Mission Statement
The SEALS New Scholars Committee coordinates the SEALS New Scholars Workshop, which provides opportunities for New Scholars to interact with their peers and experts in their respective fields at the SEALS Annual Meeting. For over a decade, the New Scholars Workshop has provided new scholars with the opportunity to present their work in a supportive and welcoming environment. The New Scholars Committee accepts and reviews nominations to the program, organizes new scholars into colloquia based on subject matter, and coordinates with the Mentors Committee to match each new scholar with a mentor in his or her field. We also hold a New Scholars Luncheon at the Annual Meeting at which New Scholars and their mentors can get to know one another and the members of the New Scholars Committee. To ensure that the annual program runs smoothly, members of the New Scholars Committee attend the colloquia and, following the conference, survey the New Scholars to solicit their feedback and comments on the program’s success. Additionally, the Committee organizes multiple “Your Next Article” discussion groups for the New Scholars, which allow participants to incubate emerging ideas for future scholarship. In recent years, the Committee has organized a social function at which New Scholars could meet and interact with one another at the Annual Meeting. We also draft an annual report on our activities.
Committee Members
- Melissa Lonegrass (Louisiana State) (Chair) mlonegrass@lsu.edu
- John Anderson (Mississippi College) (Vice Chair) jpanders@mc.edu
- Donald Campbell (Mississippi College)
- Atiba Ellis (Case Western)
- Russell Gold (Alabama)
- Seema Mohapatra (SMU)
- Marc Roark (Tulsa)
- Jonathan Shaub (Kentucky)
- Meera Sossamon (Loyola New Orleans)
- Kenya Smith (Louisiana State)
- Timothy Todd (Liberty)
- Saurabh Vishnubhakat (Cardozo)
- Howard Wasserman (FIU)
- Karen Woody (Washington & Lee)
Important Links
Annual Reports
2025 Annual Report
Following the 2024 Annual Meeting, the New Scholars Committee’s work began right away with our annual survey of the New Scholars. Committee members prepared and administered the survey and wrote a survey report of our findings, which was submitted to the Board in the fall semester. We received 21 responses to our survey (a response rate of approximately 68%, a slightly higher response rate than in recent years). Overall, the survey respondents reported favorable experiences at the 2024 SEALS Annual Meeting.
The 2025 New Scholars Program is identical in format to programs of the recent past. All New Scholars are invited to present a work-in-progress in a New Scholars Panel and are assigned a mentor who will provide feedback on the presentation. New Scholars Panels are arranged thematically (to the extent possible). In addition, all New Scholars are invited to participate in a discussion group designed to assist New Scholars in developing a nascent article idea titled “The Next Article.” New Scholars are also invited to attend the New Scholars Luncheon, which gives the New Scholars the ability to network and mingle with other New Scholars, mentors, and members of the New Scholars and Mentors Committees. Finally, all New Scholars are invited to attend a New Scholars Happy Hour, which provides New Scholars (and their guests) with another opportunity to interact with each other, their mentors, and senior scholars in an informal setting.
This year, in response to comments we received in last year’s survey, we took several steps designed to improve the New Scholars’ experience, including communicating clearly and repeatedly regarding expectations for the conference and pointing the New Scholars to the “New Scholars Guidelines” which are available on the SEALS website and communicating clearly with the moderators of New Scholars panels about the unique nature of New Scholars Panels, including pointing moderators to the “Guidelines for Moderators of New Scholars Panels,” also available on the SEALS website. We also increased the number of discussion groups (5 as opposed to 4) so that we could give each scholar more time for discussion.
