The University of Miami School of Law, in partnership with the AALS Journal of Legal Education, will host a virtual symposium, “Power, Privilege, and Transformation: Lessons from the Pandemic for Online Legal Education,” on Wednesday, August 5, 2020, from 12:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. EDT, to discuss how legal education in the United States has been transformed by COVID-19.
“This star-studded national conference will deepen and advance current thinking about one of the most fundamental questions facing legal education today,” said Miami Law Dean and M. Minnette Massey Professor of Law Anthony E. Varona. “Does the pandemic-fueled shift online herald an existential rethinking of higher education and power in the classroom? How should we account for factors such as race, gender, class, disability, and family circumstances in the delivery of online legal education? We are grateful to the broad array of experts — academics and regulators alike — who have agreed to join with us to convene this extremely important conversation at a time of intense flux and uncertainty.”
Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard University and founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School, will deliver the keynote address.
Varona joins Professor Jeremy R. Paul, Northeastern University School of Law and co-editor of the AALS Journal of Legal Education; and Miami Law Professor Lili Levi, vice dean for intellectual life and Dean's Distinguished Scholar, in delivering opening remarks.
Four panels of nationally recognized experts will then address, in turn: how the shift to online education affects and is affected by power relationships, race, gender, class, disability and family status, among other factors; whether, and to what extent, the turn to online education heralds an unprecedented transformation for institutional higher education; the views of regulators on the regulatory climate in response to increased shifts to online legal education; and the day-to-day challenges of delivering effective legal education online amid of the complex environment explored in the other panels.
Academics, practitioners, students, alumni, and members of the public are welcome to attend. There is no charge for participating, but advance registration is required. For more information, contact Sabrina Segura at segura@miami.edu.
