Dear NYLS Community,
The Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools is taking place in Washington, D.C, from January 3 to January 6, 2024.
This program brings together deans, administrators, and faculty from nearly every law school, and helps inform how we teach, publish, and lead our institutions. As always, New York Law School always is represented well, and many of our colleagues have significant roles during this pivotal year for the AALS and legal higher education.
I will be entering the second year of my three-year term on the AALS Executive Committee, and in addition to attending the Committee’s meeting, I will be hosting and moderating a Hot Topics Panel titled “Sharing Strategies to Teach and Engage Students During the 2024 Election Cycle” along with NYLS Adjunct Professor Andrew Brunsden, General Counsel and Deputy Commissioner of Legal Affairs, New York City Department of Investigation. Our panelists are Dean Ronald Weich, University of Baltimore School of Law; Dean David Holt, Oklahoma City University School of Law and Mayor of Oklahoma City; and, Gilda Daniels, Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law. The panel takes place on the third anniversary of the deadly Insurrection at the Capitol — Saturday, January 6, at 8:00 a.m.
Professor Penelope Andrews to Receive Deborah L. Rhode Award and Impact Legacy Award
Please join me in congratulating and celebrating our wonderful colleague Penelope “Penny” Andrews, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law and Director of the Racial Justice Project, who will receive the Deborah L. Rhode Award, a joint recognition by four sections of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS). She will receive the award alongside Renee Knake Jefferson, Professor of Law and the Joanne and Larry Doherty Chair in Legal Ethics and Director of the Law Center Outcomes and Assessments at University of Houston Law Center.
The annual award serves as a memorial to Deborah L. Rhode, who died in January 2021 after an illustrious career in law. She was the Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law and director of the Center on the Legal Profession at Stanford Law School. Rhode served as president of the Association of American Law Schools in 1998; was founding president of the International Association of Legal Ethics in 2010; and was the author of 30 books in the areas of leadership, professional responsibility, and gender law and public policy.
The Deborah L. Rhode Award is presented by the AALS Sections on Leadership, Pro Bono & Service Opportunities, Professional Responsibility, and Women in Legal Education. It is awarded annually to the law professor or lawyer who exemplifies the groundbreaking work, imagination, and inspired action of Deborah Rhode. This is the third year that the award is presented by the four sections. The award will be presented as part of the Fourth Annual AALS Awards Ceremony, taking place on Thursday, January 4, at 1:15 p.m. See the full announcement from AALS.
Penny will also receive the inaugural Impact Legacy Award from the AALS Section on Minority Groups in recognition of her sustained commitment to social justice and her transformative impact upon legal education throughout her tenure in the legal academy. The award ceremony will take place on Thursday, January 4, at 12:00 p.m.
As her colleagues and friends, we share this appreciation of her extraordinary scholarship and impact on the profession and celebrate these well-deserved recognitions by her peers. Congratulations again Penny!
NYLS Faculty Engagement at the Annual Meeting
Heidi K. Brown is now a member of the Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Balance & Well-Being in Legal Education.
Kris Franklin is on the “ASP Writes!” roundtable on Friday, January 5, at 4:00 p.m., and will attend the House of Delegates meeting.
Cherie McPherson is serving on a panel about the NextGen Bar Exam titled “Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research.” It is co-sponsored by Academic Support, Law Libraries and Legal Information, and Student Services and is taking place on Friday, January 5, at 10:00 a.m.
Justin Murray is moderating the Criminal Procedure Section Works-in-Progress pane on Saturday, January 6, at 3:00 p.m. He will also be taking over as the new Chair of the Criminal Procedure Section, having just completed a year as Chair-Elect.
Rebecca Roiphe is presenting as part of a panel for the Professional Responsibility section on “The Duties of Lawyers to Constitutional Government,” on Friday, January 5, at 10:00 a.m.
David Simson is attending the Annual Meeting and taking over as Section Chair for the Section on Employment Discrimination Law.
Amy Wallace is serving on a panel titled, “‘A Pathway Forward’ Pipeline Programs as Response to the Elimination of Affirmative Action in Admissions — A Tool for Law Schools to Shape Democracy,” on Wednesday, January 3, at 8:00 a.m.
Anthony W. Crowell
Dean and President
Professor of Law