SEALS/AALS/LSA Round-tables: Can they migrate to the web here on Prawfs?

I don't know about you, but I find it's difficult to attend all the good panels going on at conferences such as SEALS, where there are simultaneous panels competing for one's attention, not to mention the temptations of the informal schmoozing, and yes, the surroundings. So I have an idea: if you were on a panel this past week at SEALS, and you thought, "you know, it's a shame that there were only 2 to 25 people in the room available to hear the sharp thoughts of my co-panelists," consider yourself invited to organize your co-panelists' talking points and merge them into a document (or a series of posts) that we can put up on Prawfs and have a larger discussion about.

After the jump, I'll mention just a few of the panels I either regretted missing or attended but think should have a wider audience. Hopefully, some of the folks listed will organize the others, or at least, share their own thoughts here. My own panel will be doing something like this soon. Just to be clear, this is not an appropriate forum for the new scholars panels (sorry!), since those are individual papers; I'm looking for remarks people wrote up for panels around a particular shared theme.

The Future of the Media in an Internet Age

This panel focuses on the future of the media in light of a host of new and emerging technologies, including the Internet, Twitter, Flicker, blogs, and cable and satellite communications. 

 

Moderator: Dean David Logan, Rogers Williams University School of Law

 

Speakers: Professor Dr. Dieter Dörr, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Faculty of Law (Germany); Professor Udo Fink Doerr, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Faculty of Law (Germany); Professor Russell Weaver, University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law; Professor Carol Pauli, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law; Professor Glenn Reynolds, The University of Tennessee College of Law; Mr. James Winston, Rubin, Winston, Diercks, Harris & Cooke, LLP, Washington, DC

Report from the ABA, AALS & LSAC: The Top Ten Questions in

    Legal Education

Three of the leaders of the major legal education organizations will address the great questions facing legal education and the profession.  Questions will be collected from SEALS members and each of the three leaders will have an opportunity to address "The Top 10 Questions in Legal Education."

                                               

Moderator/Discussant: Dean David Brennen, University of Kentucky College of Law

 

Speakers: Professor Susan Westerberg Prager, Executive Director, Association of American Law Schools; Mr. Bucky Askew, Consultant on Legal Education, American Bar Association; Mr. Daniel Bernstine, President & CEO, Law School Admission Council

 Supreme Court Update–Individual Rights

This part of the Supreme Court Update focuses on recently decided cases pertaining to governmental powers and individual rights (e.g., Free Speech, Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause, Equal Protection).

 

Moderator: Professor James Wilets, Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center

 

Speakers: Professor Melissa Waters, Washington University School of Law; Professor Howard Wasserman, Florida International University College of Law; Professor Frank Ravitch, Michigan State University College of Law; Professor Otis Stephens, The University of Tennessee College of Law; Professor Ronald Krotoszynski, The University of Alabama School of Law

Supreme Court Update–Corporate, Civil Litigation, Business, Administrative & Regulatory Issues

This part of the Supreme Court Update focuses on decisions relating to corporate issues, civil litigation, administrative and business issues, as well as important legislation enacted by Congress or the states.

 

Moderator: Dean Dennis Honabach, Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law

 

Speakers: Professor William Funk, Lewis & Clark Law School; Professor Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, Louisiana State University Law Center; Professor Thomas Plank, The University of Tennessee College of Law; Professor Donna Nagy, Indiana University Maurer School of Law

You’ve Got Tenure!  Now What?

  Noon This panel will address how to manage the transition from untenured to tenured status and how one’s professional life changes once tenure is achieved.  Questions to be considered include: How does being tenured affect one’s teaching, scholarship, and service, or one’s relationship with colleagues? Do expectations or pressures – whether internal or external – change?  How does one measure success after a significant benchmark has been achieved?  Does one still need a mentor?  What new obligations arise post-tenure?  This panel, which is organized by the New Scholars Committee, is especially aimed at the soon-to-be or newly-tenured, although many others will find it interesting.

            Moderator: Professor Matthew Parlow, Marquette University Law School

                                                                                                                       

Speakers: Professor David Case, The University of Mississippi School of Law; Professor Geoff Rapp, University of Toledo College of Law; Professor William Araiza, Brooklyn Law School; Professor Mark Bauer, Stetson University College of Law

The Value of Empirical Research in Law School Pedagogy, and Methods for Pursuing Such Research

Legal education lags behind other disciplines in the development of scholarship, and particularly empirical scholarship, about teaching, assessment and student learning.  In this program, panelists will present their empirical research about student learning in the context of a discussion about how law professors might begin to develop their own empirical studies on teaching, assessment, and student learning.  To lay the groundwork for others interested in pursuing this area of legal scholarship, panelists will use their work to illustrate how they tested underlying assumptions about student learning and will discuss the research methodology and design issues involved in their respective studies.  Speakers will provide participants with papers on different topics embraced by this subject.

