Seeking a Public Sector Career in a Recession

Entering the workforce during an economic downturn is always a scary proposition; seeking a job during a public health and economic crisis can be downright terrifying. This is especially true for public sector jobs, which become more scarce as tax revenues shrink and hiring freezes are put in place. Fortunately for current public sector job seekers, some members of the ACS network went through a similar experience during the Great Recession and are joining the ACS Sacramento, Austin, Bay Area, Columbus, Los Angeles, and Puget Sound Lawyer Chapters for a panel discussion on the advice they have for students, recent graduates, and other folks looking to enter the public sector.

Featuring:
Adelina Acuña, Deputy Attorney General, Consumer Protection Section, California Department of Justice; Chair Emeritus, ACS Bay Area Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors
Jill Habig, Founder, Public Rights Project; Former Special Counsel to then-San Francisco District Attorney and Attorney General Kamala Harris; Member, ACS Bay Area Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors​​​​​​​
Jerome Price, Assistant Federal Public Defender, The Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of California Gabriel Ravel, Deputy Secretary and General Counsel, California Government Operations Agency

A Brave New World: The Future of Tech Regulation

 

 

Big technology companies have changed daily life across the globe, making us more connected, more efficient, and more mobile. But critics accuse them of violating privacy rights, engaging in anti-competitive behavior, and contributing to our election crises with lax policies on political ads and the spread of disinformation. As a result, the call for them to be more effectively regulated has grown louder in recent years and multiple antitrust investigations have been initiated to review tech market power. What would regulation of technology companies look like? Are the states capable of effective regulation or is federal regulation needed? And what are these companies already doing to respond to critics' concerns? Watch our discussion on the future of tech regulation in an increasingly virtual world.

Featured Speakers:

Leah Nylen, Technology Reporter, Politico, Moderator

Danielle Citron, Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law

Markham Erickson, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Google

Tim Wu, Julius Silver Professor of Law, Science, and Technology, Columbia Law School

ACS State AG Project: Addressing Police Misconduct and Unconstitutional Policing, Virtual Panel Discussion

A substantive discussion on police pattern or practice investigations, and options for state attorneys general to implement accountability and oversight of police departments in their states.

Moderator: Zenita Wickham Hurley, Chief Counsel, Office of Civil Rights, Maryland Office of the Attorney General

Speakers: Roy L. Austin, Jr.,Partner,Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP; Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Kami Chavis, Associate Provost for Academic Initiatives, Professor of Law, Director of Criminal Justice Program, Wake Forest Law

Christy E. Lopez, Professor from Practice, Georgetown Law; Co-Director, Innovative Policing Program; Former Deputy Chief, Special Litigation Section, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice

Video: The 2019-2020 Supreme Court Review

On July 22, ACS held our annual panel discussion reviewing the current Supreme Court Term as it draws to a close. Leading experts discussed the Court's noteworthy decisions and analyzed emerging trends.

Welcome Remarks:
Russ Feingold, ACS President

Panelists:
Thomas Goldstein, Partner, Goldstein and Russell, P.C.; Co-Founder and Publisher, SCOTUSblogModerator
Jonathan Adler, Johan Verheij Memorial Professor of Law; Director, Coleman P. Burke Center for Environmental Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO, National Women's Law Center
Omar Jadwat, Director, ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project
Victoria Nourse, Ralph V. Whitworth Professor in Law; Director, Center on Congressional Studies, Georgetown University Law Center
Micah Schwartzman, Hardy Cross Dillard Professor of Law; Martha Lubin Karsh and Bruce A. Karsh Bicentennial Professor of Law; Director, Karsh Center for Law and Democracy; University of Virginia School of Law

The American Constitution Society is a State Bar of California approved CLE provider. This event has been approved for 1.5 hours of California MCLE credit.

For CLE documentation, click here.

As the nation's leading progressive legal organization, ACS is committed to ensuring that all aspects of our events are accessible and enjoyable for all. If you require any accommodations, please contact us at info@acslaw.org

ACS Columbus: ALTERNATIVE FACTS Panel Discussion

On July 14, the ACS Columbus Lawyer Chapter and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Central Ohio hosted a panel discussion concerning the film ALTERNATIVE FACTS: The Lies of Executive Order 9066.

ALTERNATIVE FACTS tells the story of false information and political influence that led to the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans and the Supreme Court case of Korematsu, the case of Korematsu, a horrifically-decided case that upheld the constitutionality of the internment of Japanese-Americans. It also examines the parallels to the targeting of minority groups today and similar attempts to abuse the powers of government.

Our distinguished panelists shared reflections on the documentary and connected the lessons of Korematsu to the present. Judge Chen was appointed by President Obama to the federal bench in May 2011 after an illustrious career, including work as a staff attorney at the ACLU, where he specialized in language discrimination cases. Among many other impactful accomplishments, Don Tamaki served on the legal team that reopened the 1944 Korematsu case, overturning Fred Korematsu’s criminal conviction for defying the removal of Japanese Americans. Finally, Dahlia Lithwick speaks frequently on criminal justice reform, reproductive freedom, and religion in the courts, and her columns and podcast untangle the most complex legal issues of our time.

 

Introductory Remarks:

Anna Sanyal, Member, ACS Columbus Lawyer Chapter Board of Directors and Immediate Past President, Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Central Ohio

 

Featuring:

The Honorable Edward M. Chen, District Judge, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Donald K. Tamaki, Managing Partner, Minami Tamaki

 

Moderated by:

Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor and Legal Correspondent, Slate: Host, Amicus Podcast; Recipient, 2018 ACS Progressive Champion Award

Tinkering with the Machinery of Death: Resuming Federal Executions

On July 8, 2020, ACS held a discussion of the federal death penalty, the reasons for the nearly 20-year moratorium on federal executions, and the concerns over this quick succession of executions planned for this summer in the face of continued criticism that the death penalty is arbitrary, racially biased, and plagued by poor, under-resourced lawyering.

The first federal execution since 2003 is scheduled for July 13, 2020, with three additional executions following just days later. U.S. Attorney General William Barr has scheduled these executions despite pending litigation in these cases and serious concerns about the legality, constitutionality, and humaneness of federal execution protocols.

Remarks By:
Gary Tyler, Former Death Row Inmate, Outreach and Engagement Support Worker, Safe Place for Youth

Featured Speakers:
Miriam Gohara, Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Yale Law School
Megan McCracken, Eighth Amendment Resource Counsel
Russ Feingold, ACS President, Moderator