Legal Commentary

I'm about to dash off to class to teach my first class of the year (greetings criminal procedure students!), but I noticed via facebook the other day that someone had just returned from a "faculty retreat." Unless I'm not invited to them, FSU's law school doesn't have these retreats, perhaps because living in Tallahassee is already such a verdant paradise :-)

But I am curious: what goes on at these retreats? We have a very good workshop culture here for both internal and external presenters so it seems a bit odd to go to a nice resort to do the kind of work indoors that we can easily accommodate during the workweek. I could see the benefits of a retreat if it was designed to inculcate and strengthen norms of team or community. But how do schools do that? And when is the optimal time of the year to schedule them? Are they required, encouraged or simply available? Does the school pay for the whole thing? Is it just faculty that goes or also key administrators or all staff too? Inquiring minds want to know. Feel free to include a redacted schedule for one of these if you can in the comments. 

Happy first week of class!