Twelve GW Law faculty members presented at the 2020 Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting. Held this year in Washington, DC, the conference theme was "Pillars of Democracy: Law, Representation, and Knowledge." The meeting included moderated panels, interactive discussions, and networking events where attendees gathered to discuss pressing legal issues and emerging perspectives on the law and legal education.
GW Law faculty presented on their research areas and participated in panel discussions on practitioner concerns.
Read below for the full listing of GW Law faculty panels at the 2020 AALS Annual Meeting. For more information on the annual meeting, visit aals.org.
Populism, Electoral Politics, and Socio-Economic Justice in 2020
Associate Professor Jeremy Bearer-Friend and Associate Dean Alfreda Robinson presented in this panel discussion on the ways the upcoming 2020 election campaign is framing issues of socioeconomic justice, with special attention to modern monetary theory, the Green New Deal, and racial and economic inequality.
Aging and the Law - Emerging Issues in Elder Law
Professor Naomi R. Cahn participated in this session will look at emerging issues in elder law, including compassionate release; early release; immigration law and policy as it impacts the health of older adults; gray divorce, marriage, and cohabitation; art and older women; and consumer protection.
Family and Juvenile Law – Pedagogy Session: Using Formative and Summative Assessments in Family Law
This session addressed the development of various types of assessments in family law. The panel, which Professor Naomi R. Cahn appeared on, showed how family law professors are integrating formative assessment into their courses by, in the words of ABA Standard 314, Interpretation 314-1, “providing meaningful feedback to improve student learning,” and discuss alternative means of summative assessments.
Women in Legal Education - Gender Equity at Work
This session explored issues concerning gender equity in the workplace, including the legal profession and legal academia. An introductory panel featuring Vice Provost Adrienne Davis and Dean Angela Onwuachi-Wilig will explore issues concerning gender equity in the workplace, including the legal profession and legal academia. Professor Naomi R. Cahn presented in this panel session.
East Asian Law & Society - The Place of East Asian Law Scholars and Teachers in American Law Schools
Professor Donald C. Clarke participated in this round-table discussion that explored the challenges and opportunities of faculty members who specialize in East Asian law, particularly new professors. The conversation included challenges and opportunities in teaching and scholarship.
Legislation & Law of the Political Process and Administrative Law Joint Program - New Voices in Legislation
Senior Associate Dean Emily Hammond presented on this panel on emerging legislation and laws in the political process and administrative law.
Intellectual Property - Are Intellectual Property Rights Still Torts?
Legal rules that create private causes of actions can be sorted into two kinds: rules that entitle the claimant to an injunction and rules that entitle the claimant to damages. The first kind of rule is associated with property rights and hence is called "property rules." The second is associated with tort liability or contractual liability and is called "liability rules." Associate Professor Dmitry Karshtedt appeared on this panel discussion, which focused on whether the core intellectual property law areas, Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks, and Trade Secrets, are correctly conceived of as Tort/Law regimes and what it means to conceive acts of infringement as strict liability torts.
AALS Discussion Group - If, How, and When: Politics and Priorities in the Classroom
As we teach in a partisan time, in institutions that are ostensibly intended to support the pillars of democracy, professors are forced to question their supposedly neutral role in the classroom. The subjects they teach or the clients they represent sit at the center of incredibly important societal issues of inclusion and exclusion, including mass incarceration, poverty, race, gender, religion, and immigration – issues that are the center of the ideological divide. In this program, Co-Director of the Jacob Burns Legal Clinic Laurie S. Kohn and Professor Iselin Magdalene Gambert and other panelists discussed whether and to what extent law professors should bring those opinions into class.
AALS Discussion Group - Breastfeeding Law and Policy
Despite the ubiquity of the phrase “breast is best,” the law has fallen short of providing breastfeeding parents the support they require to meet their breastfeeding goals. Many breastfeeders have experienced discrimination, harassment, and roadblocks to their breastfeeding plans. Further, the wide differences in breastfeeding rates across race, class, and education level are powerful indicators that there is not equal access to breastfeeding support. This discussion group, of which Associate Professor Naomi Schoenbaum was a panelist, sought to explore the varied and overlapping legal and policy issues presented by breastfeeding. Is breastfeeding a public health issue? Is it a civil rights issue? Are the messages and methods used to encourage breastfeeding feminist or anti-feminist?
International Law - The Challenge of International Law in Dealing with the Causes of the Global Refugee Crisis
Most scholarly attention has focused on the receiving countries’ harsh response to the worldwide refugee crisis. Relatively few scholars have focused on its causes—why so many, primarily from the Global South, have left their homes. Professor Emeritus Dinah L. Shelton presented in this session that attempted to answer this critical question and analyze the role of international law.
AALS Discussion Group- Changing Concepts of International Economic Security & the Law
Professor Edward T. Swaine presented in this discussion group, which undertook an examination of global economic regulation (e.g., trade, investment, development, and finance) and its accommodation of the changing demands of national security. The literature on global economic regulation and national security law have remained largely siloed, exacerbating the legal dichotomy between the two and the salience of their apparently contrasting demands. A study of this space implicates institutions at the domestic and international level, which complement and reinforce each other. This discussion group sought to explore recent developments in these areas and begin to bridge the divide.
Financial Institutions and Consumer Financial Services - Immediate Challenges in Consumer Financial Protection
This program considered immediate challenges in consumer financial protection and how best to meet them. With Professor Arthur E. Wilmarth, Jr. adding to the discussion, topics included challenges that could lead to financial crises, result in consumer harm, or curb economic growth. The program spanned banking, securities, fintech, and insurance. Themes included behavioral and other justifications for regulation, regulatory tools and techniques, consumer remedies, and measures of regulatory impact. The program offered a chance for scholars and practitioners of consumer financial protection, whatever their economic, political, or philosophical views, to share their work and ideas at a time of significant change.