The National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators

For the past couple of years, members of the law school advocacy community have worked to create an organization that represents the interests of legal advocacy educators. It's almost here. We have a name: the National Association of Legal Advocacy Educators. We have bylaws. And soon, we'll have officers.

Hence this post. To move things forward, the organization will launch elections this week for its inaugural executive board and regional representatives. Anyone who is interested in and eligible to become a member of NALAE may vote. And membership is open to anyone who is currently an advocacy teacher at the law school level. As the bylaws state, that definition is broad: "an 'advocacy teacher' is any person who is engaged in teaching trial advocacy, appellate advocacy, alternative dispute resolution, client counseling, or any other skills related to litigation and trials, at the law school level. This definition includes tenurial, tenure-track, non-tenurial, and adjunct professors as well as those who coach law school teams that compete in these fields."

If you're currently an advocacy teacher at the law school level and you'd like to vote, please register via this link as soon as you can. When you access the registration form, you can check out answers to frequently asked questions about the organization and elections. NALAE's Election Committee will host an online candidates' forum tomorrow (Thursday, July 9) at 7:00 pm, and we'll send a link to Zoom event to all registered voters. 

I am excited to see this organization come together, particularly now. This summer, the national communities of appellate advocacy, trial advocacy, and dispute resolution teachers, coaches, and competition organizers have worked hard to respond to the challenges our students face in learning and competing virtually. We're seeing what's possible when we collaborate. NALAE will help our communities realize a broad, deep range of possibilities. The organization's goals:

a. To encourage the expansion and improvement of and diversity in student-focused law school advocacy skills education;

b. To support innovation through communication and dissemination of information among law school advocacy programs;

c. To improve the quality of competition experiences to best teach skills and professionalism;

d. To work cooperatively with other organizations interested in advocacy skills education, the improvement of legal education, and the improvement of client representation;

e. To promote conferences and other educational activities designed to facilitate the other purposes of the organization;

f. To further the interests of all law school advocacy skills teachers; and

g. To promote access to justice, including the right to jury trials, fair and equitable dispute resolution, and the rule of law.