Workshop Descriptions :
Friday, September 11, 2009 10:45am-12:15pm
Revisiting Disability Frameworks
Developing effective frameworks for advancing the rights of LGBT persons and persons with an intersex condition is complex and controversial. Activists and scholars working on issues that affect transsexuals and persons with an intersex condition are in the process of developing theoretical and practical approaches to address issues of concern. The DSM deleted homosexuality as a psychological disorder decades ago, but drafters of the current DSM revision are debating whether and how to address issues relating to gender identity. Similarly, those working in the intersex movement are discussing whether labeling intersexuality a disorder will best advance the interests of those born with an intersex condition. This workshop will provide an interactive discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of utilizing a disability framework for the members of the various communities.
Speakers Prof. Julie Greenberg, Anne Tamar-Mattis, Shannon Minter, Marybeth Herald, Jennifer L. Levi, Janet Green
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The Ins and Outs of Starting Up (and Growing) Your Own (LGBT) Law Firm
This workshop will feature the freedoms and limitations of developing an "all gay, all day, for pay" GP/Solo practice. Presented by experienced veteran practitioners who have seen it all, as well as those just leaving BigLaw, this discussion will answer some of your questions-- while prompting more -- about whether or not you have what it takes to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat in the race of building your own business.
Speakers: Susan Silber, James W. Spencer, Elizabeth Schwartz
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The Last Thing Hanging in the Closet: LGBT Intimate Partner Violence
Intimate partner violence is as prevalent in the lives of LGBT individuals as it is in heterosexual relationships, yet the movement has avoided facing that fact head on choosing instead to work on issues that position our families in a favorable light. There are very few resources, legal and non-legal, for LGBT survivors. In this workshop we will review the unique barriers LGBT victims face accessing legal options, identify legal issues and remedies, and discuss how lawyers and law students can work on this important issue facing our communities.
Speakers: Wayne Thomas, Terra Slavin, Morgan Lynn, Hon. Marcy L. Kahn, Lisa A. Linsky, Julie Goldscheid
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Queering the Bench: Judicial Selection Methods and the Impact on LGBT Diversity
Even as more attorneys than ever before are openly-identifying as LGBT, the number of openly LGBT jurists has remained extremely low. This workshop will examine how state judicial elections and other selection methods impact diversity on the bench, paying particular attention to the number of openly-LGBT judges. Panelists will explore cutting-edge research into best practices for increasing diversity; which selection methods may help and which may hinder increasing diversity; steps that all attorneys can take to help increase the numbers of LGBT jurists; and, suggested strategies and reforms to affect long-term change.
Speakers: Hilary Meyer, Bob Bacigalupi, Hon. Michael Sonberg, Ciara Torres-Spelliscy
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Social Science Research and LGBT Litigation and Legislation
This workshop will bring together social scientists discussing new findings relevant to LGBT policy issues and attorneys discussing how they have used empirical data in both legislative work and litigation on LGBT rights. Panelists will explain how they made the US Census more relevant to the LGBT community and what that means for litigation and legislation in the future, and present new studies on LGBT parenting and how such research is analyzed by courts.
Speakers: Somjen Frazer , Gary Gates, M. V. Lee Badgett, Nanette Gartrell, Camilla Taylor
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Junior Scholar Forum
The objective of this panel is to encourage the development of the next generation of sexual orientation and gender identity scholarship by fostering cross-generational support and feedback from experts in the field. Topics from papers selected include sexuality in public schools, polyamory as a sexual orientation, custody disputes with a non-homosexual parent, the race-sexual orientation analogy, political compromises made in the name of advancement, the relationship between same-sex marriage and religious exemptions, and the social constructs that hinder gender expression.
Speakers: Elizabeth M. Glazer, Steven Macias, Craig Konnoth, Kim Pearson, Sonia Katyal, Amy Dillard, Ann Tweedy, Doug NeJaime, Jennifer Wilson
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Friday, September 11, 2009 2:00-3:30pm
Constitutional Gender
The right to gender autonomy has been defined as the right of self-determination of one's gender, free from state interference or contradiction, and the right to state recognition of that self-determined gender. Denial creates problems in employment, education, medical care, housing, government benefits, marriage rights, restroom access, and prisoner rights. Recent law reviews discuss potential sources in constitutional law, including due process, equal protection, right to privacy, First Amendment, right to travel, full faith and credit, and the Ninth Amendment. The panel of four speakers will discuss pathways to creating an enforceable right of gender autonomy.