As of the date of the writing of this report, the program includes 32 New Scholars (compared to 34 New Scholars last year). We started out with 35 New Scholar nominees, but 3 New Scholars dropped out before the conference. We have organized the New Scholars into 9 panels over a two-day period. The final New Scholars schedule is as follows:
Monday, July 28
Constitutional Law, Federal Procedure, and the Supreme Court I (8:00-10:00)
Constitutional Law, Federal Procedure, and the Supreme Court II (10:15-12:00)
Environmental and Agricultural Law (8:00-10:00)
Criminal Justice, Policing, and Incarceration (8:00-10:00)
Contracts and Commercial Law, Bankruptcy, and Tax (8:00-10:00)
Health and Healthcare Justice (10:15-12:00)
New Scholars Luncheon (12:00-1:00)
Next Article Discussion Group 1 (1:30-3:15)
Next Article Discussion Group 2 (1:30-3:15)
Next Article Discussion Group 3 (1:30-3:15)
New Scholars Happy Hour (6:00-7:00)
Tuesday, July 29
Professional Responsibility, Legal Ethics, and Legal Writing (10:15-12:00)
International and Comparative Law, Human Rights, and Democracy (10:15-12:00)
Criminal Law and Procedure (10:15-12:00)
Next Article Discussion Group 4 (1:00-2:45)
Next Article Discussion Group 5 (1:00-2:45)
2024 Annual Report
The 2024 New Scholars Program is identical in format to programs of the recent past. All New Scholars are invited to present a work-in-progress in New Scholars Panel and are assigned a mentor who will provide feedback on the presentation. New Scholars Panels are arranged thematically (to the extent possible). In addition, all New Scholars are invited to participate in a discussion group designed to assist New Scholars in developing a nascent article idea titled “The Next Article.” New Scholars are also invited to attend the New Scholars Luncheon, which gives the New Scholars the ability to network and mingle with other New Scholars, mentors, and members of the New Scholars and Mentors Committees. Finally, all New Scholars are invited to attend a New Scholars Happy Hour, which provides New Scholars (and their guests) with another opportunity to interacted with each other, their mentors, and senior scholars in an informal setting.
This year, we have more New Scholars than we have had in recent years. As of the date of the writing of this report, the program includes 34 New Scholars (compared to 29 New Scholars last year). We started out with 39 New Scholar nominees, but four New Scholars dropped out before the conference. We have organized the New Scholars into 9 panels over a two-day period. The final New Scholars schedule is as follows:
Monday, July 22
8:00-10:00 – Civil Procedure and Torts
8:00-10:00 – Constitutional and Administrative Law
8:00-10:00 – Criminal Law
8:00-10:00 – Race, Gender, and the Law
10:30-12:00 – Constitutional Law: Power and Procedure
12:00-1:00 – New Scholars Luncheon
3:30-6:30 – New Scholars Discussion Group “Your Next Article” (Group 1)
3:30-6:30 – New Scholars Discussion Group “Your Next Article” (Group 2)
6:30-7:30 – New Scholars Happy Hour
Tuesday, July 23
10:15-12:00 – Corporate Law, Financial Regulation, and Tax Law
10:15-12:00 – Health Law and Reproductive Justice
10:15-12:00 – Law and Technology/Employment Law
10:15-12:00 – Property Law
3:30-6:30 – New Scholars Discussion Group “Your Next Article” (Group 3)
3:30-6:30 – New Scholars Discussion Group “Your Next Article” (Group 4)
2023 Annual Report
The following is a report of the activities of the New Scholars Committee leading up to the 2023 SEALS meeting and is organized into two sections: Part I provides an overview of the Committee’s work in planning and preparing the final schedule for the New Scholars program. Part II provides information to the Steering Committee about several challenges faced this year by the New Scholars and Mentors Committees.
Part I – Program Planning and Final Schedule
The 2023 New Scholars Program is identical in format to programs of the recent past. All New Scholars are invited to present a work-in-progress in a New Scholars Panel and are assigned a mentor who will provide feedback on the presentation. New Scholars Panels are arranged thematically (to the extent possible). In addition, all New Scholars are invited to participate in a discussion group designed to assist New Scholars in developing a nascent article idea titled “The Next Article.” In addition, New Scholars are invited to attend the New Scholars Luncheon, which gives the New Scholars the ability to network and mingle with other New Scholars, mentors, and members of the New Scholars and Mentors Committees. Finally, all New Scholars are invited to attend a New Scholars Happy Hour, which provides New Scholars (and their guests) with another opportunity to interact with each other, their mentors, and senior scholars in an informal setting.
