New England Experiential Conference
New England Experiential Conference (NEEC):
Building on Our Strengths, Evolving for Tomorrow
November 12 (evening reception) – 13 (conference), 2026
Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA
This year’s conference theme centers on the enduring strengths of experiential education as a foundation for preparing students to meet evolving challenges of clients and communities by integrating new resources in an ever-changing profession.
Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, changes in the delivery of legal services, the implementation of the NextGen Bar Exam, and broader developments in higher education are transforming expectations about how lawyers are trained, assessed, and prepared for practice. Notably, many of the competencies emphasized by the NextGen Bar Exam, including problem-solving, client-centeredness, professional judgment, and integrated legal analysis, have long been hallmarks of experiential education.
At the same time, legal educators and the profession face pressing societal challenges. Persistent barriers to justice, increasing polarization, threats to the rule of law, and attacks on academic freedom raise fundamental questions about the role of lawyers and legal education in a democratic society. Moreover, these challenges often fall most heavily on underserved communities, deepening inequities and creating new obstacles to meaningful access to justice.
Experiential education is uniquely positioned to respond to these developments. Through clinics, externships, simulations, and other experiential learning opportunities, students engage directly with clients, communities, institutions, and real-world legal problems. They practice pivoting during unexpected changes, confronting asymmetrical power distribution, solving complex problems with multiple stakeholders, and centering clients at each juncture of representation. In doing so, students can develop the skills, values, adaptability, and professional identity needed not only to succeed in an evolving profession but also to serve effectively and ethically in a rapidly changing world.
This conference will explore two interconnected themes: 1) the future of experiential legal education and practice, including how artificial intelligence and other technologies, the NextGen Bar Exam, and other emerging developments are reshaping the legal profession and our pedagogy; 2) the role of legal education and the profession in promoting justice, strengthening democracy, advancing the rule of law, and fostering meaningful community engagement.
Throughout these conversations, participants will consider how experiential education can remain grounded in its core commitments while continuing to innovate, adapt, and benefit society.
Building on Our Strengths, Evolving for Tomorrow
Submission Deadline: Monday, August 24, 2026 @ 11:59 PM EST
Accepting Proposals for:
Concurrent Session (60 minutes)
Lightning Round (20 - 30 minutes)
Scholarship Work in Progress (8 - 9 am)
Poster Presentation
Clinic Administrator Session (60 minutes)
You can find the submission guidelines below.
IMPORTANT: Please submit a new form for EACH proposal. Please also make sure that if you attach documents, you give permission for anyone who has the link to open them.
Concurrent Session and Lightning Round proposals should address the conference theme and be relevant to conference attendees, well-defined and focused, timely and important (including, but not limited to, the use of AI and technology in teaching and how we teach students to use AI and technology; community lawyering; professional identity development; cross-cultural, client-centered lawyering; externship pedagogy, etc.). We prefer proposals that demonstrate new topics or new approaches to familiar topics; provide opportunities for both new and experienced presenters with expertise in the topic or a base of experience that provides a unique or useful vantage point on the topic; and describe the takeaways that attendees can use when they return to their schools. We value diversity in both the composition of presenting teams and in the topic's presentation of diversity and inclusiveness. We encourage the use of interactive and engaging presentations.
The Scholarship, Works in Progress Session is intended to be a low threshold for submission and designed to provide peer support and collaborative problem-solving about your ideas, writings, and questions at any point in your process. This will be a working conversation among a small group of colleagues, not a formal panel.
Poster Presentations offer an informal, visual way to share clinical teaching innovations, program models, research, or any other information of relevance with conference attendees. Presenters display their work and engage in one-on-one conversations as participants walk through the session.
Clinic Administrator Sessions are for clinic administrators to discuss and present topics that are unique to their work — case management, budgeting, supporting students, logistics, compliance systems, or anything that is relevant.
Go to: New England Experiential Conference Proposal Form and submit a separate form for each type of proposal.
Conference registration will be posted soon.