2027 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education 

Repair and Reimagine: Clinical Education and the Future We Are Shaping

Friday, May 1 – Wednesday, May 5, 2027
Chicago, Illinois

Request for Proposals for: 

Concurrent Sessions 
Lightning Sessions 
Poster Presentations 
Workshops

DEADLINE: Friday, October 16, 2026 @ 11:59 pm Eastern / 8:59 pm Pacific
SUBMIT TO: Submission Form

Overview of Conference 

The 2027 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education will take place from Monday, May 3 through Wednesday, May 5, 2027, at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. The biennial Law School Clinic Directors Workshop will be held on Sunday, May 2, 2027. The main conference will begin at 5 pm on Sunday with the AALS Reception Featuring Legal Education Poster and Opening Plenary Monday morning and will conclude on Wednesday afternoon. 

The 2027 conference will feature structured sessions for the exchange of ideas as well as informal opportunities to connect with colleagues. In addition to the Opening Plenary Session, the conference program includes 60-minute concurrent sessions, 30-minute lightning sessions, poster presentations, and workshops. There will also be working group sessions, works-in-progress, and presentations from Bellows Scholars. Community gatherings will offer the chance to connect with colleagues without a formal program or agenda.       

 Conference Theme  

The theme of the conference is Repair and Reimagine: Clinical Education and the Future We Are Shaping. In 2026, the clinical community convened to Hold the Line: to defend democratic norms, protect hard-won rights, and resist unprecedented intrusions into academic institutions and scholarly inquiry. That work continues. But as the field absorbs the impact of intense polarization, institutional retrenchment, and ongoing threats to academic freedom, a new question is taking shape: What are we building? Repairing what has been damaged is essential, but it is not enough. Moments like these create opportunities to question longstanding assumptions, imagine alternative possibilities, and build institutions, relationships, and forms of lawyering that are more responsive, inclusive, and resilient. As clinical educators preparing the next generation of lawyers, we are uniquely positioned to not just respond to this moment, but to help shape what comes next.

This conference builds on the resilience of clinical legal education to look ahead to what it can become. Rather than revisiting the case for why clinical education matters (a case this community has long since made), the conference asks what comes next. Attendees will explore ways to repair institutions, relationships, and systems of trust that have been strained or broken, while also imagining new models of clinical practice, pedagogy, and partnership suited to the road ahead. The conference invites participants to consider how periods of disruption create opportunities for creativity, reconstruction, and transformative change, interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration.

Conference programming will highlight four subthemes:

Repairing Institutions. How are clinical programs forging new partnerships with community organizations, developing new models of public engagement, and reimagining their institutional role? How do clinical educators move from stabilizing damaged systems to designing more durable and accountable ones? How do experiential programs cultivate leaders who can build, not just preserve, institutional integrity?

Renewing Pedagogy. How does clinical pedagogy prepare students not only to resist injustice, but to recognize moments of institutional transformation as opportunities for innovation and renewal? What does it mean to teach students to imagine, design, and build legal structures, community partnerships, and systems of accountability that better serve democratic values and human needs?

Reimagining Critical Inquiry. The tools, methods, and terrain for critical inquiry are shifting rapidly. Rather than defending established frameworks, how is clinical education developing new ones and examining critical questions about who holds power, how institutions distribute it, and what accountability looks like in an era of rapid technological and political change? How are clinicians harnessing artificial intelligence as a tool for justice while navigating its risks? What new approaches to scholarship and advocacy are emerging in response to surveillance, political pressure, and constraints on open discourse?

Learning Across Time, Place, and Disciplines. The work of repairing democratic institutions and imagining more just systems is not unique to any one era, place, or discipline. What can clinicians learn from earlier periods of retrenchment and renewal in the United States? How are clinicians actively drawing from international comparative models of institutional repair? What are clinicians taking from fields beyond law to strengthen their own clinical pedagogy and practice?

Eligibility to Submit Proposals

Faculty members, including adjunct faculty and fellows, at AALS member and fee-paid schools are eligible to submit proposals. International faculty, visiting faculty (who do not have a permanent affiliation at a law school), graduate students, and non-law school faculty may serve as presenters, but the proposal must be submitted by an eligible faculty member.

Concurrent or lightning session presenters, poster presenters, and workshop leaders must pay the registration fee and are responsible for their own expenses for attendance at the Conference.   

