Legal Commentary

The AALS Conference reminded me how scary law professors en masse can be.  I was 26 years old when I attended my first AALS conference. The only other law professors I knew when I arrived at AALS were my UF colleagues and my UT professors.  Although most of my students and many of my colleagues would be surprised to hear it, I'm an introvert and find it very hard to go up and talk to strangers unless I have a very well defined role to play.  I would like to say that I overcame that fear and made lots of contacts at that first AALS conference, but I didn't.  Instead, I resolved that my written work would have to speak for me and didn't attend AALS for another few years. 

In retrospect  I understand how foolish that decision was.  It really does pay to meet the other scholars in your field, particularly if you don't have people who share your scholarly interests at your home institution.  It is great to have someone who really understands the subject area read your work before publication, especially if you are untenured.  It is also great to know someone to recommend to write tenure review letters.  Even better, conference invitations are more apt to come your way if someone both knows your work AND has met you and knows you're not a jerk.  So if you're new to law teaching, let this blog post be an encouragement to you to put yourself out there.  Go ahead.  Overcome your fear.  Email your draft to the five scholars you respect most in the whole world.  At worst one or two of them will ignore the email.  At best you'll make a connection that will aid you throughout your career.

Of course the flip side of this message is that established scholars should try to be less scary.  I know you probably don't think of yourself as scary, but you are.  Go out of your way to introduce yourself to new scholars in your field.  When you read a new article you admire, email the author and let him or her know.  Read drafts.  Try to introduce your new colleagues to scholars in their fields, and lean on people you know to invite them to conferences.  I can guarantee that the new scholar to whom you are kind will remember you and give special regard to your work for the rest of his or her career.  

P.S.:  If you're new to Mass Media Law, you know where to find me.