2021 Virtual National Convention

Featured Speaker

Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas

Tuesday, June 8

Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Plenary

Toward a Third Reconstruction

Monday, June 7

The promise of racial equality remains demonstrably unfulfilled in America. With white nationalists storming the Capitol and racially motivated violent extremism on the rise, COVID-19 ravaging communities of color, and police officers continuing to kill Black people without penalty, the past year has illuminated the myriad ways in which racism permeates every corner of our society. Calls have intensified for a “Third Reconstruction” that would both complete and expand upon the work started in the wake of the Civil War and again by the Civil Rights Movement. What would a successful Reconstruction look like and what policies must be implemented or laws enacted to make it a reality? What structural and institutional changes are necessary? What lessons can we learn from international efforts at racial healing and our own previous attempts to redress wrongs done to racial communities? And how can any of these changes become reality given our increasingly polarized society?

Adam Serwer (Moderator) Staff Writer The Atlantic
Maggie Blackhawk Professor of Law NYU Law	Dorothy A. Brown Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Emory Law
Katherine Franke James L. Dohr Professor of Law Columbia Law School	Ian Haney López Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law UC Berkeley School of Law

Advancing an Anti-Entrenchment Agenda: How to Save our Democracy by Deconcentrating Wealth and Power

Tuesday June 8th

Many of the key debates about the health of our democracy concern the concentration of wealth and power. Markedly unequal power in the marketplace has been coupled with the Supreme Court’s weakening of worker rights and protections and the underenforcement of antitrust law. And while institutions like the electoral college and the U.S. Senate were intednded to protect against the “tyranny of the majority,” they arguably now cement a “tyranny of the minority.” These developments have led some commentators to call for an “anti-entrenchment” agenda that would counter the cumulative effects of rising economic inequality and the capture of our political system through voter suppression, gerrymandering, and the corrupting influence of “big money.” What would an anti-entrenchment agenda look like? What structural reforms are necessary and what constitutional potholes should reformers plan for so that America’s democratic promise can be realized?

Elie Mystal (Moderator) Justice Correspondent The Nation
Kate Andrias Professor of Law University of Michigan Law School ACS Board of Academic Advisors; Faculty Advisor ACS University of Michigan Law School Student Chapter	Josh Chafetz Professor of Law Georgetown University Law Center
Janai Nelson Associate Director-Counsel NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.	Sandeep Vaheesan Legal Director Open Markets Institute

The Meaning, Mode, and Value of Accountability

Wednesday, June 9

Who should be held accountable for the various transgressions of the Trump administration (or a future administration that similarly transgresses), in what way, and who decides? Where legal and ethics codes are violated, such decisions may be clear, but that may not always be the case. From the former president, down through high-level officials and lower-ranking attorneys who carried out the administration’s agenda, accountability is being sought for the undermining of the 2020 election and ensuing incitement to attack the Capitol, its family separation policy, the travel ban, the attack on Black Lives Matter protesters in Lafayette Park, and much more. Are law firms and universities that hire former administration officials “laundering” their reputations? Issues to be addressed by this panel may include censure, disbarment, civil litigation, and other mechanisms for holding lawyers and public officials accountable. Following a panel, we will hold facilitated breakout sessions to continue the discussion among convention attendees.

Kimberly Atkins Stohr (Moderator) Senior Opinion Writer The Boston Globe
Christine Chung Steering Committee Lawyers Defending American Democracy	Molly Coleman Executive Director People’s Parity Project
Erica Newland Counsel Protect Democracy	Rebecca Roiphe Trustee Professor of Law, Co-Dean for Faculty Scholarship New York Law School

The Constitution in Exile

Thursday, June 10

Progressives face a hostile federal judiciary hand-picked by Donald Trump for the next generation, and the Biden-Harris administration commission tasked with examining court reform options remains in formation. How should the progressive legal community respond to a judiciary stacked with judges that are potentially hostile to its view of the Constitution and law? Is now the time for progressives to assert our own version of the “Constitution in Exile”? Should progressives look to reduce the influence of the federal courts or identify targets of opportunity to achieve progressive gains through the courts where they exist? What other strategies are possible? This panel will address specific subject areas by way of example, such as anti-discrimination and reproductive rights, where recent changes to the Court’s composition are particularly worrisome.