 

Moderator: Professor Howard Katz, Elon University School of Law

 

Speakers: Professor Andrea Curcio, Georgia State University College of Law; Professor Eric Degroff, Regent University School of Law; Professor Emmy Reeves, University of Richmond School of Law; Professor Leah Christensen, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Professor William Henderson, Indiana University Maurer School of Law

Roundtable Discussion: Obtaining and Executing Casebook Contracts

   This panel focuses on the nuts and bolts of how to obtain casebook contracts and (once obtained) how to bring them to fruition.  The panel is composed of established casebook authors.

 

Moderator: Professor Bradley Shannon, Florida Coastal School of Law

 Speakers: Professor Leonard Rotman, University of Windsor Faculty of Law (Canada); Professor George Kuney, The University of Tennessee College of Law; Professor Alex Bolla, Samford University, Cumberland School of Law; Professor Linda Jellum, Mercer University School of Law; Professor Douglas Moll, University of Houston Law Center

Roundtable Discussion

Why Do We Have the Fourth Amendment?

In this panel, the moderator will pose questions to four experts on the history of and/or rationale for the Fourth Amendment. These experts will share their thoughts and expertise on such questions as who and what the Fourth Amendment was designed to protect, how faithful the court has been to original intent, how well the Court has adapted the Amendment to modern times, and what the future may hold for the Fourth Amendment.

 

Moderator: Professor Arnold Loewy, Texas Tech University School of Law

 

Speakers: Professor Morgan Cloud, Emory University School of Law; Professor Thomas Clancy, The University of Mississippi School of Law; Professor Wayne Logan, Florida State University College of Law; Professor Janet Hoeffel, Tulane University Law School

Executive Compensation in Recessionary Times

This panel will step back and begin to assess the flurry of activity from the last few years around regulating executive compensation.  As we begin to emerge from the recession, we can ask: were the measures implemented, including such steps as the appointment of a government "compensation czar," limited to the unique circumstances of billion-dollar bailouts and the danger of another great depression? Or were these necessary correctives to an under-regulated market that needs continued government involvement to ensure that incentives are properly aligned?  In answering these questions, the panelists will also try to revisit first principles about the aims of executive compensation regulation.

 

Moderator: Professor Jason Solomon, The University of Georgia School of Law

 

Speakers: Professor Omari Simmons, Wake Forest University School of Law; Professor Gregg Polsky, University of North Carolina School of Law; Professor Brett McDonnell, University of Minnesota Law School; Professor Miriam Cherry, University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law

Roundtable Discussion: The Exclusionary Rule

For this panel, the moderator will ask questions of four experts on the exclusionary rule of the Fourth Amendment. These experts will share their thoughts and expertise on such questions as whether the exclusionary rule significantly deters police violations of the Fourth Amendment, whether there are reasons apart from deterrence that might justify the exclusionary rule, whether the costs of the exclusionary rule outweigh its benefits, and whether there are other means of enforcing the Fourth Amendment that might work as well or better than the exclusionary rule.

 

            Moderator: Professor Catherine Hancock, Tulane University Law School

 Speakers: Professor Scott Sundby, Washington & Lee University School of Law; Professor Christopher Slobogin, Vanderbilt University Law School; Dean Bruce Elman, University of Windsor Faculty of Law (Canada); Professor Renee Hutchins, The University of Maryland School of Law 

Roundtable Discussion on Grand Jury Reform: An Idea Whose Time Has Come (Again)?

This panel will explore grand jury reform from a variety of scholarly perspectives.  The panelists will examine the constitutional role of the grand jury in the modern criminal justice system, debate the need for functional enhancements and reform, and analyze prospects for implementation of such reforms in the current political climate.

 

Moderator: Professor Katrice Copeland, Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law

 

Speakers: Professor Roger Fairfax, The George Washington University Law School; Professor Andrew Leipold, University of Illinois College of Law; Professor Ric Simmons, The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law; Professor Niki Kuckes, Roger Williams University School of Law; Professor Eric Miller, Saint Louis University School of Law; Professor Margaret Lawton, Charleston School of Law

Innovative Teaching Techniques Used in First-Year Courses

            Many first-year law school courses have historically focused their teaching techniques on the conventional Socratic method.  While that method remains useful in different ways, advances in classroom technology as well as increased research into student learning styles are providing first-year professors exciting new opportunities to innovate in the area of teaching and learning.  This session will present and analyze several of those techniques from professors who have implemented them into their first-year courses.

 

Moderator: Professor Matt Vega, Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law

 

Speakers: Professor Chad Emerson, Faulkner University Thomas Goode Jones School of Law; Professor Helen Grant, Elon University School of Law; Professor Shelley Saxer, Pepperdine University School of Law; Professor Gregory Stein, The University of Tennessee College of Law

Criminal Procedure Workshop

Legislative and Judicial Protection of Criminal Defendants: Is Criminal Procedure Less Countermajoritarian Than We Think?

