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August 20, 1999
TO: Deans of Member and Fee-Paid Schools
FROM: Carl Monk
SUBJECT: Participation of U.S. Legal Educators in AALS Conference of International Legal Educators
As you may know, the AALS has received grant support to sponsor a Conference of International Legal Educators to be held May 24-29, 2000 at Villa Pietra in Florence, Italy. There will be 50 participants at this Conference. The Planning Committee met in our offices June 28-29 to discuss what topics should be covered. The members of the Planning Committee are: Máximo Carvajal Contreras, National Autonomous University of Mexico; Lawrence Foster, University of Hawaii; Claudio Grossman, American University; H.W.O. Okoth-Ogendo, University of Nairobi; John Sexton, New York University, Chair, Sang-Hyun Song, Seoul National University; Frans Vanistendael, University of Leuven; and Adrien Katherine Wing, University of Iowa.
The planning committee decided that the principal objectives of this Conference would be to explore the possibilities for institutional cooperation among associations of law schools in different parts of the world, and to facilitate more interchange among U.S. law faculty and colleagues in other countries. Since this is the first meeting of this type, we will be discussing basic questions about the structure of legal education in different countries that affect our ability to cooperate, and the form that any cooperation might take. We will emphasize how the intellectual and curricular quality of legal education throughout the world can be enriched through international exchange.
This will not be a “talking heads” conference. A condition of participation is preparation of some materials in advance, and the submission of a written work product at the conclusion of the Conference. The specifics of what the written
submissions should be are still being discussed by the Planning Committee, but it is expected that foreign participants will prepare a short paper describing the structure and system of legal education for the country and region that they represent. To assure adequate opportunity for a full range of discussion, there will be only fifty participants. All participants will be selected based on what they can contribute to the conference.
To assure that there is as much representation as feasible of people from different countries and legal systems, participation of U.S. legal educators is limited to about fifteen people. Four of those fifteen people will be the U.S. members of the planning committee. The President and President-elect of the AALS and one representative of the ABA and Law School Admission Council will also be included in the U.S. delegation. This leaves a limited number of positions (5-10) for which we are seeking nominations of U.S. legal educators. I invite you to submit either your own name, or other nominees. The nomination letter should contain a succinct, but complete description of anything in the nominee’s background that is relevant to his or her participation in the conference, and the reasons why you believe the nominee would be a particularly strong addition to the Conference. Because this first conference is designed to explore structural issues of legal education and international cooperation, rather than substantive areas of law, people with an understanding of the structure of legal education internationally and some prior international experience will be preferred. All conference proceedings will be conducted in Spanish and English. We expect that there will be many more nominees than positions, but if this Conference is successful there will be “spin-offs” in the future that will include additional people.
Consistent with commitments to our grantor, all expenses for U.S. participants are expected to be borne by their home institution. To assure geographic diversity, and diversity of legal systems represented, the grant to the AALS will be used to subsidize attendance of foreign participants.
Nominations should be submitted to me or AALS Deputy Director Harry G. Prince by Tuesday, September 14.
cc: Executive Committee
CCM:amh
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