ABA and Bar Standards Advocacy
Co-Chairs: Sarah Wolking and Serge Martinez
Committee Members: Caitlin Barry, Andy Budzinski, Davida Finger, Gautam Hans, Melina Healey, Kendall Kerew, Kate Kruse, Robert Kuehn, Mary Lynch, Ian Weinstein, and Cindy Wilson
This Committee advocates in a variety of external venues on issues of importance to clinical legal education. Its work includes tracking proposals in the ABA and state bar commissions that regulate and affect legal education and clinical legal education. In addition, the ABA and Bar Standards Advocacy Committee coordinates CLEA's public comments and creates an organized and multi-faceted response on issues affecting legal education.
Awards
Chair: Serge Martinez
Committee Members: D’lorah Hughes, Talia Peleg, Thiadora Pina, and Tameka Lester
The primary responsibility of the Awards Committee is to solicit nominations for and select the recipients of three awards: (1) Outstanding Advocate for Clinical Teachers; (2) Excellence in a Public Interest Case or Project; and (3) Outstanding Student (one student per law school). The Committee also periodically reviews the eligibility requirements and rules for the awards and proposes changes, as needed.
Best Practices in Pedagogy
Co-Chairs: Benjie Louis and Lauren Rogal
Committee Members: Kaci Bishop, Davida Finger, Laila Hlass, Carrie Kaas, Allison Korn, Shanda Sibley and Emily Suski, Anna Cominsky, and Megan Bess
The Best Practices Committee was formed shortly after CLEA’s 2007 publication of Best Practices for Legal Education. The Committee commissioned a second Best Practices book, Building on Best Practices: Transforming Legal Education in a Changing World, which was published by LexisNexis in 2015. The committee continues share best practices in pedagogy to the experiential community through webinars, conferences, trainings and online resources.
Bylaws Revision
Chair: Kathryn Banks
Committee Members: Caitlin Barry, Tanya Cooper, Lynnise Pantin, and Thiadora Pina
Communications
Chair: Madalyn K. Wasilczuk
Committee Members: Jeff Baker, Jodi Balsam, Kathryn Banks, Tanya Cooper, Lauren Godshall, Gautam Hans, Darryl Walton
This Communications Committee is charged with proposing and developing CLEA’s communications policies and strategies, utilizing a variety of modes that currently include the organization’s website, Facebook page, Newsletter and Best Practices Blog.
Conference and Externship Conference Support
Co-Chairs: Kara Finck and Llezlie Green
Committee Members: Jodi Balsam, Eden Harrington, Margaret Johnson, Mike Murphy, Jeffrey Pokorak, and Bob Probasco
The Conference Committee oversees the application process for organizations that seek support for regional and national conferences. In 2017, pursuant to the Strategic Plan, the Conference Committee will be charged with undertaking several new initiatives, in collaboration with the Communications and Best Practices in Pedagogy Committees.
Faculty Equity and Inclusion
Co-Chairs: Alexis Karteron and Julia Hernandez
Committee Members: Neha Lall, Priya Baskaran, Jennifer Fernandez, Crystal Grant, Anju Gupta, Shobha Mahadev, Gautam Hans, and Lynnise Pantin
The Committee on Faculty Equity and Inclusion is tasked with proposing ways to reverse the diversity crisis within clinical legal education. The Committee will work to raise and educate various stakeholders about the lack of racial/ethnic diversity among clinical professors and propose avenues for change.
Elections
Chair: Crystal Grant
Committee Members: Reena Parikh, Shobha Mahadev, and June Tai
The Elections Committee is a mandatory committee of CLEA and is responsible for carrying out the elections requirements in CLEA’s bylaws. Under the bylaws, the Elections Committee is responsible for soliciting nominations, verifying eligibility of candidates and voters, creating and distributing ballots, overseeing the ballot count, and certifying and announcing election results.
Externship
Co-Chairs: Dena Bauman and June Tai
Committee Members: Jodi Balsam, Eden Harrington, Kate Devlin Joyce, Carolyn Kaas, Kendall Kerew, Denise Platfoot Lacey, Neha Lall, Matthew McGovern, Melissa Redmon, Meg Reuter, Amy Sankaran, and Anne Sidwell
The Externship Committee advocates on behalf of CLEA and its members with respect to issues related to field placement programs. For example, together with CLEA’s ABA and Bar Standards Advocacy Committee, the Externship Committee represents CLEA in connection with ABA accreditation standards and state bar admissions requirements that have an impact on field placement programs. In addition, the Committee promotes increased awareness within the legal education community about the similarities, differences, and overlap between externships and law clinics.
Membership
Co-Chairs: Sarah Shalf and Neha Lall
Committee Members: Kathryn Banks, Llezlie Green, Caitlin Barry, Esther Park, Tameka Lester, and Talia Peleg
The Membership Committee serves as the liaison between the CLEA board’s work and CLEA members. The committee updates the status of its members every year and responds to members’ comments and questions with respect to CLEA’s work. The committee also prepares membership materials, and helps members stay connected to the work of the organization and members of the clinical community.
New Clinicians
Co-Chairs: Praveen Kosuri and Gowri Krishna
Committee Members: Kathryn Banks, Crisanne Hazen, Nickole Miller, Sue Schechter, Shanda Sibley, Anita Sinha, Kele Stewart, Wendy Vaughn, Paul Radvany, Danny Schaffzin, Amy Sankaran, Chante Brantley, Kate Raven, Gautam Hans, and Larry Stein
The primary work of the New Clinicians Committee is to offer support, orientation, and an introduction to clinical education to those who are new to clinical teaching. Committee members plan and present CLEA’s New Clinicians Conference every two years (in odd years), before the start of the AALS Clinical Conference, and developed a series of workshops designed for new clinicians during the two most recent national Externships Conferences. Working with CLEA’s Advocacy Training Committee, the New Clinicians Committee will continue to explore other ways in which it might help to educate and train new clinicians.
Newsletter
Chair: Ron Hochbaum
Committee Members: Nickole Miller and Susan Donovan
The CLEA Newsletter Committee publishes two issues each year. Besides featuring reports on CLEA's advocacy work and announcing clinicians' good news, including promotions, new arrivals, transitions, awards, honors, books and publications, the committee aims to publish shorter articles on clinical teaching and creative writing on social justice topics, and evolve into a venue where clinicians can publish shorter articles that might count towards tenure requirements in schools that recognize broader definitions of "scholarship" for clinicians.
Per Diem
Chair: Leigh Goodmark
Committee Members: Alexis Karteron, Gowri Krishna, and Karla McKanders
Each year, CLEA's Per Diem Project collects donations to support the community that is hosting the AALS Clinical Conference. Although it began with the collective donation of clinicians’ per diem allowances, the Project has evolved into a broader fundraising initiative. Since 2003, the CLEA Per Diem Project has raised tens of thousands of dollars to support the work of legal services providers nationwide.
Website Revision
Co-Chairs: Jennifer Fernandez and
Shanda Sibley
Committee Members: Crystal Grant, Gautam
Hans, Gowri Krishna, Mike Murphy, Reena Parikh, and Esther Park