Sponsored by: Women's Bar Association of the District of Columbia

Co-Sponsors:

Metropolitan Washington Employment Lawyers Association (MWELA)

American Constitution Society (ACS) DC Lawyers Chapter

 

Recent actions of the Administration to “optimize” the federal work force have involved en masse firings of thousands of federal public servants including many probationary employees across agencies. Several lawsuits from civil rights and advocacy groups on behalf of fired employees have been filed challenging these actions, including a class action complaint asking the Office of Special Counsel to intervene on behalf of employees.  

While those cases work their way through the courts, what are your next steps? What are your rights as a probationary employee? What must you do to preserve your rights? This lunchtime program will offer a quick primer (not legal advise) for probationary employees seeking to best position themselves at this time of uncertainty.

 

Speaker:

Elaine Fitch,  Managing Partner, Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman, and Fitch, P.C. (KCNF)

Moderator:

Renee-Lauren Ellis, WBA Board Member & In-House Counsel

About the Speaker

Elaine L. Fitch, Managing Partner, KCNF, is a fierce advocate for civil rights in the workplace. She has spent her career fighting for federal and private sector employees confronted with a variety of issues including security clearance matters, disability issues, including failure to accommodate, all types of discrimination and harassment, and federal disciplinary matters. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-fitch-she-her-b74a853a/ )

Cost:

Members $0

Non-Members $0

 

Refunds can only be processed for cancelations received more than two business days prior to the event.

The WBA is a nonpartisan organization. The opinions and positions expressed by any program speaker are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the WBA.

The WBA regularly hosts programs for the education and enjoyment of its members and guests. The WBA is committed to ensuring that its employees, members, and guests are able to conduct their activities free from harassment or intimidation. The WBA, in its sole discretion, therefore reserves the right to deny access or to remove any attendee.

https://wbadc.member365.com/public/event/details/f9285ac78d5c55b4480022b182e1132ed3184557/1

In collaboration with Drexel Chapter of ACS on Wednesday, February 26th at 12:30 PM, hosted a panel discussion with Drexel and Penn Law professors on the future of regulatory work in our current sociopolitical climate.

Documentary screening of "Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution"

This is our monthly board meeting, where we'll be discussing this semester's ongoing events, including a few high-profile ones with Gary Peters and Neil Eggleston.

This will be a panel discussion with Professor Schlanger and Professor Bagenstos about the impacts of Trump's mass federal firing / DOGE agenda on labor and the administrative state, and the resistance efforts being raised by workers, labor unions, and allies. We are co-sponsoring this event with the Michigan Immigration and Labor Law Association.

So, you want to clerk? How will you access candid information about judges’ managerial styles, chambers culture, work environments, and treatment of clerks?

As recent judicial accountability news underscores, the importance of identifying a good fit and avoiding judges who mistreat their clerks has never been clearer.

Join Aliza Shatzman, President and Founder of The Legal Accountability Project (LAP), the first and only nonprofit working full-time to ensure that judicial law clerks have positive clerkship experiences, while extending support and resources to those who do not, for a candid conversation about judicial accountability and clerking. Aliza will explain the reforms LAP works on – in collaboration with law schools and the judiciary – to ensure transparency, diversity and equity, and accountability in judicial clerkship and the judiciary.

After graduating from WashU Law, Aliza clerked in D.C. Superior Court during the 2019-2020 term. In March 2022, after Aliza was harassed, terminated, and retaliated against by a now-former D.C. judge, Aliza testified before Congress about the necessity of extending federal anti-discrimination protections to more than 30,000 federal judiciary employees. Aliza launched LAP soon after to correct injustices she experienced as a law student and law clerk.

Learn how you can get involved with LAP’s clerkship transparency movement right now. By fostering candid dialogue about workplace conduct, LAP is transforming the clerkship system and legal profession for the next generation of attorneys, shining a spotlight on historically under-discussed issues, and innovating in slow-to-change spaces.