Federalization of Nonprofit and Charity Law (1 session at AALS) – San Francisco

AALS Section on Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law
“The Federalization of Nonprofit and Charity Law”
2011 AALS Annual Meeting
January 4-8, 2011
San Francisco, CA
Deadline for submitting abstracts: April 30, 2010

The AALS Section on Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law will hold a program during the AALS 2011 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California on “The Federalization of Nonprofit and Charity Law.” Except with respect to eligibility for exemption from the federal income tax, nonprofit and charity law developments have historically been the province of state law edict. Thus, in the areas of formation and dissolution, fiduciary duty, and charitable solicitation, scholars, courts, law makers and others have looked to the state of domicile or similar basis to determine what law applies. This state of affairs appears, to some, to be changing. For example, the Internal Revenue Service, in its role as interpreter of federal tax laws concerning charities, recently issued a new IRS Form 990 which seems to seek information that well exceeds the bounds of what is called for by Congress. Similarly, though hospitals are facially concerned with federal tax laws solely in order to maintain tax exempt status, the close scrutiny of Congress in recent years has transformed many non-tax aspects of hospital operations. These are just a few examples. The question is: What are, or should be, the limits of federal regulation, through the guise of tax law, of nonprofit and charitable entities? This call for papers seeks scholarly analysis of this very broad topic.

Eligibility:
Faculty members of AALS member and fee-paid law schools are eligible to submit papers. Special consideration will be given to papers submitted by junior faculty members who have been teaching for seven years or less. Foreign, visiting and adjunct faculty members, graduate students, and fellows are not eligible to submit. Since this is a publication opportunity, submitted abstracts that are ultimately selected cannot be committed for publication prior to their submission. Each professor may submit only one abstract for consideration.

Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously:
The abstract should be accompanied by a cover letter with the author’s name and contact information. The abstract itself must not contain any references that identify the author or the author’s school, but should note if the submitter is a junior faculty member who has been teaching for seven years or less. The submitting author is responsible for taking any steps necessary to redact ALL other self-identifying information.

Form and Length:
Initial submissions should be in the form of abstracts of 1,000 words or less and should note if the submitter is a junior faculty member, but not any other identifying information. Presenters will be chosen based on evaluation of the submitted abstracts.

Registration Fee and Expenses:
Call for Paper participants will be responsible for paying their annual meeting registration fee and travel expenses.

How will papers be reviewed?
Between three and five papers will be selected after review by members of the Executive Committee of the section.

Will program be published in journal?
The AALS Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law Section Executive Committee has entered into an agreement with the Kentucky Law Journal that would permit the authors of selected abstracts to publish a paper concerning the subject of their abstract in a special symposium issue of the Kentucky Law Journal (volume 99, issue #4). Thus, authors of selected abstracts may be asked to agree to publish their final paper in this special symposium edition of the Kentucky Law Journal.

Deadline date for submission of abstracts:
Friday, April 30, 2010
Note: Selected abstracts will need to be developed into articles by November 30, 2010, (NO EXCEPTIONS) in order to be eligible for publication in the Kentucky Law Journal symposium edition.
Contact for submission and inquiries:
Nancy A. McLaughlin
Robert W. Swenson Professor of Law
Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development
University of Utah SJ Quinney College of Law
332 South 1400 East, Room 101
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
(801) 581-5944
mclaughlinn [at] law.utah.edu
Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by May 28, 2010.
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