WEST COAST
Western State College of Law
Fullerton, CA | October 17 , 2014
EDUCATION:
THE NEW CIVIL RIGHT
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
A Wiley A. Branton Award with be
given at each symposium. This Award
is presented “to a person or person(s)
demonstrating or have demonstrated
leadership on the cutting edge of law
for civil, social and economic justice.”
EDUCATION:
MIDWEST
University of Arkansas School of Law
Fayetteville, AR | November 7, 2014
East Coast
THE NEW CIVIL RIGHT
SOUTHERN
Southern University Law Center
Baton Rouge, LA | October 30-31, 2014
ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF LAW
New York, NY | October 10, 2014
Hosted by St. John’s University School of Law
For more information or to place a nomination,
go to www.nationalbar.org
Application Due: Sept. 5
Notification to Winners: Sept. 17
Announcement of Winners: Sept. 22
In addition, a special issue of
The University of Arkansas Law Journal
will be published.
Journal of Civil Rights and
Economic Development
Friday, October 10, 2014
9 a.m.–7:30 p.m.
St. John’s School of Law
Belson Moot Court Room l Second Floor
Wiley A. Branton
A prominent attorney and noted civil rights activist, Wiley Austin Branton was a strong advocate of voting
rights for all Americans. Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas on December 13, 1923, he received his elementary,
junior high, and high school education in Pine Bluff schools.
An Army veteran of World War II, Branton spent time during the post-war period teaching blacks how to
mark an election ballot. His efforts resulted in his being convicted of a misdemeanor for “teaching the
mechanics of voting.” Branton attended Arkansas A.M. & N. College (now the University of Arkansas at Pine
Bluff) where he received the Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1950. He received his
law degree in 1952 from the University of Arkansas School of Law at Fayetteville.
Branton achieved national prominence when he served as the chief counsel for the Black plaintiffs in the
1957 Little Rock Desegregation Case. However, during his long distinguished legal career, he made
significant contributions in the voting rights arena as both a public officer and private citizen. In 1962, the
major American civil rights leaders, which included Roy Wilkins, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Whitney
Young, Jr., unanimously approved the selection of Branton as the first executive director of the Southern
Regional Council’s Voter Education Project, based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Project was a cooperative effort
that successfully registered over 600,000 Black voters in eleven states and helped create the momentum for
the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
In 1965, Branton moved to Washington where he was appointed by Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey as
the executive secretary to President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Council on Equal Opportunity. As a chief aide to
Humphrey and Johnson, Branton traveled throughout the South encouraging Blacks to register under the
1965 Voting Rights Act. From 1972 to 1974, Branton served as head of the Voter Registration Fund, a nonpartisan organization created to provide funding to tax exempt organizations in support of voter
registration activities.
Wiley Austin Branton served as dean of the Howard University School of Law from January 1, 1978 to
September 2, 1983.
National Bar Association 25th Annual Wiley A. Branton Issues Symposium
Friday, October 10, 2014
St. John’s School of Law
CONFERENCE AGENDA
9 - 9:45 a.m.
Solarium,
Ground Floor
Registration and Continental Breakfast
9:45 – 10 a.m.
Belson Moot Court
Room, Second Floor
Welcome
Pamela J. Meanes, President, National Bar Association
Michael A. Simons, Dean and John V. Brennan Professor of Law, St. John's
University School of Law
Leonard M. Baynes, Dean and Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
Alain V. Massena, President, Alumni of Color Chapter, St. John’s School of Law
10 - 11:30 a.m.
Panel 1: NBA Dialogue with Higher Educational Leaders
Facilitator:
Pamela J. Meanes, President, National Bar Association
Panelists:
Valerie Lancaster Beal, Trustee, City University of New York
Conrado M. "Bobby" Gempesaw, Ph.D., President, St. John's University
Phoebe A. Haddon, Chancellor, Rutgers University – Camden
Jarvis V. Hollingsworth, University of Houston Board of Regent
11:45 a.m. - 1:15 p.m.
