Penn State Dickinson Law dean Danielle Conway has been voted 2025 president-elect of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS).
As president-elect, she will support the incoming president and the greater association, as well as serve once again on the executive and steering committees.
AALS presidents serve for one year. Each leader develops a theme for their term, and Conway will introduce hers later this year.
Conway said she aspired to serve as AALS president for 10 years, beginning years ago when she was selected to serve on the steering committee.
“My ongoing support of and strong relationship with AALS has helped provide me with a platform for much of the work we are doing now at Penn State Dickinson Law,” she said. “My contributions to legal education demonstrated to the community of legal educators and law-affiliated organizations that I am a trusted resource, especially in areas of governance, teaching and learning, leadership and, yes, antiracism.”
Tracy Langkilde, Penn State interim executive vice president, said Conway’s contributions to the field of legal education have demonstrated to the community of legal educators and law-affiliated organizations that she is a trusted resource.
Conway’s election marks the first time a dean from Penn State Dickinson Law or any Penn State academic leader has been elevated to an executive leadership position within AALS. It comes after Conway led efforts to reunify Penn State’s two law schools, now known as Penn State Dickinson Law, which recently earned American Bar Association approval.
She has risen steadily through the ranks of the leadership of the legal academy while earning recognition for her scholarly agenda and speeches advocating for public education and actualizing the rights of marginalized groups, including Indigenous Peoples, minoritized people and groups and members of rural communities.
Austen Parrish, dean of the University of California, Irvine School of Law, will serve as AALS president in 2025, succeeding Melanie Wilson, dean at Washington and Lee University School of Law.
His presidential theme will examine the far-reaching impact of legal education — appropriate given that AALS celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2025. Parrish plans to highlight the changes and innovations in legal education over the past decades, as well as the contributions made by schools, their faculty and their staff to the local communities, the nation and the world that the schools serve.
Parrish said Dean Conway is a fantastic choice to take on this leadership role and will be a tremendous officer of the association.
Conway said she is eager to begin her new duties.
“I always viewed the potential to become a leader in AALS as an opportunity to engage the association in practices that encourage even greater inclusiveness between and among its member schools and the individuals within those schools,” she said.
