Women and the Law Conference 2017

Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s 17^th Annual Women and the Law Conference, Pursuing Inclusion: Diversity in the Workplace, will be held on Friday, February 3, 2017 at Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

This conference brings together leading experts and practitioners to examine the challenges to and strategies for achieving workplace diversity and inclusion. At a time of polarized public discourse on matters involving race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, religion, sexual orientation and identity, disability, age, and socio-economic status, this event will highlight a number of critically important topics, including: developing cultural competency; the strengths and weaknesses in employment and civil rights law; identifying and overcoming unconscious bias; how strategic efforts can inform public policy; and how other countries confront diversity at a time when work is changing rapidly.

Professor Leticia Saucedo, Professor of Law at UC Davis School of Law, will deliver the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture. A cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and member of the American Law Institute, Saucedo was previously Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a Visiting Professor at Duke University School of Law, and a staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.  She is an expert in employment, labor, and immigration law. Saucedo continues in a long line of illustrious speakers who have been honored as the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecturer, a lecture series Justice Ginsburg generously established for Thomas Jefferson in 2003.

Other speakers include:  Mario Barnes, Associate Dean and Professor of Law, UC Irvine; Zahra Billoo, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Chapter; Susan Bisom-Rapp, Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Julie Greenberg, Professor Emerita, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Anne Koenig, Associate Professor of Psychology, University of San Diego; Rebecca Lee, Associate Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law; Doreen Mattingly, Associate Professor of Women’s Studies, San Diego State University; Miranda McGowan, Professor of Law, University of San Diego School of Law; Patti Perez, Shareholder, Ogletree Deakins; Camille Gear Rich, Associate Provost and Professor of Law and Sociology, University of Southern California; Malcolm Sargeant, Professor of Labour Law, Middlesex University Business School, London; Susan Tiefenbrun, Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law.

The event is co-sponsored by Thomas Jefferson School of Law’s Center for Law and Social Justice and Center for Global Legal Studies. 

SCHEDULE

8:00 - 9:00     Check In

9:00 - 9:30     Welcome & Introductory Remarks

• Thomas Guernsey, Dean and President, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
• Susan Bisom-Rapp, Associate Dean and Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
• Rebecca Lee, Associate Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

9:30 - 11:00    Accounting for Biases and Developing Solutions

• Anne Koenig, Associate Professor, Psychological Sciences, University of San Diego
  Descriptive and Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes and the Double Bind
• Miranda McGowan, Professor of Law, University of San Diego
  The Partnership Problem and the Paradox of Parenthood
• Zahra Billoo, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, San Francisco Chapter
  Protecting Religious Accommodation Rights in the Workplace
• Patti Perez, Shareholder, Olgetree Deakins
  The Design and Execution of Effective Diversity and Inclusion Programs
• Moderator: Kaimi Wenger, Associate Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law

11:00 - 11:15   Break

11:15 - 12:45   The Past as Prologue – Workplace Diversity After the Election

• Doreen Mattingly, Associate Professor and Chair, Women’s Studies, San Diego State University
  March Fong and Yvonne Brathwaite: The Diverse Roots of Feminist Lawmaking in California
• Camille Gear Rich, Professor of Law and Sociology, University of Southern California
  Marginal Whiteness Revisited: White Working Class Identity and Workplace Politics
• Julie Greenberg, Professor Emeritus, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
  Considering the Gains for LGBT Rights in Light of the Election
• Rebecca Lee, Associate Professor, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
  Furthering Workplace Diversity After Fisher I & II
• Moderator: Mara Elliott, San Diego City Attorney

12:45 - 2:15    Lunch

2:15 - 3:15     Fifteenth Annual Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lecture 
                       Protecting the Dependent Worker in a Free Society

• Leticia Saucedo, Professor of Law, UC Davis; former Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas; former Visiting Professor at Duke University School of Law; former research scholar with the Chief Justice Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity at U.C. Berkeley; and former staff attorney at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

3:15 - 4:45     Alternative Frameworks for Understanding

• Mario Barnes, Associate Dean and Professor of Law, UC Irvine 
  A Hair Out of Place: Culture, Biology and Judicial Misunderstandings of Identity in the Workplace

• Susan Bisom-Rapp. Associate Dean and Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law
  Malcolm Sargeant, Professor of Labour Law, Middlesex University Business School, London, UK
  Modeling and Applying Theory to the Case of Working Women’s Lifetime Disadvantage

• Susan Tiefenbrun, Professor of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law 
  Employment Law in China and Its Impact on Women Working
• Moderator: Orly Lobel, Don Weckstein Professor of Labor and Employment Law, University of San Diego

4:45 - 5:00     Closing

5:00 - 6:00     Reception

REGISTRATION

Please note: Advanced registration required. Fees are non-refundable and include the Reception. Registration deadline: Friday, January 27. The main conference classroom is at capacity. An adjacent classroom will be set up for overflow with a live simulcast of the conference throughout the day.

• FREE   All students with valid photo ID, Thomas Jefferson School of Law faculty, Thomas Jefferson School of Law staff
• $30     Thomas Jefferson School of Law Alumni (with or without MCLE credit)
• $30     Lawyers Club Members and Attorneys in Practice less than 5 years (not seeking MCLE credit)
• $40     General public (not seeking MCLE credit)
• $45     All others (seeking MCLE credit)

REGISTRATION CLOSED

MCLE AVAILABLE

5.5 hours Elimination of Bias MCLE Credit

MCLE Materials

Thomas Jefferson School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider. This program qualifies for Minimum Continuing Legal Education Credit (MCLE) by the State Bar of California.

MORE INFORMATION

If you have any questions, please contact Lillian Blackburn at [email protected].