Discussion Groups

July 31st, 2026 By Keith Robinson If the machine had the idea, is the scholarship yours? That question ran through “The Human Factor: Legal Scholarship in an Algorithmic Age,” a discussion group at SEALS on July 31 moderated by Krista Bordatto. While the group never settled on how to identify authentic scholarly contribution, the discussion was lively and thought-provoking. One speaker framed the stakes in terms IP lawyers will recognize. There is a sweat-of-the-brow argument buried in what we mean by scholarship. An author mines hundreds of sources and wrestles with ideas, and that effort has always been part of the claim to authorship. AI now does some of that work, and sometimes all of it. We need to arrive

July 28th, 2026 By Patrick Murphy This discussion grouped convened to share strategies for teaching students and conducting research in topics in civil and comparative law. Twenty-nine participants from law schools in Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Indiana, Washington, Vermont, New York, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Missouri, and Switzerland participated in a wide-ranging discussion of the unique joys and challenges of teaching and working in this area. Participants had varied teaching experiences, including faculty that had taught Louisiana civil law, international law, comparative law, common law, and US federal law. A continuing theme that emerged is that the teaching and practice of law is essentially always comparative because laws vary across jurisdictions and thus that comparative methodologies should have a place in

July 26, 2026 Caprice Roberts This discussion group explored hot topics related to remedies being increasingly front and center whether due to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket or pivotal constitutional rights cases hinging on remedies holdings. We welcomed newcomers interested in teaching and writing about remedies. We noted the recent passing of Remedies giant Doug Rendleman and the lovely commemoration by Washington and Lee School of Law as a tribute to his lasting scholarly and teaching legacy. The first speaker was Professor Cortney Lollar, Georgia State College of Law, who presented a work-in-progress, What is Criminal Restitution?:x 2.0. Professor Lollar’s draft explores the classification of criminal restitution and the consequences of various conceptualizations. Professor Lollar explained that criminal restitution has

Judy Garnett, Kristi Arth, Karen Sneddon, and Richard Heppner elevated our understanding of how poetry can enrich legal pedagogy. This wasn’t a typical law and literature session centered on narrative, historical context, or interpretation.

This discussion group convened to commemorate the Bicentennial of the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825, the oldest civil code in the Americas.