Speakers: Prof. Jillian T. Weiss, Prof. Julie Greenberg, Prof. Mary Anne Case, Prof. Taylor Flynn
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The New Adoption and Foster Care Battle: Cohabitation Bans
In the wake of successful court challenges to laws banning adoption and fostering by gay people, our opponents have shifted strategy. Their new tactic is to promote cohabitation bans, cloaking the exclusion of gay couples in a requirement based on marital status. In November, 57% of Arkansas voters passed such a law, a challenge to which is pending in court. Identical bills have since been introduced across the South. This session will address litigation and legislative strategies being used to challenge this new generation of parenting bans and how they are informed by and different than advocacy against gay exclusions.
Speakers: Leslie Cooper, Kara Suffredini, Naomi G. Goldberg, Judge Mark King Leban, Carlos A. Ball
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Family Law: Ethics and Professionalism
Representation of LGBT clients in an ever changing and sometimes hostile legal environment can present unusual ethical issues as well as create professional conflict. Come to this workshop to hear from those with decades of experience on how to navigate ethical and professionalism issues in all areas of LGBT family law, especially in light of the various demands of transactional practice (donor agreements, co-parenting agreements, guardianship, adoption, parentage, surrogacy agreements) and litigation (custody and visitation disputes and division of property and debts).
Speakers: Lynn Perls, Claudia D. Work, Abby Rubenfeld
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HIV/AIDS under President Obama: How is the National Policy Strategy and Civil Rights Faring So Far Under the New Administration?
What has the new Administration and Congress done about domestic HIV issues? Important HIV issues were raised during the nation's elections and by the Presidential Transition Team. As advocates continue to work on those issues, this panel will explore what has happened and how to extract the needed next steps from power brokers in the White House and on Capitol Hill. The primary focus will be on development of a National AIDS Strategy for a coordinated federal response for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, and HIV/AIDS civil rights priorities in areas including employment, access to health care and other essential services in these troubled economic times.
Speakers: William D. McColl, Bebe J. Anderson, Catherine Hanssens, Dr. Marjorie J. Hill
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Coming Out in the Profession: "But, What Will the Clients Think?"
Diversity in the profession -- everyone's talking the talk, but who is walking the walk. Hundreds of conferences and CLEs, thousands of speakers and leaders, millions of dollars in programs and incentives; yet still only a fraction of the top paying partner positions are filled by diverse attorneys. Meanwhile, everyone is wondering whether the "business case" for diversity still applies during the doldrums of the Great Recession. Come to this workshop to hear from the clients themselves as well as a managing partner who have all "made it" being out and proud.
Speakers: Corey Reese, Lisa Damon, Michelle A. Peak, John V. Treviño, Jr.
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Cutting Edge Issues in legal scholarship organized by NY academics
To honor the location of this year's meeting, this panel showcases the work of legal academics in the New York area who are writing on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. The panel features innovative approaches to the problem of transgender discrimination, as well as a novel understanding of the same-sex marriage debate by reference to principles of property law.
Speakers: Elizabeth M. Glazer, Marc Poirier, Sonia Katyal, William Araiza, Paisley Currah
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Yes, Lawyers in Mainstream Practices Can Still Serve the LGBT Community
Choosing a legal career that doesn’t focus on LGBT rights and the LGBT community does not mean that legal professionals cannot make a difference. Panelists will discuss various ways that LGBT attorneys in mainstream workplaces (law firms, the government sector, non profits, corporations) can serve the LGBT community through efforts such as developing and leading diversity initiatives and affinity groups; mentoring younger lawyers; building community responsibility programs; advancing pro bono efforts; educating and working with bar associations; forming LGBT bar organizations; getting involved in local government; and serving on non-profit boards. Panelists will address the importance of visibility, building alliances, and how to start from scratch.
