2025 CLE Conference on Gender Discrimination and Harassment Law

 

 

January 23-24, 2025

At Berkeley Law and Online via Zoom

 

Conference Brochure

Register for the 2025 CLE Conference here!

 

Conference Program

Day 1: Thursday, January 23

9:00 – 9:15 am
Opening Remarks from Dean Erwin Chemerinsky

9:15 – 10:00 am
Disability and Sexual Harassment/Violence

10:00 – 11:00 am
Developments in Title IX: Transgender and Nonbinary Students

11:00 – 11:30 am
Coffee Break and Small Group Discussions

11:30 – 12:15 pm
Sexual Harassment in Africa

12:15 – 1:00 pm
Keynote Speaker – TBA

1:00 – 1:45 pm
Lunch and Small Group Discussions on Keynote Presentation

1:45 – 2:00 pm
Celebration of Lindsay E. Harris

2:00 – 3:00 pm
Title VII Religious Exemptions and Equality Law; Balancing Competing Rights

3:00 – 3:45 pm
Trauma Informed Lawyering: Investigations and Litigation as a Trauma-Inducing Process

3:45 – 4:15 pm
Coffee Break

4:15 – 5:00 pm 
Keynote Presentation by Prof. Karen O’Connell
“Sexual harassment as an environmental stressor and health harm: How should law respond?”

5:00 – 5:45 pm
New Developments in Class Actions

5:45 pm
Reception with Hors D’oeuvres

 

Day 2: Friday, January 24

8:30 – 9:00 am 
Breakfast 

9:00 – 9:45 am
Intersectionality and Sexual Harassment 

9:45 – 10:30 am
Keynote Presentation by Prof. Shaakirrah R. Sanders
“When Tenure Fails to Protect Against Discrimination and Retaliation”

10:30 – 10:45 am
Coffee Break 

10:45 – 11:45 am 
Restorative Justice 

11:45 – 12:45 pm
Investigations (Investigating a Title VII Complaint)

12:45 – 1:30 pm
Lunch and Small Group Discussions on Investigations

1:30 – 2:15 pm
Keynote Presentation by Prof. Celeste Kidd
AI and Employment Discrimination

2:15 – 3:00 pm
Developments in CA Discrimination Law

3:00 – 3:15 pm
Coffee Break 

3:15 – 4:00 pm
Mandatory Arbitration

4:00 – 4:45 pm
Keynote Presentation by Prof. Khiara M. Bridges 
“Impact of Dobbs and/or Election Results on Reproductive Rights and Employment for Women”

4:45 – 5:15 pm
Small Group Discussions on Keynote Presentations (with lemonade/soda)

5:15 – 5:30 pm
Closing Remarks by Prof. David B. Oppenheimer

 

Registration Fee for the 2025 CLE Conference
(EARLY BIRD until November 15)

In-Person Participation: $650 ($550 with EARLY BIRD)

Online Participation via Zoom: $495 ($395 with EARLY BIRD)

 

Optional Day 3: Saturday, January 25 
Investigations Training Program

This interactive small group full day training, hosted by the Oppenheimer Investigations Group, will cover the fundamentals of performing a workplace investigation. It is aimed at attorneys with some experience in employment law. It is limited to 20 participants. The training covers:

  1. How different types of biases can impact investigations and how to avoid those biases
  2. The ethics of performing an independent workplace investigation with an emphasis on attorney ethics
  3. Planning an investigation
  4. Interviewing skills (including a practicum in interviewing)
  5. Writing a report (including a practicum in writing an report analysis)
  6. Analyzing evidence and making a finding based on the preponderance of the evidence.

Click here for more information including the training program agenda.

The fee to register for this training program is $795 ($695 with EARLY BIRD). Registration for this training program is separate from the conference – to get the registration link, please email Charlie Tsunoda, the Administrative Director, at charlietsunoda@berkeley.edu.

 

Speaker Biographies

  • Photo of Alexis Alvarez

    Alexis M. Alvarez

    • Associate Chief Counsel at the California Civil Rights Department
    • she/her
  • Photo of Julianna Bass

    Julianna Bass

    • J.D. Candidate at the University of Chicago Law School
    • she/her
  • Khiara Bridges

    Khiara M. Bridges

    • Professor of Law at Berkeley Law
    • she/her
  • Photo of Lucy-Ann Buckley

    Lucy-Ann Buckley

    • Head of School and Full Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Limerick School of Law
    • she/her
  • Photo of Madeline Buitelaar

    Madeline Buitelaar

    • Attorney and Workplace Investigator at Oppenheimer Investigations Group
    • she/her
  • Photo of Nancy Chi Cantalupo

    Nancy Chi Cantalupo

    • Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Belonging at Wayne State University Law School
    • she/her
  • Portrait of Laura Carlson

    Laura Carlson

    • Professor of Law at Stockholm University Department of Law
    • she/her
  • Erwin Chemerinsky headshot

    Erwin Chemerinsky

    • Dean of Berkeley Law
    • he/him
  • Photo of Megan E. Cistulli

    Megan Cistulli

    • JD/MBA Candidate at the University of Chicago Law School and Booth School of Business
    • she/her
  • Photo of Jalle Dafa