Panel 2: The Legacy of Brown
Moderator:
Cenceria Edwards, Esq., Law Firm of Cenceria Edwards
Panelists:
Lia Epperson, Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty & Academic Affairs,
American University – Washington College of Law
V. Elaine Gross, President, ERASE Racism
Anne Williams-Ison, The Harlem Children's Zone
James B. O'Neal, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Legal Outreach
1:15 - 2 p.m.
Solarium,
Ground Floor
Lunch
National Bar Association 25th Annual Wiley A. Branton Issues Symposium
Friday, October 10, 2014
St. John’s School of Law
CONFERENCE AGENDA (Continued)
2:15 - 3:30 p.m.
Belson Moot Court
Room, Second Floor
Panel 3: Affirmative Action: Post-Grutter, Fisher, and Schuette
Moderator:
Beverly McQueary Smith, Professor Emerita, Touro Law Center and Past President,
National Bar Association
Panelists:
Sheryll Cashin, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Michael A. Hardy, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, National Action
Network
Theodore Shaw, Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of
the Center for Civil Rights, University of North Carolina School of Law at
Chapel Hill
3:45 - 5 p.m.
Panel 4: Criminalization of African American Youth and the Impact on Their
Education
Moderator:
Elaine M. Chiu, Professor of Law and Director, The Ronald H. Brown Center for
Civil Rights and Economic Development, St. John’s School of Law
Panelists:
Gloria J. Browne-Marshall, Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Judge Hilary H. Green, Houston Justice of the Peace
Ellen Marrus, Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
Matthew Sykes, Esq., Founder & Board President, Legal Educational Advocacy and
Reentry Network (LEARN)
Junius W. Williams, Director, Abbott Leadership Institute, Rutgers University Newark and Past President, National Bar Association
5:15 - 6:30 p.m.
Panel 5: The Law School Bubble and its Effect on African American Students
Moderator:
Leonard M. Baynes, Dean and Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
Panelists:
Kent D. Lollis, Executive Director, Diversity Initiatives, Law School Admissions
Council
Camille Nelson, Dean and Professor of Law, Suffolk Law School
Carla D. Pratt, Associate Dean, Penn State University Dickinson School of Law
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Mattone Family
Atrium, Fourth Floor
Wiley A. Branton Awards Reception
Honoring Judge Arthur L. Burnett, Sr. (Retired)
The National Bar Association Wiley A. Branton Award Recipient (East Coast)
THE NATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION WILEY A. BRANTON AWARD RECIPIENT (EAST COAST)
JUDGE ARTHUR L. BURNETT, SR. (RETIRED)
The Wiley A. Branton Award, named in honor of attorney and civil rights activist Wiley A. Branton,
Is presented to individuals who are demonstrating or have demonstrated leadership
on the cutting edge of law for civil, social and economic justice.
Judge Arthur L. Burnett, Sr. (Retired) is the National Executive Director, National African American Drug
Policy Coalition, Inc. He is a graduate from Howard University summa cum laude with a major in political
science and minor in economics. In his junior year he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then attended New
York University School of Law in a six-year college-law combination program, receiving his college degree
in October 1957 after finishing Howard’s four years requirement by attending classes in the summers of
1956 and 1957, and receiving his law degree in June 1958 from New York University, graduating in the top
10% of his class and as a Founders’ Day Award Recipient. He was also Associate Research Editor of its Law
Review. Thus, he finished seven years of college and law school academic studies in six years.
He commenced his legal career in the Attorney General’s Honors Program at the United States Department
of Justice in the Criminal Division in June 1958. He then entered military service in November 1958 for a
two-year active duty tour eventually becoming a Second Lieutenant in the Adjutant General Corps and
receiving the Army Commendation Medal from the Secretary of U.S. Army for his exceptional performance
of duty. Shortly after returning to the Department of Justice, in January 1961 he became liaison from the
Criminal Division to the Attorney General of the United States to keep him and the Deputy Attorney
General advised of all the major criminal cases and also to monitor the Martin Luther King Civil Rights
Movement and to keep them advised of any significant law enforcement and criminal law aspects
connected to that movement. In April 1965 he became an Assistant United States Attorney in Washington,
DC. In December 1968 he became the first General Counsel – then called Legal Advisor - of the
Metropolitan Police Department in the District of Columbia.
