Call for Proposals: 17th Biennial Conference “Thriving in a Time of Change” July 10–13, 2016 d Portland, Oregon Proposals due: June 12, 2015 Introduction The 2016 Biennial Conference of the Legal Writing Institute will bring together legal-‐writing professors and other members of the legal academy and practicing bar. The conference this year has a renewed goal of building our sense of community. In LWI’s always collegial and collaborative environment, colleagues will have a chance to meet, reconnect, and share ideas about pedagogy, scholarship, and professional growth. The theme of the 2016 conference is “Thriving in a Time of Change.” This is a broad topic, covering our professional commitments to teaching, scholarship, and professional service; to our professional identity as a discipline; and to our current and former students’ identities as practitioners. The program-‐
selection committee welcomes proposals on any subject of interest within that broad framework. The 2016 Conference will be held in downtown Portland, Oregon, at the Portland Hilton. Portland and the surrounding area have many attractions for families. Selection Information Because the presentation-‐selection process has become increasingly competitive, the program committee will look for proposals that not only clearly describe the presentation and its goals, but also demonstrate the role of the presentation within the existing dialogue of legal writing. Clear and detailed proposals with a strong research foundation have a higher likelihood of selection. Notification Those individuals who submit proposals will be notified about the status of their proposals on or before September 30, 2015. Limit on Proposals (2) and the One-‐Presentation Rule You may submit more than one proposal but no more than two, and you need not rank your proposals in order of preference. However, if you are selected for more than one presentation or panel, you will be asked to select the presentation or panel in which you would like to participate, as each person is limited to one presentation or panel. 1
Time Slots Unless you are submitting a proposal for a poster or an Idea Bank Live presentation, please assume you will have 45 minutes for your presentation. Although the committee expects that nearly all presentations will be assigned a 45-‐minute time slot, we recognize that a few presentations are better served with more time. For that reason, we have set aside a few 75-‐minute slots, which we anticipate will be used primarily for certain panel presentations. If you are interested in a 75-‐minute time slot, your proposal should clearly explain why 75 minutes is necessary. Also, please allocate sufficient time for questions. Presentation Topics The committee seeks a mix of presentations, including but not limited to presentations that address topics of interest for mid-‐level, newer, and veteran members of the field. The topics could cover the scholarship, practice, or pedagogy of any of the sub-‐areas of our field, including cognition and other education areas; composition, public speaking, and feedback theory; legal rhetoric across different aspects of legal communication; applied legal storytelling; issues related to social justice; professors doing field work or interdisciplinary work; perspectives of marginalized groups; professional identity development, both for professors and for students; international legal writing and skills; and any other topic we have failed to mention in these broad categories. Presentation Tracks A “track” is defined as a designated use of a block of time across a ½ day or day of programming. The majority of concurrent sessions will be undesignated. The program committee will be designating the following tracks, however: •
Scholarship track: This is an opportunity to present research or works-‐in-‐progress at any stage, from well-‐researched brainstorm to near-‐finished product. The committee also welcomes presentations on topics of interest to those engaged in scholarship or new to scholarship, such as how to conduct specialized empirical or ethnographic research, how to find and interpret unusual primary sources, how to successfully collaborate with professors in other fields, and how to publish nontraditional writing projects. •
Focused Voices track: This track is dedicated to providing a forum for the diverse voices that make up our legal-‐writing community and for discussing how best to serve the diverse communities that we and our students reach. The committee also welcomes presentations that explore the legal-‐writing professor’s role in the larger law-‐school, academic, and legal communities, and the various tensions and opportunities that those relationships present. •
Social Justice track: The committee encourages proposals that explore ways that legal-‐
writing faculty bring social-‐justice issues and practice experiences into the legal-‐writing curriculum. This may include simulations; collaborations with clinics or field placements; collaboration with local, regional, national, or international social-‐justice organizations; pro bono projects; and other experiences. The experiences may range from issues in a 1L legal-‐
writing assignment to full-‐blown courses dedicated to a project. 2
Presentation Format Presentations may be in any form the presenter finds effective for the topic and allotted time. Presentation timing is usually tighter than optimal, and for that reason we urge presenters to plan wisely. We may occasionally ask presenters to change the format or timing of a presentation to fit the needs of a comprehensive and diverse program. •
