AALS would like to assist your Section in maximizing visibility for Call for Papers for the 2026 Annual Meeting. Submitting through this form ensures we can upload the information to the Website easily and in a timely manner. Please submit no later than Friday, September 26, 2025.
Useful Template: Sample CFP Announcement
We will post calls as they are submitted. You will receive a confirmation email after submitting this form with a copy of your submission. If you need to update your call, please submit the form again and select “Update to a previous submission.”
In addition, Adobe provides accessibility instructions for PDF documents.
Intellectual Property
Main Program
The AALS Section on Intellectual Property is pleased to circulate a call for proposals for our main panel at the AALS Annual Meeting, to be held January 6-9, 2026, in New Orleans. If you are doing work that speaks to how intellectual property and the innovation ecosystem are affected by our turbulent times, please consider submitting a proposal for this panel.
Our panel description is as follows:
How are the new presidential administration and new technologies affecting our ecosystem of innovation and creativity? Unlike in many other fields, the new landscape of disruptions, incentives, and opportunities is not entirely clear. How might our government institutions like the USPTO, USCO, NEA, and NIH shape new inventions, markets, and works? How will our pre-2025 doctrinal frameworks fare? How are creators, sources of funding, and businesses responding? Will creativity be chilled-or catalyzed into new movements? This includes an examination of intellectual property’s positive and negative spaces alike-as well as adjacent areas of regulation and government operations that help to shape the production and dissemination of new ideas.
If you are interested in participating in this program, please contact Professor Matthew Sipe at [email protected] by Monday, July 28, 2025. Please include in your response a brief (200-300 words) summary of the work you are doing in this area. Please also include, if available, abstracts of any related scholarly works you have completed or are working on currently. Finally, please include your full name, title, and institutional affiliation.
Works-in-Progress Program
The Section on Intellectual Property is pleased to announce a call for draft papers for the Emerging Voices in Intellectual Property program at the 2026 AALS Annual Meeting, to be held in New Orleans, LA, from January 6-9, 2026. This program gives emerging intellectual property scholars an opportunity to present and workshop a project in progress and receive feedback before submitting the work for publication. An “emerging scholar” is defined as a scholar who has held a full-time academic position for seven (7) years or fewer. Each participating scholar will be assigned a senior intellectual property scholar as a designated reviewer who will provide written comments in advance or during the program. The participating scholar will have the opportunity to present their work at the AALS Annual Meeting and field questions and comments from the audience.
For Interested Scholars:
To participate, scholars must be full-time faculty members, including full-time visiting assistant professors or fellows, at AALS member schools. Papers that have been posted on scholarship networks such as SSRN, but have not yet been accepted for publication, are eligible for consideration. Feedback through this program will be most beneficial for mid-stage drafts. Please complete this Google form application by 11:59PM on Monday, July 28, 2025, including an abstract or draft of your paper (preferred), to be considered for participation in the program.
If your paper is selected for participation in the program, you must submit your working draft no later than Friday, December 5, 2025. This deadline is important to guarantee participants have a sufficiently completed draft in time for senior scholar review and the AALS Annual Meeting. The draft does not need to be completely polished or ready for law review submission. We welcome papers in earlier stages when the author can most benefit from feedback. Please be aware that selected participants must register for the AALS Annual Meeting.
For Senior Scholars Interested in Serving as Reviewers
If you are interested in serving as a reviewer this year, please email Professor Michael Goodyear at [email protected], at your earliest convenience. Please also tell us whether you would plan to attend the AALS Annual Meeting. Although we hope many reviewers will attend this session (which requires registering for the AALS Annual Meeting), you need not attend since you will be providing written comments this year.
Pedagogy Program
The AALS Section on Intellectual Property is pleased to circulate a call for proposals for our pedagogy panel at the AALS Annual Meeting, to be held January 6-9, 2026, in New Orleans. Whether you have been teaching for one year or several decades, if you are incorporating IP theory into your teaching, please consider submitting a proposal for this panel.
This pedagogy program asks how intellectual property (IP) professors can and should use theory in the service of teaching law students intellectual property law concepts. Panelists will discuss the use of IP theory in IP pedagogy, including consequentialist, deontological, and critical theories of IP. They might also discuss the use of theories drawn from other areas of legal scholarship and other disciplines in the social sciences, physical sciences, and humanities. Other topics can include which theories are appropriately part of the canon of IP. The program hopes to feature a variety of voices in IP pedagogy and theory, from a range of different perspectives and backgrounds. The panelists will address questions like, “How can IP professors use theory to help students better understand IP doctrine?” and “How can IP professors use theory to help students think critically about the purpose of and justifications for IP?”
If you are interested in participating in this program, please contact Professor Brian Frye at [email protected] by Monday, July 28, 2025. Please include in your response a brief (200-300 words) summary of your perspective on this topic, as well as your full name, title, and institutional affiliation.
