HLS in the Community Schedule of Events

Chronological Schedule of Events

April 20, 2018

Breakfast

Location: Harkness Pub
Time: 8:00 am-9:30 am

Hackathon Welcome and Opening Remarks

Location: Ames Courtroom
Time: 8:30 am-9:00 am

Ideas in Action Hackathon: Do Ask, Do Tell, Do Justice: Pursuing Justice for LGBTQ Military Veterans

Location: Lewis Hall, Room 214A
Time: 9:30 am-2:45 pm
Faculty Host: Daniel Nagin
Facilitators: David Addlestone, Gavin Alexander ’12, Bryan Bishop, Andy L. Blevins, George R. Brown, John Campbell, R. Douglas Elliott, Lynn A. Girton, Betsy Gwin, John McKiggan, Shannon McLaughlin, Denny Meyer, Paula M. Neira, Peter Perkowski, Julie Rafferty, Anna Richardson, Evan R. Seamone, Jillian Shipherd, Matthew Thorn, Hanna Tripp, Jack Turco, Halee Weinstein, Evan Wolfson ’83, Jessica Youngberg

The recent attempt to ban transgender military service—foiled for the moment by litigation in federal court—is only the latest episode in a long history of discrimination against sexual and gender minorities who serve or seek to serve in the military. In this hackathon facilitated by military members, members of the LGBTQ community, and legal experts, attendees will first explore the mostly untold history of discrimination against generations of LGBTQ servicemembers and the ongoing harms experienced by LGBTQ veterans.

The first portion of the hackathon will show how and through what means successive generations of LGBTQ servicemembers were discriminated—within and sometimes driven—from the military. In many cases, LGBTQ servicemembers were given less-than-fully honorable discharges. These discharges not only impose profound stigma on LGBTQ veterans, they also frequently bar—by operation of civilian law—LGBTQ veterans from receiving critically needed veterans benefits, healthcare, and supports. To this day, thousands of LGBTQ veterans are still denied access to essential veterans services—with dire consequences for their health, financial wellbeing, and peace of mind. Even though “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and predecessor policies are long gone, their harsh consequences persist. A complex web of legal standards, filing deadlines, and other factors present enormous barriers to LGBTQ veterans who seek justice and access to essential services.

The second portion of the hackathon will engage participants in a multi-disciplinary examination of legal and non-legal remedies to enforce the rights of LGBTQ veterans and to honor and fully recognize their military service and unique sacrifices. We will tackle this topic by drawing on not only the perspectives of our expert presenters but also on your perspectives and expertise. We will assess and develop potential responses to the present-day legacy of discrimination by considering the role of civilian law, military law, communications/media, nonprofit organizations, private law firms, government, healthcare, and others.

Ideas in Action Hackathon: Speech, Technology, and Online Discourse: The Rule of Internet Intermediaries in Mediating Harmful Speech

Location: Harkness South
Time: 9:30 am-2:45 pm
Faculty Host: Christopher T. Bavitz
Facilitators: Kendra Albert, Susan Benesch, Nikki Bourassa, Tarleton Gillespie, Brian Hauss ’11, Brittan Heller, Kate Klonick, Farah Pandith, Peter Stern

The internet is a key component of daily life. Individuals increasingly rely on information and communication technologies in order to access and share news, educational content, and other information; interface with state, local, and federal government officers and agencies; participate in cultural conversations and public discourse; and engage in personal and professional communications. The landscape for content moderation and questions about the role of technology platforms in proscribing user conduct have become increasingly complex — and increasingly urgent.

In this hackathon, we will: (a) evaluate the roles that various stakeholders — from individual users, to platforms, to lawmakers — could play in combating user conduct that harms others; and (b) assess the tools at those stakeholders’ disposal. To do this, we will examine online platforms’ responsibilities — including responsibilities to users, to advertisers, to the government, and to the public at large — and evaluate how those responsibilities inform the development of meaningful policies and practices. Through small groups led by experts on online harms and larger group discussions, we will attempt to identify points of consensus.