Proposal Deadline

Proposals for a concurrent session, lighting session, poster presentation, or workshop must be submitted through the Submission Form by 11:59 pm Eastern/ 8:59 pm Pacific on Friday, October 16. The planning committee intends to notify participants by November 13 whether their proposals are accepted.    

V. Proposal Requirements 

Below are the proposal requirements for concurrent sessions, lightning sessions, poster presentations, and workshops. Please note that proposals will be kept confidential, and the full conference program will only be accessible to registered participants.

A.  Concurrent Sessions  

The Committee seeks proposals for 60-minute concurrent sessions that develop the conference theme or address other topics of relevant interest to clinicians (e.g., pedagogy, ethics, cultural competence, and trauma-informed teaching and lawyering). By submitting a concurrent session proposal, you agree to be scheduled in any of the concurrent session time slots or, if necessary, in a lightning session time slot.  

Submission guidelines for Concurrent Sessions  

To propose a concurrent session, use the Submission Form, and select “Concurrent Session” from the dropdown menu. Your submission should consist of one document that contains the following: 

1. Description: A one- to two-page description that includes: 1) the title, goals, and learning objectives for the session; 2) an outline for how the session will be structured, including any interactive elements; and 3) an articulated connection to the conference theme or explanation of the topic’s value and relevance for clinical teachers. In accordance with past attendee feedback, the Planning Committee encourages proposals that focus on specific teaching strategies and methods, include ideas that are replicable in different settings, and supply participants with concrete takeaways. 

2.  Materials: Describe any materials you intend to provide to participants at your session (including rubrics, surveys, syllabi, evaluation forms, bibliographies, and classroom exercises). If you wish, you may include materials with your proposal.  

 3. Methodologies: The Planning Committee particularly welcomes proposals that create engaging and participatory learning experiences. In addition to describing the substance of the session, proposers are encouraged to explain how they will involve participants through discussion, exercises, scenarios, case studies, simulations, collaborative problem-solving, or other interactive methods. We hope conference sessions will capitalize on the collective expertise of the clinical community and provide opportunities for attendees to learn with and from one another.

4.  Presenters: Identify all individuals who will participate in planning and presenting the session, including their institutions, whether they come from another discipline or from outside the academy, whether they have presented at the AALS Clinical Conference in the past two years (and, if so, the title and nature of the session). Name one of them as the contact person for the group. The Planning Committee prefers proposals that include three or more presenters, and encourages proposals that combine presenters from multiple clinical perspectives (e.g., externship, in-house, and hybrid clinics or other clinical formats). 

All law school presenters must register for the conference, if attending one session or the entire conference. Presenters who are not employed by a law school may attend the day of the session at no charge. They may pay the AALS member registration fee if they wish to attend more than one day. No funds are available for reimbursement of travel expenses for non-law/non-clinical faculty presenters on concurrent sessions.

B.  Lightning Sessions

The Committee seeks proposals for 30-minute lightning sessions that develop the conference theme or address other issues of likely interest or relevance to clinicians. By submitting a lightning session proposal, you agree to be scheduled in any of the lightning session time slots.

Submission guidelines for Lightning Sessions 

To propose a lightning session, use the Submission Form, and select “Lightning Session” from the dropdown menu. Your submission should consist of one document that contains the following: 

1. Description: A one- to two-page description that includes: 1) the title, goals, and learning objectives for the session; 2) an outline of how the session will be structured, including any interactive elements; and 3) an articulated connection to the conference theme or explanation of the topic’s value and relevance for clinical teachers.   

2. Materials: Describe any materials you intend to provide to participants at your session (including rubrics, surveys, syllabi, evaluation forms, bibliographies, and classroom exercises). If you wish, you may include materials with your proposal.  

3. Methodologies: The Planning Committee particularly welcomes proposals that create engaging and participatory learning experiences. In addition to describing the substance of the session, proposers are encouraged to explain how they will involve participants through discussion, exercises, scenarios, case studies, simulations, collaborative problem-solving, or other interactive methods. We hope conference sessions will capitalize on the collective expertise of the clinical community and provide opportunities for attendees to learn with and from one another.

4. Presenters: Identify all individuals who will participate in planning and presenting the session, including their institutions, whether they come from another discipline or from outside the academy, and whether they have presented at the AALS Clinical Conference in the past two years (and, if so, the title and nature of the session). Name one of them as the contact person for the group. The Planning Committee encourages presenters to collaborate with clinicians from other institutions.   

