2023 ACS Student Convention

FEATURED SPEAKERS:

Adrian Fontes Secretary of State of Arizona	Bo Dul General Counsel Office of Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs
Pamela S. Karlan Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and Co-Director of the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School; Former Chair of the ACS National Board of Directors	Jevin Hodge National Engagement Director, LINK Strategic Partners Business and Community Leader; Former Congressional Candidate
Zinelle October Executive Vice President, ACS

OTHER SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Hon. Edward M. Chen Senior District Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California	Hon. Melissa Hart Justice, Colorado Supreme Court	Hon. Andrew M. Jacobs Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One
Hon. Roopali H. Desai Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit	Sarah Belton Clinical Supervising Attorney, Racial Justice Project and Lecturer in Law, Stanford Law School	Thea Cohen Director of Strategic Engagement, ACS
John Dacey Founder and Executive Director, Abolish Private Prisons	Alexis Firehawk Shareholder, Carpenter Hazlewood Arizona State University’s Center for Mindfulness, Compassion, and Resilience, Mindfulness Leadership Certificate	Heather Hamel Civil Rights Lawyer, The People’s Law Firm
Taonga Leslie Director of Policy and Program for Racial Justice, ACS	Shefali Milczarek-Desai Distinguished Public Service Scholar; Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Workers’ Rights Clinic, Co-Director of the Bacon Immigration Law and Policy Program, University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law	Leticia Rojas Director of Communications, Texas Civil Rights Project
Joshua Sellers Associate Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law	Rylee Sommers-Flanagan Founder and Executive Director, Upper Seven Law	Donald K. Tamaki Senior Counsel, Minami Tamaki LLP; Co-Founder, StopRepeatingHistory.Org; Member, California Reparations Task Force
Rebecca Tsosie Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law, University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law	Sonni Waknin Managing Attorney and Voting Rights Counsel, UCLA Voting Rights Project	Teresa Woody Litigation Director, Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice

Friday, March 30

2:30 pm: Welcome

Peggy Li, Senior Director of Chapter, ACS

Joshua Sellers, Associate Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law

2:40 pm: Keynote

Pam Karlan, Stanford Law School

3:10 pm: Student Networking Activity

4:00 pm: Group Speed Networking

Pam Karlan, Stanford Law School

Zinelle October, Executive Vice President, ACS

John Dacey, Founder and Executive Director, Abolish Private Prisons

Joshua Sellers, Associate Professor of Law, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law

Thea Cohen, Director of Strategic Engagement, ACS

Taonga Leslie, Director of Policy and Program for Racial Justice, ACS

5:00 pm: Reception and Keynote Remarks

Bo Dul, General Counsel, Office of Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs

Jevin Hodge, National Engagement Director, LINK Strategic Partners; Business and Community Leader; Former Congressional Candidate

Zinelle October, Executive Vice President, ACS (Moderator)
Introduced by Allison Sluga, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law ‘24

5:45 pm: Reception

7:00 pm: Happy Hour (Off-Site)

The Churchill
901 N 1st St
Phoenix, AZ 85004 (Google map)

Saturday, April 1

7:00 am: Morning Jog

Meet at the corner of N 1st Street and E Taylor Street next to the law school

8:30 am: Breakfast

Owen Flomberg, Washington University School of Law ‘23; Board Member, ACS National Board of Directors; ACS Next Generation Leader

9:30 am: Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Panel

Sarah Belton, Clinical Supervising Attorney, Racial Justice Project and Lecturer in Law, Stanford Law School

Taonga Leslie, Director of Policy and Program for Racial Justice, ACS (Moderator)

Donald K. Tamaki, Senior Counsel, Minami Tamaki LLP; Co-Founder, StopRepeatingHistory.Org; Member, California Reparations Task Force

Rebecca Tsosie, University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law

11:00 am: Keynote

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes
Introduced by Freeman Halle, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law ‘23

11:30 am: Creative and Effective Changemaking

Leticia Rojas, Associate Director of Communications, Texas Civil Rights Project

Shefali Milczarek-Desai, Distinguished Public Service Scholar; Associate Clinical Professor of Law; Director of the Workers’ Rights Clinic; Co-Director of the Bacon Immigration Law and Policy Program, University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law

Faith Pensinger, Assistant Director of Chapters, ACS (Moderator)

Teresa Woody, Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice

12:30 pm: Lunch

1:30 pm: I Did It, You Can Too: Practitioners’ Panel

Sumit Kapur, University of Virginia School of Law ’24 (Moderator)

Heather Hamel, The People’s Law Firm

Rylee Sommers-Flanagan, Upper Seven Law

Sonni Waknin, Managing Attorney and Voting Rights Counsel, UCLA Voting Rights Project

2:45 pm: Mental Health, Resilience, and Mindfulness

Alexis Firehawk, Shareholder, Carpenter Hazlewood; Arizona State University’s Center for Mindfulness, Compassion, and Resilience, Mindfulness Leadership Certificate

4:00 pm: Path to the Bench

Hon. Edward M. Chen, Senior District Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Thea Cohen, Director of Strategic Engagement, ACS (Moderator)

Hon. Roopali H. Desai, Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Hon. Melissa Hart, Justice, Colorado Supreme Court

Hon. Andrew Jacobs, Judge, Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One

5:00 pm: Closing Reception

The 2023 ACS Student Convention will be taking place at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law in Phoenix, Arizona from Friday, March 31 through Saturday, April 1.

Please stay tuned to this page for information about the program, speakers, and event schedule as it becomes available.

A NOTE ABOUT COVID-19: By attending the ACS Convention in person, you voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19 and further acknowledge that you understand and will follow all health and safety protocols established by the Centers for Disease Control, and the local health department, as implemented by ACS and the law school. Failure to abide by all health and safety protocols implemented for the event is grounds for being asked to leave the event without a refund. We are requiring that by March 31, 2023, all attendees be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 as defined by the CDC and will have received at least one COVID booster in the last year, and that they will provide proof thereof (photo acceptable) at the time of check-in at convention. Failure to provide such proof will result in not being admitted to the in-person convention.

To help make ACS Conventions accessible to law students, ACS has limited needs-based convention scholarships to help offset the costs of attendance for qualified applicants. Scholarship packages are based on the information you provide in your application; therefore, please fill out this form completely and accurately. Scholarships will be awarded on a rolling basis. We encourage you to apply early and share this information with your membership.

Scholarships will be granted on a rolling basis, so apply early! 

APPLY