David Cole (Moderator) National Legal Director American Civil Liberties Union Hon. George J. Mitchell Professor in Law and Public Policy Georgetown University Law Center
Katie Eyer Professor of Law Rutgers Law School Faculty Advisor ACS Rutgers Law School Student Chapter	Jamal Greene Dwight Professor of Law Columbia Law School ACS Board of Academic Advisors
Cindy Soohoo Professor of Law and Co-Director Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic, CUNY School of Law	Franita Tolson Vice Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs and Professor of Law University of Southern California Gould School of Law ACS Board of Directors ACS Board of Academic Advisors

Promoting Progress: Lawyering in the Biden-Harris Era

Thursday, June 10

Litigators and lobbyists and advocates, oh my! While many lawyers hope to, and will, serve in the Biden-Harris Administration, there are many careers progressive lawyers can pursue outside the Administration. There’s a more progressive president in office now, but there’s still plenty of work to be done to shape the future of our country. Lawyers will play a key role in promoting progress and correcting the harms done over the past four years. What jobs exist outside the Administration for lawyers who want to further progressive ideals? What other ways can progressive lawyers outside the administration influence policy decisions? How should current law students prepare for a progressive lawyering career?

Palak Sheth (Moderator) Public Policy Manager Instagram
Andrea McChristian Law & Policy Director New Jersey Institute for Social Justice	Estuardo Rodriguez Principal & Founder The Raben Group
Jeffrey Sprung Assistant Attorney General Washington State Office of the Attorney General	Camilla Taylor Director of Constitutional Litigation Lambda Legal ACS Chicago Lawyer Chapter Board of Advisors

Leadership in the Face of Hate: Responding to the Rise in Anti-Asian Racism and Violence

Friday, June 11

Hon. Grace Meng United States Representative 6th Congressional District of New York	Goodwin H. Liu Associate Justice California Supreme Court
Hon. William Tong Attorney General State of Connecticut	Lorraine Bannai (Moderator) Director Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality Professor of Lawyering Skills Seattle University School of Law

2021 Awardees

	Lifetime Achievement Award Theodore M. Shaw Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil Rights UNC School of Law
	Progressive Champion Award Desmond Meade President and Executive Director, Florida Rights Restoration Coalition Accepting on behalf of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
	Faculty Advisor of the Year Sharmila L. Murthy Associate Professor, Director of Faculty Scholarship and Research, and ACS Faculty Advisor Suffolk University Law School
	Carliner Award Adaku Onyeka-Crawford Director of Educational Equity and Senior Counsel National Women’s Law Center
	Cudahy Award – Student Joseph Daval, Yale Law School Class of 2021 The Problem with Public Charge
	Cudahy Award – Lawyer Andrew Hammond, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law Litigating Welfare Rights: Medicaid, SNAP, and the Legacy of the New Property
Lawyer Chapter of the Year ACS Florida Lawyer Chapter Network (Consisting of Tampa, South Florida, North Florida, and Central Florida) ACS Programming Awards ACS Washington, D.C. Lawyer Chapter ACS Minneapolis-St. Paul Lawyer Chapter

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CLE materials are available here (PDF).

For those who have registered for CLE credit, you must provide the two codes announced during each day’s session here in order to verify your participation and obtain your credit.

If you have a fast-approaching deadline to earn continuing legal education (CLE) credits, you can earn some by attending the ACS Convention this year for the low cost of $100.

Most states will accept between 5-6 CLE credits for this year’s ACS Convention. And since some of us have fast-approaching deadlines this summer, this is an excellent opportunity to fulfill that requirement.

Whether you need to earn CLE credits or are just looking to participate in engaging discussions, join other likeminded progressive lawyers from across the country, and reserve your spot at the Convention today.

If you have further questions about CLE, please reach out to LCEmails@acslaw.org.