BYU Law Dean Gordon Smith Presents at Association of American Law Schools 2017 Annual Meeting
Session provided framework for leaders to navigate conflicts that arise between institution and individuals
PROVO, Utah, Jan. 13, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School, one of the nation's leading law schools focused on innovation in Corpus Linguistics, Entrepreneurship, Poverty Alleviation and Religious Freedom, today announced that Dean Gordon Smith presented new theories in leadership at the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) 2017 Annual Meeting. The Deans Forum Hot Topics Session discussed critical challenges that law school deans face in attending simultaneously to the welfare of the institution and its individuals. It also highlighted the skills that are essential to effective leadership and develop a framework for navigating conflict.
Thousands of law faculty, deans, administrators and scholars gathered in San Francisco from January 3-7, 2017 for the 111th AALS Annual Meeting. which featured over 250 sessions; 800 moderators, speakers and discussion leaders; and more than 50 networking events.
"The annual meeting of the AALS is the premier opportunity to connect and collaborate with colleagues on emerging leadership topics," said Dean Smith. "When law school deans apply their deep reverence for rules, precedent and authority to their leadership of the institution, there is a significant risk that they divert attention from the individuals that these rules are designed to serve. The purpose of this session was to introduce a framework, taken from business ethics, for navigating the conflicts between organizational and individual values."
Dean Smith is a leading figure in the field of law and entrepreneurship and has done foundational work on fiduciary theory. He has also made important contributions to the academic literature on corporate governance and transactional lawyering. He has served as Chair of the Section on Business Associations in the American Association of Law Schools (AALS), and he participated in the creation of the Section on Transactional Law and Skills, for which he currently serves as Secretary. In 2009, he served on the planning committee for the AALS Workshop on Transactional Law.
Over the course of his career, Dean Smith has taught at six law schools in the U.S., including University of Wisconsin Law School, as well as law programs in Australia, China, England, Finland, France, Germany, and Hong Kong. Before entering academe, Professor Smith clerked for Judge W. Eugene Davis in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and was an associate in the Delaware office of the international law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.
"For more than a century, the AALS has worked to advance excellence in legal education by supporting outstanding teaching and scholarship, encouraging innovation, and promoting diversity of faculty, students and viewpoints," said Judith Areen, Executive Director for The AALS. "The AALS Annual Meeting draws more than 2,500 professors, deans and senior administrators from the United States and other countries each January; it constitutes the world's largest gathering of law faculty to exchange scholarly insights and participate in the nearly 100 sections that discuss in-depth discrete areas of law."
The AALS 2017 Annual Meeting was held at The Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55 from January 3-7, 2016 and featured the theme of "Why Law Matters." For more information on BYU Law, visit http://www.law2.byu.edu/.
About BYU Law School
Founded in 1971, the J. Reuben Clark Law School has grown into one of the nation's leading law schools – recognized for its innovation in Corpus Linguistics, Entrepreneurship, Poverty Alleviation and Religious Freedom,. Since 2000, the Law School has served more than 1,000 students in its academic and organizational work, who now are making an impact in communities around the world. In its most recent rankings, National Jurist ranked BYU Law as the best value private law school in the country and U.S. News & World Report ranked BYU Law 38th out of 196 schools for the best law schools in the country. For more information, visit http://www.law2.byu.edu/.
About The Association of American Law Schools (AALS)
AALS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit association of 179 law schools. Its members enroll most of the nation's law students and produce the majority of the country's lawyers and judges, as well as many of its lawmakers. The mission of AALS is to uphold and advance excellence in legal education. In support of this mission, AALS promotes the core values of excellence in teaching and scholarship, academic freedom, and diversity, including diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints, while seeking to improve the legal profession, to foster justice, and to serve our many communities–local, national, and international.
Media Contact:
McKenzie Hurst
Thatcher+Co.
[email protected]
Cell: 408-888-6787
SOURCE BYU Law School
Related Links
WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?
Newsrooms &
Influencers
Digital Media
Outlets
Journalists
Opted In
Share this article