One of the University of Wisconsin’s longest and deepest traditions is the “Wisconsin Idea,” the public service principle that education should influence people’s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom. Clinical legal education has a long history at UW Law because it epitomizes the Wisconsin Idea and law in action. Our work in the classroom contributes to and benefits from the communities in which we exist.
We invite you to join us at the Midwest Clinical Conference this fall to celebrate our collective “Clinical Idea” and the ways we all collaborate to benefit legal education and our many communities. Our conference theme is broad, and we welcome proposals of all types: panel discussions, individual or team presenters, paper presentations, or incubator sessions for posing challenging questions or floating ideas and innovations in clinical teaching, service, or scholarship.
Submitting a Proposal
The deadline for conference proposals is July 31, 2024, and we expect to announce the schedule in early September. If you would like to submit a proposal for more than one session, please complete a separate form for each proposal. We invite new and experienced clinicians, from the Midwest or not, to submit a proposal for the conference!
Sessions
Conference Session Ideas:
We invite session proposals that are inspired by the Clinical Idea and collaboration in community. The following examples are meant only as guidance.
Clinic Student Development and Success
Topic ideas may relate to student recruitment, clinical pedagogy, course design or structure, extern/intern guidance and oversight, or student evaluation and assessment.
Clinics in Context
Topic ideas may relate to clinics’ positions in legal education, faculty status, clinical scholarship and professional development, faculty onboarding or offboarding, or faculty visibility and outreach.
Clinics in Community
Topic ideas may relate to fostering community relationships, developing practitioner communities, nurturing the interchange of knowledge between clinic and community, collaborating across disciplines, or engaging in social change/movement lawyering.
Incubator Discussion Sessions:
In addition to regular concurrent sessions, we will host incubator discussions during the conference. These are designed to provide an informal, supportive environment for brief (10-15 minute) presentations on a teaching technique, a scholarship idea, or another project someone hopes to hatch, followed by feedback from other clinicians. Incubator discussion sessions may be related to any of the topic areas mentioned above.
Location
University of Wisconsin Law School
975 Bascom Mall
Madison, WI 53706
Hotel Block
Madison Concourse Hotel
1 W Dayton St, Madison, WI 53703
(800) 356-8293
Contact
For questions and other inquiries, please contact:
Ursula Weigold
Associate Dean, Experiential Learning; Clinical Professor of Law
Schedule
The conference is expected to open informally on the evening of Thursday, November 7, with a welcome reception/social activity. This will be followed by two full days of programming Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9. Sessions of various lengths (30, 60 or 75 minutes) will be offered each morning and afternoon, with a break for lunch.
