Faculty Connect at Annual Law and Society Conference
Indiana Law faculty was well represented at the 2008 Joint Annual Meetings of Law and Society Association and Canadian Law and Society Association, which was held May 29 through June 1 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The Law and Society Association (LSA) is comprised of international scholars interested in the place of law in social, political, economic, and cultural life. Members are experts in a variety of fields within social sciences and humanities, including law, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, economics, and history as well as in other related areas to the study of sociolegal phenomena.
Several Indiana Law faculty members presented or served as chair or discussants at the very well-attended meeting, including Professor Jeannine Bell, Charles Whistler Faculty Fellow. "Law and Society is a great way for me to talk about my work," explained Bell, who has been heavily involved in Law and Society for the past 14 years. "I meet editors and scholars in other disciplines whose work is related to issues I am researching."
In addition to serving as a chair for the panel on "Race, Law, and Contemporary Schooling Contexts," and as a chair/discussant in "Race, Ethnicity, and Juries," Bell presented her recent article on the subject, "Hate Thy Neighbor," which explores the subject of her next two book projects, move-in violence. "Move-in violence occurs when minorities move to white neighborhoods and are subject to physical and emotional violence on a level that affects marriages and their children's lives and may force them to leave their homes," she explained. During the conference, Bell was able to talk to scholars whose work is complementary, such as an educational psychologist who is studying racial violence in schools.
Bell has held numerous leadership roles in LSA, including serving on the Board of Trustees in 2003. In 2006, Bell was chair of the Summer Institute Committee and led the organization of the Association's first-ever summer institute in South Africa. In 2007, LSA president Rick Lempert selected Bell as the co-principal investigator of a grant awarded by NSF for a new LSA/ABF post-doctoral fellowship.
"Law and Society is different from other conferences because of its size and sheer breadth — hundreds of scholars from all over the world, gathered in a single place, often presenting on panels that mix people from different countries and different disciplinary traditions," she said. "The conference provides such benefits because other scholars who might not have been introduced to the work of our faculty can learn about it both through presentations and also though a vast number opportunities for informal networking. Over the years attending law and society, I have made many valuable research contacts."
Professor Christiana Ochoa also attended the conference and presented "Non-State Custom and International Law" and "Why We Need an Odious Finance Doctrine." Ochoa was struck by the richness and creativity of the conference participants. "I've really appreciated the Law and Society conference as an opportunity to meet new people in my field and reconnect with people I already know," she said. "It is also a great venue for getting comments on my summer projects and sharing those I've completed during the academic year. But maybe what I most love is the diverse 'catalogue' of speakers and topics. It is such a luxury to attend panels entirely out of my field — just to learn about something completely new."
Other Indiana Law participants included:
Professor Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, who co-presented "Gender and the Legal Profession: Final Results from the Michigan Alumni Data Set;"
Professor William Henderson, who co-presented "Geographic and Network Analysis of NLJ 250 and Am Law 200 Firms," "Explaining the Nexus between Law School and Law Firm Labor Markets" and "The Elastic Tournament: A Second Transformation of the Big Law Firm;"
Professor Julia C. Lamber, who co-presented "Minority-Rights Efforts to Combat Educational 'Discrimination': Explaining Departures from the Core Tenet of Brown;"
Professor Donna M. Nagy, who presented "Insider Trading a Decade after O'Hagan: The Gradual Demise of Fiduciary Principles;"
Dean Lauren Robel, who served as chair/discussant in "Private Practice Lawyers — Lawyers and Legal Education;" and
Professor John A. Scanlan, who presented "Mapping Legal 'Black Holes,' 'Ghost Detainees,' and the 'Global Spider's Web' of Rendition after 9/11."