2005-2006
Spring 2006
Spring 2006
Jamienne S. Studley, President and CEO, Public Advocates, Inc.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Topic: Making Rights Real
Jamienne S. Studley, President of Public Advocates since May 2004, is an advocate and leader in education, public service, law practice, and non-profit management. She was President of Skidmore College and during the Clinton Administration served as deputy and acting General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education. As Associate Dean and Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School she helped establish the loan forgiveness program for graduates in public service, and as Executive Director of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP) spearheaded its race, gender and sexual orientation equity programs. She was also executive director of California Abortion Rights Action League and practiced law in two DC firms. She is a graduate of Barnard College (1972 magna cum laude) and Harvard Law School.
Irma Herrera, Executive Director, Equal Rights Advocates
Monday, January 30, 2006
Topic: Women v. Wal-Mart: The Sex-Discrimination Case Against the Largest Employer of Women in the U.S.
Irma D. Herrera has served as Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates (ERA), since 1996. Prior to joining ERA, Ms. Herrera was the Director of Education Programs and a staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund; and served as staff attorney and the Development Director for the Multicultural Education and Training Advocacy, serving minority and poor children on education-related issues. Ms. Herrera began her legal career as a public interest lawyer, representing Spanish-speaking migrant farm workers throughout Washington State. During the 1980s, Ms. Herrera worked as a free lance journalist-investigating and reporting on legal and cultural issues. Her articles appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post and Ms. Magazine. Ms. Herrera is a 2001 recipient of the prestigious Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award by the American Bar Association's (ABA) Commission on Women in the Profession.
Brandt Goldstein, Author of Storming the Court: How a Band of Yale Law Students Sued the President and Won
Monday, February 13, 2006
Topic: How Law Students Shut Down the First Guantanamo Detention Camp
Brandt Goldstein is an attorney and writer whose articles have been published in The New York Times Magazine, Slate, and elsewhere. A 1992 graduate of Yale Law School, he served as a law clerk to Judge Harry T. Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circui and then practiced at two private firms in Washington for several years. A co-founder of the online legal commentary journal Writ and formerly a research associate at Yale Law School, Brandt is a member of the D.C. Bar. He is also co-author, with Dahlia Lithwick, of a legal parody, Me v. Everybody: Absurd Contracts for an Absurd World (Workman 2003).
Barbara Olshanksy, Deputy Director of Litigation and Movement Support, Center for Constitutional Rights
Monday, February 27, 2006
Topic: Tilting the Scales of Justice: The Dangerous Expansion of Executive Power by the Bush Administration
Barbara Olshansky is Deputy Director for Litigation and Movement Support at the Center for Constitutional Rights where her docket includes class action lawsuits concerning immigrants' rights, race discrimination in employment and education, environmental justice and public health, prisoners' rights, and Native American rights. Olshanksy has also litigated several “war on terror” cases including Turkmen v. Ashcroft, a class action lawsuit challenging the United States’ unlawful arrest and detention of Arab and Muslim immigrants and foreign visitors in the wake of the September 11th attacks and In re Guantánamo Cases, the 111 habeas cases (for 500 prisoners) brought to implement the decision in Rasul v. Bush, affirming the right of the Guantánamo detainees to challenge the legality of their detention by means of the writ of habeas corpus.
Olshanksy is also currently challenging on U.S. constitutional and international law grounds the military commissions scheduled for a number of Guantánamo detainees. Olshanksy has enjoyed a distinctive career in many fields of the law working at Environmental Defense and at a small plaintiffs' side employment discrimination and union side firm in New York City. She is the author of Democracy Detained: Secret, Unconstitutional Practices in the U.S. War on Terror. She received her J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Dale Minami '71, Partner Minami, Lew & Tamaki LLP
Monday, March 13, 2006
Topic: Fraud on the Supreme Court: The Japanese American War Time Case
Dale Minami '71 is a partner with Minami, Lew and Tamaki in San Francisco. Mr. Minami has been involved in significant litigation involving the civil rights of Asian Pacific Americans and other minorities, including Korematsu v. United States, a lawsuit to overturn a 40 year old conviction for refusal to obey exclusion orders aimed at Japanese Americans during WWII, originally upheld by US Supreme Court in landmark decisions and United Pilipinos for Affirmative Action v. California Blue Shield, the first class action employment lawsuit brought by Asian Pacific Americans on behalf of Asian Pacific Americans. He was also a co-founder of the Asian Law Caucus, Inc. a co-founder of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, the Asian Pacific Bar of California and the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans. In recognition of his achievements, Mr. Minami has received numerous awards including the American Bar Association’s 2003 Thurgood Marshall Award.
John Burris '73, Law Offices of John Burris
Monday, March 20, 2006
Topic: Civil Rights: Policing Our Communities
Famed civil rights attorney John Burris ’73 has been a voice in the Oakland community for more than a decade. A crusader for those disenfranchised by the criminal justice system, Burris tirelessly works on behalf of his clients and their families. Burris has worked in many different areas of law as a prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, and presently as a police misconduct lawyer. John Burris forged new ground in the area of police misconduct in Oakland, California successfully representing those who had been victimized by a system set up to protect and serve them. Burris'expertise has led to his involvement in very high profile cases. He was a member of the Rodney King civil trial team and a legal analyst during the O.J. Simpson criminal trial for local as well as national news organizations including Geraldo, NBC, CNN and ABC News. For years Burris has shared his legal knowledge with the community as a lecturer and panel participant for a myriad of organizations and groups.
Guy Wallace, Partner, Schneider & Wallace
Monday, April 10, 2006
Topic: Why Disability Access Matters
Guy Wallace is a graduate of Harvard Law School. He began his career in public interest law, and was the recipient of a SkaddenArpsFellowship. He has extensive experience in class action and impact litigation on behalf of persons with disabilities and other protected classes. He is a frequent lecturer on disability law issues, and he has authored various publications on the topic. Mr. Wallace practices exclusively in the areas of civil rights and consumer rights. He is a recognized specialist in class action litigation. His expertise includes both disability access and employment class action cases. Mr. Wallace lectures and writes extensively about the practice of impact litigation. He has been a wheelchair user since the age of 16 as the result of a spinal injury.