Speakers: Joe Evall, William Hibsher, Lisa A. Linsky, Judge Steven Kirkland, William Weinberger
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Friday, September 11, 2009 3:45-5:15pm
Intersections with HIV/AIDS on the Road to Vienna: Immigration
The National LGBT Bar Association has been one of the leading educators on HIV/AIDS issues over the past twenty years. As the Nat'l LGBT Bar, along with the American Bar Association prepares for the 18th Annual International AIDS Conference in 2010 in Vienna, Austria, we take a detailed look at the issue area of immigration. The panel will lead a discussion of recent changes in immigration law such as the repeal of the HIV travel and immigration ban and administrative and regulatory efforts in that area as well as in the area of transgender immigration rights. It will discuss LGBT and HIV related asylum issues. It will also discuss legislative efforts (Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) that would recognize lesbian and gay bi-national couples under US immigration law. Finally, it would explore the complex legal environment that these couples would face if DOMA is repealed or struck down in light of US immigration officials' prior treatment of marriages that are recognized in some, but not all, US states (e.g., biracial marriages).
Speakers: Prof. Scott Titshaw, Julie Kruse, Jeremy McLaughlin
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The Cutting Edge in Trans Rights: Health Care, IDs, Prisons and More
Transgender rights are rapidly evolving, but some areas are moving faster than others. Administrative rules for changing sex designation on identity documents are in flux, with great victories in some states and increasing burdens in others. Insurance coverage for gender transition is not keeping pace with strong resolutions from the AMA and other associations in favor of inclusiveness. Transgender people in prison continue to endure horrible mistreatment, but advocates continue to win more protective policies. In this workshop, attorneys with their fingers on the pulse of these developments will share an up-to-the-minute report, and will discuss their thoughts about what is coming next.
Speakers: Lisa Mottet, Cole Thaler, Melanie Rowen, Benjamin L. Jerner, Prof. Darren Rosenblum, Kylar W. Broadus
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Similar Struggles, Different Paths: LGBT Rights and Reproductive Rights
This panel aims to highlight emerging intersections between the LGBTI and reproductive rights movements, setting the groundwork for collaboration for innovative research, advocacy and litigation. Presenters will include both scholars and advocates in the fields of LGBTI and reproductive rights. The discussion will address historical links and common theoretical underpinnings of the two movements, from the constitutional right to privacy to the human right to dignity.
Speakers: Jaime Todd-Gher, Shannon Minter, Prof. Mary Anne Case, Hon. D. Zeke Zeidler, Nancy Northup
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So You Want to be a Judge
This program will bring together judges, lawyers and others who are interested in increasing diversity within the judiciary. The program will address the difficult and complex issues confronted by gay and lesbian who aspire to become judges at all levels of the judiciary through the elected, appointed, and nominations process.
Speakers: Hon. Mark King Leban, Hon. Linda E. Giles, Hon. Larnzell Martin, Jr., Hon. JG (Gary) Cohen, Hon. George J. Silver, Hon. Debra Silber
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Access to Justice for Low-Income LGBT People
The need for services to low-income LGBT people is only increasing in our current economic times. The legal issues that particularly affect low-income people, such as public benefits eligibility, are becoming more complex as some - but not all - jurisdictions advance toward equality. This workshop will discuss poverty among the LGBT community, and highlight specific obstacles that low-income LGBT people and their families face. We will also discuss examples of how LGBT organizations and legal services organizations are collaborating to provide more comprehensive services to low-income LGBT people.
Speakers: Cathy Sakimura, M. V. Lee Badgett, Richard Blum, Natalie Chin, Terra Slavin
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Family Law: Update on Family Law Issues
Members of the National Family Law Advisory Council of the National Center for Lesbian Rights will provide an update on family law issues around the country, including both formation and dissolution issues.
Speakers: Deborah H. Wald, Joyce Kauffman, Michele Zavos, William S. Singer
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Great LGBT Books: Author and commentators
Nancy Polikoff is the author of Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage, a book that has been nominated for two literary awards. She will discuss the book’s thesis with commentators Pat Cain and Carlos Ball, as well as with members of the audience.