Nominations for the 2022 New Scholars Program trickled in slowly, as has been the norm for the last several years. Unlike last year, we did have enough New Scholars by December to build out the program, and by the first of January we had a program containing 28 New Scholars. Over the next several months, we had a lot of movement in the program: 8 “late-additions” were made at the request of the deans of various law schools, and 7 New Scholars ultimately withdrew from the program before July. The final count of New Scholars is 29 (two more than last year). We have organized the New Scholars into 9 panels over a two-day period. All New Scholars panels were scheduled during the 10:15 a.m. timeslot in the hopes of increasing audience sizes. The final New Scholars schedule is as follows:
Monday, July 24
10:15-12:00 – Constitutional Law
10:15-12:00 – Race, Gender, and the Law I
10:15-12:00 – Law, Technology, and Language
10:15-12:00 – Access to Justice
12:00-1:30 – New Scholars Luncheon
3:30-6:30 – Your Next Article Discussion Group
3:30-6:30 – Your Next Article Discussion Group
6:30-7:30 – New Scholars Happy Hour
Tuesday, July 25
10:15-12:00 – Property Law
10:15-12:00 – Race, Gender, and the Law II
10:15-12:00 – Criminal Law
10:15-12:00 – Environmental Law and Housing Justice
10:15-12:00 – Tax, Immigration, and Administrative Law
3:00-6:00 – Your Next Article Discussion Group
3:30-6:00 – Your Next Article Discussion Group
Part II – Challenges in Planning for the 2023 Program
The New Scholars Committee has encountered several issues with nominations and mentor selections over the course of the last several years which have made the New Scholars program challenging.
First, for the last several years, nominations for the New Scholars Program have come in slowly, with many nominations coming in after the “deadline.” This year showed an improvement over last year in that we had enough nominations (28) by December to create a program, whereas last year we had only a handful of nominations by December. Last year, we asked that deans be reminded about the November deadline early and often – and this strategy did seem to work quite well. In light of this improvement, we recommend that again, deans be reminded early and often of the November deadline for submitting New Scholars nominations.
However, despite this improvement, this year we saw a lot of “movement” in the program in the spring semester, with 8 spring nominations and 7 spring dropouts. The number of dropouts was much higher than in any past year.
Second, we are aware that the Mentors Committee has had a very difficult time finding senior scholars who will commit to mentoring our New Scholars. This year, mentor selections were not completed until late June. The New Scholars Committee looks forward to working with the Mentors Committee and the Board to see if the problems associated with finding Mentors can be solved creatively.
2022 Annual Report
The following is a report of the activities of the New Scholars Committee leading up to the 2022 SEALS meeting and is organized into two sections: Part I provides an overview of the Committee’s work in planning and preparing the final schedule for the New Scholars program. Part II provides information to the Steering Committee about several challenges faced this year by the New Scholars and Mentors Committees.
Part I – Program Planning and Final Schedule
Following the 2021 SEALS Meeting, the New Scholars Committee conducted its annual survey of the New Scholars. The Committee shared the detailed results of this survey with the SEALS Board of Trustees. In brief, the results of the survey demonstrated that the New Scholars generally had a great experience at SEALS and the program ran smoothly. There were a few issues related the ongoing COVID challenges (last minute cancellations and hybrid attendance) but otherwise, the 2021 New Scholars program was successful overall.
In the early fall of 2021, the New Scholars Committee met and formulated its plan for the 2022 programming for New Scholars. In addition to the substantive New Scholars Panels, we planned to invite the New Scholars to participate in a discussion group designed to assist New Scholars in developing a nascent article idea titled “The Next Article.” We have held this discussion group for our New Scholars for the last several years and it has been well-received. This year, we decided to hold four identical discussion groups, which allowed us to arrange the New Scholars into small groups of 6-8 New Scholars. Four committee members were assigned to plan and organize these discussion groups at the conference. In addition, the Committee planned to hold its annual New Scholars Happy Hour which gives New Scholars the opportunity to interact with other New Scholars, their Mentors, members of the New Scholars and Mentors’ committees, and many SEALS “regulars” in an informal setting.
