King Hall Faculty to Attend 2026 AALS Conference
UC Davis School of Law faculty are preparing to attend the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) 2026 Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Jan. 6-9. The theme of the conference is “Impact. Excellence. Resilience. The Enduring Contributions of Legal Education.”
Tuesday, Jan. 6:
Professor Carlton F.W. Larson is Chair of the Section on Legal History. He will speak on its panel “The Declaration of Independence” at 2:35 p.m. He is also the UC Davis representative of the AALS House of Representatives.
Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin will participate in two afternoon sessions. He will speak on the Immigration Law Section panel “Immigration Enforcement and the Limits of Law” at 2:35 p.m. At 4:10 p.m., the session “Emerging Immigration Legal Scholarship” will feature commentary from both Professor Chin and Professor Raquel Aldana.
Wednesday, Jan. 7:
Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin will speak on the Minority Groups Section panel “Property Rights and Racial Dispossession” at 8 a.m.
Professor Brian Soucek is on the Executive Committee of the Section on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues. His article “Tax Law as Muse” will receive the first-ever Art Law Scholarship Award from the AALS Art Law Section at 11:10 a.m.
Soucek will also speak on the AALS Hot Topic Program’s panel “Author Meets Deans,” at 1 p.m. Dean Jessica Berg will moderate the panel, which will focus on Soucek’s book “The Opinionated University: Academic Freedom, Diversity, and the Myth of Neutrality in American Higher Education” and explore current issues of academic freedom and free speech across the country. Dean Berg is also part of the Education Law Section, co-sponsored by Critical Theories. She will speak on its panel “The Trump Administration's Assault on Higher Education” at 4:10 p.m.
Professor Suzanne Reuben is a member of the Program Committee for the Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research Section. She is moderating its panel “State of the Discipline” at 1 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 8:
Mary Louise Frampton, visiting lecturer, will speak on the Critical Theories Section panel, “2025 to 2050: Legal Education in (what was?) the United States” at 2:35 p.m. The section is co-sponsored by Civil Rights, Criminal Procedure, Education Law, Law and the Humanities, and Poverty Law.
Professor Afra Afsharipour is Chair of the Comparative Law Section, co-sponsored by East Asian Law. She will moderate its session “The Role of Lawyers and Legal Education in Advancing the Rule of Law: A Comparative Perspective” at 2:35 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 9:
Professor Raquel Aldana serves on the Faculty Council of the International Human Rights Section. She served on the Committee that selected the Mandela Human Rights Award to be conferred at the AALS. She will moderate the International Human Rights and International Law Joint Program Section’s session, “Deportation, Due Process, and Human Dignity” at 8 a.m.
Professor Hannah Buxbaum will speak at the Conflict of Laws Section panel “Extraterritoriality in Flux” at 8 a.m.