{"id":73451,"date":"2026-01-28T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=73451"},"modified":"2026-01-29T09:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:05:19","slug":"mitchell-hamline-faculty-showcase-expertise-at-2026-aals-annual-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2026\/01\/28\/mitchell-hamline-faculty-showcase-expertise-at-2026-aals-annual-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitchell Hamline faculty showcase expertise at 2026 AALS Annual Meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From left: Miriam Itzkowitz, Laura Reilly \u201994, Natalie Netzel \u201915, Tressa Ries, Jared Mollenkof, Kaori Kenmotsu \u201922, Carolyn Grose, Anthony Niedwiecki, Camille Davidson, Eleanor Frisch, Lynn LeMoine \u201911, Hetal Dalal, Brad Colbert \u201985, Leanne Fuith \u201910, and Udoka Nwanna.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mitchell Hamline School of Law faculty and staff members were prominently featured within the 2026 Association of American Law Schools (AALS)<\/a> annual meeting on Jan. 6\u20139 in New Orleans, La. They presented and participated in conversations with the legal academy in areas of expertise including practical skills preparation, mental health and well-being, artificial intelligence, and more.<\/p>\n

At the meeting, more than 2,200 law school faculty, staff, deans, and sponsors gathered to explore the theme of \u201cImpact. Excellence. Resilience. The Enduring Contributions of Legal Education.\u201d<\/p>\n

The commitment to well-being is a core feature of the legal education at Mitchell Hamline. Professor Natalie Netzel \u201915, Senior Specialist of Interdisciplinary Practice and Student Well-Being Miriam Itzkowitz, and Dean of Students Lynn LeMoine \u201911 demonstrated this dedication by presenting at the session, \u201cDoing Well-Being Without Losing Your Mind: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Law Student, Faculty, and Staff Well-Being,\u201d held by the Balance & Well-Being in Legal Education section. Netzel also participated in the AALS discussion group panel, \u201cWorking Toward Well-Being.\u201d Putting wellness into practice, Professor Kaori Kenmotsu \u201922 led several sessions of mindfulness meditation for meeting participants.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was especially valuable to present to this community because we were able to facilitate an authentic, honest conversation with law faculty, staff, and administrators from across the country,\u201d said Netzel. \u201cMy hope is that the sessions gave participants permission to approach well-being work at their institutions in ways that are sustaining and energizing, rather than one more thing that feels depleting.\u201d
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another important topic throughout the week was AI and technology within legal education. \u201cThis was discussed in every session I attended and in discussions I had with everyone I met,\u201d noted Professor Anthony Niedwiecki. He discussed his article, \u201cAccessing Process Over Product: Using Generative AI in Legal Education to Improve Metacognition,\u201d at the session on \u201cTechnology, Law, and Legal Education Works-in-Progress,\u201d work he plans to continue for Mitchell Hamline. Niedwiecki also represented the law school at the AALS House of Representatives Meeting.<\/p>\n

Faculty members demonstrated a broad range of expertise and excellence in their fields of study\u2014from supporting the rule of law to access and restorative justice. Professor Leanne Fuith \u201910 presented at the \u201cAALS Symposium: Promoting the Rule of Law,\u201d and she was a panelist at the \u201cDiscussion of the Intersection of Professional Identity Formation, the NextGen Bar Exam, and Rule of Law Principles\u201d session. Professor Jared Mollenkof presented at a session on \u201cThe Access Imperative: A Special Issue of the Journal of Legal Education.\u201d Professor Brad Colbert \u201985 was able to share his work with the Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners (LAMP) clinic as a panelist at the AALS discussion group, \u201cUnwinding Mass Incarceration through Law School Second Chance Advocacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell Hamline also supported the recognition of excellence and achievement as a co-sponsor of the Section on Women in Legal Education Celebration: Honoring the 2026 Ruth Bader Ginsberg Lifetime Achievement Award. The award honors individuals who have had a distinguished career of teaching, service, and scholarship for at least 20 years and who have impacted women, the legal community, the academy, and the issues that affect women through mentoring, writing, speaking, activism, and by providing opportunities to others.<\/p>\n

Leadership was also a key theme of the meeting. President and Dean Camille Davidson, along with Vice President of Finance and Administration Tressa Ries, were panelists on \u201cInstitutional Effectiveness & Accreditation Readiness, Operations and the Future of Independent Law School Management\u201d at the Independent Law Schools\u2019 Leadership Retreat. Davidson was also a panelist for \u201cFrom Classrooms to Clicks: Best Practices and Lessons Learned in Legal Education,\u201d presented by West Academic, a BARBRI Company.<\/p>\n

In addition, Davidson is a member of the AALS Deans Forum Steering Committee and chaired the 2026 forum. Several members of the Mitchell Hamline community newly joined leadership groups, including Professor Jessica West joining the planning committee for the 2027 clinical conference and LeMoine being appointed to the AALS student services section.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mitchell Hamline School of Law faculty and staff members were prominently featured within the 2026 Association of American Law Schools (AALS) annual meeting on Jan. 6\u20139 in New Orleans, La. They presented and participated in conversations with the legal academy in areas of expertise including practical skills preparation, mental health and well-being, artificial intelligence, and … <\/p>\n

Mitchell Hamline faculty showcase expertise at 2026 AALS Annual Meeting<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2537,"featured_media":73453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[35],"class_list":{"0":"post-73451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"category-news","9":"tag-faculty","10":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2537"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}