2018 AALS Conference: Day Two

by Kevin R. Johnson
January 04, 2018

Thursday was a busy day at the 2018 Association of American Law Schools conference. The event got off to a great start yesterday , and day two was equally enjoyable.

First, I unexpectedly ran into two King Hall alums: Nathan Kleiner ’10 of Critical Pass, a bar preparation company, and his colleague Drew Amoroso ’10. I visited with them at their exhibit in the AALS exhibits area. Nathan and Drew (pictured below) enjoyed telling professors about their services.

The AALS conference always has great panels. I attended one on Federalism and Sanctuary Cities. It featured, among others, Jennifer Chacon, who started her teaching career at UC Davis School of Law. The panel discussed the powers of states over immigrants and immigration regulation.

After lunch, I first attended the Trusts and Estates Section program. It included our own David Horton (above), who made an entertaining and lively presentation on some empirical research involving wills. In addition, a King Hall alum, Kristine Knaplund ’77 (below), who currently teaches at Pepperdine, made a presentation as well.

After Professor Horton concluded his presentation, I left to attend the alternative dispute resolution and access to justice program with King Hall's own Donna Shestowsky (below). She discussed her empirical research on litigants' perceptions of the ADR process.

I attended the Representative Assembly and ran into Vik Amar, formerly of UC Davis and now University of Illinois Law School Dean. Aaron Tang (below) was recognized before the assembly for receipt of the AALS scholarly paper award.

We ended the day with a UC Davis School of Law reception. We had a wonderful group in attendance, including alums Mike Van Horne ’75, Carin Crain ’91, Jose Castillo ’06, Drew Amoroso ’10, Daniel Watts ’11, and Ryan Holte ’08. Faculty attendees included Professors Afra Afsharipour, Jasmine Harris, Rose Villazor, Irene Joe (and friends), Tom Joo (and family), Carlton Larson (and family), Donna Shestowsky, and Lisa Pruitt. In addition, we had a number of friends of King Hall visit, including former King Hall faculty members Jennifer Chacon and Angela Onwuachi-Willig, as well as Melissa Murray, Suzanne Kim, Kaaryn Gustafson, Bob Chang, and others.