Audience: SJD

Join Wasserstein Fellow and Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project Olivia Ensign for a discussion about the winding, often overlapping, and ever shifting paths that define the public interest career. This talk will include a discussion of useful skillsets that transcend the international and domestic rights frameworks and the decision points and learning curves that mark the first few years of practice. Most of all, this talk will center on some of the people that marked Olivia’s own journey in public interest and the lessons she learned from each of them.

The world of public interest law is broad, and it includes “public-private” lawyers who serve as outside counsel to government enforcement agencies. When the largest corporations break the law, many state and local governments don’t have the in-house resources and specialized expertise to level the playing field. The high-stakes, high-profile, and high-impact field of representing states and cities in some of the hardest-fought and most complicated civil cases is a rapidly growing area of law. Betsy Miller will discuss her work as one of the pioneers of this practice area, the rewards and perils of serving as outside counsel to the government, and some of the groundbreaking cases that have benefitted from this public-private partnership.

Learn more about Advocates for Human Rights!

An informational session, panel discussion, and Q&A about the Upper Level Ames Moot Court Competition. Any second-year student interested in competing should attend the meeting to learn about the structure of the competition, discuss basic rules, and hear from past competitors about their Ames experiences. If you have any questions, please reach out to AmesHLS@gmail.com.

Across the country, a concerted assault on voting rights is taking place. Since the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – one of the most successful pieces of civil rights legislation designed to increase voter registration, turnout and fair electoral schemes – we have seen a proliferation of policies that do just the opposite. In response, the Southern Poverty Law Center and partner organizations have mounted a massive campaign to challenge these regressive policies, improve access to the ballot box, and demand government accountability. Nancy will address these issues and many more as we delve deeper into the 2021 redistricting cycle and gear up for the 2022 mid-term election season. Take-away lunch will be provided at the end of the program. RSVP to attend.

Although the COVID-19 pandemic has amplified our need to quickly adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, effective legal aid lawyering has always required a certain and constant level of adaptability. The evolving legal landscape, resultant legal needs, and the unique situations for individual clients have forced big and small changes in the day-to-day work of a legal aid lawyer. From a housing attorney to working with Medical-Legal Partnerships to becoming a disability rights attorney, Jia Min will discuss her work as an interdisciplinary legal aid lawyer and how to adapt to constant change. Take-away lunch will be provided at the end of the program. RSVP to attend.

During his five years as a public defender in New Orleans, Will Snowden noticed how the lack of diversity of jury panels contributed to a lack of fairness in the criminal legal system. This led him to create The Juror Project, a non-profit which aims to increase diversity of jury panels as well as improve people’s perspective of jury duty. Join Will to learn about The Juror Project, his transition from public defender to systems reformer, and his efforts to improve criminal justice systems in the South by strengthening relationships between government entities and community organizations. Take-away lunch will be provided at the end of the program. RSVP to attend.