Racial Justice Advocacy in Uncertain Times

What is it like to be a racial justice lawyer in the current climate? Join OPIA for a community discussion with Wasserstein Fellow Kevin Jason, Deputy Director of Strategic Initiatives for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, to learn more about how the field of racial justice impact litigation has changed throughout his career, especially with the current retrenchment of civil rights and hostility to equity efforts. Kevin will discuss the day-to-day experience of legal advocacy, challenges encountered since he began this work, and the different roles attorneys can play in the pursuit of racial justice.

Lunch provided. Please RSVP below! Open to the HLS community.

If you or an event participant requires disability-related accommodations, please contact HLS Accessibility Services at accessibility@law.harvard.edu two weeks in advance of the event.

Kevin E. Jason is Deputy Director of Strategic Initiatives at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (“LDF”). He leads and supervises racial justice litigation and other forms of advocacy in various areas of law. He has argued school desegregation and qualified immunity cases before several federal courts of appeals. He is currently leading a putative class action challenging the NYPD’s racially discriminatory anti-gang enforcement policies and practices. Generally, his docket focuses on police practices and educational equity matters that combine impact litigation with policymaking, community organizing, and strategic communications. Kevin is currently an Adjunct Professor with the Equality and Justice Clinic at CUNY School of Law and was recently a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School where he co-taught the experiential course, Racial Justice. Before joining LDF, Kevin worked at the ACLU of New York (New York Civil Liberties Union). Immediately after law school, Kevin served as a law clerk to the Hon. Steven M. Gold of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (retired) and to the Hon. Andrew L. Carter, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Kevin received his J.D. from Stanford Law School. He also earned an M.A. in Public Policy from Stanford University and a B.A. from Columbia University.