ICLRS Associate Director Professor Brett G. Scharffs served as panel chair and moderator of the Section on Law and Religion on the fifth day of the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, the largest gathering of law faculty in the world, held in 2010 in New Orleans from 6-10 January. Co-Sponsored by Sections on Islamic Law, and Jewish Law, the session addressed the topic “The Freedom of Religion and Belief Jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights: Legal, Moral, Political and Religious Perspectives.” Also participating in the session were Center Director Professor W. Cole Durham, Jr.; ICLRS Academic Advisory Board Member Professor Gerhard Robbers of the University of Trier, Germany; Professor Zachary Calo of the Valparaiso University School of Law; and Professor Peter Danchin of the University of Maryland School of Law. Unable to attend but providing papers for the session were Professor Carolyn Evans of the University of Melbourne Law School and Professor Malcolm Evans of Bristol University School of Law.

Also at this year’s meeting, which was devoted to the topic “Transformative Law,” Professor H. Reese Hansen, former Dean and Howard W. Hunter Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, assumed his role as President of the Association. “The AALS is a non-profit educational association of 171 law schools representing over 10,000 law faculty in the United States. The Association encourages collaboration with law professors and focuses on improving the legal profession through legal education.” (from the BYU Law news report)