On June 26, 1969 he was appointed the first African American United States Magistrate – a position
subsequently renamed by Congress as “United States Magistrate Judge” in the United States, in which
capacity he served until December 1975.
He then became the Legal Advisor for the United States Civil Service System and between 1977-1980 he
served also as a principal legal advisor to the President of the United States on all civil service and personnel
law issues in the United States and as one of the President’s chief representatives in dealing with all bills
pending before the U.S. Congress dealing with government reorganization and the federal personnel
system.
In January 1980 he was again appointed United States Magistrate in the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia, where he served until appointed by the President of the United States to the Superior
Court of the District of Columbia in November 1987. He retired in October 1998 from active Associate Judge
status and became a Senior Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and continued to sit
almost daily until August 1, 2004. During this period he also served as Judge-in-Residence to the Children’s
Defense Fund and as Co-Chair of its Judge’s program in the Children’s Defense Fund, advising it on
proposed legislation affecting children and their welfare, running seminars and conferences at the Alex
Haley Farm retreat in Tennessee for the Children’s Defense Fund, and appearing at conferences and
meetings as a representative of the Children’s Defense Fund as a speaker or on panels.
While retaining the status of a Senior Judge, on August 1, 2004 he took a Sabbatical from the Bench and
assumed the position of National Executive Director of The National African American Drug Policy
Coalition, Inc. in which position he now serves.
He served as an Adjunct Law Professor in Trial Advocacy at Howard University School of Law from 1998 2011. He also served as an Adjunct Law Professor at the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University,
teaching appellate advocacy from 1997 to 2008. On February 15, 2013 he officially completely retired from
the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Throughout his 55-year professional career, he has received numerous awards. While working as an Adviser
directly to Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, in 1963 he received the Sustained Superior Performance
Award for his work in keeping the Attorney General advised of developments in major government
corruption cases and in monitoring the Martin Luther King Civil Rights Movement. In December 1978 he
was Awarded the Distinguished Civil Service Award for his work in advising the old U.S. Civil Service
Commission and the President of the United States in securing the passage of the Civil Service Reform Act
of 1978. In 1985 he was recognized by the American Bar Association’s National Conference of Special Court
Judges as the Most Outstanding Special Court Judge in America for his leadership role as one of the United
States Magistrates in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for his work in upgrading
the old U.S. Commissioner system and leadership in converting the United States Magistrate system into the
misdemeanor trial court in the federal system, giving real substance to preliminary hearings, reforming the
arrest and search warrant operations and his leadership in education of Magistrate Judges and influencing
legislative developments, including convincing the U. S. Congress to give U.S. Magistrate Judges with
consent of the parties authority to preside over the trials of civil cases in the role of substitute district court
judges, and ultimately becoming President of the U.S. Magistrate Judges Association in 1983 – 1984, then
called Council of United States Magistrates.
In 1999 he was recognized as being one of the three (3) Most Outstanding General Jurisdiction Judges
hearing all types of cases in America by the American Bar Association’s National Conference of State Trial
Court Judges for his judicial performance on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
In February 2005 he was Awarded the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession
Spirit of Excellence Award for his civil rights history and judicial performance, one of the highest and most
prestigious Awards given by the American Bar Association. In 2009 he was acknowledged as a WAYMAKER
in the American Bar Association Judges’ Journal for his civil rights history and judicial performance in an
extensive interview of his life’s history.
Finally, in 2010 he was recognized by Cambridge’s Who’s Who as one of the most knowledgeable experts in
the United States on the drug laws and policies of this Nation and the application of the criminal and
juvenile justice system and related healthcare issues involving treatment for substance use disorders and
mental health conditions.
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Leonard M. Baynes
Dean and Professor of Law
University of Houston Law Center
Leonard M. Baynes is Dean and Professor of Law at the University of Houston Law
Center. A nationally recognized communications law scholar with specializations in
business, media, and diversity issues, he has served as the inaugural director of The
Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development at St. John’s
School of Law, as chair of three committees for the Association of American Law
Schools, as scholar-in-residence at the Federal Communications Commission, as inhouse counsel at NYNEX Corp, and as an associate at the Wall Street office of Gaston
and Snow LLP.
