Date Chartered: 1/1/1973

Purpose

The Section on Minority Groups of the Association of American Law Schools, created by the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools, carries forward the work of the Association by providing a common meeting ground as a means of effecting communication and collaborative action among law teachers and administrators interested in problems and programs relating to minority persons in the legal profession and also by formulating and submitting to the members of the Section, the Association, and other appropriate groups, such reports, recommendations and publications as may be deemed useful to effectuate specific policies and programs of the Section.

Leadership   Section Members

Bylaws of the Section on Minority Groups

2024

Main Program (1)
Main Program (2)
Main Program (3)
Pedagogy
Award Ceremony
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation, Co-Sponsored by Aging and the Law, Poverty Law, and Minority Groups
Dean, For the Law School, Co-Sponsored by Minority Groups
Family and Juvenile Law, Co-Sponsored by Minority Groups, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Issues, and Women in Legal Education

2023

Main Program
Joint Program

Works-in-Progress
Pedagogy Program
Award Ceremony
Teaching Methods (Co-Sponsored by Academic Support, Balance & Well-Being in Legal Education, and Minority Groups)
Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation (Co-Sponsored by Law, Medicine and Health Care, Minority Groups)

2022

Main Program
Clinical Legal Education (Co-Sponsored by Section on Minority Groups)
Pedagogy
Civil Rights (Co-Sponsored by Section on Minority Groups)
Women in Legal Education (Co-Sponsored by Section on Minority Groups)
Law and the Social Sciences (Co-Sponsored by Section on Minority Groups)
Panel 1
Panel 2
International Law (Co-Sponsored by Section on Minority Groups)
Immigration Law (Co-Sponsored by Section on Minority Groups)
Leadership (Co-Sponsored by Section on Minority Groups)
Pedagogy
Works in Progress
Networking Session
Award Ceremony

2021

Main Program
Networking Session
Award Presentation
Pedagogy
Section on Student Services and Part-Time Division Programs Joint Program 
Panel 1
Panel 2
Panel 3
Panel 4
Business Meeting
AALS Open Source Program (Co-Sponsored by Section on Minority Groups)
Aging and the Law (Co-Sponsored by Minority Groups)
Professional Responsibility (Co-Sponsored by Minority Groups)
Disability Law (Co-Sponsored by Minority Groups)
Evidence (Co-Sponsored by Minority Groups)
 Socio-Economics (Co-Sponsored by Minority Groups)
Law and the Humanities (Co-Sponsored by Minority Groups)

2020

Main Program 1
Main Program 2
Agricultural and Food Law (Co-sponsored by Minority Groups)
Civil Rights (Co-sponsored by Minority Groups)
Family and Juvenile Law (Co-sponsored by Minority Groups)
Luncheon

2019

Main Program
Aging and the Law (Co-sponsored by Minority Groups)
Environmental Law (Co-sponsored by Minority Groups)
Evidence (Co-sponsored by Minority Groups)
Luncheon 
Socio-economics (Co-sponsored by Minority Groups)
Pedagogy

Clyde Ferguson Award

The Clyde Ferguson Award may be granted by the Section to an outstanding law teacher, who, in the course of his or her career, has achieved excellence in the areas of public service, teaching, and scholarship. The Award is particularly aimed at law teachers who, have provided support, encouragement and mentoring to colleagues, students and aspiring legal educators.

Nominations and Eligibility: All professional legal educators are eligible for the Award, including those holding professional rank, administrators, librarians, and clinical or writing instructors. However, no serving member of the Executive Committee is eligible to receive the Award.

Nominations may be made by any member of the Section at any time to the Chair of the Section. Each year, the Chair should announce the existence of the Award and solicit nominations widely through e-mail discussion lists, the Section newsletter, and by other means in the discretion of the Chair. Nominations should be made in writing, in the form of a 1-2 page letter describing why the nominee should be considered for the Award.

Selection Process: The Chair shall call a meeting of the Executive Committee to consider the nominees in advance of the Annual Meeting of the AALS. All nominations which were received after the Executive Committee last met to consider the Award shall be considered at the meeting. Copies of written nominations shall be distributed to the members of the executive committee in advance of the meeting.

