Please join ACS, BLSA, First Class, La Alianza, and SALSA for a roundtable discussion with Nika Elugardo. Nika served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, representing Brookline, Jamaica Plain, and Mission Hill for two terms and later as Chief Counsel to United States Senator Ed Markey.

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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.

Interested in getting more involved with ACS next year? Have an idea for programming that you’d like to see come to life? Come to the General Body Meeting and learn more about what it’s like leading the Temple student chapter! Members of our current Executive Board will be there to talk about our roles, answer questions, and highlight all the wonderful opportunities that come from heading a law student chapter of the national organization. Lunch will be provided.

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.”

Join ACS to hear from a panel of three Texas Civil Rights Project attorneys, Dustin Rynders, Christina Beeler, and Kirsten Budwine. Lunch will be provided.

American society is more polarized than ever before. We are strategically being pushed apart by disinformation—the deliberate spreading of lies disguised as truth—and it comes at us from all sides: opportunists on the far right, Russian misinformed social media influencers, among others. It’s endangering our democracy and causing havoc in our electoral system, schools, hospitals, workplaces, and in our Capitol. Advances in technology including rapid developments in artificial intelligence threaten to make the problems even worse by amplifying false claims and manufacturing credibility.

Please join the ACS South Florida Lawyer Chapter for a discussion with legal scholar and analyst Barbara McQuade, who discusses her new book, Attack from Within, and shows us how to identify the ways disinformation is seeping into all facets of our society and how we can fight against it. 

Featuring:

Barbara McQuade is a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School, her alma mater, where she teaches courses in criminal law, criminal procedure, national security, and data privacy. She is also a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, and a co-host of the podcast #SistersInLaw. From 2010 to 2017, McQuade served as U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Ms. McQuade was appointed by President Barack Obama, and was the first woman to serve in her position. Earlier in her career, she worked as a sports writer and copy editor, a judicial law clerk, an associate in private practice, and an assistant U.S. attorney. She and her husband have four children and live in Ann Arbor.

Moderator:

Wifredo A. “Willy” Ferrer, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, is the chair of Holland & Knight’s Global Compliance and Investigations Team and the executive partner of the firm’s Miami office. Mr. Ferrer focuses his practice primarily on internal corporate investigations, corporate compliance and training, and white collar criminal defense.

Register here.