Virtual Program
The AALS Section on Intellectual Property is pleased to announce a call for papers for a virtual workshop intended to give early- and mid-career scholars (under 10 years in a full-time academic position) an opportunity to present and receive feedback on an intellectual property work in progress. This workshop will not be at the annual AALS meeting, but rather held virtually via Zoom on July 8, 2025 from 12:00–3:15PM Eastern. Submitted drafts will be at a stage where they can still benefit from substantial feedback. Accordingly, drafts should not exceed thirty pages and should be excerpted if they are longer. We particularly encourage scholars preparing job talks to apply and use the workshop as a sounding board. We will accept up to four papers, and each paper will be allotted forty-five minutes for presentation and discussion. All selected authors will be expected to read the other papers prior to the workshop. We also encourage IP scholars at any career stage to join the roundtable as discussants. To participate as a presenter or discussant, please send a draft (or request to be a discussant) to Eric Priest at [email protected] by June 15.
Jurisprudence
Our section’s Junior Works-in-Progress Workshop will be held virtually on August 26th from 12-2pm. Anyone pre-tenure who would like to participate should submit an abstract to [email protected] with subject line “Junior Workshop” by June 15. The paper can be under review at the time of submission but cannot be published or forthcoming to be eligible.
Law and the Social Sciences
The Section on Law and the Social Sciences is pleased to announce a “New Books in Law and the Social Sciences” program during the 2026 AALS Annual Meeting.
Program Description
This program will bring together scholars who published books in 2025 or are publishing books in 2026 based on their original data gathered using social science techniques. Each author will describe their book and the data their book relies on. The program will include a discussion of data collection techniques and the incorporation of data into books. Any book published in 2025 or to be published in 2026 that relies on the authors’ own data is eligible for inclusion. The book may be published by an academic press or a popular press. The program is designed to be a relaxed environment to highlight new empirically-driven books published by law professors.
Submission Procedure
Scholars who are interested in participating in the program should send a short summary of their book, including details about the book’s publisher and publication timing, to Professor Pamela Foohey at [email protected] on or before Friday, August 15, 2025. The cover email should state the scholar’s institution. Please title the email: “Submission-Section on Law and the Social Sciences Program.” The Section will let you know about the status of your submission presumptively within a couple weeks after the submission deadline.
Eligibility
Scholars at AALS member law schools are eligible to submit proposals. Per AALS rules, only full-time faculty members and fellows of AALS member law schools are eligible to submit proposals to Sections’ calls for proposals. All participants of the program are responsible for paying their own annual meeting registration fees and travel expenses.
Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research
The AALS Section on Legal Writing, Reasoning, and Research invites proposals from speakers to present at the AALS 2026 Annual Meeting during our pedagogy program titled “Practicing Professionalism from Classroom to Courtroom.” As the next generation of lawyers enters law school, they bring with them their own set of expectations and values regarding professionalism, shaped by a rapidly changing world and digital culture. This session will explore themes such as professional identity formation in law students, particularly in Legal Research and Writing (LRW) courses, and how these students navigate and negotiate their professional development. Additionally, we welcome discussions on the challenges of “the new professionalism,” which encompasses the evolving expectations in an increasingly divided and digital world. This session seeks to foster meaningful conversations about how legal education can adapt to prepare students for a future where professionalism is dynamic, diverse, and increasingly intertwined with technology. The Committee seeks presenters who can speak on a wide range of topics related to the unique challenges faculty face in these ever-changing times.
Possible topics may include:
- How can legal writing professors equip students to meet professionalism expectations in legal practice, and help students develop “soft skills”? And how do both endeavors intersect with Gen Z’s approach to work? For example, do Gen Z students have different attitudes than previous generations regarding things such as: work/life balance, setting boundaries, responding to criticism, appropriate forms of communication, etc.?
- How can technology and professionalism intersect in the classroom? In particular how do artificial intelligence and other technologies reshape both the practice of law and the development of professional values?
- How is the concept of professionalism in legal education evolving, and how should this inform how we engage with Gen Z students?
- How are law schools incorporating professional identity formation into and across the curriculum?
- How might legal writing professors collaborate with faculty in other disciplines to better prepare students for professional development both during and after law school? Additional Guidance Regarding Selection Criteria In addition to the proposed presentation’s contribution to the subject matter of the session, please note other considerations that will inform the Committee’s review and selection process.
The Committee is committed to programming that advances the AALS core value of diversity. We especially welcome submissions from junior faculty, women, people of color, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, immigrants, and others who are members of communities that are underrepresented in legal academia. We also recognize that diversity has many dimensions, including faculty status, years of teaching experience, geographic location, and viewpoint. The Committee evaluates proposals anonymously, so please include in your proposal any information you would like us to know about how your presentation would support the diversity of the program. (See below Submission Instruction 4.)
