The Association of American Law Schools (
AALS) is a
non-profit organizationA nonprofit organization is an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals . Examples of NPOs include charities , trade unions, and public arts organizations...
of 170
law schoolA law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- United States:...
s in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Another 25 schools are "non-member fee paid" schools, which are not members but choose to pay AALS dues. Its purpose is to improve the
legalLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
profession through the improvement of
legal educationLegal education is the education of individuals who intend to become legal professionals or those who simply intend to use their law degree to some end, either related to law or business...
. It also represents the interests of law schools towards the
U.S. federal governmentThe federal government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the individual U.S. states. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and...
and other national associations of institutes of higher education.
The Association of American Law Schools (
AALS) is a
non-profit organizationA nonprofit organization is an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals . Examples of NPOs include charities , trade unions, and public arts organizations...
of 170
law schoolA law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- United States:...
s in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Another 25 schools are "non-member fee paid" schools, which are not members but choose to pay AALS dues. Its purpose is to improve the
legalLaw is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus ticket to trading on derivatives markets...
profession through the improvement of
legal educationLegal education is the education of individuals who intend to become legal professionals or those who simply intend to use their law degree to some end, either related to law or business...
. It also represents the interests of law schools towards the
U.S. federal governmentThe federal government of the United States is the central government entity established by the United States Constitution, which shares sovereignty over the United States with the governments of the individual U.S. states. The federal government has three branches: the legislative, executive, and...
and other national associations of institutes of higher education. It was formed in 1900.
The AALS requires its members to follow a nondiscrimination policy regarding "race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation," and for member law schools to require this of any employer to which it gives access for recruitment. Some schools with particularly strong religious objections to
homosexualityHomosexuality is the romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or as an enduring disposition. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is considered to lie within the heterosexual-homosexual continuum of human sexuality, and refers to an individual’s...
choose not to become AALS members for this reason.
The "
don't ask, don't tellDon't ask, don't tell is the common term for the policy regarding gays and lesbians serving openly in the U.S. military mandated by federal law...
" policy was seen by the AALS and its members as impermissible discrimination. However, the AALS has excused its members from blocking access to the military since the passage of the
Solomon AmendmentThe 1996 Solomon Amendment is the popular name of 10 U.S.C. § 983, a United States federal law that allows the Secretary of Defense to deny federal grants to institutions of higher education if they prohibit or prevent ROTC or military recruitment on campus.- History :Named for Representative...
s, which denied federal funding to the parent university of a law school as well as the school itself if military recruiters are not given full campus access. The AALS has engaged in litigation challenging the Solomon Amendments as violative of the First Amendment (see e.g.
Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc.Rumsfeld v. Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, Inc., 547 U.S. 47 , is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the federal government, under the Solomon Amendment, could constitutionally withhold funding from universities if they refuse to give military recruiters...
). In an ironic note, The
Judge Advocate General'sJudge Advocate General's Corps, also known as JAG or JAG Corps, refers to the legal branch or speciality of any of the United States Armed Forces including the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy. Officers serving in the JAG Corps are typically called Judge Advocates...
School of the
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
is a fee-paying nonmember of AALS.
The Association holds an annual conference, rotating its location among several large U.S. cities, among them San Francisco, New Orleans and
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
Its January 2006 conference was originally scheduled to be held in New Orleans, but in the intervening months the devastation of
Hurricane KatrinaHurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest hurricane, as well as one of the five deadliest, in the history of the United States...
forced AALS to relocate the conference to Washington, D.C.
External links