Nominations for the 2022 New Scholars Program trickled in very slowly. As of the November 15 deadline we had received only a handful of nominations – not nearly enough to build a cohesive schedule of New Scholars panels. The committee chair and members reached out to personal contacts to ensure that new faculty at committee members’ and colleagues’ schools were included in the program. Ultimately, by early February we had received 30 nominations and were able to prepare a schedule of 8 panels consisting of 3-4 New Scholars each. Between February and July, 3 of the New Scholars withdrew from the conference, resulting in a final total of 27 New Scholars scheduled to attend the conference as of the end of July. This is a significant uptick from last year, when only 18 New Scholars were scheduled to
attend the conference by late July.
The programming has been scheduled so that half of the New Scholars panels are scheduled for Thursday, July 28 and half of the New Scholars panels are scheduled for Tuesday, August 1. All panels were held at 8 a.m. when possible, to ensure that the New Scholars panels do not conflict with other substantive programming. The discussion groups are divided equally between the same two days – two on Thursday, July 28, and two on Tuesday, August 1. The New Scholars Luncheon and Happy Hour are scheduled for Friday, July 29. The final 2022 New Scholars programming schedule is as follows:
Thursday, July 28
8-10 a.m. – Constitutional Law and the Supreme Court 1
8-10 a.m. – Constitutional Law and the Supreme Court 2
8-10 a.m. – Law and Technology
8-10 a.m. – Criminal Law and Procedure
3-6 p.m. – The Next Article Discussion Group
3-6 p.m. – The Next Article Discussion Group
Friday, July 29
12-1:30 p.m. – New Scholars Luncheon
6:30-7:30 p.m. – New Scholars Reception
Tuesday, August 2
8-10 a.m. – Immigration, Health Law, and Impact Litigation
8-10 a.m. – Civil Procedure and Remedies
8-10 a.m. – Property and Environmental Law
1-2:45 p.m. – Labor and Employment Law
3-6 p.m. – The Next Article Discussion Group
3-6 p.m. – The Next Article Discussion Group
Part II – Challenges in Planning for the 2022 Program
Although the program now contains a good number of participants, the lateness of the nominations this year created significant challenges for the committee and, indirectly, the Mentors Committee. Historically, the New Scholars Committee chair has created the New Scholars panel schedule in December, giving the Mentors Committee plenty of time to secure Mentors for the New Scholars in the early spring. This year, the number of nominations was so low in November/December that it was difficult (if not impossible) to create a cohesive schedule of New Scholars panels on time. And, because deans continued to submit nominations throughout the spring, the program continually expanded. The later the schedule is drafted, the less time the Mentors Committee has to find Mentors for New Scholars before the final program is published to membership. And, when the program changes throughout the spring, the Mentors Committee is asked to perform additional work of finding new Mentors for late additions to the program.
To resolve these problems, the New Scholars Committee recommends that we remind deans early and often about the New Scholars Program nomination deadline, which is typically early- to mid-November. Stricter adherence to this deadline will significantly reduce the workload of the New Scholars and Mentors Committee. It should be noted that although the problem of late nominations was exceptionally pronounced this year, it is not new. For the last several years, even before the challenges of COVID-19, nominations have trickled in later and later.
Although the New Scholars Committee is not primarily responsible for assigning Mentors to the new Scholars, we are aware that this year the Mentors Committee encountered additional and significant difficulty in finalizing the Mentor assignments. Many potential Mentors contacted by the committee in the spring were unwilling or unable to commit to attending SEALS at all. In many cases, potential Mentors reported that they had “not yet decided” whether they would attend SEALS or not. Other potential Mentors who were planning to attend SEALS contacted by the Committee could not serve as a Mentor to a New Scholar because they were not attending the conference on the day the New Scholar’s panel was scheduled. As the conference neared, several Mentors who were previously assigned to New Scholars decided to withdraw from the conference altogether, requiring the Mentors Committee to find substitute Mentors for the affected New Scholars. As a result of these challenges, the Mentor assignments were not finalized until mid-summer (rather than February, which is the usual time this project is completed) and the process of assigning Mentors required significantly more work of the Mentors Committee members and especially the co-chairs than usual.
