Nebraska Law faculty present at Association of American Law Schools annual meeting

January 30, 2025

Headshots for professors Dickinson, Jefferis, Pearlman, Shoemaker and Willborn

Five Nebraska Law professors presented at the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) annual meeting in January. The 2025 theme was Courage in Action.

Gregory M. Dickinson
Professor Dickinson was a speaker for the “Federalist Society Annual Faculty Conference Panel: Regulation of Algorithms.” The panel explored the wisdom of efforts to regulate algorithms and how best to frame concerns about algorithmic errors and bias.

Danielle C. Jefferis
Professor Jefferis discussed her scholarship five times during the annual meeting, in addition to several service obligations. She was a panelist for the Section on Constitutional Law’s “The New (and Never) Voices of Constitutional Law”, the Section on Scholarship’s panel on “Supporting the Student Scholar,” the Section on Civil Rights’ panel on “The Future of Private Civil Rights Enforcement,” and the Section on Criminal Law’s panel on “Prison Law: Operating in the Shadows.”  Jefferis was also chosen to comment on a junior scholar’s paper at the Section on Civil Rights “New Voices in Civil Rights” panel, and moderated the Section on Scholarship’s panel on “Supporting the Mid-Career and Senior Scholar.”

Jefferis presided over the Section on Scholarship’s Award Ceremony, conferring the inaugural Award of Excellence in Mentoring and Supporting Legal Scholarship. She also concluded her year of service as the Chair of the Section on Scholarship. 

Jefferis was elected to two positions for the upcoming year: Chair of the Section on Litigation, and Secretary of the Section on Civil Rights. 

Stefanie S. Pearlman
Professor Pearlman was a speaker for the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Professionals panel on “Making 303 Matter: Implementation in a Changing Landscape.” Panelists discussed best practices for providing education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism beyond the bare minimum, as well as ways for implementing these skills in areas where diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are the subject of legislation, litigation or administrative action.

Jessica A. Shoemaker
As part of her service to the executive board of the Section on Scholarship Professor Shoemaker moderated the Section’s panel on “Supporting the Student Scholar.” The panel focused on strategies and initiatives aimed at empowering faculty to support students in their scholarly endeavors, whether within the law school seminar, on a student-run law review, or elsewhere.

Steven L. Willborn
Professor Willborn participated in a roundtable for the AALS Arc of Career Program on “There Ought to Be a Law: Turning Your Scholarship into Legislation Through the Uniform Laws Process.” The roundtable focused on how the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) chooses projects, as well as the study and drafting process for projects.