2025 PCAPLA Conference Call for Proposals
Navigating the Waves of Legal Education
2025 PCAPLA Conference
June 2-4, 2025
Orange County/San Diego
Our 2025 PCAPLA conference, Navigating the Waves of Legal Education, will be based in Orange County/San Diego and will take place from Monday, June 2 through Wednesday, June 4. There will be an evening reception on Sunday, June 1.
The conference will include visits to law schools, workshops, presentations, and panels taking place at our five Orange County/San Diego area host law schools as follows:
Monday, June 2: Western State College of Law, Irvine and Chapman University, Fowler School of Law, Orange
Tuesday, June 3: California Western School of Law, San Diego, and University of San Diego School of Law, San Diego
Wednesday, June 4: University of California, Irvine School of Law, Irvine
Proposals can be an idea for an interesting topic, an individual plan for a presentation, or a topic to be addressed by several speakers or a panel. Your proposal could be a completed program or a work in progress to be refined in the weeks following the submission of your proposal. Please provide as much detail as you can at the time of submission, which will enable us to have an accurate reflection of what you envision.
The following themes are suggestions to help presenters frame their proposals. However, if you would like to present a proposal with a core theme other than what we suggested below, please feel free to do so and provide a general theme with your proposal for us to include in the program. This would also help attendees identify sessions that may be of interest to them. Most presentations will be 50 minutes long.
1. The Nuts & Bolts of Pre-Law Advising: This category will include a variety of topics intended for all pre-law advisors but could also be intended primarily for new pre-law advisors or to provide valuable insights for seasoned advisors on some of the more challenging aspects of working with pre-law students. Possible topics in this category include a mock admission panel, personal statement considerations, application process, timeline, preparation, or other advising topics.
2. Preparing Students for Law School and Careers in the Law: This category includes sessions involving preparation for law school, aspects of the legal job market that should be considered in advising students, legal career exploration before going to law school, teaching law to undergraduate students, and other innovative advising perspectives, events, or educational programs. Examples of sessions in this category include teaching networking and professionalism to pre-law students, developing internships and connections with the local legal community, making sense of law school career data, exploring legal jobs in different industries, and helping students determine whether law school is the best path for their individual goals and career interests.
3. Pre-Law Event Programming: This category focuses on the development of programs of different types, whether one-off events built around a particular topic or longer-term programs and address their purpose and impact. The programming that pre-law advisors run for their students varies greatly from institution to institution. Proposals within this theme provide the space for advisors to showcase some of the great and unique programming they are running at their institutions. This category might include such topics as mock trial and moot court programs, various methods of delivering programming to pre-law students (such as webinars, social media, etc.), structuring and sustaining a pre-law advising program, successful outreach to students, or other innovative programming, best practices, and recommendations, among other topics.
4. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB): This category focuses on advising and support considerations for first-generation, non-traditional, community college, and transfer students, and other populations. Proposals with this theme in mind can focus on a variety of current, developing, and emerging topics addressing the multiple needs of underrepresented pre-law students and best practices. Examples might include, but are not restricted to, panels discussing the progress and best-practices for pathways and pipeline programs, informal partnerships and alternate programs between community college and 4-year institutions, advising undocumented students, and diversity programs and initiatives designed to support non-traditional and underrepresented law school applicants. You might also consider putting together a panel of first-generation and underrepresented law school students or law school alumni to discuss how to help students find community in law school and professional associations, or to provide their perspective, feedback, and recommendations to pre-law advisors.
5. Hot Topics: This category focuses on emerging, developing, or urgent topics that have an impact or should be taken into account in advising pre-law students. The world of pre-law advising and law school admissions has changed significantly over the last decade. Proposals following this theme provide the opportunity to visit the topics most pressing to pre-law advisors today. Submissions can include any topic of importance to pre-law advising, with preference given to those topics that are most timely in the ever-changing landscape of law school admissions. Also included within this section could be a panel of law school deans, and presentations addressing the future direction of the legal education and the legal industry, taking into consideration the most current changes, transitions and other considerations.
