At the 2026 Association of American Law Schools’ (AALS) Annual Meeting in New Orleans, CUNY School of Law faculty and staff contributed scholarship, leadership, and institutional perspective across panels, paper sessions, and national conversations shaping the future of legal education.
Across the four-day conference, CUNY Law was represented in scholarly presentations, admissions and policy forums, and community convenings, reflecting the school’s sustained engagement with questions of access, justice, and the public role of legal education.
Faculty Scholarship and National Conversations
Environmental law and justice were prominently represented by Rebecca M. Bratspies, Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Center for Environmental Urban Reform (CUER), who begins a new position as the inaugural Oliver Houck Chair in Environmental Law at Tulane Law School this spring semester. Bratspies served as a session speaker on “The Next Chapter for Environmental Law: Where Do We Go From Here?” and was also recognized at the conference for the publication of her new environmental justice book, which was featured on display at the Annual Meeting.
CUNY Law Professor Matthew Charity brought his expertise to a late-breaking panel, “Maduro’s Capture & The Venezuelan Incursion: Untying the Legal Knots,” contributing legal analysis at the intersection of international law, accountability, and geopolitics during a moment of acute global focus.
Jennifer Fernandez, Associate Professor of Law, presented on “The Access Imperative: A Special Issue of the Journal of Legal Education,” advancing scholarship that underscores the importance of preparing underrepresented students to access, persist, and excel in legal education so that the profession more fully reflects the public it serves.
CUNY Law’s library faculty scholarship was represented by Malikah Hall-Retteen, Law Library Associate Professor, whose paper “Challenges and Opportunities in the Changing Information Landscape” addressed the evolving demands of legal research, information access, and institutional responsibility in a rapidly shifting knowledge environment.
Admissions Leadership and Recognition
CUNY Law’s national leadership on admissions and access was evident in the work of Gayla Jacobson, Director of Admissions, Enrollment, and Dual Degree Programs, who organized and spoke on the panel “Supporting Justice-Impacted Law School Applicants: Updates and Best Practices for Admissions and Policy Reform.” Under Jacobson’s leadership, CUNY Law has been at the forefront of advancing justice-impacted admissions as a serious and necessary area of policy reform, helping to move the conversation from the margins to the center of national admissions practice.
The conference also recognized rising leadership within CUNY Law’s admissions community. Bibi N. Amin, Assistant Director of Outreach and Operations in the Admissions Office, received the AALS Section on Pre-Law and Admission to Law School’s Up-and-Comer Award, honoring her growing national impact and leadership in advancing equitable access to legal education.
Institutional Leadership and Community Stewardship
CUNY Law’s presence at AALS 2026 was anchored by the leadership of Interim Dean Natalie Gomez-Velez, who attended and supported numerous sessions featuring CUNY Law faculty and staff throughout the conference. Her visible engagement underscored the school’s institutional commitment to scholarly exchange, professional development, and cross-role collaboration.
Dean Gomez-Velez also hosted a gathering at the Peacock Room at Hotel Fontenot, bringing together CUNY Law faculty as well as staff from across Enrollment Management, Career Services, Institutional Advancement, and Communications attending the conference with former faculty who are also alumni of the Law School. The reception created space for connection, reinforcing CUNY Law’s sense of community within the national legal education landscape.
The peacock motif itself carried institutional resonance, as Dean Gomez-Velez noted it harkened back to CUNY Law’s former home on Main Street in Flushing, where a peacock from nearby John Bowne High School famously wandered onto campus, becoming part of the school’s lore.
Taken together, CUNY Law’s contributions at the Association of American Law Schools’ Annual Meeting affirmed the school’s role not only as a site of rigorous scholarship, but as a national leader in shaping the values, policies, and practices that define legal education today.
