The Lutie A. Lytle Black Women Law Faculty Writing Workshop (the “Lytle Workshop”) is an annual workshop for current and aspiring black women law faculty. Although the Workshop’s primary focus is legal scholarship, it also offers opportunities for mentoring, career support and fellowship.
Since its inception in 2007, the Workshop has been an unqualified success. Its attendees have published more than 30 books, 45 book chapters, and 500 articles.
The Lytle Workshop has been held annually each summer:
2018: Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, co-chaired, organized and hosted by Professor Lolita Buckner Inniss and Professor Jessica Dixon Weaver
2017: University of Michigan Law School, hosted by Professor Laura Beny
2016: 10th Annual Commemorative Workshop – University of Iowa College of Law, hosted by Professor and now Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig
2015: Vanderbilt University Law School, hosted by Professor Beverly I. Moran
2014: University of Wisconsin Law School, hosted by Professor Tonya L. Brito
2013: William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, hosted by Professor Rachel J. Anderson
2012: Suffolk University Law School, hosted by Professors Kim M. McLaurin and Bernie D. Jones (and the first “Lytle Dean,” Camille Nelson)
2011: Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University, hosted by Professor Asmara M. Tekle
2009: Seattle University School of Law, hosted by Professor Natasha T. Martin
2010: University of Kentucky College of Law, hosted by Professor Melynda J. Price
2008: Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver, hosted by Professor Catherine Smith (Denver) and Professor Jacquelyn L. Bridgeman (Wyoming) (under the name “Black Female Faculty Summer Writing Workshop”)
2007: University of Iowa Inaugural Workshop, hosted by founder Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig
The Workshop was given its current name at the 2008 Denver gathering. In 1898, Lutie A. Lytle, the daughter of enslaved parents, became the first woman law professor in the United States, when she began teaching law at her alma mater, Nashville’s Central Tennessee College (CTC). In 2018 one of the members of the Lutie collective, Professor Taja-Nia Henderson, published an article detailing the life of Lutie Lytle and the importance of her legacy. In honor of her achievements, the Lytle Workshop continues to offer professional development, support, and community to a growing cadre of women faculty who are continuing the legacy of excellence in law teaching that began with Professor Lutie A. Lytle over 118 years later.