We strongly encourage proposals that present one or two concrete takeaways for the audience. For example, a lightning session might describe a specific classroom exercise, instructional approach, self-care practice, or model of collaboration. Proposals should be realistic about the number of presenters who can meaningfully participate in a 30-minute session and how much can be covered during one session. 

C. Poster Presentations

The reception on May 2 provides an opportunity for presenters to display posters and discuss their materials as conference participants circulate. The posters will remain on display in the registration area for the remainder of the conference. Poster presentations are an integral feature of professional conferences for many disciplines and allow for a broader audience than a single concurrent session. Posters are particularly useful for presenting material that is not well suited for the interactive format of a concurrent session.  

Submission guidelines for Poster Presentations  

To propose a poster presentation, use the Submission Form, and select “Poster Presentation” from the dropdown menu. Your submission should consist of a single document that contains the following: 

1. Description: A one-page description that includes: 1) your goals and learning objectives for the poster; 2) the content you expect the poster to include and how you expect to display it; and 3) the relationship of the poster to the conference theme or explanation of the topic’s value and relevance for clinical teachers.  

2. Presenters: Identify all individuals who will participate in preparing and presenting the poster, including their institutions and whether they come from another discipline or from outside the academy. Name one person as the contact person for the group.  

Many universities help in poster design and printing. You can find good tips on creating posters at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2018/05/11/how-to-design-an-award-winning-conference-poster/ 

D.  Workshops

Workshops provide an opportunity for groups of pre-registrants to explore a topic in-depth in one 3.25-hour session (including 15 minutes for a break or breaks).  

Workshop attendance will be limited to a predetermined maximum number of pre-registrants. 

Because workshops require more time and preparation than other sessions, the Planning Committee encourages workshops to be led by more than one person. Since participants will register for workshops in advance, we encourage workshop leaders to assign materials to participants and to convene them remotely before the conference begins. 

Submission guidelines for Workshops  

To propose a workshop, use the Submission Form, and select “Workshop” from the dropdown menu. Your submission should consist of one document that contains the following:  

1. Description: A one- to two-page description that includes: 1) the title, goals, and learning objectives for the workshop; 2) a detailed plan for how the workshop will be structured, including any interactive elements; and 3) a summary of why you believe your topic is particularly suited to the longer workshop format.   

2. Materials: Describe any documents or materials you intend to provide to participants at your session (including rubrics, surveys, a syllabus, evaluation forms, bibliographies, and classroom exercises). If you wish, you may include materials with your proposal.

3. Methodologies: The Planning Committee particularly welcomes proposals that create engaging and participatory learning experiences. In addition to describing the substance of the session, proposers are encouraged to explain how they will involve participants through discussion, exercises, scenarios, case studies, simulations, collaborative problem-solving, or other interactive methods. We hope conference sessions will capitalize on the collective expertise of the clinical community and provide opportunities for attendees to learn with and from one another.

4. Presenters: Identify all individuals who will participate in planning and presenting the workshop, including their institutions, whether they come from another discipline or from outside the academy, and whether they have presented at the AALS Clinical Conference in the past two years (and, if so, the title and nature of the session). Name one of them as the contact person for the group. State the qualifications of the presenters to lead a workshop on the proposed topic. This may include experience in the subject of the workshop, past presentations on the topic, and related publications.  

VI.  AALS Section on Clinical Education Committee Meetings 

AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education Committee meetings will take place at 8 am on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. We will also offer space for morning self-care/wellness sessions. If you would like to lead a self-care/wellness session, please contact Gowri Krishna at [email protected].

V.  Questions  

If you have questions, please feel free to contact any member of the Planning Committee. Thank you for your interest in participating as a presenter at the conference. We very much look forward to seeing you in Chicago in May 2027! 

2027 AALS Conference on Clinical Legal Education Planning Committee 

DELESO A. ALFORD, Southern University Law School
PAUL M. HOLLAND, Seattle University Law School
RENÉE HUTCHINS LAURENT, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law –
GOWRI J. KRISHNA, Fordham University School of Law
BETH LOCKER, Vermont Law and Graduate School
LAUREN ROGAL, Vanderbilt University Law School
BETHANY SCHOLS, Penn State Dickinson Law, chair
JESSICA L. WEST, Mitchell Hamline School of Law