ALWD’s central mission is to support its members in their professional development as teachers, scholars, and leaders. That work is primarily accomplished through the efforts of volunteers who serve on committees. Through almost twenty different committees, volunteers plan conferences, award grants, hold workshops, collect and report detailed data on legal writing faculty and curricula, and develop other innovative ways to further the discipline of legal writing.
Committee chairs and members are appointed by ALWD’s president, typically in August or September, and serve one-year terms.
Current ALWD Committee & Task Force Members
-
ABA Task Force +
The ABA Task Force monitors revisions to the ABA accreditation standards and advocates on all aspects of legal education with a particular focus on issues related to legal writing instruction and legal writing faculty status. Advocacy efforts include: 1) preparing position papers in response to proposed changes to the standards; 2) attending ABA meetings to observe and/or report on deliberations; 3) preparing reports related to ABA meeting attendance; 4) giving written and oral reports to the ABA Council on Legal Education; and 5) coordinating advocacy efforts with other ABA-affiliated organizations and non-affiliated groups with an interest in these issues.
-
Adjunct Programs Committee +
The Adjunct Programs Committee provides support and resources to professors directing adjunct programs. ALWD established this committee after our 2019 conference in direct response to the growing need for support specific to those in adjunct program leadership positions.
-
ALWD Guide Task Force +
The ALWD Guide Task Force works with both the lead author and publisher of the ALWD Guide to Legal Citation to increase the awareness, acceptance, usage, and adoption of the Guide. Task Force members attend conferences to speak on the Guide and create materials to further serve legal writing professionals who use the Guide in their teaching.
-
Berger Award Selection Committee +
The Berger Award Selection Committee oversees the nomination and selection process for the Linda Berger Award for Excellence in Legal Writing Scholarship. This committee is appointed in the years when an ALWD biennial conference will be held. The committee includes (1) the ALWD President, (2) at least one past recipient of the Berger Award, (3) one member of the JALWD Board (with a focus on scholarship), and (4) two other ALWD members.
-
Blackwell Award Selection Committee +
The Blackwell Award Selection Committee oversees the nomination and selection process for the Thomas F. Blackwell Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Legal Writing. This committee includes (1) the ALWD President and/or the Immediate Past ALWD President, (2) the LWI President and/or the Immediate Past LWI President, (3) the last three recipients of the Blackwell Award, and (4) Lisa Blackwell.
-
Blackwell Reception Committee +
The Blackwell Reception Committee plans the reception at which the prestigious Blackwell Award is given.
-
Bylaws Committee +
The Bylaws Committee assists the ALWD Board in periodic review of the organization’s bylaws to ensure that they are in keeping with the organization’s mission and evolving issues in the legal writing academy.
-
Conference Committee +
The Conference Committee plans ALWD's Biennial Conference. The Committee is typically split into three sub-committees: the Site Selection Committee, the Site Planning Committee, and the Program Committee. The Site Selection Committee issues a call for site proposals, reviews the proposals, and provides the ALWD Board with a site recommendation. The Site Planning Committee works with the host school to organize the conference logistics, including registration, meals, and events. The Program Committee is responsible for every aspect of the program, from the call for proposals to the final design of the program.
-
Distinguished Speaker Series Committee +
The ALWD Distinguished Speaker Series Committee assists the ALWD Board in selecting recipient schools for grants to support one- to two-day visits from an ALWD Distinguished Speaker; it also develops and maintains a database of potential speakers. The Committee advertises the availability of Distinguished Speaker grants, evaluates all grant proposals, and recommends the strongest proposals to the ALWD Board. The Committee also advertises the availability of the database and solicits applications for inclusion. (This Committee was formerly known as the Visiting Scholars Committee.)