The Mentors Committee is likely to recommend that several changes be made to the Mentoring program to accommodate these problems these problems, both of which are supported and encouraged by the New Scholars Committee. One potential change will be to assign each New Scholar two Mentors rather than one mentor. One of the two Mentors will be a “specialized” Mentor who teaches and/or writes in the field related to the New Scholar’s talk. This “specialized” Mentor will be tasked with providing virtual feedback to the New Scholar via Zoom or otherwise prior to the SEALS meeting. It will not be necessary for the “specialized” Mentor to attend the New Scholar’s talk at the conference. Relieving the “specialized” Mentor of the obligation to attend the talk will allow the Mentors Committee to assign subject-matter specific Mentors to the New Scholars without operating within the constraints of the pool of people who are attending the conference on the same day as the New Scholar’s talk. The second of the two Mentors will be a “shepherd” Mentor who will attend the SEALS conference and the New Scholar’s talk, but not necessarily be someone who has expertise in the New Scholar’s field. The job of the “shepherd” Mentor includes attending their New Scholar’s presentation, introducing their New Scholar to other SEALS attendees in all fields, and encouraging their New Scholar to join and/or organize panels and groups at future SEALS conferences. The Mentors Committee believes this new system will allow the Mentors Committee to finalize Mentor matches much earlier in the year and with considerably less person-hours dedicated to the project. The new system also has the added benefit of expanding the pool of potential Mentors and providing our New Scholars with even more support and encouragement than they have received in the past. The New Scholars Committee supports and encourages the adoption of this proposal.
The second potential change will be to hold all New Scholars programming in the “middle of the week.” Up until a couple of years ago, the New Scholars programming was all held in a three-day block in the middle of the conference schedule. This compressed New Scholars schedule helped to ensure that New Scholars could attend their panel, the New Scholars Luncheon, and the New Scholars Reception all within the 2-day period during which most New Scholars attend the conference. Recent thinking has been that distributing the New Scholars panels throughout the week rather than compressing them together in the middle of the week would make it easier to assign Mentors because we can schedule New Scholars programs close in-time to other substantive programming in the same field. Thus, this year the New Scholars panels were scheduled on Days 2 and 7 of the conference, with the New Scholars Luncheon and Happy Hour scheduled for Day 3. The thinking that drove this scheduling did not turn out to be accurate, however. Many potential Mentors reported that they would attend SEALS, but not on the day of the scheduled New Scholars panel. Instead, many regular SEALS attendees turned down invitations to be Mentors because they planned on attending the programs during the most popular middle-of-the-week days. Moving the New Scholars programming back to the middle of the week will not only help us to find Mentors for the New Scholars, it also better ensures that New Scholars will be able to attend not only their panel but also the New Scholars Luncheon and Happy Hour and to interact with the large pool of tenured scholars that attends in peak numbers in the middle of the week. Again, the New Scholars Committee supports and encourages the adoption of this proposal.
2021 Annual Report
The following is a report of the activities of the New Scholars Committee. This report provides an update on both the 2020 and 2021 New Scholars Programs
2020 New Scholars Program
Beginning in the fall and extending into the spring, the Committee accepted nominations to the 2020 New Scholars Program and organized participants into panels. The 2020 New Scholars Program had 28 participants lined up just prior to the onset of the pandemic. We worked very hard to get the number as high as it is, including by reaching out directly to newly hired faculty. Between the onset of the pandemic and the date of the conference, the number of New Scholars fell to 20. Most of the New Scholars who dropped out of the program asked to be included in the 2021 program.
New Scholars panels were scheduled to take place on Sunday, August 2 and Monday, August 3. All panels took place from 8:00-10:00 a.m., with the exception of one panel on which several panelists or mentors were located on the West Coast. That panel began at 10:15 a.m. (Eastern time) to accommodate the time difference for those panelists. As usual, we did our best to organize the papers thematically. Other than a few technical glitches related to the virtual format of the conference, the New Scholars panels ran smoothly. We continued our “The Next Article” discussion groups in 2020. Both were well-attended (12-14 discussants) and well-received. For obvious reasons, our usual socializing and networking opportunities for New Scholars (the New Scholars Luncheon and the New Scholars Happy Hour) did not take place in 2020. We also did not conduct our usual post-conference survey of the New Scholars in 2020.
