Dear members of the AALS Section on Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law:

The officers and executive committee invite you to submit a short proposal for a paper at the next annual conference of the American Association of Law Schools. The session will take place in Washington, D.C. on January 6 or January 7, 2012. Its theme will be:

THE PERSONAL PRICE OF NONPROFIT ACTIVITY

We invite you to present a perspective about domestic or international, legal or emotional, criminal or civil, member or director or leader, monetary or physical, costs or risks entailed by nonprofit leadership. Two panelists will be chosen through the call; two other solicited panelists will be Linda Sugin, Professor of Law, Fordham University; an international figure; and a discussant.

Presentations could be about liability rules, media persecution, community ostracism, or risks otherwise considered. They might be about the toll taken on founders of organizations; or about indemnification rules or insurance problems. In this country, benefactors have been vilified for their gifts; directors have been humiliated by accusations of wrongdoing; clients of nonprofits have become tort victims. Overseas, leaders of nonprofit organizations have been physically assaulted and imprisoned. The topic is intended to permit a wide variety of submissions. The overall theme for this year’s AALS Conference is “Academic Freedom and Academic Responsibility,” and papers of any methodology having law reform proposals are especially encouraged.

To make your proposal, please submit a short (one or two paragraphs) description of your intended paper to Norman.I.Silber@yale.edu prior to April 14, 2011.

Selections are to be made by the executive committee this Spring, but in any event not later than September 15, 2011. If you have any questions please address them to me at the above address.

I hope you will submit a proposal, and that I will see you all in Washington. We are also planning for an opportunity to dine together in DC as well-- further details to come in the fall.

Best wishes,
Norm

Norman I. Silber
Professor of Law, Hofstra Law School
Visiting Professor of Law, Yale Law School
(203) 436-3531