Our students are studying law at a moment when many of our most cherished values as Americans are at a crossroads – among them are truth, civility, the rule of law, and democracy. Our work on leadership education has never been more important. Now more than ever, we need lawyer-leaders to defend these values. That’s why I ask our students each year to think of themselves as more than future lawyers. I ask them to think of themselves as future custodians of civility, defenders of democracy, and guardians of justice.
As Chair of the AALS Leadership Section , I am honored to follow in the footsteps of so many pioneers in law school leadership education – Professor Deborah Rhode (2018), Professor Leah Teague (2019), Dean Doug Blaze (2020), Dean Don Polden (2021), Dean Garry Jenkins (2022), and Dean April Barton (2023).
My special thanks to last year’s Chair, Dean April Barton, for the opportunity to work closely with her on the January 2024 AALS Leadership Section Session and my thanks to Chair-Elect, Professor Joan Heminway and the other members of the Executive Committee with whom I’m working to make our January 2025 AALS Leadership Section Session equally successful.
I’m very grateful for the members of our AALS Leadership Section Executive Committee each of whom is featured in this newsletter.
We hosted a thought-provoking session on April 25, Teaching Law Leadership with Non-Law Texts with Professor Joan Heminway and Beth Ford, Interim Director, Institute for Professional Leadership, University of Tennessee College of Law. As noted below, we will host leadership webinars on September 10, October 8, and November 13. Please join us for each of these sessions.
Please also join us October 24-25 at the Leadership Symposium hosted by The University of Tennessee College of Law’s Institute for Professional Leadership. More information is below.
We have created a bank of law school leadership course syllabi and descriptions of law school leadership programs.Please add your leadership course syllabus and/or leadership program description here: Shared Course Syllabi and Program Descriptions