He has written more than 25 law review articles on corporate law, communications
law, and diversity, and is in the final stages of co-authoring the case book
"Telecommunications Law: Convergence and Competition" to be published by
Wolters Kluwer. He is admitted to practice in both New York State and
Massachusetts.
Baynes has also been an expert witness at the FCC Federal Advisory Committee for
Diversity in broadcast ownership. He was inducted into the Minority Media &
Telecommunications Council Hall of Fame, where former FCC Commissioner and
MMTC Chair Henry Rivera described Baynes as "a champion for diversity."
In 2010, Baynes received the Diversity Trailblazer Award from the New York Bar
Association, and in 2011, he accepted the American Bar Association Alexander
Award on behalf of the Ronald H. Brown Law School Prep Program for College
Students, which is a premier program Baynes designed to increase socio-economic
diversity in the legal profession.
He received his B.S. from New York University, and J.D. and M.B.A. from Columbia
University. Baynes was awarded the Earl Warren Scholarship and the COGME
Fellowship at Columbia, where he also served as associate editor of the Columbia
Human Rights Law Review. After law school, Baynes served as a Law Clerk to Federal
District Court Judge Clifford Scott Green in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Gloria J. Browne-Marshall
Associate Professor
John J. College of Criminal Justice
Gloria J. Browne-Marshall is an Associate Professor of Constitutional Law at John Jay
College. She was a visiting lecturer at Vassar College in the Africana Studies
program. Prior to academia, Gloria was a Civil Rights attorney for the Southern
Poverty Law Center, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, and then the NAACP
LDF where she litigated equal education cases on behalf of Black children. She
speaks nationally and internationally about racial justice under law.
Gloria Browne-Marshall is the author of "The U.S. Constitution: An African American
Context" and "Race, Law, and American Society: 1607 to Present" (Routledge), a
seminal book on race-based laws in the areas of education, voting rights, property
rights, criminal justice, civil liberties, the military, and internationalism. Her
forthcoming book is: "She Took Justice: Black Women from Salem Witches to Civil
Rights Activists." The nonprofit organization she founded, The Law and Policy
Group, Inc. as well as her award-winning syndicated newspaper column "Law of the
Land," podcast, and radio show, by the same name, have a singular mission: to
bridge the gap between laws, policies, and the people governed by them.
Gloria Browne-Marshall is the recipient of many awards including the NAACP Ethel
Lawrence Trailblazer Award, Association of Black Women Attorney's Service award,
the New York County Lawyers' Ida B. Wells award for work on gender and race
issues, the Woman of Excellence in Law award from Wiley College (Texas), and the
Community Action award from Black Star News.
Sheryll Cashin
Professor of Law
Georgetown University Law Center
Sheryll Cashin, Professor of Law at Georgetown University, teaches Administrative
Law, Constitutional Law, and Race and American Law among other subjects. She
writes about race relations, government and inequality in America. Her new book,
PLACE NOT RACE: A NEW VISION OF OPPORTUNITY IN AMERICA (forthcoming Beacon Press,
2014), argues that affirmative action as currently practiced does little to help
disadvantaged people and offers a new framework for true inclusion. Her book, THE
FAILURES OF INTEGRATION (Public Affairs, 2004) was an Editors' Choice in The New York
Times Book Review. Cashin is also a two-time nominee for the Hurston/Wright
Legacy Award for non-fiction (2005 and 2009). She has published widely in academic
journals and written commentaries for several periodicals, including the Los Angeles
Times, The Washington Post, and Education Week.
Cashin is an active member of the Poverty and Race Research Action Council
(PRRAC) and Building ONE America, an emerging national network of state and
regional coalitions promoting sustainable growth and social inclusion. She has
published and print media, including in the L.A. Times, Washington Post, and
Education Week. She has appeared on NPR All Things Considered, NPR Talk of the
Nation, The Diane Rehm Show, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Newshour With Jim
Lehrer, CNN, BET, ABC News, and numerous local programs.
