Press Release
Contact:
Jim Greif
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Washington, D.C. (January 9, 2021) – Vincent D. Rougeau, Dean at Boston College Law School, was inducted as President of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) after delivering his inaugural address at the AALS Annual Meeting.
“It is an honor and a privilege to assume the presidency of the Association of American Law Schools,” said Dean Rougeau. “I am very excited about the year ahead, and I have chosen ‘Freedom, Equality, and the Common Good’ as my theme for 2021. These ideas have engaged and inspired me as a legal educator and scholar throughout my career, and I cannot imagine them ever being more relevant than they are today. How we understand them is essential to the functioning of our democracy and critical to creating a just society under the rule of law.”
Dean Rougeau takes over from 2020 AALS President Darby Dickerson, Dean at UIC John Marshall Law School who transitioned to Immediate Past President on the AALS Executive Committee.
The AALS House of Representatives voted in advance of the AALS Annual Meeting to accept the nomination of Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of University of California Berkeley School of Law to serve as 2021 President-elect. The representatives also approved the nominations of Danielle M. Conway, Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law at Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law and Daniel M. Filler, Dean and Professor of Law at Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law, to serve three-year terms on the AALS Executive Committee.
“I am tremendously honored to be the President-elect of the AALS,” said Dean Chemerinsky. “This is a crucial time for legal education in the United States as we deal with the pandemic, online education, structural racism, rising costs, and so much more. The AALS plays a unique and vital role and I am excited to serve at this important time.”
“I am determined to bring the experiences from my service on the AALS Membership Review Committee and the Deans Forum Steering Committee to the Executive Committee,” said Dean Conway. “The AALS has invested in developing me as a leader and, therefore, I look forward to supporting the vision and the mission of the association.”
“AALS plays a critical role in advancing legal education and the values that underpin the legal profession,” said Dean Filler. “It is a privilege to join the Executive Committee and have an opportunity to help support the association’s important mission.”
About AALS
The Association of American Law Schools (AALS), founded in 1900, is a nonprofit association of 176 member and 17 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 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 its many communities—local, national and international.