-
Diversity Committee +
The ALWD Diversity Committee assists the ALWD Board and ALWD Committees in ensuring that ALWD serves all members of its diverse membership and that ALWD’s work supports diversity and inclusion throughout the discipline of legal writing and the legal academy. The Diversity Committee’s primary goal is to help the ALWD Board and ALWD Committees to ensure that they are intentional in encouraging colleagues from underrepresented groups to participate in ALWD events and to take advantage of its many resources and grants. Additionally, the Diversity Committee responds to Board requests for insight on issues of diversity and responds to requests for diversity and inclusion-related resources from other committees as they undertake their work.
-
Elections Committee +
The ALWD Elections Committee runs elections for ALWD’s officers and the members of its Board of Directors.
-
Leadership and Development Committee +
The ALWD Leadership and Development Committee assists the ALWD Board by (i) providing mentoring opportunities to legal writing professionals, (ii) educating ALWD members about leadership theory and pedagogy, (iii) helping develop the leadership skills of ALWD members, and (iv) promoting leadership within ALWD.
-
New Directors Committee +
The ALWD New Directors Committee provides support to new directors and organizes meetings with new directors at conferences.
-
New Member Outreach Committee +
The ALWD New Members Committee assists the ALWD Board in reaching out to new ALWD members to inform them of the various ways to become involved with the organization as well as the resources available through the organization.
-
Online/Distance Learning Committee +
In Spring 2020, as many law schools were shifting to online teaching, ALWD created a new committee, the ALWD Online/Distance Learning Committee. The Committee develops materials to support online teaching efforts.
-
Publications Committee +
The ALWD Publications Committee supports and promotes the publications of ALWD members. The ALWD Publications Committee actively looks for innovative ways to promote and create publishing opportunities for members with diverse voices.
-
Scholars Forum Committee +
The ALWD Scholars Forum Committee supports scholarship by encouraging conference organizers to include a forum or workshop just before or after a national or regional conference. The committee advertises the availability of funding to support a forum or workshop, evaluates proposals by conference organizers, recommends proposals to the ALWD Board for approval, and provides guidance to conference organizers who lead a forum or workshop.
-
Scholarship Grants Committee +
The Scholarship Grants Committee is a joint committee of both ALWD and the Legal Writing Institute that assists the boards of those organizations in selecting recipients for summer scholarship grants. The joint committee advertises the availability of scholarship grants, evaluates all grant proposals, and recommends the strongest proposals to the ALWD and LWI Boards.
-
Survey Committee +
The Survey Committee is a joint committee of both ALWD and the Legal Writing Institute that conducts the Annual Survey on legal writing programs and faculty and reports the results of the Survey to the membership of ALWD and LWI. Each year, the Committee revises the content of the Survey as appropriate, identifies designated school responders for the Institutional Phase of the Survey, distributes the Survey to the appropriate responders, encourages Survey responses through group and individual reminders, and prepares and distributes the report of results for the Survey. The Survey Committee also periodically reviews the effectiveness of the survey platform and the scope and content of the Annual Survey and submits any related recommendations to the LWI and ALWD Boards.
-
Teaching Grants Committee +
The ALWD Teaching Grants Committee assists the ALWD Board in selecting recipients for summer grants that allow the recipient to fully develop a teaching idea. The committee advertises the availability of teaching grants, evaluates all grant proposals, and recommends the strongest proposals to the ALWD Board of Directors. The committee also actively looks for innovative ways to support promoting rigor in legal analysis, legal writing, and legal research instruction.
-
Teaching Workshops Committee +
The ALWD Teaching Workshop Committee organizes an annual innovative teaching workshop, either adjacent to the biennial ALWD conference or to another national or regional writing conference. The Committee advertises the workshop, solicits participants, organizes and facilitates the program, and helps select the workshop participants.
-
Website Committee +
The Website Committee assists the Board with ensuring that ALWD’s website is a current and effective resource for ALWD Members. Depending on the requests of the Board, this work ranges from updating the website to assisting the Board with website-related projects, such as the redesign of the website that was completed in 2018. Additionally, the Website Committee periodically reviews the functionality and content of the website and submits any related recommendations to the ALWD Board.