Professor Cashin worked in the Clinton White House as an advisor on urban and
economic policy, particularly concerning community development in inner-city
neighborhoods. She was law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall
and Judge Abner Mikva of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit. She graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a
bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. As a Marshall Scholar, she went on to
receive a masters in English Law, with honors, from Oxford University and a J.D.,
with honors, from Harvard Law School, where she was a member of the Harvard Law
Review.
Cashin was born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, where her parents were political
activists. She is married to Marque Chambliss and the mother of twin boys, Logan
and Langston.
Elaine M. Chiu
Professor of Law and Director, The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and
Economic Development
St. John's School of Law
A.B., Cornell University (cum laude)
J.D., Columbia University School of Law
Professor Chiu has been appointed as the new Director of The Ronald H. Brown
Center of Civil Rights and Economic Development. As the home of the country’s best
law school pipeline program, the Center is also a leader in the fight against
inequality and injustice. The Center will continue to publish its outstanding Journal
of Civil Rights and Economic Development, to host symposia and conferences, and to
educate students about the importance of equal justice and equal opportunity.
Professor Chiu is a respected scholar who has written about some of the most
difficult issues in contemporary criminal justice. Her articles have examined domestic
violence laws, the intersection of cultural beliefs and criminal liability, and the
continuing struggle to deal with drug addiction in the war on drugs. She is currently
working on articles about child brides in the United States, infantile male
circumcision and a proposal to bring greater access to information about restraining
orders and histories of abuse and violence based on the existing access we have to
credit reports and credit histories.
This past March, she participated as a panelist in the Social Media & Social Justice
Symposium hosted by Pace Law Review. Her panel discussed the need for greater
government intervention in regulating and supplementing social media.
Until her appointment to the Center, Professor Chiu was the chairperson of the
Planning Committee of the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference.
This is an annual event that gathers legal academics of color from across the country
to discuss issues and topics of importance to communities of color. It is also a critical
source of support for law professors of color in many aspects of their careers. She led
this event from 2007 to 2013.
Prior to coming to St. John's, Professor Chiu was a Research Fellow at Columbia
University School of Law from 2000-2001 and a Climenko-Thayer Teaching Fellow at
Harvard Law School from 1999-2000. From 1994 to 1998, she was an Assistant District
Attorney in Manhattan in the Trial Division where she specialized in both domestic
violence and welfare fraud cases. Professor Chiu also taught as an Adjunct Professor
at Yeshiva University's Cardozo Law School as part of their legal writing and
research faculty from 1998-1999.
Professor Chiu is a cum laude graduate of Cornell University (A.B. 1991) and
Columbia University School of Law (J.D. 1994) where she was a Senior Editor of the
Columbia Law Review and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.
Professor Chiu teaches Introduction to Law, Criminal Law, Family Law, Comparative
Criminal Law, the Contemporary Criminal Justice seminar and Perspectives on
Justice.
Cenceria Edwards
Law Firm of Cenceria Edwards, PLLC
Cenceria Edwards is the managing partner of the Law Firm of Cenceria Edwards,
PLLC. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from
Bernard M. Baruch College and Doctorate of Jurisprudence from New York Law
School. Cenceria is licensed to practice law in the New York State Courts, United
States District Court for the Eastern District of New York and United States Tax
Court. She also obtained her Certified Public Accountant license in New York State.
Cenceria has 20 years of experience in law, audit and tax. Over the course of her
career, she accumulated a wealth of knowledge in the areas of real property,
probate, taxation for international/domestic banking and entertainment.
The Law Firm of Cenceria Edwards, PLLC legal practice is heavily concentrated in
foreclosure litigation, predatory lending, landlord tenant, contract disputes,
commercial transactions and probate matters. She has earned a reputation for
successfully litigating mortgage disputes against international banks and deed
fraud.
