Elevating and Engaging with Black Lives on Law School Campuses (Part II)

On June 30, 2020, ACS, Professor Michele Goodwin, and the National Black Law Students Association presented "Elevating and Engaging with Black Lives on Law School Campuses." During this dynamic discussion, our speakers discussed the tragic killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd; the response on law school campuses; and the need for a better aligned curriculum that takes seriously how the law engages with Black lives across the spectrum of discourses, as well as the need for more professors of color at America's law schools.

The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. So much so, that ACS, Professor Michele Goodwin, and the National Black Law Student Association are hosting a Elevating and Engaging with Black Lives on Law School Campuses (Part II) to continue the discussion. Join us to elevate the concerns of students, recent alumni, professors, law school administrators, and staff, and to share their perspectives, stories, and experiences.

Joining us for this discussion will be:

Welcome: Peggy Li, Director of Chapters, American Constitution Society

Moderator: Professor Michele Goodwin, Chancellor's Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy, University of California, Irvine

Co-Moderator: Christopher Williams, JD, PhD candidate, University of Chicago

Dean Danielle M. Conway, Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law, The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law

Professor Jody Armour, Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law, University of Southern California Gould School of Law

Professor Tracey L. Meares, Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Justice Collaboratory, Yale Law School

We will also feature remarks from:

Rachel Barnes, Chair, National Black Law Students Association

Marquisa Wince, Vice Chair, National Black Law Students Association

**********************************************************************************************************************

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES:

Jody Amour 

Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law, University of Southern California Gould School of Law 

Jody David Armour, Author, Playwright, USC Professor of Law. A widely published scholar and popular lecturer, he is a Soros Justice Senior Fellow of The Open Society Institute's Center on Crime, Communities and Culture. He has published an award-winning book, Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism and various law review articles. His forthcoming works are as follows: N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law (LARB Books, August 2020); and "Law, Language and Politics" (University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, 2020). 

He teaches a diverse array of subjects, including Criminal Law, Torts, and Stereotypes. 

Armour earned his A.B. degree in Sociology at Harvard University and his J.D. degree with honors from Boalt Hall Law School at UC Berkeley. 

Rachel Barnes

Chair, National Black Law Students Association 

Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Rachel Barnes is a 3L JD/MBA student at the University of Virginia School of Law and the Chair of the National Black Law Students Association (NBLSA). 

Barnes previously served as President of the Virginia Law Chapter and Regional Mock Trial Director of NBLSA. 

Dean Danielle M. Conway 

Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law, The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson Law 

A leading expert in procurement law, entrepreneurship, and intellectual property law, Dean Danielle Conway joined Dickinson Law after serving for four years as dean of the University of Maine School of Law and 14 years on the faculty of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, William S. Richardson School of Law. 

In 2016, Dean Conway retired from the U.S. Army in the rank of lieutenant colonel after 27 years of combined active, reserve, and national guard service. Select assignments included service as Vice Chair, Contract and Fiscal Law Department, U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Legal Center & School and Honors Program Attorney, Headquarters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington D.C. 

Dean Conway is the author or editor of six books and casebooks as well as numerous book chapters, articles, and essays. Her scholarly agenda and speeches have focused on, among other areas, advocating for public education and for actualizing the rights of marginalized groups, including Indigenous Peoples, minorities, and members of rural communities. She received her B.S. from New York University, her J.D. from Howard University School of Law, and her LL.M. from George Washington University Law School. 

Michele Goodwin 

Chancellor's Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy, University of California, Irvine (Moderator) 

Michele Goodwin is a nationally recognized advocate for civil liberties and civil rights, who is at the forefront of health policy discourse. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and an elected fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Hasting Center. Goodwin is a member of the ACLU Executive Committee and National Board. Goodwin was a visiting professor at the University of Chicago and University of Virginia law schools and the Everett Fraser Professor at the University of Minnesota. Her commentaries appear in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Politico, Forbes, Salon.com, and other periodicals. Her scholarly works are published in the Yale Law Journal, Harvard Law Review, Cornell Law Review, NYU Law Review, Michigan Law Review, and Georgetown Law Journal, among others. Goodwin received her B.A. and LL.M. from the University of Wisconsin, her J.D. from Boston College Law School, and her post-doctorate from Yale University. 

Peggy Li 

Director of Chapters, American Constitution Society 

Peggy Li works with ACS's diverse nationwide network of progressive lawyers, law students, judges, and scholars. She manages the existing network of ACS chapters, facilitates the programming of chapters, works with members to realize their potential for creating a constructive dialogue for change, cultivates and supports our next generation of progressive leaders, and promotes equity and inclusion throughout the network. 

Before joining ACS, Li served as a Staff Attorney at Legal Services of Northern California. Li also served as a coordinator for LSNC's Race Equity Project, where she provided trainings on framing, implicit bias, and social cognition. She has also been published in the ACS Blog, the Akron Law Review, and the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law & Justice. Li earned her B.A. in Mass Communications from the University of California, Los Angeles and her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. At Berkeley Law, Li was a William K. Coblentz Civil Rights Endowment Student Research Fellow at the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society (now the Othering & Belonging Institute). 

Tracey L. Meares 

Walton Hale Hamilton Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Justice Collaboratory, Yale Law School 

Professor Tracey Meares is a nationally recognized expert on policing in urban communities. Her research focuses on understanding how members of the public think about their relationship(s) with legal authorities such as police, prosecutors and judges. She teaches courses on criminal procedure, criminal law, and policy and she has worked extensively with the federal government having served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Law and Justice, a National Research Council standing committee and the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs Science Advisory Board. 

Before joining the faculty at Yale, Meares was a professor at the University of Chicago Law School from 1995 to 2007, serving as Max Pam Professor and Director of the Center for Studies in Criminal Justice. She was the first African American woman to be granted tenure at both law schools. 

In April 2019, Meares was elected as a member to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In December 2014, President Obama named her as a member of his Task Force on 21st Century Policing. She has a B.S. in general engineering from the University of Illinois and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. 

Christopher Williams

JD, PhD candidate, University of Chicago 

Molded in the cradle of the Southside of Chicago, centering and displaying the voices of the marginalized is Chris Williams's passion. His Chicago roots are what he credits as keeping him grounded and continually inspires him to push boundaries. It's the Chicago way after all. 

Williams received his undergraduate degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. Afterwards he attended the University of California-Irvine School of Law, where he received his J.D. Currently, he is a Neubauer Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Chicago. His research interests are in highlighting interlocking oppressions that disproportionately impact vulnerable populations. These interests motivate Williams in thinking of praxis that transforms and eradicates systemic oppression vulnerable populations experience. 

Marquisa Wince 

Vice Chair, National Black Law Students Association 

Marquisa Wince is a concurrent degree student completing her J.D. at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock-William H. Bowen School of Law and her Master of Public Service at the University of Arkansas-Clinton School of Public Service. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Marquisa earned her B.A. in Economics & Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she focused her research on the economic impact of black male incarceration and public school privatization. From 2016-2017, Marquisa served as an AmeriCorps member in Wisconsin with Public Allies Milwaukee, where she worked as a housing and family law advocate. Marquisa has also conducted graduate-level research around juvenile justice reform for the Republic of Kenya's Probation and Aftercare Services Department, as well as Phoenix Youth and Family Services in Dumas, Arkansas. Marquisa currently serves as the Vice Chair of the National Black Law Students Association and the Director of Youth Programs for GLSEN Arkansas. Marquisa prides herself on her commitment to public service and her undying love for Beyoncé.