The conventional wisdom in the criminal procedure field is that rules protecting defendants are countermajoritarian, meaning that legislatures rarely protect criminal defendants and courts often have to step in and make rules contrary to what legislatures would enact and the public would support.  But is that correct?  Many Supreme Court opinions protecting criminal defendants consider how many states have adopted the protective rule.  And some seemingly punitive states actually have legislatively enacted codes of criminal procedure that are far more generous to criminal defendants than what is required by the federal Constitution.  This panel explores evidence indicating that criminal procedure may not be as countermajoritarian as we think it is.

 

Moderator: Professor Sharon Finegan, South Texas College of Law

 

Speakers: Professor Adam Gershowitz, University of Houston Law Center; Professor Corinna Lain, University of Richmond School of Law; Professor Ronald Wright, Wake Forest University School of Law; Professor Douglas Berman, The Ohio State University Michael E. Moritz College of Law

New Empirical and Theoretical Work on Judging and the Judicial Process

The panelists will explore recent methodological developments in the study of the judicial process.  These include the rise of empirical research, behavioral economics, and other law & psychology approaches, as well as work exploring the theoretical underpinnings of the judicial role.  Among the topics open for examination are the strengths and weaknesses of these various methodologies, whether this work forms the basis for a coherent subdiscipline, how far such a subdiscipline might extend, and possible future directions of such scholarship.

 

Moderator:

 

Speakers:  Professor David Fagundes, Southwestern Law School; Professor Corey Yung, The John Marshall Law School; Professor Scott Bauries, University of Kentucky College of Law; Professor Chad Oldfather, Marquette University Law School

Rehabilitation and Restoration in Criminal Punishment:  Dead End or Realistic Imperative?

Some have alleged that our modern criminal punishment system no longer embraces the idea that criminals can and should be made whole, become reconciled to the community, and successfully re-assimilate upon release.  This panel will offer a variety of perspectives on the matter, from socio-political, to social-science, to on-the-ground experiential.

 

Moderator: Professor Andrea Dennis, University of Kentucky College of Law

 

Speakers: Ms. Sarah Higinbotham, Georgia State University, Department of English Literature; Ms. Ketanji Brown Jackson, Vice-Chair, United States Sentencing Commission; Professor Bruce Winick, University of Miami School of Law; Professor David Pimentel, Florida Coastal School of Law

Criminal Law Workshop

          The Feminist Challenge in Criminal Law

The title of this panel is taken from a 1995 article by Stephen Schulhofer discussing the various philosophical and practical challenges of creating a more woman-centered criminal justice system.  Chief among these concerns was the potential threat that feminism posed to defendants’ rights.  Since Schulhofer's article, feminism-based criminal law reform has entered the mainstream and produced wide-ranging impacts on the administration of rape and domestic violence law.  Today, a new body of legal literature has developed assessing the efficacy, desirability, and impact of these reforms and analyzing what these reforms say about feminism's legacy.  The presenters are part of the larger dialogue about gender-based reform in criminal law – its past, present, and future.

           

Moderator: Professor Adele Morrison, Wayne State University Law School

 

Speakers: Professor Leigh Goodmark, University of Baltimore School of Law; Professor Susan Kuo, University of South Carolina School of Law; Professor Aya Gruber, The University of Iowa College of Law; Dean Geraldine Mackenzie, Bond University Faculty of Law (Australia)

Plenary Session

 11:00  The Future of Casebooks, Publishing & Course Materials

With the development of new (e.g., electronic) publishing technologies and shifts in the economics of publishing, the publishing business is in a period of significant transition.  This panel, which includes casebook authors, publishing representatives, and an intellectual property law teacher-scholar will examine these transitions and where they are likely to lead us.

 

Moderator: Professor Vincent Cardi, West Virginia University College of Law

 

Speakers: Mr. Keith Sipe, Publisher, Carolina Academic Press; Ms. Pamela Siege, Director of Publishing, West Academic, Thomson Reuters; Ms. Carol McGeehan, Publisher, Legal Education, Aspen Publishers; Ms. Leslie Levin, Executive Acquisitions Manager, LexisNexis; Professor Steve Friedland, Elon University School of Law; Professor Michael Schwartz, Washburn University School of Law; Professor Joel Friedman, Tulane University Law School; Mr. John Mayer, Executive Director, Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction/CALI; Professor Gary Pulsinelli, The University of Tennessee College of Law; Mr. Niko Pfund, Oxford University Press

The Individual Health Care Mandate and Enumerated Powers

Shortly after the health care reform bill was signed into law, the attorneys general of 20 states filed lawsuits challenging the individual mandate as exceeding Congress’s powers.  This panel will consider the mandate’s constitutionality, as well as procedural issues presented by the litigation.

 

Speakers:  Professor Randy Barnett, Georgetown University Law Center; Mr. David Kopel, Research Director, Independence Institute; Professor Gilliam Metzger, Columbia Law School; Professor Jack Balkin, Yale Law School