Currently, Cenceria is the treasurer for and a founding member of the New York
State Foreclosure Defense Bar. She also served on the board of the Metropolitan
Black Bar Association (“MBBA”) (2009-2012) and is Chair of the MBBA Civil Rights
Committee. She is a member of the American Bar Association, Brooklyn Bar
Association, Brooklyn Women’s Bar Association, National Bar Association, and New
York State Bar Association. She was selected to serve on the New York State Bar
Special Committee on Voter Participation (2012-2013) and the Judicial Screening
Committee for the Democratic Party in Kings County (2011-2013). She is a life-time
member of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and National Association of Black
Accountants. From 2008 until January 1, 2012, she served as the President and
founder of the Brooklyn Chapter of National Acton Network (2008-2012); she serves
as the lead community attorney for "Project Safe Surrender".
On September 9, 2014, Cenceria won the Democratic Primary for New York City Civil
Court Judge, for the 2nd Municipal District.
Lia Epperson
Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs
American University – Washington College of Law
Lia Epperson, Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs
at American University Washington College of Law, is a nationally recognized expert
in the areas of civil rights, constitutional law, and education policy. Her scholarship
centers on the constitutional dialogue between federal courts and the political
branches, and its implications for educational equity. Her scholarship, published in
leading journals, also explores the role of public schools, colleges, and universities in
creating equal opportunity. Prior to her appointment at American University, she
served on the law faculties of the University of Maryland and Santa Clara University.
She has also served as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, focusing
on federal civil rights enforcement of educational policies and practices. Professor
Epperson's research interests are informed by her experiences litigating education
cases throughout the country, and lobbying for the maintenance and enforcement
of civil rights protections.
Prior to becoming a law professor in 2005, Professor Epperson directed the
education law and policy group of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund
(LDF). While there, she litigated in federal and state courts, advocated for federal
administrative and legislative reforms, and co-authored multiple amicus briefs to the
United States Supreme Court in the areas of education and affirmative action. In
addition, she represented LDF in several national civil rights leadership coalitions,
including serving as chair of the Education Task Force for the Leadership Conference
for Civil Rights, a coalition of nearly 200 national organizations.
Prior to her time at LDF, Professor Epperson was an attorney with Morrison &
Foerster in Palo Alto, CA, and a law clerk to the Honorable Timothy K. Lewis of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She received her law degree
from Stanford University, where she served as an editor of the Stanford Law Review
as well as the Stanford Law and Policy Review. She earned her bachelor's degree in
sociology, magna cum laude, from Harvard University.
Conrado M. "Bobby" Gempesaw, Ph.D.
President
St. John's University
Conrado “Bobby” Gempesaw became the 17th President of St. John’s University on
July 1, 2014. Dr. Gempesaw is an accomplished scholar, teacher, and administrator
who comes to St. John’s with almost three decades of academic and administrative
experience. Prior to his appointment at St. John’s, he served as Provost and
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Dr. Gempesaw also served as Dean of the University of Delaware (UD) Lerner College
of Business and Economics, Vice-Provost for Academic and International Programs,
Interim Dean of UD’s College of Arts and Sciences and Chair of the Department of
Food and Resource Economics. He joined UD as an assistant professor in 1985, was
awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor in 1989, and was promoted to
full professor in 1993.
Dr. Gempesaw obtained his B.A. in Economics from Ateneo de Davao University in
the Philippines, M.S. in Agricultural Economics from West Virginia University, and
Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from The Pennsylvania State University.
He is married to Clavel Albay Gempesaw who earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in Urban
Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware, and they have two sons.
Daniel completed a double degree with honors (magna cum laude) in Mathematics
and Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Physics from the University of Delaware
and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. David
completed a double major with honors (summa cum laude) in Accounting and
Finance and a double minor in Economics and Jazz Studies from the University of
Delaware. He is a certified public accountant and completed his M.A. in Economics
from Miami University.
Judge Hilary H. Green
Houston Justice of the Peace
Judge Hilary H. Green was sworn in as presiding judge of Harris County Justice of the
Peace Court (Precinct 7, Place 1) on June 20, 2007. In March of 2008, Judge Green
secured her position as presiding judge in a contested primary election.
In November of 2012, Judge Green once again successfully secured her position in an
uncontested election.
