This is a year of change. The American Constitution Society network in every state is focused on mobilizing to help protect against new threats to our rights and democratic institutions, and ACS itself is preparing to welcome a new president. In recognition of these seismic shifts and to ensure that our entire network, supporters, and partners have access to timely, thoughtful, and action-inspiring discussions and ideas, this year we are hosting the ACS National Convention Series – a four-week, virtual programming event that will highlight how states are responding to pressing issues around immigration, democracy and voting, economic and racial justice, and transgender rights.
The Convention Series will include free, virtual panel discussions every Wednesday in June, talkbacks with speakers and ACS staff, and virtual networking opportunities. It also will include an in-person Reception on June 18, 2025, in Washington, DC.
CLE credit for the virtual panels will be available for a flat fee of $100, due at registration.
National Convention Series
Every Wednesday in June 2025
Schedule subject to change
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
2:00pm ET – ACS President Address
2:10pm ET – Power Plays: Exploring the ways in which power is being centralized in state legislatures through gerrymandering and a series of actions designed to strip authority from those best positioned to provide a check against such power.
3:15pm ET – “Power Plays” Talk Back: Providing attendees a chance to discuss the panel and issues it raised with panelists, ACS staff, and other attendees.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
2:00pm ET – Awards Presentation:Presenting Lawyer and Student Chapter Awards, Faculty Advisor of the Year, and winners of the Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition on Regulatory and Administrative Law.
2:05pm ET – Combatting a Campaign of Erasure: Upholding the Rights of Trans People to Exist and Thrive: Investigating the anti-trans policies of the current presidential administration, their roots in state-based efforts, and how states can protect trans people against discrimination, ensure access to healthcare, and uphold their dignity.
3:15pm ET – “Combatting a Campaign of Erasure” Talk Back:Providing attendees a chance to discuss the panel and issues it raised with panelists, ACS staff, and other attendees.
5:30pm ET – Practice Group Networking Event
7:30pm ET – Student Networking Dinner Event
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
12:00pm ET – Mindfulness Seminar with Alexis Firehawk
2:00pm ET – ACS Board Chair Address
2:05pm ET – Resisting Oligarchy + Building Power: Examining how Americans can rebuild working- and middle-class power at the local, state, and national levels in the face of unprecedented efforts to weaken pro-worker and consumer federal agencies.
3:15pm ET – “Resisting Oligarchy” Talk Back:Providing attendees a chance to discuss the panel and issues it raised with panelists, ACS staff, and other attendees.
5:00pm ET (in-person, Washington, DC) – ACS Reception: Providing ACS members and friends in the DMV area an opportunity to come together in community.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
2:00pm ET – ACS President Closing Remarks
2:05pm ET – Then They Came for Me: Protecting Our Neighbors and Ourselves:Examining the current legal landscape in immigration, including legal challenges to actions by the Trump administration and the role of states in both enforcing the law and protecting immigrants.
3:15pm ET – “Then They Came for Me” Talk Back:Providing attendees a chance to discuss the panel and issues it raised with panelists, ACS staff, and other attendees.
Local Chapter Events
If you are seeking an in-person event and are not located in the DMV area, please check your local ACS chapter page. Several lawyer chapters are hosting networking events across the country to coincide with the Convention Series.
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
ACS President Address – 2:00 p.m.
Interim President Zinelle October will deliver the opening remarks to kick off the ACS National Convention Series.
Power Plays – 2:10 p.m.
This panel will explore the ways in which power is being centralized in state legislatures through gerrymandering and a series of actions designed to strip authority from those best positioned to provide a check against such power. These moves have been taking place at the same time as the U.S. Supreme Court has moved to “return” key issues to state legislative bodies and progressive have turned to state constitutions and state law as a respite from disastrous federal policy. What lessons can we learn from states struggling with such antidemocratic power grabs and what is the path forward for progressives looking to restore checks and balances at all levels of government?
Derek Clinger
Senior Staff Attorney,
State Democracy Research Initiative
Michael Li
Senior Counsel, Democracy,
The Brennan Center for Justice
Lindsay Langholz
Senior Director of Policy and Program,
American Constitution Society (moderator)
Talk Back – 3:15 p.m.
