Please join the ACS Oregon Lawyer Chapter and the Public Interest Careers for a panel of public interest attorneys, both from legal aid and public defender programs to learn more about their perspectives on this engaging and important work. Come to learn more about a rewarding career path in public interest law and consider joining their ranks!

Featuring:

Erika Hente, Managing Attorney, Oregon Law Center

Melanie Maldonado, Paralegal, Oregon Law Center

Christopher "Kit" Morgan, Attorney, Intermountain Public Defender

Divine Zheng, Staff Attorney, Legal Aid Services of Oregon

Moderator:

Emily Teplin Fox, State Support Unit Attorney, Oregon Law Center; ACS Oregon LC Board Member

Join UMN ACS and OutLaw as we host rockstar local litigators to discuss the current state of LGBTQ+ rights in Minnesota and what the state is doing in response to surrounding state restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals.

Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail last year. Our panel discussion will explore the implementation of the reform, confront myths and realities around the law, and consider broader implications for the justice system in Illinois and the nation.

Panelists include:

Sharone Mitchell, Cook County Public Defender

Insha Rahman, Vera Institute for Justice

Joe Tabor, Illinois Policy Institute

Raff Donelson of the Chicago-Kent College of Law will moderate the panel.

ACS & Supreme Court Forum Event on Special Counsel:

Join Professor Bob Bauer, former White House Counsel and Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at NYU Law, and Professor Jack Goldsmith, former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel and Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, for a discussion on the institution of the special counsel. 

This is a timely conversation in light of controversies and questions that have confronted special counsels from Robert Mueller and the Russia election interference investigation to Robert Hur and the recent report declining to prosecute President Biden for his handling of classified material. Professors Goldsmith and Bauer will discuss whether the institution should be retained in its current form, reformed, or ended. 

You can read more about their different perspectives in this piece from Professor Goldsmith in the New York Times and this response from Professor Bauer in Lawfare. 

This event will be in Vanderbilt 204 on Monday, April 15th at 1:10 pm and is sponsored by the Supreme Court Forum. We will be providing lunch from Saigon Shack.

Join us for a presentation from Monroe County, Indiana Prosecutor Erika Oliphant and Indiana University Paul H. O’Neil Professor Eric Grommon about their award-winning research examining prosecutorial decision making and the potential impacts on racial and ethnic disparities in the county. 

The research project, sponsored by a grant from Arnold Ventures, describes the use of prosecutorial discretion for traffic and misdemeanor cases from charging through sentencing, documenting racial and ethnic disparities across decision-making, assessing local diversion policy and practices, and providing public-facing data to promote transparency and accountability. A partnership between the county Prosecutor's Office, local chapter of the NAACP, and Indiana University O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the project is critical—and unique—because research often focuses on large cities rather than areas that are representative of counties nationwide. “The justice system often falls short of its constitutional duties to be fair and impartial to everyone," Prosecutor Oliphant noted. "I truly believe this type of assessment is simply the right thing to do and helps us find ways to improve the system while increasing public transparency about what we are doing.”