AALS Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Minority Law Teachers and Students

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AALS Committee on Recruitment and Retention of Minority Law Teachers and Students Program
Columbia, North Tower/Lobby Level, San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina

Best Practices for the Recruitment of Minority Law Professors II

The format of the program will include two segments coordinated by a moderator: (1) specific mechanisms that law schools may adopt to improve their recruitment efforts targeting candidates from underrepresented groups, and (2) a training session focusing on information dispersal to potential candidates at various stages of the pipeline -- law school students, practitioners, current AALS Faculty Appointments Register candidates.

"But we could not find any qualified ones!" is the often-heard lament. How can that clearly erroneous claim be rebutted? What are the best practices for the recruitment of minority law professors? Can those practices be incorporated into the perceptions, policies and practices of recruitment committees, individual faculty members, and law schools? This interactive panel and training session offers specific mechanisms for overcoming the institutional and conceptual barriers that block people of color from access to the legal academy. The first session of the program will address concrete challenges that schools confront as they attempt to recruit faculty candidates from underrepresented communities. The second session will be a training in successful methodologies for seeking out, informing, and mentoring prospective candidates of color at all stages of the faculty recruitment pipeline, and will include the distribution of recruitment-focused materials helpful to, among others, faculty recruitment committees, interested faculty members, and professional development administrators.