It’s never too early for a good thing is it? If you’re on the planning committee for the 2011 ABA DR Section Conference the answer is no. Last week I was in Denver discussing the spring conference, so I’m thinking about much of the things associated with the conference. For example, the RFP will be coming out in a couple of weeks, so keep your eyes and ears open for it. More importantly, at least for this blog post, is finding a plenary speaker. The conference has had some great speakers over the years – I thought Larry Susskind’s comments at last year’s conference were terrific. As for 2011, we came up with several ideas, but I’m curious as to our readers’ thoughts. Who would you like to see address the conference as a whole? And, what would you like that person to talk about? Of course I can’t guarantee anything, but I am interested in your thoughts.
Also, I was recently in on a conference call where we were discussing next year’s Legal Educators’ Colloquium. Someone floated the idea of having a session geared more towards mentoring of younger ADR faculty. Many of our newer colleagues are the 0nly ADR person on their faculties and may want (need?) some guidance. The idea is to have some of our ilk who are in leadership positions at various law schools discuss political issues that ADR faculty have had to deal with for years – essentially, where are the traps and pitfalls – and give advice. If we were to do this, we could solicit questions before hand to give the panel something to work with to start and then leave it open for a Q & A. What’s your reaction to a program along these lines? Should we do this or should we shelve it? And don’t forget to explain why.
I think the panel is a good idea. I agree with Michael that this is a conversation that any discipline could have, although I do believe ADR profs tend to see themselves differently than other law profs. At least in my experience, ADR profs are often more likely to see a connection between doctrine, skills, and clinical work, and to cross those boundaries in their own professional lives, than are professors in other doctrinal areas. I think that’s a source of enormous educational value. I also think it (unjustifiably) sometimes costs the field of ADR in terms of academic prestige. That can be a difficult minefield for young academics, and one worth discussing.
Indeed, the dates for next year’s (2011) ABA DR Section Conference are April 14-16, with pre-conference activities on the 13th. See you in Denver.
Thanks for this post, Art. And I could not agree more with Michael.
I suppose it could also be good to identify the different long-term career goals that Colloquium attendees might have–and consider how those different goals could/would affect what to watch out for, both negatively and positively.
Great suggestion Michael. I’ll share it w/ those planning the LEC.
Next year’s conference will be in Denver, and I believe the dates are April 14-16, but don’t quote me on that. I should have the official dates soon.
Can you provide the dates and location of the 2011 Conference. Thanks.
I very much like the idea of the things-to-watch-for panel, Art. And I think you’re right that having some pre-planned questions at least at the outset will help to raise the quality (or at least thoughtfulness) of the answers. One suggested tweak would be to frame it in terms of both the things to watch for in the “watch out!” sense and things to watch for in the “look at this great opportunity” sense. I’m not sure there’s any academic discipline/approach/style/focus that always feels like it is comfortably central to a law school’s ongoing affairs. I don’t want to overstate this, but it’s been a real learning for me since I took on the associate dean role. I think almost every section of the AALS could hold a session about traps and pitfalls for people in their section, and they’d find things to warn junior colleagues about. In good law school case-method fashion, we probably do teach a lot by pointing out things that have gone wrong, with the implicit message “don’t do what led to that.” I just hope that we collectively also can be explicit with junior faculty about where the upsides are, where the things are they should affirmatively seek to do, in addition to what they ought to avoid.