Ideas in Action Hackathon: Strategies for Sanctuary Spaces in the Age of Deportations, Defunding, and President Donald Trump

Location: Langdell Hall, Caspersen Room
Time: 9:30 am-2:45 pm
Faculty Hosts: Sabrineh Ardalan ’02, Philip L. Torrey
Facilitators: Shannon Al-Wakeel ’10, Andy Ayers, Mana Azarmi ’17, Jennifer M. Chacón, Andrew Fuqua, Jennifer Klein, Brian Kyes, Annie Lai, Christopher Lasch, Paul Lufkin, Robert P. Marlin, Fatma E. Marouf ’02, Rebecca L. Maxey, Spring Miller ’07, Nestor Pimienta, Alex Pirie, Maura Quiroz, Sarah Rogerson, Kendra Sena ’12, Rick Su ’04, Julie Wimmer ’11, Emma Winger

In the “Age of Trump,” many local governments, schools, healthcare providers, religious institutions, courthouses, legal institutions, landlords, and business owners are trying to implement measures to protect immigrants from deportation when they are pursuing their legal rights or accessing basic needs. Our goal in this hackathon is to develop model protective policies for these communities: What types of protective strategies can these different institutions employ? What are the legal limits on how far those policies can go? How would protective strategies affect the community as a whole? How might the federal government pushback? We will facilitate small group discussions with lawyers from both the private and public sectors who specialize in a range of legal fields to answer these questions. This hackathon will draw each participant’s individual expertise to develop a collective blueprint for local communities interested in providing sanctuary spaces and other immigrant protections.

Workshop: Human Rights Advocacy

Location: WCC, Room 1023
Time: 9:30 am-11:30 am
Faculty Hosts: Susan Farbstein, Tyler Giannini
Speakers: Thomas Becker ’08, Samantha Bent Weber ’08, Krizna Gomez LL.M. ’13, Chris Mburu LL.M. ’93, Meghan L. Morris ’08

Advocates around the world rely upon human rights law, language, and methodologies in the struggle for social justice. While human rights law provides guidance on an astonishing range of issues—corporate accountability in South Africa, transitional justice in Myanmar, healthcare in Brazil, criminal justice in the United States, immigration policy in Europe, and beyond—advocates nonetheless face a host of challenges and dilemmas when seeking to translate law into meaningful, sustainable change.

Led by International Human Rights Clinic co-directors Susan Farbstein and Tyler Giannini and featuring a variety of alumni practitioners, this interactive workshop will focus on how human rights advocates blend theory with practice in order to advance social justice. Drawing on their experiences in the clinic and elsewhere, alumni will share challenges, victories, and strategies in the human rights space, ultimately seeking to answer the question: what is responsible, effective human rights advocacy? Audience members will have the opportunity to help brainstorm and share experiences and questions from human rights as well as other fields of law.

This workshop is designed for alumni, students, and staff involved in and/or interested in human rights advocacy and will include interactive discussions between presenters and audience members.

Workshop: Enabling the World Through Disability Rights

Location: WCC, Room 1010
Time: 9:30 am-11:30 am
Faculty Host: Michael Stein ’88
With: Alonzo Emery ’10
Speakers: Fengming Cui, Haben Girma ’13

The Harvard Law School Project on Disability (HPOD) works to integrate theory and practice, with our scholarly work informing our applied endeavors and vice versa. Established in 2004 to assist in the drafting of the landmark United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), HPOD has worked in more than 40 nations across the globe, from the U.S. to China to South Africa. On April 20, we will engage in a conversation about our successes and challenges in our multi-prong approach to advancing the rights of people with disabilities around the world. The discussion will include a dialogue with Harvard Law School faculty and staff, alumni, and students. We invite the participation of alumni as we discuss our developing strategy to work with people with disabilities around the world to positively change their community and society.

Workshop: Pro Bono Leadership: A Case Study

Location: Pound Hall, Room 100
Time: 9:30 am-11:30 am
Faculty Host: Scott Westfahl ’88
With: Erin Walczewski ’10

Join Scott Westfahl, professor of practice and director of Executive Education, for a “Leadership in Action” workshop to explore issues related to pro bono leadership in the private law firm and in-house departments. The workshop will use video case studies to engage participants in discussions on various leadership components including how to inspire and lead others, strengthening cross-cultural competence, developing teams, and motivating and persuading others. The discussion will focus on some of the leadership challenges confronted by law firms who are managing large-scale pro bono programs.

This workshop is designed for leaders in law firm and in-house pro bono programs, public interest lawyers who lead pro bono programs, and any alumni with an interest in pro bono leadership.

