Leadership and Impact: NYLS at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools

The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) held its Annual Meeting in San Diego, California from January 3–7, 2023. Bringing together law school deans, administrators, and faculty from around the country, the Annual Meeting informs how they teach, publish, and lead their institutions. This year, the Meeting’s theme centered around, “How Law Schools Can Make a Difference,” and New York Law School was very well represented.

Left image: (Left to right) Brigham Young University Law School Professor Kif Augustine-Adams, NYLS Professor Lenni B. Benson, University of Colorado Law Professor Violeta Chapin, and Michigan State University College of Law Associate Dean David B. Thronson; right image: (Left to right) University of California Davis School of Law Dean Kevin R. Johnson, NYLS Professor Claire R. Thomas ’11, and University of Southern California Gould School of Law Professor Emily Ryo

Left image: NYLS Professor Kris Franklin, Middle image: AALS President Mark Alexander and NYLS Dean and President Anthony W. Crowell, right image: NYLS Professor Claire R. Thomas ’11

Left image: (Left to right) Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Professor Jamelia Morgan, NYLS Professor Britney Wilson, Seton Hall Law School Associate Professor Doron Dorfman, and DePaul College of Law Professor Mark Weber; right image: NYLS Professor Lenni B. Benson and Penn State Law Associate Dean Shoba Wadhia

NYLS Dean and President Elected to Serve on AALS Executive Committee

Dean and President Anthony Crowell was elected to the AALS Executive Committee, the first community member from NYLS to ever serve in a senior leadership role at the Association. He will serve for a three-year term and will also serve on the Deans Steering Committee. He will work closely with newly elected AALS President Mark Alexander, Dean at Villanova Law School, to support programming and activities around the President’s theme for 2023: “Defending Democracy.” Previously, Dean Crowell was a co-author in a book project led by Dean Alexander, along with 12 other deans, entitled Beyond Imagination?: The January 6 Insurrection (West Academic, 2021). Dean Crowell’s chapter focused on boosting civic education.

NYLS Faculty Received Signature Awards

Arthur S. Leonard, Robert F. Wagner Professor Emeritus of Labor and Employment Law, and Kris Franklin, Wallace Stevens Professor of Law, Director of Academic Initiatives, and Co-Director of the Initiative for Excellence in Law Teaching, received significant awards during the Annual Meeting. Professor Leonard received the LGBTQ+ Inclusive Excellence Award from the Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues, the latest in a series of exceptional recognitions Professor Leonard has received, all of which celebrate and honor him as one of the most historic and nationally significant legal scholars in LGBTQ+ law.

Professor Franklin received the Legacy in Leadership award from the Section on Academic Support in recognition of her extraordinary leadership and deep engagement with her academic support colleagues, including mentoring for new teachers, engaging presentations to her colleagues at every significant academic support-related conference, and her key role in raising the profile and importance of academic support work for the entire legal academy and profession.

NYLS Faculty Led Programs and Discussions

Professor Lenni Benson, Distinguished Chair in Immigration and Human Rights Law, served as a commentator for the Section on Works-in-Progress’s session on selected papers from “New Voices in Immigration Law.” She also served as a speaker for a panel on immigration law and experiential learning organized by the Section on Pedagogy Programs.

Professor Kris Franklin, Wallace Stevens Professor of Law, served as a commentator for a session in selected papers on contracts hosted by the Section on Works-in-Progress.

Professor Britney Wilson, Director of NYLS’s Civil Rights and Disability Justice Clinic, presented her developing paper “Predisposed: Race, Disability, and Death Investigations” at the Law Professors with Disabilities and Allies Junior Faculty Works-In-Progress Session.

Professor Claire Thomas ’11, Director of NYLS’s Asylum Clinic, served as a speaker for a program on immigration law and racial inequality hosted by the Section on Immigration Law.