A Celebration Honoring Professors Robert Dinerstein and Ann Shalleck Innovators in Law and Legal Education

Robert Dinerstein and Ann Shalleck have long been recognized as leaders in the development of clinical education, the enhancement of gender justice, and the elaboration of disability rights.   American University Washington College of Law honors them on their retirement by highlighting their work to change legal education and legal thought.  Through a day-long colloquium, we will come together for a lively conversation identifying and celebrating Professors Dinerstein’s and Shalleck’s contributions as leading scholars, teachers, mentors, institution builders, and advocates. To register, please click here.

In the morning, we will examine critical dimensions of their contributions  to clinical education.

-  Their scholarship on lawyering theory expanded the content of legal education  to encompass the work of lawyers and the relationship of lawyers and clients.

- Their elaboration of pedagogical theory and practice influenced the development of a distinctive multidimensional clinical pedagogy grounded in representation of clients.  Their education and mentoring of clinical teachers helped build a vibrant new segment of the legal professoriate.

- Their important roles in the ABA and AALS  helped establish clinical education as foundational to the law school curriculum and clinical teachers as full and equal participants in their law school faculties.

- Their analysis of and advocacy about how law and the legal system affect people situated differently based on gender, disability, race, and economic resources provided grounding for the vital role of social justice in clinical thought and practice.

In the afternoon, after lunch, one panel will illuminate ways Professor Dinerstein has fostered the expansion of disability rights and the creation of innovative forms of advocacy for people with disabilities. His scholarship, advocacy, institutional leadership, and teaching together built understanding of how injustice and exclusion shape the lives of people with disabilities and how law and lawyers can help clients challenge barriers, seek redress from harm, and create opportunities for fuller and better.

A second panel will focus on how Professor Shalleck has enhanced the integration of law and gender into legal education, thought, and practice.  Through her scholarship, programmatic development, teaching, and national and international initiatives, she has theorized and brought to life the importance of gender-based legal studies to the development of legal thought and legal education.

Following the colloquium, at 6:00 p.m., a reception for friends and alumni will celebrate the forty years Robert Dinerstein and Ann Shalleck have devoted to their students, colleagues, legal education, and the legal profession. If you will also be coming to the reception, click here to register.