals for Crosscutting Programs for the 2015 AALS Annual Meeting to be held in Washington, DC from January 2-5, 2015. Crosscutting Programs focus on multi-subject and interdisciplinary subjects with new perspectives on legal issues or the profession. Crosscutting programs attract a wide audience of law faculty teaching a variety of topics.
Successful proposals include innovative approaches to subjects or topics and presentation formats. The program panel would aim to spark conversations among academics both those working inside traditional legal silos and across legal and non-law disciplines. Proposals should not feature a program or subject that could be offered by any particular AALS Section. Additionally, proposals should not conflict with other program topics being presented at the 2015 AALS Annual Meeting. To ensure there is no overlap, the Committee on Special Programs for the 2015 Annual Meeting will evaluate all proposals in light of AALS Section and AALS Committee programs already planned for the 2015 Annual Meeting.
The length of a Crosscutting program is either 1 hour and 45 minutes or can be held during the last afternoon’s 3-hour time slot. Depending on the presentation format selected, we recommend you have one moderator and up to four slots reserved for speakers, and in addition, allot 20 minutes for question and answers from the audience. You may choose to select one speaker from a call for papers, who will not need to be identified by May 12, 2014. Programs might include a non-law school speaker. We recommend a small panel of three so that all panelists can contribute fully and the audience has the opportunity to ask questions.
Program proposals may be submitted by any faculty member with a full-time appointment at an AALS member school.
A proposal of 700 words would include the following information:
- Program title;
- Detailed description of what the program is trying to accomplish;
- Names of the planners of the program and description on how the program idea was generated;
- Names of speakers to be invited including their full names and schools with a link to or copy of their curricula vitae. Please describe the contributions each panelist will make to the discussion.
- Presentation format of the program;
- Program publishing information, if applicable.
The Committee will consider the following:
- Is the program focused on multi-subject and interdisciplinary subjects with new perspectives on legal issues or the profession?
- Is the format innovative?
- Will the program attract a broad audience?
- Is there diversity of presenters and of planners? (Diversity in a broad sense: school, perspectives, race, gender, experience, etc.)
- Is there a publication coming out of the program?
The following examples of prior Crosscutting Programs can be found on past annual meeting programs here.
- Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples: The Intersection of Environmental Law, Natural Resources Development, Water Law, Energy Law, International Law, and Indigenous Law (2013)
- The Business of Tax Patents: At the Crossroads of Patent, Tax and Business Law (2013)
- The Law and Science of Trustworthy Elections: Facing the Challenges of Internet Voting and Other E-Voting Technologies (2012)
The Committee on Special Programs for the 2015 Annual Meeting will review and notify authors of the selected proposals by June 2014. Speakers are responsible for paying their conference registration fee and travel expenses; for non-law speakers, registration fees are waived.
The AALS welcomes comments and questions about Crosscutting Programs. Questions should be directed to Jane La Barbera AALS Managing Director at crosscutting@aals.org.
Proposals are due May 12, 2014 and should be sent to crosscutting@aals.org
