MEMORANDUM 07-07
TO: Deans of Member and Fee-Paid Schools
FROM: Elizabeth Hayes Patterson
SUBJECT: Call for Scholarly Papers
This year, the AALS will sponsor its twenty-third annual review of scholarly papers. This endeavor was launched to encourage and recognize legal scholarship and to broaden the participation of junior law teachers in the Annual Meeting Program. We begin this process with the call for scholarly papers. The AALS invites all full-time teachers of AALS member or fee-paid schools, who as of July 1, 2007, have been educators for five or fewer years, to submit papers to the scholarly paper review committee. The deadline for all submissions is August 17, 2007 .
The papers are reviewed on an anonymous basis by a committee of established scholars, including Judith Areen (Georgetown University) , the AALS Immediate Past President, who will serve as chair of the review committee; Regina Austin, (University of Pennsylvania); Donald Dripps, (University of San Diego); Rashmi Dyal-Chand, 2007 Winner, (Northeastern University); Tom Ginsburg, (University of Illinois); Linda Greene, (University of Wisconsin); and Deborah Waire Post, (Touro College). Papers that make a substantial contribution to legal literature may be selected for distribution and oral presentation at a special program at the 2008 Annual Meeting in New York .
The AALS would like, as in past years, a sizable number of scholarly papers of high quality and on a broad array of topics for the committee's review. As dean, you have considerable interest in, and influence over, the summer research plans of your junior faculty. We therefore ask that you encourage your eligible faculty to submit their papers to the AALS. Previous winners have told us that this honor has made a difference to the law review editors considering publication of their articles.
I attach to this memorandum the complete information on the competition. The information is also published in the February and April issues of the AALS Newsletter.
To encourage and recognize excellent legal scholarship and to broaden participation by new law teachers in the Annual Meeting program, the Association is sponsoring its twenty-third annual Call for Scholarly Papers.
Those who will have been full-time law teachers at an AALS member or fee-paid school for five years or fewer on July 1, 2007 are invited to submit a paper on a topic related to or concerning law. A committee of established scholars will review the submitted papers with the authors’ identities concealed.
Judith Areen, ( Georgetown), the AALS Immediate Past President, will serve as chair of the review committee, which includes Regina Austin, ( Pennsylvania); Donald Dripps, ( San Diego); Rashmi Dyal-Chand (Northeastern) 2007 Winner; Tom Ginsburg, ( Illinois); Linda Greene, ( Wisconsin); and Deborah Waire Post (Touro). Papers that make a substantial contribution to legal literature may be selected for distribution and oral presentation at a special program to be held at the AALS Annual Meeting in January 2008. Authors of the presented papers will also be recognized at the Annual Meeting Luncheon. The selection committee must determine that a paper is of sufficient quality to deserve this special recognition, and the AALS is not obligated to select any paper.
Deadline: To be considered in the competition eight hard copies of the manuscript must be postmarked no later than August 17, 2007 and sent to: Call for Scholarly Papers, Association of American Law Schools, 1201 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036-2717. Also an electronic version must be emailed to scholarlypapers@aals.org no later than August 17, 2007.
Anonymity: The manuscript should be accompanied by a cover letter with the author’s name and contact information. The manuscript itself, including title page and footnotes, must not contain any references that identify the author or the author’s school. The submitting author is responsible for taking any steps necessary to redact self-identifying text or footnotes.
Form and Length: The manuscript must be typed, double-spaced, on 8 1/2" by 11" paper in 12-point (or larger) type with ample (at least 1") margins on all sides. Footnotes should be 10-point or larger, single-spaced, and preferably on the same page as the referenced text. Submissions are limited to articles, essays and book chapters. There is a 75-page limit on the submitted manuscripts. Manuscripts will not be returned.
Eligibility: Faculty members of AALS member and fee-paid schools are eligible to submit papers. The Call is open to those who have been full-time law teachers for five years or fewer as of July 1, 2007. (For these purposes, one is considered a full-time faculty member while officially “on leave” from the law school.) Co-authored papers are eligible for consideration, but each of the co-authors must meet the eligibility criteria established above. No one who has won the AALS Scholarly Papers Competition is eligible to compete again. Honorable Mention recipients are eligible to enter again. Professors are also restricted to submitting only one paper in the Scholarly Paper Competition.
Papers are expected to reflect original research or major developments in previously reported research. Papers are not eligible for consideration if they will have been published before February 2008. Submitted papers, whether or not selected for recognition, may be subsequently published as arranged by the authors. Papers may have been revised on the basis of review by colleagues.
Statement of Compliance: The cover letter accompanying each submission must include a statement verifying: 1) the author holds a faculty appointment at a member or fee-paid school; 2) the author has been engaged in full-time teaching for five years or fewer as of July 1, 2007; 3) all information identifying the author or author’s school has been removed from the manuscript; and 4) the paper has not been previously published and is not committed for publication prior to February 2008. The author must also agree to notify the AALS if and as soon as s/he learns that the submitted paper will be published before February 2008.
Presentation at the Annual Meeting: The author of any selected paper will present an oral summary of the paper at a special program to be held at the 2008 Annual Meeting. Copies of the paper will be made available for distribution to those attending the presentation.
Inquiries: Questions should be directed to AALS Deputy Director Elizabeth Hayes Patterson at the AALS national office in Washington, D.C. (telephone, 202-296-5184, or e-mail, epatterson@aals.org).