UNLV hosted the first West Coast Rhetoric Scholarship Workshop this month, bringing together professors from a dozen law schools to exchange drafts and comments on scholarly “works in progress.” As the spark for what we hope will become many related projects and events, the workshop was designed to bring together scholars in the region to explore collaborations and conversations about law and rhetoric scholarship, broadly defined.
The November 14-15, 2013, scholarship workshop offered an opportunity to exchange both drafts and ideas with colleagues from around the region in an informal setting. The collaborative atmosphere and constructive sessions offered concrete guidance with drafts and, even more important, the chance to begin and continue discussions with colleagues from other schools.
Professors exchanging drafts and comments came from Stanford, the University of Washington, the University of Wyoming, the University of Colorado, Arizona State University, Lewis & Clark, Southwestern, McGeorge, American, Mercer, and UNLV.
Terry Phelps, Director of Legal Rhetoric and Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law, was the opening speaker and the recipient of the kairos award, a “once in a lifetime” award recognizing her groundbreaking work as well as her personal role in encouraging and supporting law and rhetoric scholarship.
The first annual Penny Pether Award for Law and Language Scholarship was presented at the closing reception. Prof. Pether, who died earlier this year, was a passionate advocate of interdisciplinary scholarship in law, literature, and language. She was a Professor of Law at Villanova University School of Law and formerly served as Professor of Law and Director of Legal Rhetoric at the American University Washington College of Law.
Michael Burger of Roger Williams University School of Law received the first annual Penny Pether Award for Law and Language Scholarship for his article Environmental Law/Environmental Literature, 40 Ecology L.Q. 1 (2013). In partial recognition of the strength and tremendous diversity of the works nominated, the selection committee recognized for honorable mention Kevin Curran for his article, Hospitable Justice: Law and Selfhood in Shakespeare’s Sonnets, 9 Law, Culture, & Humanities 295 (2013), and Ruthann Robson for her essay, 27 Words, 13 Memoir 85 (2013).