Speakers: Patricia Cain, Prof. Nancy D. Polikoff, Carlos A. Ball
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Saturday, September 12, 2009 10:45am-12:15pm
Ethics and Immigration Law
Immigration attorneys who advise clients with limited legal rights face unique ethical challenges. This panel will posit several real life hypotheticals frequently faced by immigration practitioners who work with the LGBT community and describe best practices under relevant ethical rules.
Speakers: Victoria Neilson, Eric Berndt, Prof. Scott Titshaw
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Family Law: Advanced Estate Planning
Estate planning in a world of limited relationship recognition poses serious and complicated legal questions. Couples may be protected at the state level, but the lack of relationship recognition and attendant tax benefits at the Federal level make it necessary for many LGBT couples to avail themselves of certain trust and gifting strategies that many practitioners are not familiar with. This seminar focuses on both lifetime wealth transfer strategies, as well as the probate planning techniques. Becoming familiar with these trust instruments, as well as local probate rules, deadlines and strategies is a must for any estate planner who wishes to assist their clients throughout the entire estate planning process. Further, we will provide practice tips and advice on joint representation and resolving issues for couples who travel.
Speakers: Joan M. Burda, Patricia Cain, Tamara Kolz, Anthony M. Brown, Richard Milstein
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DADT Repeal & Beyond: The Practical Implications of Repealing 'Don’t Ask, Don't Tell' and Implementing Open Service
With the re-introduction of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act in the U.S. House of Representatives, the introduction of a companion bill in the Senate, and a President who has pledged to sign repeal legislation, the stars seem to be aligned for repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' (DADT). But how will repeal work? This presentation will examine what the military needs to do to prepare for open service. What, if any, updates need to be made to the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Department of Defense's other rules and regulations? How, if at all, will life be different for LGBT service members and for their straight counterparts? Experts will discuss these and other practical implications of repeal that service members and their leaders will face in a post-DADT world, looking, in part, at the experiences of our allies in eliminating their own gay bans.
Speakers: Emily Hecht, Aaron Tax, Bridget J. Wilson, Prof. Jackie Gardina, Prof. Diane H. Mazur
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Dukeminier Awards
Winners of the Dukeminier Awards for the best law review articles on sexual orientation and gender identity topics in 2007 will discuss their work and emerging themes in LGBT scholarship. Winners are selected by a rigorous process involving faculty at the UCLA Law School - Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy and a student editorial board. The board screens several hundred articles to identify the top forty, which are closely analyzed in a law school seminar. Seminar participants select ten finalists, and a committee of Williams faculty and students chooses the best three to five articles.
Speakers: Nan Hunter, Rhonda Wasserman, Marc Poirier, Dean Spade
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Pedagogy for Sexuality Courses
This panel will address methods of teaching law and sexuality. Panelists will offer insights on teaching courses specifically devoted to the topic of law and sexuality as well as insights on incorporating examples involving sexual minorities into other courses in the law school curriculum. Specific attention will be devoted to different methods of teaching the law and sexuality course, with panelists offering perspectives on teaching the course in the context of a law school's clinic and as a course in public interest lawyering. In addition, panelists will offer perspectives on dealing with students of differing geographic, ethnic, and political backgrounds, as well as students of differing sexual orientations and gender identities, when addressing in the classroom the law as it relates to sexual minorities.
Speakers: Elizabeth M. Glazer, Ruthann Robson, Zachary Kramer, Prof. Taylor Flynn, Prof. Suzanne B. Goldberg, Prof. Dean Spade
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Workplace Protections and Employee Wish Lists
This panel will guide conference attendees through the changing landscape of workplace protections for LGBT employees. Panelists will discuss employee benefits issues, analyze developing employment discrimination case law and provide a federal and New York State legislative update. Speakers include impact litigators and private sector plaintiff and defense-side employment law practitioners.
