It was great seeing many of you at the AALS meetings in blistering cold New Orleans over the weekend.  Yup, it was damn cold, and my tolerance for cold weather has dramatically dipped since my move to warm and sunny Arizona.  I’ll be blogging later about the paneled discussion on negotiation ethics I participated in (thanks Charlie, Rebecca, and Bob).  Before doing that, I wanted to remark about the conference generally speaking first.  

Compared to other conferences, I view this one primarily as a networking conference.   Sure, it’s easy enough to network at any conference, but this is the only one where you can really meet and speak with people at other schools who are outside of your discipline.  And if you’re lucky, there will be a presentation or two you’ll be interested in attending.  As far as the ADR angle goes, you will meet ADR folks there, and many were there this year, but some of the larger names in the field prefer this meeting simply because it’s the one for all the law professors.  And do take the time to introduce yourself to people, particularly at the ADR section events.  As Larissa Lidsky from Prawfsblawg explains, there are three good reasons to do so: 

One of my favorite things about the ADR professorate is its collegiality, and I for one want to keep that culture going.  If you don’t believe me, just go to the Legal Educators’ Colloquium at the ABA Dispute Resolution Section meeting in San Francisco in April.  Or, attend the Work-in-Progress Conference at the University of Oregon next fall.  You’ll see what I mean.