AALS 2020 in Washington D.C.

The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) held its annual meeting Jan. 2-Jan. 5 in Washington, D.C. The UC Davis Law faculty, as has been the case for years, loomed large in the programming for the conference.

On the first day, I moderated a panel of professors and administrators with papers offering an empirical look at “ How Well are Law Schools Imparting the Value of Public Interest, Leadership, and Serving Others?” The papers offered ideas on what law schools might do better to encourage students to pursue public interest careers.

The annual meeting is always a good time to catch up with lawyer friends.  Within a few hours of being at the conference, I ran into Rose Villazor (Rutgers), Elizabeth Katz (Wash U), Yolanda Vasquez (Cincinnati), UCLA Dean Emerita Rachel Moran (now with UC Irvine), Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig (BU), and many more.

Day 2

On Friday, Professor Aaron Tang opened the panel on the future of affirmative action.  He reviewed recent developments in the Supreme Court on affirmative action, including the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy and the appointment of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

I visited a wonderful reception of local judges and law school deans that morning. AALS President Vicki Jackson, above, welcomed the attendees and discussed the efforts of the AALS to build bridges with the judiciary.

I ran into former law professor and now federal judge, Ryan Holte. Also a 2008 King Hall alum!

And in the afternoon, Senior Associate Dean Afra Afsharipour was a speaker on an excellent panel:

I had a wonderful time on a panel discussing the retention and recruitment of diverse faculty. 

Professor Shayak Sarkar brought a friend to the UC Davis Law reception. 

At the end of a great second day at the AALS annual meeting, UC Davis School of Law held its annual reception.

It was great to see Sister Simone Campbell and Eduardo Diaz. 

We had some incredible alums visit, including Sister Simone Campbell '77 (commencement speaker in 2017 and Distinguished Alumna in 2019), Sergio O’Cadiz '96 and Eduardo Diaz '76 (Smithsonian). We also had a great group of professors visit, including Meera Deo, Bob Chang (Seattle), Rose Villazor (Rutgers), and Luis Fuentes-Rohwer (Indiana-Bloomington). And our own professors Jack Chin, Jasmine Harris, Leticia Saucedo, Brian Soucek, Shayak Sarkar and Menesh Patel attended.

Professor Jasmine Harris (center)

UC Davis School of Law also cosponsored a reception of the Minority Groups section. I finished my day at a reception for deans of color, where I caught up with former King Hall faculty members Vik Amar (Dean, Illinois) and Angela Onwuachi-Willig (Dean, Boston University).

Day 3 

The day began at a breakfast before the deans' day of programs. It is always great visiting with the deans and hearing about developments in legal education.

The Minority Groups section lunch was a highlight of the day.  I was able to catch up with friends, including Ming Chen (Colorado), Adrien Wing (Iowa), and Michael Olivas (Houston).  Jasmine Harris was recognized with the other newly tenured professors of color.

I visited with former King Hall Professor Madhavi Sunder.  She is doing great at Georgetown. 

I also had the chance to attend panels throughout the day.

Professor Chris Elmendorf was on a panel, “Land Use Reform and the Housing Crisis: Is 100 Years of Exclusionary Zoning Enough?”.

And, visiting professor Meera Deo was a panelist during the employment discrimination law session.

The Latinx law professors dinner was another highlight of the day.  Dinner was at American University Washington College of Law.  The dinner allows all to catch up with friends from across the country.

Day 4

On the last day of the annual meeting, I was pleased to hear Professor Jack Chin’s presentation on a panel about discrimination in policing.  Jack discussed issues raised by law enforcement officer shootings.

I was on one of the closing panels of the conference.  The panel was put on by the Minority Groups’ section. My paper, which will come out in spring 2020 in the UCLA Law Review, is titled “ Trump’s Latinx Repatriation.”

The AALS annual meeting is a whirlwind of activity.  The exchange of ideas and seeing friends always make the event memorable.