2025 PCAPLA Conference
June 2-4, 2025
Orange County/San Diego
Our 2025 PCAPLA conference, Navigating the Waves of Legal Education, will be based in Orange County/San Diego and will take place from Monday, June 2 through Wednesday, June 4. There will be an evening reception on Sunday, June 1.
The conference will include visits to law schools, workshops, presentations, and panels taking place at our five Orange County/San Diego area host law schools as follows:
Monday, June 2: Western State College of Law, Irvine and Chapman University, Fowler School of Law, Orange
Tuesday, June 3: California Western School of Law, San Diego, and University of San Diego School of Law, San Diego
Wednesday, June 4: University of California, Irvine School of Law, Irvine
Proposals can be an idea for an interesting topic, an individual plan for a presentation, or a topic to be addressed by several speakers or a panel. Your proposal could be a completed program or a work in progress to be refined in the weeks following the submission of your proposal. Please provide as much detail as you can at the time of submission, which will enable us to have an accurate reflection of what you envision.
The following themes are suggestions to help presenters frame their proposals. However, if you would like to present a proposal with a core theme other than what we suggested below, please feel free to do so and provide a general theme with your proposal for us to include in the program. This would also help attendees identify sessions that may be of interest to them. Most presentations will be 50 minutes long.
1. The Nuts & Bolts of Pre-Law Advising: This category will include a variety of topics intended for all pre-law advisors but could also be intended primarily for new pre-law advisors or to provide valuable insights for seasoned advisors on some of the more challenging aspects of working with pre-law students. Possible topics in this category include a mock admission panel, personal statement considerations, application process, timeline, preparation, or other advising topics.
2. Preparing Students for Law School and Careers in the Law: This category includes sessions involving preparation for law school, aspects of the legal job market that should be considered in advising students, legal career exploration before going to law school, teaching law to undergraduate students, and other innovative advising perspectives, events, or educational programs. Examples of sessions in this category include teaching networking and professionalism to pre-law students, developing internships and connections with the local legal community, making sense of law school career data, exploring legal jobs in different industries, and helping students determine whether law school is the best path for their individual goals and career interests.
3. Pre-Law Event Programming: This category focuses on the development of programs of different types, whether one-off events built around a particular topic or longer-term programs and address their purpose and impact. The programming that pre-law advisors run for their students varies greatly from institution to institution. Proposals within this theme provide the space for advisors to showcase some of the great and unique programming they are running at their institutions. This category might include such topics as mock trial and moot court programs, various methods of delivering programming to pre-law students (such as webinars, social media, etc.), structuring and sustaining a pre-law advising program, successful outreach to students, or other innovative programming, best practices, and recommendations, among other topics.
4. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB): This category focuses on advising and support considerations for first-generation, non-traditional, community college, and transfer students, and other populations. Proposals with this theme in mind can focus on a variety of current, developing, and emerging topics addressing the multiple needs of underrepresented pre-law students and best practices. Examples might include, but are not restricted to, panels discussing the progress and best-practices for pathways and pipeline programs, informal partnerships and alternate programs between community college and 4-year institutions, advising undocumented students, and diversity programs and initiatives designed to support non-traditional and underrepresented law school applicants. You might also consider putting together a panel of first-generation and underrepresented law school students or law school alumni to discuss how to help students find community in law school and professional associations, or to provide their perspective, feedback, and recommendations to pre-law advisors.
5. Hot Topics: This category focuses on emerging, developing, or urgent topics that have an impact or should be taken into account in advising pre-law students. The world of pre-law advising and law school admissions has changed significantly over the last decade. Proposals following this theme provide the opportunity to visit the topics most pressing to pre-law advisors today. Submissions can include any topic of importance to pre-law advising, with preference given to those topics that are most timely in the ever-changing landscape of law school admissions. Also included within this section could be a panel of law school deans, and presentations addressing the future direction of the legal education and the legal industry, taking into consideration the most current changes, transitions and other considerations.
The submission deadline is Friday, January 17, 2025.
Submit a proposal here: https://claremontmckenna.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1YrleC3GtBuz5ky
Conference details and a registration link will be available soon
Submit a proposal here: https://claremontmckenna.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1YrleC3GtBuz5ky
Conference details and a registration link will be available soon