Workshop: Teaching and Lawyering for Systemic Justice in the United States

Location: Jarvis Field Tent
Time: 9:30 am-11:30 am
Faculty Host: Michael Gregory ’04
Speakers: Marco Castanos ’18, Margaret Kettles ’18, Mitha Nandagopalan ’18, Briana Williams ’18, Iris Won ’18

What are the unique knowledge, skills, and habits of mind associated with lawyering for systemic justice in the U.S.? What are effective methods for teaching these competencies to law students? How can clinics, externships, and other offerings in the experiential curriculum move beyond zealous advocacy for individual clients to engage students meaningfully in another of their ethical obligations as lawyers – to be public citizens with a special responsibility for the administration of justice and the preservation of society? This workshop is designed for clinical law teachers and others teaching as part of the experiential curriculum. It will use recent efforts at HLS to experiment with answers to the above questions as the springboard for a robust discussion.

Sustainability Table & Tours

Location: Harkness Fireside Lounge
Times: 11:30 am; 1:00 pm

Harvard University is committed to building a healthier, sustainable future that enhances the well-being of people and the planet. The University’s Climate Action Plan includes ambitious goals to be fossil fuel-free by 2050 and fossil fuel-neutral by 2026. At HLS, students, faculty, and staff support the University’s Sustainability Plan by using the campus as a test bed for working together to turn research into action and generate new ideas and solutions to real-world challenges on topics like food, energy, and waste. Stop by the sustainability table in the Harkness Fireside Lounge or take a “green tour” with our sustainability ambassadors to learn more.

Lunch

Location for Alumni: WCC Milstein East
Location for Staff and Students: Austin Hall, Room 100
Time: 12:00 pm-1:00 pm

Student and Staff Lunch Session: The National Opioid Multidistrict Litigation: The Role of Federal Judge as Problem Solver

Location: Austin Hall, Room 100
Time: 12:00 pm-1:00 pm

One of the most difficult issues Americans face today is the epidemic of opioid abuse, resulting in the deaths of more than 50,000 each year from overdoses or approximately 150 people each day. More than 400 cases brought nationwide by states, local governments, and private class action plaintiffs against the major drug manufacturers and distributors have been transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, where Judge Dan Aaron Polster ’76 presides over what the New York Times describes as “perhaps the most daunting legal challenge in the country.” Professors John Goldberg and Richard Lazarus invite students and staff to attend a lunchtime conversation with Judge Polster as he discusses his path from Harvard Law School and the Harvard Defenders to serving on the federal bench and his efforts now to catalyze the potentially transformative industrial changes needed to abate the opioid crisis.

HLS Library Tours

Location: Langdell Hall, Harvard Law School Library
Times: 12:15 pm; 12:50 pm

Learn more about HLS and legal history through this special tour focusing on art and treasures on display in the HLS Library including the bicentennial exhibit, Collection | Connections: Stories from the HLS Library.

Tours will meet by the steps of Langdell Hall.

Session: Artificial Intelligence and the Law

Location: WCC, Room 1019
Time: 1:30 pm-2:45 pm
Faculty Host: Urs Gasser LL.M. ’03
Speaker: Stephen S. Wu ’88

Five Minute Lightning Talks:
Autonomous Vehicles: Challenges for Regulators and Some Tools That Could Help
Presented by: Aida Joaquin Acosta
Beyond Regulation: Building Socially Responsible Technology:
Presented by: Kathy Pham
From Lex to Alexa: Policymaking in the Age of AI
Presented by: Ryan Budish ’07
What AI Arts Means for Humans
Presented by Jessica Fjeld

Session: Innovative Legal Services in an Era of Uncertainty and Budget Cuts

Location: WCC, Room 2004
Time: 1:30 pm-2:45 pm
Faculty Host: Eloise Lawrence
Speakers: Jenna Collins ’11, Fern Fisher ’78, Michael Grinthal J.D./M.P.A. ’06, Martha Minow, Blake Strode ’15

In this session, speakers will share their experience with new and exciting developments for providing legal services that allow attorneys to act more effectively and with a wider reach. The panel will be an opportunity to discuss how lawyers, community organizations, private law firms, and state/local governments can leverage technological innovation, methods of creative community organizing, and different revenue streams to respond to the needs of low-income communities.

