The AALS Section on Socio-Economics will explore the theme
of “Economic Literacy for a Democratic Society”: A New, Central Role for
Socio-Economics in the Academy and in Politics” in three related annual meeting
sessions.
This main session “The Lawyer as Public Citizen: An Ethical
Foundation for a New Law and Economics” will consider lawyers’ duties as public
citizens (under the ABA Model Rules, Preamble [6] “to further the public’s
understanding of and confidence in the rule of law … in a constitutional
democracy” (which requires informed consent of the governed), with special
emphasis on the economic literacy necessary for that informed consent. It will
also consider the duties of law schools, colleges, and universities to teach
and promote such economic literacy.
The Work in Progress session will consider “The Context-Dependent
Meaning of Economic Literacy” based on the education level of citizens (from
tenth grade to Ph.D.) and will advance the view that with an appropriate
foundation grounded in no more than tenth grade math, a socio-economic approach
to economic understanding, can enable average citizens to achieve the economic
literacy necessary for informed consent regarding their economic rights,
opportunities, interests, and obligations.
This session will begin with a keynote presentation by the
Section’s founder, Professor Robert Ashford, Syracuse University, followed by
commentary by Section members and others. Invited commentators include all past
Section chairs and some of its most active program participants over the past
twenty-six years.
The Section invites submission of (1) expressions of
interest in serving as additional commentators, (2) written commentary of any
length for posting on “EconomicLiteracyForAdemocraticSociety.Net,” and (3)
expressions of interests from publishers regarding the publication of select
commentary to ProfessorAshford@gmail.com.
The three AALS Section sessions will be followed by an
all-virtual Annual Meeting Program of the Society of Socio-Economists (SoS)
scheduled from Monday, January 9, through Friday, January 13, 2023.
Participation in this all-virtual SoS program is free and open to the entire
legal education community.