2021 New Scholars Program
Nominations for the 2021 New Scholars Program were quite low and slow to trickle in. At one point in the spring, 23 New Scholars were scheduled to present in our program; however, for reasons related to COVID-19 concerns, university travel restrictions or reimbursement policies, and similar issues, several of our New Scholars dropped out of the program. The New Scholars Committee has attempted to accommodate our New Scholars as much as possible by organizing several “virtual” New Scholars panels for those participants who cannot attend the conference in person. At present, 18 New Scholars are scheduled to present at the conference. The program is organized into 6 panels of 3 speakers each, with 2 of the panels taking place virtually and the remaining 4 panels consisting of panelists who will appear at the conference in person. We have also continued our tradition of organizing two “Your Next Article” discussion groups, during which New Scholars are invited to pitch an early-stage idea to a group made up of current and veteran New Scholars and New Scholars Committee members, who provide feedback and guidance to shape the early-stage project. We will also hold an in-person New Scholars Luncheon and New Scholars Happy Hour during the conference for those who can attend.
Testimonials from New Scholars
Victoria S. Sahani (W&L)
The 2014 SEALS New Scholars program was a phenomenal experience for me. Early in the summer, I received detailed feedback from a very senior faculty mentor (who later became a Dean) on an early stage draft of an article. In August, I presented the article at SEALS to a wide-ranging audience and received excellent feedback that I incorporated when I reworked my draft. I recently published that article in the UCLA Law Review. I am truly grateful for the New Scholars program’s invaluable contribution to improving my scholarship.
Christopher K. Odinet, Southern University Law Center:
The new scholars program was immensely helpful to me. It is often difficult as a new professor to develop relationships with senior scholars in your field who will read your work and give detailed feedback. This program at SEALS connected me with a knowledgeable senior faculty mentor who sat down and gave me substantive critiques and line-by-line edits. I attribute the success of that article largely to tremendous help I received in the New Scholars Program.
JoAnne Sweeny, University of Louisville School of Law:
Being at SEALS helped me make contacts with people at various points in their careers. Not only did I get to present my research to an engaged audience, but I was able to talk to them in a relaxed atmosphere that made connecting easier and a lot more fun.
Michael T. Morley, Barry University School of Law:
The SEALS New Scholars program was one of the most useful opportunities I’ve ever had to present my work. I received thoughtful feedback from a committed mentor that greatly improved the quality of my draft, and the insightful questions I received from the audience helped me recognize issues I had overlooked. Particularly as a young scholar, it is rare to have an opportunity to receive such extensive, thorough feedback.
Andrew Wright, Savannah Law School:
The SEALS New Scholars program has been instrumental in my launch from government into academia. Making a commitment to present a paper topic during the summer has sharpened my focus on scholarship during the hurly-burly of teaching classes. The panel discussions are lively and the New Scholars Committee does a great job of matching mentors and providing constructive feedback. SEALS has been my primary source of mentors, not to mention friends, in the academy.
Messages
Welcome to the SEALS New Scholars Program. We are thrilled that you will be participating in this year’s exciting program. We look forward to learning more about you and your area of scholarship interest. Please look at the New Scholar Guidelines, which should address most questions that you may have about your presentation.
We try to organize the panels of New Scholars at least loosely by subject matter and to schedule them near the times of other panels in related subject areas. We do this to allow you to meet other New Scholars in similar areas and to make it easier for more seasoned scholars to tell which panels they might attend to hear about new work and to offer advice based on their areas of expertise. While the diversity of subjects and last minute substitutions can make subject matter groupings difficult, we have done the best we can. All New Scholars are also assigned a mentor.
If you have not done so already, please make sure to register for the conference, pay the required registration fee, and arrange for your rooms soon. Some people attend the whole week-long conference, while others attend just a few days centered around the time that they are speaking. Information for registering is also on this website.
We look forward to seeing you at the conference.
Warmest regards,
SEALS New Scholars Committee