Speakers: Lauren Schwartzreich, Ken Choe, Natalie Chin, Lee Schreter
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Saturday, September 12, 2009 1:30-3:00pm
How Bar Associations Across the Nation are Pushing for LGBT Rights
Mandatory and unified bar associations are engaged in some of the most cutting edge law suits involving our community. From Florida to the Bay Area and stops in between, including the ABA, the "Big Bars" are strong advocates for LGBT issues within the law and legal profession - but this doesn’t just happen. For the first time, that Nat'l LGBT Bar Association is featuring its affiliated state, regional and local bar associations from across the country that have successfully cultivated productive relationships with bar associations in order to deepen the conversation about diversity and inclusion where it really counts -- with our straight allies in the profession. This workshop, especially valuable for members of affiliate local LGBT bar associations, will explore effective ways to engage your bar association in this critical work, including special considerations for working with mandatory, voluntary, and national bar associations.
Speakers: Phil Duran, Jeff Wolf, Anthony Gipe, Wayne LaRue Smith, Richard J. Podell, Justice Rosalyn Richter
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Opening Doors: Innovative Strategies to Protect LGBTQ Youth in Juvenile Justice, Foster Care and on the Streets
Participants will discuss the challenges faced in providing effective services to LGBTQ youth who are homeless or in the foster care or juvenile justice systems. The presenters will share advocacy tools for ensuring LGBTQ youth's safety, permanency and well being. Participants will learn about advocating for nondiscrimination legislation, the adoption of best practice guidelines, training judges and defenders, implementing LGBTQ-inclusive sexual health care and promoting the adoption of written agency- and state-wide polices prohibiting discrimination. Participants will learn to work with LGBTQ youth in foster care on understanding their legal rights with the assistance of the Opening Doors Project's Know Your Rights guide.
Speakers: Andrea Khoury, Mimi Laver, Hon. Larnzell Martin, Jr., Tom Burrows, Flor Bermudez, Jody Marksamer, Margo Kaplan
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Legal Clinics from Seattle to New York: In Your Neighborhoods and in Your Schools
Neighborhood and University-based legal clinics offer legal advice to our community in vast and important ways. Clinics not only offer help to our families but solid experience to attorneys and law students while providing a forum for public education. Given that LGBT legal clinics are new to the clinical model, what are community leaders doing to queer clinics to help our community, hone a new generation of practitioners and educate the public? You will hear from leaders from the Ivy Leagues as well as attorneys in the real world who have successfully started a neighborhood legal clinic as part of their local bar association. Find out the steps to take, share ideas for success, and learn how attorneys, law students, and law firms can all play a vital role in creating these opportunities for service.
Speakers: Spencer Bergstedt, Jill Mullins , Prof. Suzanne B. Goldberg, Adrien Leavitt
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Torts Issues
There are many tort issues that affect the ability of LGBT individuals to recover damages for tortiously inflicted harm. Some issues arise from the refusal to recognize our relationship, such as in the context of wrongful death and bystander emotional distress. Other issue that arise involve claims of defamation, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Speakers: Prof. Lawrence C. Levine, Prof. Anita Bernstein, Prof. John Culhane, Hon. Paul Feinman, Jim Holmes, Mark Scurti, Thomas Ude, Patricia Lambert
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So You Want To Be a Law Professor?
This panel will discuss choosing legal academia as a career goal and how to plan for that goal. Panelists will provide general information on the academic job market as well as share specific insights from their personal paths to becoming a law professor. Panelists: Elizabeth Glazer, Courtney Joslin, Holning Lau (moderator), and James McGrath.
Speakers: Elizabeth M. Glazer, Courtney Joslin, Holning Lau, Prof. James McGrath
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First Amendments and LGBT Issues in Schools
Forty years after the Supreme Court issued its seminal decision in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, speech rights within school communities remain of fundamental importance. The multidisciplinary panelists will present the legal theories, scientific research, and on-the-ground strategies that have been deployed in defense of pro-LGBTQ student expression, particularly where Gay-Straight Alliances are concerned. The workshop will also explore the policy advocacy leading to, and the legal actions following from, comprehensive and scientifically sound school curricula.
Speakers: Hayley Gorenberg, Ken Choe, Adam Tenner, Emily Greytak, Kristina Wertz
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