Judge Green brings to the bench a wealth of knowledge in civil and criminal
matters. She has worked as a trial attorney for major corporations, as well as
represented individuals in matters ranging from complex litigation to small claims.
Prior to assuming the bench, Judge Green served as managing partner of The Green
Firm, LLP.
Judge Green has a nine year old son and takes pride in volunteering at her son’s
school and with his football team.
V. Elaine Gross
President
ERASE Racism
Ms. Gross has extensive experience in research, program development and
evaluation at public and private agencies in Boston and New York. She earned her
MSW from Boston University, with a focus on policy, planning and non-profit
management. Throughout her career, Ms. Gross has focused on exploring the
systemic causes of social, political, and economic inequities and finding ways to
counteract those inequities.
While working in Boston, an example of her experiences include developing and
managing human service delivery systems and tenant advocacy initiatives for the
Boston Housing Authority. She was also Deputy Director of the Boston Housing
Partnership, a premier public/private partnership supporting community
development and affordable housing in fragile inner-city neighborhoods.
Subsequently, in New York, Ms. Gross served as a Program Officer for the Unitarian
Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock and developed a portfolio of grants
across the U.S. focused on human rights and economic development. She then
served as the founding Executive Director of Sustainable America, a national NGO
that promoted sustainable, equitable development practices and policies.
Ms. Gross was hired by the Long Island Community Foundation to launch the ERASE
Racism Initiative in June 2001. In 2004, ERASE Racism became an independent New
York State not-for-profit corporation. Ms. Gross has successfully led ERASE Racism,
bringing together a cross section of Long Island leaders to discuss and formulate
remedies to persistent regional inequities, resulting from imbedded institutional and
structural racism in health, education and housing. Under Ms. Gross' leadership,
ERASE Racism has been recognized locally and nationally for its cutting edge work
addressing institutional and structural racism, especially in the area of housing and
community development. Ms. Gross has received numerous awards and is a frequent
presenter on the topic of structural racism. Recognizing Ms. Gross' leadership and
expertise, one of the Ford Foundation divisions invited Ms. Gross to be one of three
presenters at an international foundation staff retreat.
Ms. Gross is a former member of the Long Island Regional Planning Council. Most
recently she was appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to The Long
Island Regional Economic Development Council. She also served on the Advisory
Committee of the Long Island Index of the Rauch Foundation and the Advisory
Board of The Energeia Partnership, The Academy of Regional Stewardship at Molloy
College. She has published opinion articles and received numerous awards, including
the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Long Island Business News.
Phoebe A. Haddon
Chancellor
Rutgers University – Camden
Phoebe A. Haddon became chancellor of Rutgers University–Camden on July 1, 2014.
She has direct responsibility for the daily administration of a campus that enrolls
nearly 6,500 students in 39 undergraduate programs and 28 graduate programs at
the master’s and doctoral levels.
Chancellor Haddon previously served as dean of the University of Maryland Francis
King Carey School of Law. In 2011, the school received a $30 million commitment
from the W.P. Carey Foundation. Prior to joining UM Carey Law, Chancellor Haddon
served for more than 25 years as a distinguished faculty member at the Temple
University Beasley School of Law. She has written extensively on equality and access
in education issues as well as on matters related to access to counsel for civil
litigants.
In 2012 and 2013, Chancellor Haddon was honored by the National Jurist as one of
the “25 Most Influential People in Legal Education.” In 2011, she received the Great
Teacher Award from the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT). Chancellor
Haddon earned an LL.M. from Yale Law School in 1985 and a Juris Doctor, cum
laude, from Duquesne University School of Law in 1977. She received a bachelor’s
degree from Smith College in 1972 and served as vice chair of the Smith College
Board of Trustees until 2009.
Michael A. Hardy
Executive Vice President and General Counsel
National Action Network
Michael A. Hardy is a native New Yorker. He is a graduate of New York Law School
and currently serves as Executive Vice President and General Counsel to the National
Action Network. Mr. Hardy attended undergraduate school at Carleton College in
Northfield, Minnesota and completed his secondary school education at the
Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts.
