AALS Section on Poverty Law Named Section of the Year

News Release
Contact:
Jim Greif
[email protected]
(202) 296-1593

Washington, DC (December 17, 2024) – The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Committee on Sections has selected the AALS Section on Poverty Law as the organization’s Section of the Year.  

First established in 2018, the AALS Section of the Year Award recognizes excellence in member support and other activities that promote the association’s core values. Such activities include: community/pro bono service; expanding membership and member engagement; supporting faculty scholarship; providing mentorship and teaching support; and developing impactful programming.  

The AALS Section on Poverty Law was selected for its commitment to excellence in teaching, developing engaging programming, and promoting a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints in the field of poverty law.  

“It is an honor for us to be recognized by the AALS for the section’s work cultivating cutting edge scholarship and pedagogy in poverty law through conferences, workshops, and service events,” said Verónica C. Gonzales, chair of the Section on Poverty Law and Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law. “Through our programming, we have strived to emphasize innovation and collaboration in the classroom and clinical training, mirroring approaches and designs of poverty law in practice as partnerships with community organizations and movements. The Section events have aimed to support and develop works that explore, evaluate, and critique the access to justice models with an eye toward next-level, practical approaches. As economics become more salient in law and society, section members are playing a leading role in scholarly circles and supporting communities, solidifying the section’s status as a valuable space for this work.”    

The AALS Section on Poverty Law collaborates with the Section on Clinical Education and Pro Bono & Access to Justice to coordinate a service project for the AALS Annual Meeting attendees. The Section has an active discussion list to share opportunities like a call for exclusive submissions to poverty-focused journals, a call for papers, and invitations to attend poverty law conferences. 

“We had some terrific applications, and it was a hard choice.  But we are pleased to give the honor this year to the Section on Poverty Law,” said Michael Waterstone, chair of the committee and Dean at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. “The Section of the Year Award is an honor that recognizes outstanding efforts by section leaders and members to promote AALS values through collegial connections, educational enrichment, and innovative programs and activities over the course of the year.”  

The section will be recognized at an awards ceremony at the AALS Annual Meeting in San Franciso on January 9, 2025.   

AALS sections provide opportunities for law school faculty and staff to connect year-round on issues of shared interest. Each section is focused on a different academic discipline, affinity group, or administrative area. For a full list of sections, visit www.aals.org/sections.  

About AALS 
The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), founded in 1900, is a nonprofit association of 175 member and 19 fee-paid 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 improve and advance legal education. AALS carries out its mission by promoting the core values of excellence in teaching and scholarship, academic freedom, and diversity, including diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints, while seeking to foster justice, and to serve our many communities–local, national, and international. In support of its mission, AALS serves as both the institutional membership organization for law schools, and as the learned society for law faculty.