Albany Law's Centers provide countless opportunities for every student. The Government Law Center takes advantage of the School's location in New York's capital and the seat of state government. Through the Clinic & Justice Center students represent low-income clients in real cases. The Center for Excellence in Law Teaching works to inspire law faculties to enhance methods of delivering legal education, and promote the evolution of legal pedagogy through thoughtful dialogue.

Past Events

December 4, 2009 - "Developing and Defining Measurable Goals for Teaching Law Students"
Hosted by Albany Law School, the conference focused on the importance of setting measurable learning goals and implementing them in both the clinic and non-clinic classroom setting. Participants discussed both general trends in curriculum reform and specific ways to develop goals to measure student learning.

Professor Roy Stuckey, author of Best Practices for Legal Education and a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law, spoke about "Setting Measureable Goals for Law Student Teaching," calling out legal education for preparing students to think like appellate judges rather than lawyers.

The conference was sponsored by the AALS Section on Legal Education, Albany Law School, Syracuse University College of Law, University at Buffalo Law School and Vermont Law School.

October 16-17, 2009 - "The Pedagogy of Interviewing and Counseling II: Continuing the Quest for Improved Methodology."
UCLA School of Law and Brigham Young University J. Reuben Clark Law School are co-hosting a second conference to focus on the pedagogy of Interviewing and Counseling at the UCLA School of Law. Through interactive panels, small group discussion, and demonstration, this conference will explore methods teachers can use to increase student retention in experiential coursework. For more details on this conference, click here.

September 25 - 26, 2009 - "2nd Biennial Workshop on Promoting Diversity in Law School Leadership"
Co-hosted by Seattle University School of Law, through its Korematsu Center for Law and Equality and the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT), this conference targeted those who are interested in pursuing deanships or other administrative positions with the legal academy, as well as those who are involved in search committies for decanal positions. More information on this conference can be found on the Seattle University School of Law's Web site.

September 24-25, 2009 - "Interdisciplinary Collaborative Education:  Partnerships Between Law Schools and the Health Professions" 
Hosted by the Georgia State University College of Law in Atlanta Georgia.  Law schools are increasingly partnering with other professional schools and other professionals in their community who work in health-relateddisciplines, such as medicine, social work, public health, nursing, mental health, and education.  This conference explores the opportunities and challenges in interdisciplinary collaborations in various educational settings. For more details on this conference, and to register, go to http://www.lawhealthconference.org/

September 11-13, 2009 - Legal Education at the Crossroads v.3.0 - "Assessment Demystified, Demonstrated, and Deployed:  Driving Curriculum Reform at your Law School"
The University of Denver, Sturm College of Law requests proposals to participate in a working conference on assessment in legal education.  This conference is intended to respond to the calls for better methods of assessment made in the Carnegie Report, and BEST PRACTICES.

June 23-24, 2009 - "Implementing Best Practices and Educating Lawyers: Teaching Skills and Professionalism Across the Curriculum"
Sponsored by the Institute of Law Teaching and Education of Gonzaga University School of Law. This conference explored techniques for teaching skills and professionalism across the law school curriculum. Building on the energy generated by the publications of Carnegie's Educating Lawyers and CLEA's Best Practices for Legal Education, the Institute's summer conference provided a forum for dedicated teachers to share with colleagues innovative ideas and effective methods for modern legal education.

June 7 - 9, 2009 - 3rd Annual Indian Law Clinics and Externship Programs:  Symposium and Workshop
Sponsored by UNM School of Law and University of Denver College of Law, the goal of this gathering is to allow Indian Law Clinics, and other clinicians working with minority populations to work in solidarity on Poverty Law and community lawyering issues, to discuss our shared mission and differing perspectives, and to support new ideas.     
Where:  Isleta Casino & Resort, Pueblo of Isleta (South of Albuquerque, NM)
Contacts:  Professor Chrsitine Zuni Cruz, UNM School of Law - zunich@law.unm.edu ; Professor Aliza Organick, Washburn University School of Law - aliza.organick@washburn.edu ; Professor Barbara Creel, UNM School of Law - creel@law.unm.edu .

April 17, 2009 - Rutgers Law Review 2009 Symposium
"A LegalEducation Prospectus: Law Schools & Emerging Frontiers in Curriculum, Lawyering, and Social Justice"!  Rutgers gathered an amazing group of speakers to discuss innovative approaches to legal education, including curricular reform, the use of technology, and the unique potential for law schools to inculcate public and professional values in students. 
For more information about the Symposium, please visit: http://pegasus.rutgers.edu/~review/symposium09.php  

March 6 - 7, 2009 - University of Maryland School of Law hosted a national conference on Best Practices in Clinical Legal Education. The conference gathered educators to explore and summarize the best practices discussions taking place all over the country and in the academy in response to the recently published Carnegie Report Educating Lawyers, and Best Practices for Legal Education by Roy Stuckey. Programs that are implementing the reports' recommendations were explored.January 7, 2009 - AALS Section - Teaching to the Entire Class:  Innovative and Effective Instruction to Engage Every Student

September 5 -7, 2008 - University of Washington School of Law hosted a conference addressing efforts to implement the insights from Best Practices and Educating Lawyers. The conference was entitled Legal Education at the Crossroads: Ideas to Implementation. 