The recipient shall be selected by consensus of the Executive Committee after discussion, or, if no consensus is reached, by majority vote of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee may vote not to grant the Award in any given year. The Executive Committee may vote not to grant the Award in any given year. The Executive Committee may vote to delegate initial consideration of nominees to a subcommittee, which may make a recommendation to the full committee, but no Award shall be made without approval of the full committee.

Derrick A. Bell Award

The Minority Law Teacher’s Section of the Association of American Law Schools established the Derrick Bell Award to honor a junior faculty member who, through activism, mentoring, colleagueship, teaching or scholarship, has made an extraordinary contribution to legal education, the legal system, or social justice.

Nominations and Eligibility: All professional legal educators are eligible for the Award, including those holding professional rank, administrators, librarians, and clinical or writing instructors, so long as they have not received tenure, and have served for seven years or less, at the time of the Award. However, no serving member of the Executive Committee is eligible to receive the Award.

Nominations may be made by any member of the Section at any time to the Chair of the Section. Each year, the Chair should announce the existence of the Award and solicit nominations widely through e-mail discussion lists, the Section newsletter, and by other means in the discretion of the Chair. Nominations should be made in writing, in the form of 1-2 page letter describing why the nominee should be considered for the Award.

Selection Process: The Chair shall call a meeting of the Executive Committee to consider the nominees in advance of the Annual Meeting of the AALS. All nominations which were received after the Executive Committee last met to consider the Award shall be considered at the meeting. Copies of written nominations shall be distributed to the members of the executive committee in advance of the meeting.

The recipient shall be selected by consensus of the Executive Committee after discussion, or, if no consensus is reached, by majority vote of the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee may vote not to grant the Award in any given year. The Executive Committee may vote to delegate initial consideration of nominees to a subcommittee, which may make a recommendation to the full committee, by no Award shall by made without approval of the full committee.

The Impact Legacy Award

The Award is granted to an outstanding Professional Legal Educator, who, in the course of her, his, or their career, has had a sustained commitment to and transformative impact upon legal education, one or more legal systems, or social justice through teaching, public service, scholarship, or other contributions.

Recipients

Year Award Name Recipient Law School
2024 Clyde Ferguson Award Frank Cooper University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law
2024 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Ngozi Okidegbe Boston University School of Law
2024 Impact Legacy Award Penelope Andrews New York Law School
2023 Clyde Ferguson Award Tamara F. Lawson University of Washington School of Law
2023 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Daniel Scott Harawa Washington University in St. Louis School of Law
2022 Clyde Ferguson Award Dean Leonard Baynes University of Houston Law Center
2022 Clyde Ferguson Award Laura W. Gómez University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
2022 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Monica C. Bell Loyola University Chicago College of Law
2021 Clyde Ferguson Award Charlton Copeland University of Miami School of Law
2021 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Carliss Chatman Washington and Lee University School of Law
2020 Clyde Ferguson Award Jerry Kang University of California Los Angeles School of Law
2020 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Jennifer Lee Temple University, James E. Beasley School of Law
2019 Clyde Ferguson Award Robin Lenhardt Forham University School of Law
2019 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Ifeoma Anjuwa Cornell Law School
2018 Clyde Ferguson Award Guy Charles Duke University School of Law
2018 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Stacy Hawkins Rutgers University School of Law
2018 Clyde Ferguson Award Dorothy Brown Emory University School of Law
2017 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Vinay Harpalani Savannah Law School
2017 Clyde Ferguson Award Devon Wayne Carbado University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
2016 Trailblazer Award Lisa M. Fairfax The George Washington University Law School
2016 Clyde Ferguson Award Catherine E. Smith University of Denver Sturm College of Law
2015 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández Capital University Law School
2015 Clyde Ferguson Award Mario Barnes
Angela Onwuachi-Willig,
University of California, Irvine School of Law
University of Iowa College of Law
2014 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Osamudia James University of Miami Law School
2014 Clyde Ferguson Award Steven Bender Seattle University School of Law
2013 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award Janai S. Nelson St. John’s University School of Law
2013 Clyde Ferguson Award Henry J. Richardson Temple University, James E. Beasley School of Law
2013 Clyde Ferguson Award Twila Perry Rutgers School of Law-Newark
2012 Derrick A. Bell Jr. Award L. Song Richardson American University Washington College of Law
2012 Clyde Ferguson Award Keith Aoki
Twila Perry
University of California, Davis School of Law
Rutgers School of Law-Newark