Busy day for UC Davis Law at AALS Annual Meeting

UC Davis School of Law had another big day at the (virtual) annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools. I reported earlier on the opening events.

I got a chance to watch Senior Associate Dean Afra Afsharipour participate on a panel of the Section on Transactional Law and Skills, Co-Sponsored by Business Associations, on “The New Public Interest in Private Markets: Transactional Innovation for Promoting Inclusion.” The panelists focused on equity and inclusion in transactional law. The first speaker on the panel, Dean Afsharipour presented her paper on “Women in M&A.” It was selected from a competitive call for papers. In the paper, Dean Afsharipour presents data showing a dearth of women (and almost no women of color) in any of the professional roles that come into play in contemporary corporate mergers and acquisitions.

Dean Afsharipour also presented later in the day on a Section on Socio-Economics panel on “New Developments in Socio-Economics -- Does Shareholder Primacy Exacerbate Racial, Gender, and Economic Inequality?” Dean Afsharipour and Professor Darren Rosenbloom (Pace; McGill, this summer) presented a paper on the number and distribution of women in executive positions of corporations and how underrepresentation and sked distributions can be addressed.

Professor Elizabeth Joh spoke on the Section on Internet and Computer Law, Co-Sponsored by National Security Law. A leader in the field, Professor Joh discussed how technology is transforming policing and bringing to the fore complex constitutional and related issues.

Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations Karen Charney spoke on a panel on development and alumni relations approaches in the midst of a pandemic. She talked about some of her innovative approaches at UC Davis, which have included regular alumni town halls and virtual reunions.

Professor Al Lin commented on a paper presented in the Section on Environmental Law, Co-Sponsored by Animal Law, Agricultural and Food Law, and Natural Resources and Energy Law program on “New Scholarship in Environmental, Energy, Natural Resources, Agricultural, Food, and Animal Law.”