University of Wisconsin Law School proudly hosted the 2024 Midwest Clinical Conference Nov. 7-9, drawing more than 100 legal clinicians from across the country together to share ideas and teaching strategies.
The theme was “The Clinical Idea: Celebrating Collaboration in Community,” an extension of the university’s foundational Wisconsin Idea.
“It had been more than 10 years since the Law School hosted a clinical-faculty conference, and we were thrilled at the response and participation we received from other law schools,” said Ursula Weigold, associate dean for Experiential Learning.
Presenters from over 20 different law schools, from California to Massachusetts, conducted more than two dozen concurrent sessions. The event generated lively discussions and highlighted clinics’ creativity and resilience in grappling with tough circumstances and systemic challenges while pushing forward with optimism and hope.
Topics reflected the most critical issues at the forefront of law education and the legal landscape, such as artificial intelligence, sustainable work practices in a stressful field, restorative justice models and data-driven advocacy.
Weigold said the event highlighted UW Law’s clinics — which are doing cutting-edge work in many areas — as well as the importance of participating in the national conversation with others doing similar work.
To Kate Finley, clinical associate professor and director of the Frank J. Remington Center, who moderated the opening plenary, some of the best panels involved collaborations between Wisconsin clinicians and those from other schools, “like Zoe Engberg and Rachel Burg’s presentation on navigating adversarial relationships in the clinic, or the keynote discussion where Remington Center Reentry and Outreach Specialist Dant’e Cottingham talked to Sheila Bedi (clinical professor at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law) and Hemanth Gundavarem (associate dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs at Northeastern University School of Law) about the transformative potential of movement lawyering.”
“It was equally valuable to speak with clinical colleagues from all over the country who are doing things differently than we are, to share our successes and learn from theirs,” Finley continued.
The host of the 2025 conference has not yet been decided.