Lecture and Interactive Presentations (45-‐minute presentations) A lecture presentation is a more traditional lecture with Q&A at the end, and an interactive lecture is a presentation that seeks more audience participation throughout. If you are considering an interactive lecture, your proposal should discuss what you plan to do to make the presentation interactive and how much time the interactive activity will take, from explanation through activity through debriefing. Examples include, but are not limited to, pair and share, break-‐out group discussions, use of demonstrative aids that involve the audience, or other audience participation. Providing handouts, although very beneficial for attendees, does not on its own make the presentation an interactive lecture. If you submit a proposal with more than one presenter for your session, your proposal should include the name, email address, and school affiliation (if any) for each presenter. In determining how many presenters to include in your proposal, please make sure that each person will have sufficient time to fully discuss his or her topic. Because most presentations will last only 45 minutes, we recommend no more than 2 to 3 presenters. •
Panel Presentations (45-‐minute or 75-‐minute presentations) If you submit a proposal for a panel presentation, you will be asked to designate a moderator. The moderator may or may not be a panelist and should ensure (1) equal time for each panelist to speak and (2) sufficient time for Q&A. If your proposal does not name a moderator, and your proposal is accepted, the program committee will ask you to select an appropriate moderator. Please note that the moderator is also subject to the one-‐presentation rule. Your proposal should include the name, email address, and school affiliation of each panelist and moderator. In addition, please describe the contribution each panelist will make to the discussion. 3
Spotlight: Scholarship Colloquia •
Scholarship Colloquia These sessions operate to foster discussion about scholarship in our community or related to our community. Most of these presentations have used a format akin to a faculty scholarship colloquium, minus the author (or, akin to a book-‐club discussion).Readings are distributed before the conference so that the whole session may be devoted to conversation. The program-‐selection committee welcomes presentations that w ill focus o n recent scholarly w ork or related works in a group discussion format. Sessions of this variety have proven popular at recent biennial and Applied Legal Storytelling conferences. For example, a presentation might discuss the theory and research underlying a particular article and then feature an interactive discussion of how to apply the article’s findings to make student or practitioner writing more effective. Or a session might bring together interested teachers to discuss a germinal article in a focused area of inquiry. •
Coffee or Popcorn Sessions These sessions, taking place early in the morning or later in the evening, are specifically designed for high audience participation. They are often used for hot-‐topic dialogues or debates in our community, but could be used for other presentations designed for the same format. •
Poster Presentations Posters will be spotlighted at the 2016 Conference. Posters are available for viewing for the entirety of the conference. If you are interested in submitting a poster presentation, please check the “yes” box on the submission form (it will be clear on the form how to do this). If you know that a poster presentation is your first choice, there is no need to select an alternative presentation type—and please let us know that you want a poster as your first choice. If you wish to be considered for a poster presentation as an alternative to a spoken presentation, please check the “yes” box for poster as well as verbal presentations. You will not reduce your proposal’s chances for selection as a spoken presentation by checking “yes” for alternative consideration as a poster presentation. You are not required to submit the actual poster with your proposal, although you are welcome to do so as part of your proposal if you have a mock-‐up available in an electronic format. Once accepted, you will receive more specific information regarding the size limits and other requirements for the poster itself. The Poster Committee for the 2016 Conference will provide sample posters and other details specific to poster presentations. All posters will be displayed on tack boards supplied by LWI. •
Idea Bank Live Presentations The program committee will also select some “Idea Bank Live” presentations. These are 20– to 25–minute presentations within a time slot that focus on particular teaching techniques. Technology LWI pays for the technology at hotel conference locations and the conference planners are responsible for negotiating packages that meet our needs. We do not make program-‐selection decisions based on technology needs of presenters, but we use that information for the conference planning purposes. Please help us do that by listing your actual technology specs, to the best you can anticipate at the time you submit your proposal. 4
Marketing Prohibited Although the committee welcomes proposals on any topic of interest to legal-‐writing faculty, a proposal will not be accepted if it appears to be a means to market a textbook or other for-‐pay product. Small-‐Group Sessions The Program Committee has also reserved space in the conference schedule for some less-‐structured sessions, including small-‐group discussions of books, articles, topics, issues, or controversies of interest to the community. The Committee will solicit volunteers to lead these small-‐group discussions – and ideas for books, articles, or topics – in late fall of 2015. Questions If you have any questions, please contact one of the Program Committee Co-‐Chairs: Kimberly Holst, [email protected] or Susie Salmon, [email protected] 5