July 24-25, 2008 - Michigan State University College of Law hosted the Great Lakes Symposium on Clinical Scholarship & Best Practices.  This conference "initiated a dialogue among clinical educators in an effort to enhance the clinical experience for all participants," while allowing clinicians to identify appropriate clinical scholarship opportunities and best practices for clinical legal education.  The program  provided a forum for clinicians to share experiences, teaching and research methods, and recent innovations in clinical education. 

June 19-21, 2008 - University of Maryland School of Law  hosted the annual CALI conference (Conference for Law School Computing).  This year's theme was "Transforming Legal Education."  The keynote speaker was Paul Maharq.

June 12-14, 2008 - Second Annual Indian Law Clinics & Externship Program Symposium
Hosted by the University of New Mexico School of Law & The Southwest Indian Law Clinic hosted the entitled, Moving towards Best Practices for Indigenous Representation: "Listening to our Communities, Assessing our past, Reframing our future-clinical methodology, pedagogy, and curriculum design."  This event was designed for clinicians or extern program supervisors training future lawyers to represent Native peoples, those who work with tribes or in Indigenous communities, lawyers who work with clinics to deliver legal services to these communities, and other community lawyering clinicians.  It was held at the Tamaya Hyatt Resort at Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico, just 20 minutes North of Albuquerque, NM.  

March 28 - 29, 2008 - Haywood Burns Conference - "Teaching Law in a Multi-cultural, Multi-lingual Context." 
CUNY School of Law and the Center for Diversity in the Legal Profession hosted the 2008 Haywood Burns Conference.  Among the topics presented: providing access and diversity through Pipeline programs; the immigrant experience in law school , understanding the multiplicity of "cultures" within law students; clinical approaches to multiculturalism from the perspective of faculty, student, and client; strategies for reaching first-year students in the small or large classroom. 

March 21, 2008 - American University Washington College of Law hosted "Innovations in First Year Curriculum."
Affirmation of the importance of rethinking the first year is evident in the Carnegie Foundation Report issued in 2007, the Best Practices for Legal Education project, and most recently in the Session at the Annual Meeting of the AALS in January 2008 (Reassessing Our Role As Scholars and Educators in Light of Change).This event brought together academic leaders to discuss some of the dynamic changes in theory and pedagogy related to the first year experience.

February 20-23, 2008 - Georgia State Law School hosted an International Conference on the Future of Legal Education. The conference focused on two questions: 1) if one was starting a new law school, how would one incorporate the recommendations of the Carnegie Foundation's report on legal education, and 2) how might an existing law school transform itself into the kind of law school envisioned by Carnegie?  For further information, visit the conference website at http://law.gsu.edu/FutureOfLegalEducationConference 

January 4, 2008 - Plenary session at AALS on "Rethinking Legal Education for the 21st Century" featuring Edward L. Rubin (Vanderbilt University Law School), Vicki C. Jackson (Georgetown University Law Center), Robert Mac Crate, Esq. (Senior Counsel, Sullivan and Cromwell), Martha L. Minow (Harvard Law School), Suellyn Scarnecchia (University of New Mexico School of Law), William M. Sullivan (Senior Scholar The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching), Judith W. Wegner (University of North Carolina School of Law). (Outline) (podcast)

December 7 & 8, 2007 - "The Legal Study Project" held its first meeting of the ten law schools (CUNY, Dayton, Georgetown, Harvard, Indiana-Bloomington, New Mexico, NYU, Stanford, Southwestern, and Vanderbilt) at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation on the Stanford campus.

December 6- 7, 2007 - 1st Annual Upstate/Western New York and Beyond Regional Clinical Conference: "Forming a Regional Community to Share and Define Best Practices",  Syracuse University  College of Law :  The conference explored and critically examined issues raised in the new Carnegie Report, entitled "Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law," and the Clincial Legal Education Association's (CLEA) "Best Practices for Legal Education:  A Vision and a Road Map."

November 9, 2007  -The Mercer Law Review hosted a symposium on The Opportunity for Legal Education.

November 2-4, 2007 - Legal Education at the Crossroads, Ideas to Action, Part I
A conference of 57 reform-minded law school deans, associate deans, clinical teachers, traditional teachers, legal writing teachers, and academic support people discussed how to implement recommendations for improving legal education contained in two recently published books. Educating Lawyers was published by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and Best Practices for Legal Education was published by the Clinical Legal Education Association. Both books call on law schools to implement significant, fundamental changes in what they teach and how they teach it.

The by-invitation-only conference, Legal Education at the Crossroads, Ideas to Action, Part I, was planned and facilitated by the primary author of Best Practices for Legal Education, Professor Roy Stuckey, University of South Carolina School of Law; and one of the authors of Educating Lawyers, Professor Judith Wegner, University of North Carolina School of Law. Professor Wegner delivered the keynote address, but most of the conference time was spent in small group discussions followed by group reports and discussions.   

November 1, 2007 - Vanessa Merton of Pace Law School led an informal faculty colloquium discussing Educating Lawyers and Best Practices for Legal Education at Wake Forest University School of Law. A respectable portion of the faculty attended (there was a free lunch) and seemed intrigued by the notion of seriously and systematically applying assessment techniques to law school teaching.

September 28, 2007 - Antoinette Sedillo Lopez and Paul Holland were the luncheon speakers on Leading Change in Legal Education: The Carnegie Study, Educating Lawyers and the book by Roy Stuckey, Best Practices in Legal Education at the  Seattle University / SALT Deanship workshop, " Promoting Diversity in Deanships".

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