As you may know, the AALS is engaged in a self-study involving all aspects of the Association’s services to legal education. One particularly important service has been providing the “stand-alone” professional development programs that occur at various times of the year other than at the Annual Meeting. Most of these programs are for teachers of a particular subject matter in the law school curriculum, although some are designed to have broader appeal (such as this summer’s New Ideas for Experienced Teachers Workshop, programs for women or minority law teachers, and programs for law school administrators).

As a result of reviewing focus group comments and responses to the recently distributed self-study questionnaire, the AALS Executive Committee is considering a reconfiguration of professional development programming that would enhance our ability to bring teachers of different subjects together to discuss common issues, and make it easier and less costly to provide this programming. This reconfiguration would take the form of offering most of the stand-alone programs at the same time and place each year. (The New Law Teachers Workshop and Clinical Legal Educators Workshop would still be offered separately.)

The new model would look something like this: a two to four day mid-year meeting held sometime between mid-May and late June in which three to five programs would offered. In a four-day meeting, on the first two days we would be offer two to four programs for teachers of particular subjects. The AALS Professional Development Committee would select programs that would likely appeal to different groups of law teachers, but there might be some common programming if the planning committees believed there was a particular overlapping area of interest. On the final two days we would offer one program that would have broader appeal. Faculty could attend any single program or a combination of programs, and faculty attending over the entire period would pay a registration fee that would be less than the usual registration fee for two separate programs, and, of course, they would be paying only one airfare.

We urge you to submit your general views on this proposed change, and to indicate the specific weeks that you believe would be the best time to offer this programming if the change is made. Because we want to tabulate responses for the Executive Committee’s review before its late July meeting, we would like to have your response no later than June 30, 2001. We will also post this message on the AALS dean’s listserv and the “lawprofs” bulletin board. Thank you for your anticipated assistance.

cc:
Executive Committee
Deans of Fee-Paid and Modified Fee-Paid Schools