Double-Consciousness: Women of Color as Advocates for Ourselves and Others
Event Information
Description
Empowering Women of Color (EWOC) at Columbia Law School is proud to announce our third annual conference: Double-Consciousness: Women of Color as Advocates for Ourselves and Others. This year, we are thrilled to announce our partnership with the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law for a symposium issue in addition to our continued partnership with the African American Policy Forum (AAPF) and the Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies (CISPS).
Though many women of color professionally engage with their intersectional identities in individualized ways, the unique challenge of double-consciousness is one we all face in our work as advocates. This year’s conference will create a space for strategizing around that challenge through several panel discussions. Our discussions will center on balancing our reality as individual citizens who are subject to the law with our role as advocates armed with the power of the law. The conference will open with keynote remarks from Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam.
Attendance at the conference is free for registered guests. The Constance Baker Motley Gala will follow in the evening from 6:30-9:30pm. Additional information regarding the purchase of gala tickets will follow.
Information Regarding New York CLE Credits:
Columbia Law School has been certified by the New York State Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Board as an Accredited Provider of CLE programs. Under New York State CLE regulations, this live transitional and non-transitional CLE Program will provide 3.5 credit hours that can be applied toward the Areas of Professional Practice requirement. CLE credit is awarded only to New York attorneys for full attendance of the Program in its entirety. Attorneys attending only part of a Program are not eligible for partial credit for it, although they are most welcome to attend it. Attendance is determined by an attorney's sign-in and sign-out, as shown in the Conference registers. On sign-out, attorneys should also submit their completed Evaluation Form, provided at the Conference. Please note the NYS Certificates of Attendance will be sent to the email address as it appears in the register unless otherwise noted there.
Conference Agenda
9:30 a.m. Check-In & Light Breakfast
10:00 a.m. Keynote Speech by Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam, Associate Judge, New York State Court of Appeals
10:30 a.m. Panel: Advocacy in Practice: Women of Color and our Allies
Moderator: Amreeta Mathai, Team Leader, Lecturer in Law, and Attorney, Civil Action Practice, The Bronx Defenders
Paulette Brown, Partner and Co-Chair, Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Locke Lord LLP
Madeline Gomez, Legal Fellow, Center for Reproductive Rights
Jinhee Lee, Deputy Director of Litigation, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
Jessica Ortiz, Partner, MoloLamken LLP
Saee Muzumdar, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
11:30 a.m. Networking Lunch for all registered guests and conference participants
1:10 p.m. Discussion: Women of Color and Health: Issues and Solutions; Q&A with Wilhemina's War filmmaker, June Cross
Moderator: Kristen Underhill, Associate Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
June Cross, Filmmaker & Professor, Columbia School of Journalism
Nia Weeks, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Women With a Vision, Inc.
*** Film Screening of Wilhemina's War by June Cross of the Columbia School of Journalism will be held on Thursday, March 23rd at 6PM in Jerome Greene Hall, Room JG 107, Columbia Law School.
2:20 p.m. Panel: Advocacy in Ideas: Legal Education and Social Movements
Moderator: Olatunde Johnson, Professor of Law & Vice Dean, Columbia Law School
Chantal Thomas, Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
Monica Bell, Climenko Fellow & Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School
Tanya Hernandez, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law
Solangel Maldonado, Visiting Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Rachelle Perkins, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Associate Professor, George Mason University School of Law
3:20 p.m. Closing Remarks
Elise Lopez, President, Empowering Women of Color
Organizer Empowering Women of Color at Columbia Law School
Organizer of Double-Consciousness: Women of Color as Advocates for Ourselves and Others
EWOC exists to champion diverse women at Columbia Law School in light of the unique challenges they face in the legal profession. Founded in 2010, EWOC was created to advance the needs of women of color, a community often underserved in traditional affinity groups. The inclusive organization provides a safe space for collaboration and dialogue around issues relevant women of color, supports members in their development as full participants in academic, professional, and personal communities, and strives to ensure that the greater law school community is an environment where all members feel valued, respected, and empowered. EWOC members represent multiple identities and intersect various ethnicities, genders, nationalities, orientations, and beliefs. Through ongoing programming, we strive to meet the complex needs of our diverse community.
African American Policy Forum
Cosponsor of Frontlines: Women of Color on the Forefront of Activism
The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) is an innovative think tank that connects academics, activists and policy-makers to promote efforts to dismantle structural inequality. We utilize new ideas and innovative perspectives to transform public discourse and policy. We promote frameworks and strategies that address a vision of racial justice that embraces the intersections of race, gender, class, and the array of barriers that disempower those who are marginalized in society. AAPF is dedicated to advancing and expanding racial justice, gender equality, and the indivisibility of all human rights, both in the U.S. and internationally.
Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies
Cosponsor of Frontlines: Women of Color on the Forefront of Activism
The Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies functions as a research entity and a site for intellectual dialogue and collaboration for academics who are committed to analyzing the dynamics of complex inequity and stratification, as well as to policy and legal advocacy. Our mission is to explicate, reveal, analyze, and intervene in systems of racial, economic, gender, disability, ethno-religious, age-based, and sexual subordination that generate population vulnerability, limit opportunities for legal or social redress, and contribute to collective failures to recognize and confront intersectional harm.