The Committee encourages proposals from both individuals and groups. While group applications can include speakers from the same school, having speakers from different institutions is encouraged to expand representation. The Committee will consider all individual and group applications as it creates a panel for the session. Applicants—whether individual or group—should be prepared, if selected, to coordinate with others who also have been invited to present. The Committee will appoint a moderator to work with the selected speakers to ensure cohesion among presenters.
The Committee recognizes that well-designed interactive or demonstrative components can enhance the value of presentations but also understands that such components are not always relevant.
Submission Instructions
Please use this link to submit your presentation proposal by 11:59 p.m. PDT on August 29, 2025. You will be asked to include the following information: (1) the name, contact, and biographical information for each proposed presenter, including designation of the primary contact person; (2) a proposed title for your presentation; (3) a detailed description of your presentation, including content and format; (4) a statement of how your presentation promotes diversity; (5) an indication of how many minutes you will need (e.g., 15 or 25 minutes of the entire one-hour-and-forty-five-minute session); and (6) a brief bibliography of materials relevant to your presentation. Please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to receiving your proposals.
2025-26 LWRR Section’s Program Committee
Lead Co-Chair: Susie Salmon (Arizona) Secondary Co-Chair: Maureen Van Neste (Boston College)
Kate Brem (Houston), Lindsay Head (Jacksonville), Joy Herr-Cardillo (Arizona), Joshua Jones (Cal. Western), Samantha Moppett (Suffolk), Suzanne Reuben (UC Davis), JoAnne Sweeny (Louisville)
Professional Responsibility
The AALS Section on Professional Responsibility invites submissions for its New Voices panel at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), January 2026 in New Orleans, LA.
The New Voices panel provides an opportunity to showcase the work of scholars who are new to the field of Professional Responsibility. Each scholar selected will present their own work, and for each paper, a senior scholar in the field who has been selected to review the work in advance, will provide constructive commentary on the paper. Papers may address any subject matter within the field – there is no theme for the panel.
Eligibility:
- Submissions are invited from junior faculty (those who are pre-tenure or otherwise with five or fewer years of experience), along with others who are new to writing in the field of Professional Responsibility.
- Those submitting work must be full-time faculty members (including full-time VAPs or fellows) at AALS member law schools.
- Work that has already been published (or will be published prior to the conference) is ineligible for consideration. (Posting on SSRN alone will not be considered as publication.)
- Faculty are encouraged to submit drafts for consideration on the understanding that there will be time to submit a more polished version for the commentator’s review if your paper is selected.
Submissions:
Interested faculty should submit their work for consideration to Sarah Cravens [email protected] no later than 5:00pm Central Time on Friday, August 1, 2025. Please indicate “PR New Voices Submission – 2026 Annual Meeting” in the subject line of the email.
In the body of the email, include (1) your name; (2) your title; (3) your institutional affiliation; (4) the title of your paper and an abstract of 250-500 words; (5) an indication of the status of your project (early draft stage / completed draft stage / ready for publication); (6) a statement confirming your eligibility under the criteria above.
Attach your paper to the email as either a Microsoft Word or PDF file.
For Planning Purposes:
Selected panelists will be notified in September. Panelists will be responsible for their own costs associated with participation in the panel (including registration for the conference, accommodation, travel, etc.).
Women in Legal Education
Call for Proposals for 2026 AALS WILE Panel
“Unpacking Harassment and Bullying in the Legal Academy”
Women remain underrepresented in influential positions in the legal academy. Visible and invisible status lines and distinctions within and outside of the academy have historically been defined by and through prisms of both discrimination and harassment. These status lines and distinctions bear directly upon career progression and one’s personal sense of safety. They create and, once brought to light, help to explain persistent inequality.
The AALS Section on Women in Legal Education (WILE) invite proposals by thought leaders to engage with the topic of harassment and bullying in the contemporary academic workplace as an open-ended question. This panel will explore harassment and bullying and the wide range of behaviors that constitute them, ranging from more readily recognizable forms of unwelcome conduct such as unwanted sexual advances, comments, gestures, and physical contact, and actions or statements that are obviously threatening, to more subtle or insidious forms of harassment and bullying, such as instances where a staff member’s helpfulness are mistakenly interpreted as interest or where a faculty member engages in alleged consensual sexual relationships with students. In so doing, the panel will employ the framework of intersectionality in analyzing varying forms and examples of harassment and bullying. The panel also may explore the role of institutional policies and practices in perpetuating harassment or bullying as well as the challenges and obstacles that status differences may create in terms of reporting and addressing these harms.
The AALS WILE welcomes submissions from law faculty, staff, and administrators at all stages of their careers. Submissions are due on or before July 15, 2025, and should be sent to [email protected]. We will let you know by August 5, 2025 if you are selected. The voices of women of color, LGBTQ+ women, women with disabilities, and other historically marginalized groups in the legal academy will be particularly important to include on this panel.