Session: Prosecutor’s Paradox: Striving to Do Justice in a Broken System

Location: WCC, Room 1023
Time: 1:30 pm-2:45 pm
Faculty Host: Andrew Crespo ’08
Speakers: Chiraag Bains ’08, Kate Hill ’08

Session: Transactional Law: Empowering Entrepreneurs and Communities

Location: WCC, Room 1010
Time: 1:30 pm-2:45 pm
Faculty Host: Brian Price
Speakers: Linda Cole ’96, Joe Hedal, Britt Heeger ’14, Tonya Johnson, Faith Mitton ’14, Marea Parker, Steven Salcedo ’16, Carlos Teuscher

This session will be a retrospective on the community work performed by HLS’ Transactional Law Clinics at the intersection of education and transactional law practice. The Transactional Law Clinics comprise the Business and Non-Profit Clinic, Community Enterprise Project, Real Estate Clinic, Entertainment Law Clinic, and the student practice organizations of the Recording Artists Project and Harvard Law Entrepreneurship Project. From its local roots at the Legal Services Center in Jamaica Plain to its current broadened community and multidimensional experiential learning environment, staff, students, clients, and alumni will share their reflections, experiences, thoughts, and insights about community lawyering and the substantive role of clinical legal education across transactional law. Please join us for the story of our experience, through open discussion that will include audience Q&A.

Session: Addressing Injustices in the Criminal Justice System: Will They Ever Go Away?

Location: Harkness Dining Room
Time: 3:00 pm-4:15 pm
Faculty Hosts: John Cratsley, John Salsburg, Dehlia Umunna
Speakers: John Fitzpatrick ’87, Alexandra Jordan ’15, Page Kelley ’86, Nimat Lawal ’18, David Poole ’86, Che Rashawn Pope, Bill Schmidt ’18, Ashley Theodore, Imani Tisdale ’18

This panel will explore critical issues in the criminal justice system through the participation of Harvard Law School’s Criminal Justice Institute, Judicial Process in Trial Courts clinic, Harvard Defenders, and Prison Legal Assistance Project. The event will be moderated by Clinical Professor Dehlia Umunna and feature conversations with judges, alumni, students, and their clients. We welcome alumni to join us in this provocative conversation. Bring your toughest questions: “Has lying to the tribunal gotten worse?” “Do verdicts reflect the truth?” “Does racial bias continuously contaminate jury trials?” “How can there be a just system when prosecutors and public defenders make peanuts?”

Session: Leaders in Business and Finance: How I Use my Legal Training in Business

Location: WCC, Room 1023
Time: 3:00 pm-4:15 pm
Faculty Host: Guhan Subramanian ’98
Speakers: Jeffrey H. Cohen ’88, Steve Eisman ’88, Glenn D. Fogel ’88, Serena P. Moon ’93, Chris Thorne ’93

Session: The Future of the American Death Penalty

Location: WCC, Room 1010
Time: 3:00 pm-4:15 pm
Faculty Host: Carol Steiker ’86

Session: The National Monuments Litigation: The Impact of Executive Power on the Future of Land Management

Location: WCC, Room 1019
Time: 3:00 pm-4:15pm
Faculty Host: Wendy Jacobs ’81
Speakers: Carleton Bowekaty, Ethel Branch J.D./M.P.P. ’08, Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, Lois Schiffer ’69, Charles Wilkinson

The Trump administration is exerting executive power to reduce the size and protections of existing national monuments across the country, disrupting years of preservation and development planning and compromises. This new approach to land management is being challenged by parties ranging from Native American tribes and conservation groups to companies whose businesses focus on the outdoors. The Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic is participating in ongoing litigation on behalf of amicus groups. With Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand-Staircase Escalante National Monuments as examples, this session will utilize an interactive format to debate the presidential authority to change previously designated national monuments, explore the arguments and objectives of various parties in the litigation, and discuss what the cases could mean for future land management and planning.

Session: Women in the Law and Beyond

Location: WCC, Room 2004
Time: 3:00 pm-4:15 pm
Moderator: Lori Lesser ’93
Speakers: Colleen Bal ’93, Aisha Christian ’98, Carl K. Dawson ’93, Meryl A. Kessler ’93, Peggy Kuo ’88

HLS Clinical Showcase and Celebration

Location: Jarvis Field Tent
Time: 4:00 pm-7:00 pm

Join the HLS community to learn about and celebrate the HLS Clinics and Student Practice Organizations. Each clinic/SPO will showcase their history, the current work they are doing, and their plans for the future. Learn about the clients, students, staff members, and the faculty who work in and are part of the clinics. Enjoy music, cocktails, and light appetizers while mingling with the HLS community as we celebrate the clinics and the closing of the bicentennial.