Academy of Food Law and Policy Conference at Harvard Law School

Written by Erika Dunyak, FLPC Clinical Fellow and AFLP Conference attendee.

On October 5^th, 2018, the Academy of Food Law and Policy (AFLP) held its inaugural conference at Harvard Law School, co-hosted by Harvard Law Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC). The conference welcomed over 40 attendees and featured a series of workshops, moderator-led discussion groups, and a lunchtime panel led by past and current AFLP board members. The conference connected the food law and policy community and highlighted parameters of the field through group-driven discussion of scholarship, teaching, and growth of the AFLP.

Championed by Emily Broad Leib, director of the Harvard Law Food Law and Policy Clinic and Susan Schneider, director of the LL.M. Program in Agricultural & Food Law at the University of Arkansas, AFLP seeks to stimulate intellectual discourse, encourage and recognize scholarship, enhance teaching, support student interest, and promote the academic field of food law and policy. Now in its second year, the Academy connects legal faculty from across the globe to create a foundation for the long-term stability of food law as an academic discipline.

As a conference attendee, it was refreshing to be among peers and mentors in the food law space. Academy members gathered to evaluate and labor over each other’s writing in hopes of contributing meaningfully to academic discourse. The conference’s workshops helped attendees develop their positions and find new angles and new resources to strengthen their work. It was an exercise without judgment, and most importantly, will improve the research and writing of authors contributing to the food law academy.

Some AFLP members are adjuncts, teaching in undergraduate programs, clinical professors, or other non-traditional academic roles for the doctrinal legal academy. Other members are tenured faculty; the Academy even counts a dean amongst its members! But at the conference, the traditional academic barriers that exist were broken down; attendees were eager to learn from one another. Conference attendees also noted actions to increase inclusivity as an exciting next step for the legal academy and the future of food law.

The inaugural AFLP conference signals the expansion of this burgeoning field and exciting opportunities on the horizon for legal scholars.