Offering an opportunity for panelists, ACS staff, and attendees to informally discuss the issues raised during the panel discussion.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
Awards Presentation – 2:00 p.m.
Presenting Lawyer and Student Chapter Awards, Faculty Advisor of the Year, and winners of the Richard D. Cudahy Writing Competition on Regulatory and Administrative Law.
Combatting a Campaign of Erasure: Upholding the Rights of Trans People to Exist and Thrive – 2:05 p.m.
The second Trump administration has made anti-trans attacks a central policy. These attacks are an outgrowth of anti-trans legislation and policies adopted at the state level at an alarming rate in recent year, including bans on gender-affirming care for youth, restrictions on trans students’ ability to play sports and access bathrooms. Disturbing in their own right, many warned that these attacks were an opening salvo in a broader attack on trans rights. Recent attempts to radically undermine the rights of trans people in the U.S. confirm those fears, including a day-one executive order that denies the very existence of trans people, followed by orders purporting to ban transgender service members from the military, restrict federal funding for trans healthcare, and apply Title VII and Title IX to discriminate against trans people. How are some states resisting these efforts and what can states do to protect trans people in their states and those in states hostile to their rights?
Kylar W. Broadus
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Public Speaker,
Strategist, Legislative, Policy, Management
Alana Jochum
State Policy Director,
Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE)
William McGinty
Assistant Attorney General,
Washington State Office of the Attorney General
Offering an opportunity for panelists, ACS staff, and attendees to informally discuss the issues raised during the panel discussion.
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Mindfulness Seminar – 12:00 p.m.
Alexis Firehawk will speak on the importance of mental health in the legal profession and lead participants through a meditation session that encourages mindfulness and stress management.
ACS Board Chair Address – 2:00 p.m.
ACS National Board Chair Roscoe Jones will deliver Welcome Remarks.
Resisting Oligarchy + Building Power – 2:05 p.m.
Under the current presidential administration, and over the past several decades, economic and political power has become increasingly entrenched in the hands of a small group of ultra-wealthy individuals. Most notoriously, in the spring, Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, exercised unprecedented power to weaken pro-worker and consumer agencies like the National Labor Relation Board, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. This panel examines how workers and tenants can rebuild power at the local, state and national levels.
Greg Baltz
Co-Director,
Housing Justice and Tenant Solidarity Clinic, Rutgers Law School
Taonga Leslie
Director of Policy and Programs for Racial Justice,
American Constitution Society (moderator)
Talk Back – 3:15 p.m.
Offering an opportunity for panelists, ACS staff, and attendees to informally discuss the issues raised during the panel discussion.
Wednesday, June 25, 2025
ACS President Closing Remarks – 2:00 p.m.
Then They Came for Me: Protecting Our Neighbors and Ourselves – 2:05 p.m.
The pace of executive orders and changes to immigration policies has been much faster and broader in the second Trump administration than during the first, pushing the limits of the law even further. Immigrants are on the front lines of attacks on free speech, due process, and worker protections, which threaten liberty for everyone in the U.S. Across the country, we are facing a choice between cooperation and resistance, which will affect the rights of immigrants and citizens alike. What does the current legal landscape look like? How are we working to protect our neighbors and ourselves, in the courts, states, cities, and in workplaces, schools, and the streets?
Murad Awawdeh
President & CEO,
New York Immigration Coalition
Hon. Nick Brown
Attorney General,
Washington State Office of the Attorney General
Alina Das
James Weldon Johnson Professor & Co-Director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic,
New York University School of Law
ACS is in the process of applying to states for CLE credit. The availability and amount of CLE credit may vary by state. So far, ACS has been approved for the following:
Approved*
California
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Illinois
Pennsylvania
Missouri
North Carolina
Oklahoma
*Approval from additional state bars pending. Please check back soon for more information.
If you have questions about sponsoring the 2025 ACS National Convention Series, please contact Carley Gibson Rooney, Senior Director of Development, via email at: cgibsonrooney@acslaw.org.
