Dear Colleagues,
I am looking forward to seeing you at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools taking place in New Orleans from January 6 to January 9, 2026. This year’s Annual Meeting theme, set forth by AALS President Austen Parrish, is especially meaningful as we celebrate “Impact. Excellence. Resilience. The Enduring Contributions of Legal Education.” Programs around the theme this year are a vital reminder of the incalculable contributions made by our profession and our institutions, and how the endurance of our nation’s founding principles relies on our work.
I am also proud that many of my NYLS colleagues will contribute to these conversations and speak on this year’s panels, and I invite all of you to attend our programs.
Journal of Legal Education
We are proud to conclude our first year as the co-editors of the Journal of Legal Education alongside leaders from the University of California, Irvine School of Law. I am grateful to NYLS’s William P. LaPiana, Dean of Faculty and Rita and Joseph Solomon Professor of Wills and Trusts, Kris Franklin, Wallace Stevens Professor of Law, and Professor Amy Wallace for their work this past year.
On Wednesday, January 7 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., please join Journal editors for an update on journal activities and then hear from a panel of experts selected from a call for papers. The panel presentation follows a national convening that the AccessLex Institute and AALS hosted in September in Philadelphia (The Access Imperative: Strengthening Legal Education and Challenges). The panelists will critically engage with the theme of access and inclusion in legal education, and the panel will include presentations from a range of perspectives. This program should be of interest to those wishing to learn more about access and inclusion, and how access is a core responsibility of legal education and necessary to meet the needs of the profession. Professor Amy Wallace will moderate the discussion.
NYLS Faculty and Staff Leading Sections and Programs
January 7
8:00 a.m. – 9:15 a.m.
Professor Justin Murray is moderating a panel for the Section on Criminal Procedure (sponsored by the Section Criminal Law) on “Who Claims the Power to Police? Authority, Legitimacy, and the Re-Imagining of Public Safety.”
Professor Michael Goodyear will present draft research on “Protecting the Queer Internet” for the Technology, Law and Legal Education Section’s session “The Impact of Technology on Law and Society.”
12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Dean for Advocacy and Co-Curricular Programs and Professor Lynn Boepple Su will lead a session on “Introduction to Mindfulness in the Contemplative Space” in her capacity as an Executive Committee member for the Section on Balance in Legal Education and a member of the Board of Directors of Mindfulness in Law Society.
1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Dean and President Anthony Crowell will moderate an AALS Hot Topic program on “Analyzing Impact of the 2008 Financial Crisis on Legal Education: The Lessons Learned and Their Application to Today’s Emerging Challenges” with Dean Michael Simons, St. John’s University School of Law, and Daniel Thies, Chair of the Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar.
2:35 p.m. – 3:50 p.m.
Professor Michael Goodyear will speak on the Intellectual Property Section’s “Emerging Scholars” panel.
Professor Justin Murray is speaking on the Section on Criminal Law’s panel “Brady v. Maryland at 60+: Prosecutorial Ethics, Polarization, and Empirics.”
Professor Britney Wilson, as Secretary of the Section on Disability Law, will moderate the Civil Rights and Education Law Section’s panel on “Pillars in Peril: Disability and Civil Rights Laws Under Attack.”
4:10 p.m. – 5:25 p.m.
Dean and President Anthony Crowell, Professor Amy Wallace, and Hon. Joseph Bianco of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the co-chair of the Hon. Robert A. Katzmann Justice for All: Courts and the Community Initiative, are panelists on an AALS Hot Topic Program “Scaling the Summit: How Law Schools and Courts Can Collaborate to Promote Civics Education.” The panel will discuss and analyze lessons learned from the inaugural Constitution and Citizenship Day Summit held at NYLS in collaboration with the Second Circuit in September 2025, which featured a conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Sudha Setty, President of the Law School Admission Council, who attended the Summit, will moderate the session.
5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Dean for Advocacy and Co-Curricular Programs and Professor Lynn Boepple Su will lead a second session on “Introduction to Mindfulness in the Contemplative Space.”
January 8
9:35 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Professor Andrea Johnson will present her paper as part of the Works-in-Progress Section’s Employment Discrimination Law and Labor Relations and Employment Law Joint Program featuring “New and Emerging Voices in Work Law.”
1:00 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Associate Dean and Vice President Ella Mae Estrada will speak on the Section on Pre-Law Education and Admission to Law School’s panel on the new financial aid structure.
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Dean Anthony Crowell will facilitate a Breakout Discussion as part of the all-day Deans Forum. The breakout discussion will focus on changes in federal financial aid.
January 9
9:35 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Wallace Stevens Professor Kris Franklin is speaking on the Section on New Law Professors panel “New Scholars Works-in-Progress.” She will also be reporting to the AALS Executive Committee on the work of the Journal of Legal Education in 2025 and speaking at several events sponsored by the Section on Women in the Law on behalf of the RBG Lifetime Achievement Award winner.
Independent Law Schools Winter Leadership Retreat
Immediately prior to the AALS Annual Meeting, New York Law School is proud to coordinate and lead the third convening of the nation’s 15 independent law schools. Deans, Chief Financial Officers, General Counsels, and Admissions Deans will attend a two-day program at the Hilton Riverside, which is also the site of the AALS meeting. The program will cover areas unique to the administration and operation of independent law schools. The inaugural retreat was held right before the 2025 AALS Annual Meeting, and the second retreat was held on the sidelines of the 2025 ABA Annual Deans Week held in July at NYLS. The NYLS delegation includes Senior Associate Dean Matt Gewolb, Dean of Faculty William P. LaPiana, and Associate Dean and Vice President Ella Mae Estrada.
The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) has generously sponsored this leadership event.