    Jallé Dafa

    • Partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein
    • she/her
  • Photo of Menaka Fernando

    Menaka N. Fernando

    • Partner at Outten and Golden
    • she/her
  • Photo of Oshia Gainer Banks

    Oshia Gainer Banks

    • Administrative Judge at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
    • she/her
  • Photo of Nikki Hall

    Nikki Hall

    • Managing Partner at Van Dermyden Makus Law Corporation
    • she/her
  • Photo of Zeba Huq

    Zeba Huq

    • Civil Rights Attorney
    • she/her
  • Photo of Maha Ibrahim

    Maha Ibrahim

    • Senior Attorney, Litigation & Policy and Managing Attorney, End Sexual Violence in Education Program at Equal Rights Advocates
    • she/her
  • Photo of Hannah-Beth Jackson

    Hannah-Beth Jackson

    • Former California State Senator
    • she/her
  • Photo of AJ Stone Jonathan

    AJ Stone Jonathan

    • Berkeley Law JD '24 and San Jose State MLIS candidate '25
    • they/them
  • Rosha Jones, Headshot

    Rosha Jones

    • Partner at Folger Levin
    • she/her
  • Photo of Celeste Kidd

    Celeste Kidd

    • Associate Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley
    • she/her
  • David Lowe Headshot

    David Lowe

    • Partner at Rudy Exelrod Zieff & Lowe LLP
    • he/him
  • Ngozi Joy Maduafor

    • Lecturer at the Nile University of Nigeria
    • she/her
  • Photo of Louise Melling

    Louise Melling

    • Deputy Legal Director and Director of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Center for Liberty at the ACLU
    • she/her
  • Photo of Beth W. Mora

    Beth Mora

    • Mora Employment Law
    • she/her
  • Photo of Wendy Musell

    Wendy Musell

    • Law Offices of Wendy Musell
    • she/her
  • Photo of Lindsay Nako

    Lindsay Nako

    • Executive Director of the Impact Fund
    • she/her
  • Ann Noel Headshot

    Ann Noel

    • Former General Counsel (ret.) at the Fair Employment and Housing Commission
    • she/her
  • Photo of Joelle C. Nwabueze

    Joelle Nwabueze

    • Associate Professor of Law and Head of Business Law at the Enugu State University of Science and Technology
    • she/her
  • Karen O'Connell

    • Professor of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney
    • she/her
  • Photo of Kel O'Hara

    Kel O'Hara

    • Senior Attorney, Policy & Education Equity at Equal Rights Advocates
    • they/them
  • David Oppenheimer, Headshot

    David B. Oppenheimer

    • Clinical Professor of Law at Berkeley Law
    • he/him
  • Photo of Larry Organ

    Larry Organ

    • Founding Partner of the California Civil Rights Law Group
    • he/him
  • Photo of Asaf Orr

    Asaf Orr

    • Assistant Chief Counsel at the California Civil Rights Department
    • he/him
  • Photo of Alan Reinach

    Alan Reinach

    • Executive Director of the Church State Council
    • he/him
  • Photo of Shaakirrah R. Sanders

    Shaakirrah R. Sanders

    • Professor of Law, Lewis H. Vovakis Distinguished Faculty Scholar, and Associate Dean for Antiracism and Critical Pedagogy at Penn State Dickinson Law
    • she/her
  • Photo of Furaha-Joy Sekai Saungweme

    Furaha-Joy Sekai Saungweme

    • Regional Coordinator of the Africa End Sexual Harassment Initiative (AESHI)
    • she/her
  • Photo of Bryan Schwartz

    Bryan Schwartz

    • Bryan Schwartz Law
    • he/him
  • Photo of Jessica Ramey Stender

    Jessica Ramey Stender

    • Policy Director and Deputy Legal Director at Equal Rights Advocates
    • she/her
  • Photo of Elizabeth Tang

    Elizabeth Tang

    • Senior Counsel for Education and Workplace Justice at the National Women’s Law Center
    • she/her
  • Photo of Yoana Tchoukleva

    Yoana Tchoukleva

    • Lecturer in Law at Berkeley Law, Restorative Justice Practitioner
    • she/they
  • Photo of Lauren Teukolsky

    Lauren Teukolsky

    • Teukolsky Law
    • she/her
  • Vida Thomas, Headshot

    Vida Thomas

    • Managing Partner at Oppenheimer Investigations Group
    • she/her
  • Photo of Steve Tindall

    Steve Tindall

    • Partner at Gibbs Law Group
    • he/him
  • Photo of Cara Trapani

    Cara Trapani

    • Attorney & Title IX Investigator at Buehler Trapani LLP
    • she/her
  • Photo of Ilona Turner

    Ilona Turner

    • Partner at Oppenheimer Investigations Group
    • she/her
  • Photo of Mariko Yoshihara

    Mariko Yoshihara

    • Yoshihara Law and Policy
    • she/her
  • Photo of Ella Zheng

    Ella Zheng

    • Managing Partner at Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight
    • she/her