The Association of American Law Schools “Insights from the Field” Vol. 1 (2022)
The Association of American Law Schools seeks to advance excellence in legal education. The Section on Student Services promotes the communication of ideas, interests and activities among members of the section and makes recommendations to the Association on matters concerning the providing of services to students. Transform Belonging founder is a featured author in Volume 1 of the 2022 publication of “Insights from the Field.” Their article available in full here is entitled “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging in Student Services: The Bridge Left Burning.” The Student Services section chair Maria Saez Tatman shared the following as to the publication.
[Dean] Jeffrey A. Dodge has done phenomenal work to shepherd it from intriguing idea to finished publication and the Section owes him a sincere debt of gratitude for that work. Amid the myriad challenges of administrative problem solving, student services professionals are also called upon to be scholarly practitioners. We bring to bear our graduate or professional education (or graduate and professional education) as we seek to develop both effective lawyers and equitable systems for their education. We do that not simply by being a friendly face or by writing informative emails, but by understanding student psychology, gathering data about program efficacy, and reflecting on our own position(s) within complex institutions.
The field has come a long way since its late introduction to legal education and increased scholarly engagement is both a driver and product of that specific professionalization. As any Associate Dean can attest, however, mounting administrative duties make scholarship harder to produce and law student services professionals may face unique burdens. As staff, law student services professionals occupy one of the lowest “castes” in the hierarchy of legal academia. As a more diverse field, we also include more members who have historically been excluded or under-valued in legal academia based on their identity and positionality. We therefore wanted this collection to include ideas still in development and reflective work that will advance the field without the usual barriers to entry. We are confident that the works presented here will illuminate and improve law student services practice and hope they will also serve as an invitation for further dialogue.
The Transform Belonging founder is grateful to Dean Dodge as well as mentors, colleagues and law student editors who encouraged them to write an article and supported them through the editing process and publication. They did so with cultural humility, grace, positive and constructive feedback and a fierce commitment to changing the current conditions of the legal world and law schools (institutions). Lauren cannot thank them enough for their support during a heart wrenching time.
