Junior International Law Scholars Association Annual Meeting

On February 10, 2012, the University of Georgia is going to have the honor of hosting the Annual Meeting of the Junior International Law Scholars Association (JILSA).  JILSA is a U.S.-based informal support network and community for untenured international law scholars.  With almost 200 scholars on the email list, JILSA facilitates syllabi exchanges, summer brown bags, and informal dinners and lunches at international law events.

JILSA also holds an annual meeting, the centerpiece of which is a paper workshop, in which junior scholars are given the opportunity to present and comment on works-in-progress in a safe, constructive environment.  (Prior agendas can be found here, here, and here.)  The meetings are among my favorite events of the year:  Aside from being a chance to meet and reconnect with terrific people (no small thing), the workshops have consistently been the deepest, most interesting, and most sophisticated of any I have seen.  I always come away amazed and humbled by the amazing group of scholars to which I belong.  I will be very sad when I graduate from the group this year.

I, for one, know that I am indebted to the group, which has provided me a community since entering the academy.  I specifically remember all the people I met at my first JILSA event, an informal dinner organized at the AALS-ASIL Meeting in Vancouver.  If you’re junior and interested in getting on the list, you can contact the current, amazing co-chairs, Molly Land, molly.land@nyls.edu, and Saira Mohamed, smohamed@law.berkeley.edu.  They can also provide you more information on the Annual Meeting and opportunities for juniors to present, comment, or get feedback on early-stage ideas.