2025-2026 Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Section on Women in Legal Education Conference

The AALS Section on Women in Legal Education (WILE) “provides information to its members respecting the integration of women and women’s concerns into the legal profession and the law, promotes the communication of ideas, interests and activities among members of the Section, makes recommendations on matters concerning the administration of law schools and on the status of women in legal education and makes recommendations on matters of interest in the teaching and improvement of the law school curriculum.”

This 2026 Conference is the second in a revival of a formerly once-every-mid-year gathering that focused on the pivotal role of women in the legal academy and that explored how gender identity, particularly in conjunction with other facets of identity, influences participation in the legal academic sphere. The first conference in this revival was ignited by Dean Lolita Buckner Inniss, then Chair of the WILE Section, at the University of Colorado Law School during the 2024-2025 academic year. This conference seeks to continue this important conversation concerning the opportunities for, and status and position of, women in the legal academy and in the legal profession.

On February 12, 2026, this conference features a special evening program that honors Professor Penny Andrews of New York Law School. The celebration of Professor Andrews will be followed by a special panel of women lawyer-leaders on the state of women in legal practice and business.

Thursday, February 12, 2026

6:30 -10:00 P.M. Opening Dinner: Celebration and Roundtable 

6:30 – 7pm Reception

7:00-7:30 P.M. Welcome

• Angela Onwuachi-Willig, 2025 Section on Women in Legal Education Chair & Dean and Ryan Roth Gallo Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
• Hannah Lynch, President, BU Law Women’s Law Association
• Kimberly Mohabeer & Abigail Soriano, Co-Presidents, BU Law Women of Color Collaborative
• Danielle Conway, President of the Association of American Law Schools & Dean, Donald J. Farage Professor of Law, and Antiracist Development Institute Executive Director, Penn State Dickinson Law

7:30-8:20 P.M. Celebration Honoring Penny Andrews, New York Law School

• Mary Lu Bilek, Secretary, ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar; Former Dean and Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law (Retired); & Former Dean and Professor of Law, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth School of Law
• Anthony Crowell, 16th Dean and President, Professor of Law, & Faculty Director for the Center for New York City and State Law
• Camille deJorna, Former Deputy for Legal and Global Higher Education, Law School Admission Council
• Erika George, Professor of Law, Ernest Haddad Faculty Scholar, and Associate Dean for Equity, Justice, & Engagement, Boston University School of Law
• Adrien Wing, Associate Dean for International and Comparative Law Programs & Bessie Dutton Murray Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law
• HONOREE: Professor Penny Andrews, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law and Director of the Racial Justice Project, New York Law School

In honor of Professor Andrews’s incredible scholarship and service work in bridging the gap between theory and practice, the Conference will next feature a roundtable discussion involving women lawyers engaged in legal practice and business.

8:30-9:45 P.M. Roundtable Discussion on Women in the Legal Profession

• Anne Tuttle Cappel, Former General Counsel for Coursera
• Susan Yashar, Former Deloitte Global Deputy CEO, Deloitte
• Chief Justice Rebeca Martinez, Fourth Court of Appeals in Texas
• Robin A. Walker, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Areteia Therapeutics
• Moderator: Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean and Ryan Roth Gallo Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law

Friday, February 13, 2026 Conference at Boston University School of Law

8:00-8:30 A.M. Registration and Breakfast

8:30-8:40 A.M. Morning Welcome

• Angela Onwuachi-Willig, 2025 Section on Women in Legal Education Chair & Dean and Ryan Roth Gallo Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
• Aryssa Harris, Editor-in-Chief, Boston University Law Review

8:50-10:05 A.M. Women Leaders in Legal Academia and Practice

• Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Section on Women in Legal Education Chair & Dean and Ryan Roth Gallo Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law (presenting paper on behalf of both herself and co-author Kellye Testy, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director for the Association of American Law Schools)
• Sudha Setty, President, Law School Admission Council
• Lolita Buckner Inniss, Dean and Provost’s Professor of Law, University of Colorado Law School
• Rebecca E. Zietlow, Dean, Distinguished University Professor, and Charles W. Fornoff Professor of Law and Values, University of Toledo College of Law
• Professor Penny Andrews, John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law and Director of the Racial Justice Project, New York Law School
• Moderator: Gerry Muir, Associate Dean for Academic Engagement

10:15-11:30 A.M. Gender and Status in the Legal Academy and Profession

• Renee Nicole Allen, Associate Professor of Law & Faculty Director for the Center of Race and Law, St. John’s University School of Law
• Kat Macfarlane, Professor of Law and Director of the Disability Law and Policy Program, Syracuse College of Law, and Tiffany Graham, Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Campus Engagement, Touro Law Center
• Dean Danielle Conway, President of the Association of American Law Schools & Dean, Donald J. Farage Professor of Law, and Antiracist Development Institute Executive Director, Penn State Dickinson Law
• Jane Goldstein, Former Women’s Advancement Leader & Former Managing Partner, Ropes & Gray Boston Office
• Margaret Hahn-DuPont, Lawyering Program Director and Professor, Northeastern University School of Law 
• Vicki Schultz, Ford Foundation Professor of Law and Social Sciences, Yale Law School
• Moderator: Claire Abely, Senior Lecturer & Director of the Lawyering Program

11:45 A.M.-1:00 P.M. Luncheon Keynote Address

• INTRODUCTION OF KEYNOTE SPEAKER Elizabeth Y. McCuskey, Professor & Director, Center for Health Law, Ethics, & Human Rights, Boston University School of Public Health and School of Law
• KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Professor Meera Deo, The Honorable Vaino Spencer Chair | Professor of Law, Southwestern Law School

1:15-2:30 P.M. Gender and Well-Being in the Legal Academy and Profession

• Heidi Alexander, Executive Director of Lawyer Well-Being at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
  
• Nicky Boothe, Dean & Professor of Law, University of Illinois Chicago School of Law
• Camesha Little, Assistant Professor of Law, Detroit-Mercy Law College of Law
• Ryan Roth Gallo, Founder, Law for All & Former Attorney at Paul, Hastings, Janofsky, & Walker LLP
• Alice Setrini, Clinical Teaching Fellow, Health Justice Project, Loyola University Chicago School of Law

Moderator: Linda McClain, Robert Kent Professor of Law & Co-Director, BU Law Program in Reproductive Justice

2:30 – 2:40 P.M. Closing Remarks 

• Darren Rosenblum, Professor of Law, St. John’s University School of Law

2:30 – 3:30 P.M. Afternoon Coffee Reception