New England Experiential Conference (NEEC) 2026, 'Building on Our Strengths, Evolving for Tomorrow': Call for Proposals [In-Person in Boston, USA; No Virtual Track]

Suffolk University Law School is hosting the New England Experiential Conference 2026, themed Building on Our Strengths, Evolving for Tomorrow. It is a conference about how law is taught through clinics, externships and simulations, not a substantive law conference. The open item right now is the call for proposals, which closes on Monday, 24 August 2026 at 11:59 PM EST.

This is an in-person event in the United States and the organiser advertises no virtual or hybrid track. The reception is on the evening of 12 November 2026 and the conference itself runs on 13 November 2026 at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. Anyone may submit a proposal, and the form imposes no nationality or institution bar, but if your proposal is accepted you must travel to Boston to present. Factor in US visa lead time before you submit.

The organisers frame the theme around the durability of experiential education as a foundation for preparing students to meet the changing demands of clients and communities. They point to 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 as forces reshaping how lawyers are trained and assessed, and note that competencies emphasised by the NextGen Bar Exam, including problem-solving, client-centredness, professional judgment and integrated legal analysis, have long been hallmarks of experiential teaching.

The call also names a second strand: persistent barriers to justice, increasing polarisation, threats to the rule of law and attacks on academic freedom, and the role of legal education and the profession in promoting justice, strengthening democracy and fostering community engagement.

• Concurrent Session, 60 minutes
• Lightning Round, 20 to 30 minutes
• Scholarship, Work in Progress, a small-group working conversation scheduled 8 to 9 am, described by the organisers as a deliberately low threshold for submission, for peer support and collaborative problem-solving on ideas and writing at any stage
• Poster Presentation, an informal visual format for sharing clinical teaching innovations, programme models or research, with one-to-one conversations as participants walk through
• Clinic Administrator Session, 60 minutes, for topics unique to clinic administration such as case management, budgeting, student support, logistics and compliance systems

Concurrent Session and Lightning Round proposals should address the conference theme and be well defined, focused, timely and relevant to attendees. Suggested topics include the use of AI and technology in teaching and teaching students to use it, community lawyering, professional identity development, cross-cultural and client-centred lawyering, and externship pedagogy.

The organisers state a preference for proposals that present new topics or new approaches to familiar ones, that create opportunities for both new and experienced presenters, and that describe concrete takeaways attendees can use at their own schools. They value diversity in the composition of presenting teams and in how the topic addresses diversity and inclusion, and encourage interactive presentations.

Submissions go through the official Google proposal form linked below. The form asks for the proposal type, the presentation title, a 100 to 300 word description explaining how the presentation connects to the conference theme, whether the session suits new clinicians, experienced clinicians or both, whether a concurrent session proposal should also be considered for a lightning round, presenter names, emails and their school and experiential programme, accessibility needs, and whether the presenter's institution requires them to present in order to attend.

The organisers give two operational instructions: submit a separate form for each proposal, and if you attach documents, set the sharing permission so that anyone with the link can open them.

There is no fee to submit a proposal. The conference registration fee has not been published: the official page states only that conference registration will be posted soon. If you intend to attend rather than present, watch that page, since no registration route is live yet and no figure has been announced.

The live conference page publishes no contact email for queries. All submissions run through the proposal form, and questions about the call should be routed through Suffolk University Law School. The university's general line is +1 617-573-8000, and the law school is at 120 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02108.