Mr. Hardy is admitted to the Bar of the State of New York; the Supreme Court of the
United States and each of the Federal District Courts within the State of New York.
Mr. Hardy is a founding member of the National Action Network and has served as
counsel to Rev. Al Sharpton for over 20 years. He has co-hosted for several years with
Rev. Sharpton NAN’s live weekly rally and radio broadcast that is heard on WLIB
1190 AM in New York City. As NAN’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel
Mr. Hardy oversees the compliance and control of the operation in addition to
providing legal counsel to the board of directors and the NAN organization. Mr.
Hardy manages the day-to-day operational affairs of National Action Network. He
hosts a monthly free legal clinic at NAN’s House of Justice where community
members can address basic legal questions with participating lawyers.
Mr. Hardy has been in the forefront of key civil rights and police misconduct cases
including the matters of Sean Bell, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, Fermin Arzu,
Ousmane Zongo and many others. He led the legal efforts for all of NAN’s civil
disobedience actions to date, highlighted by his representation of the approximately
1200 persons who were arrested during the 1999 Amadou Diallo protests at One
Police Plaza in New York City. Recently, he help lead the organizing efforts to recreate the 1965 Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March which thousands
participated in during the week of March 4, 2012. Last year Mr. Hardy played a key
role in facilitating the August 24, 2013 march and rally in Washington, D.C.
recognizing the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington.
Mr. Hardy’s primary areas of practice include civil rights litigation, criminal defense
litigation, not-for-profit organizations and employment matters. His career has been
profiled in The New York Times; the New York Law Journal and the Village Voice
among others. In 1986, he was a candidate for New York State Attorney General.
Mr. Hardy has written numerous editorials for New York’s Amsterdam News,
published an article entitled “Constitution and U.S. in Times of Terror,” in the New
York State Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Journal and under the general title of
“Equal Justice,” Mr. Hardy currently writes a column (blog) on legal and social justice
issues that appear on Huffington Post.
Jarvis V. Hollingsworth
Board of Regent
University of Houston
Jarvis V. Hollingsworth is a lawyer and a Partner in the Houston, Texas office of the
international law firm of Bracewell & Giuliani LLP and counsels Boards of
Directors/Trustees of public and private companies and government and educational
entities on their duties, corporate governance and director liability, as well as
regulatory and finance matters. He is currently a Regent on the Board of the
University of Houston System where he serves as Immediate Past Chairman of the
Board. From 2002-08, Mr. Hollingsworth served as a Trustee on the Board of the
Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), 2005-08 as Board Chair. TRS is a Texas
state agency which manages a $100 billion-plus pension trust fund for retirees and
active teachers. He is a former member of the Lehman Brothers Private Equity
Advisory Board and is also a former director of the State Bar of Texas. Prior to his
legal career, Mr. Hollingsworth served for several years as a Captain on active and
reserve duty in the United States Army. He received his Bachelor of Science degree
from the United States Military Academy at West Point and his Juris Doctorate from
the University of Houston. Mr. Hollingsworth serves on the Board of Directors of
Infogroup, Inc., the leading provider of innovative business data and marketing
solutions. He is a member of the United Way's Alexis de Tocqueville Society.
Valerie Lancaster Beal
Trustee
City University of New York
Ms. Lancaster Beal is the President of VLB Associates, a management consulting firm
that provides financial and operational advisory services to middle-market
businesses, investment firms and non-profit organizations. The firm also provides
interim and outsourced chief financial and chief operating officer services to
emerging businesses and non-profit organizations.
Ms. Lancaster Beal serves as an independent director and member of the audit
committee of Sierra Income Corporation, a non-traded Business Development
Company (BDC) sponsored by Medley LLC. Medley is a credit focused asset
management firm with over $3.3 billion of investment capital.
Ms. Lancaster Beal is a visiting lecturer at several colleges and universities addressing
financial management, as well as college and career readiness.
Prior to establishing VLB Associates, Ms. Lancaster Beal co-founded and served as
Managing Director of M.R. Beal & Company, one of the top twenty underwriters of
municipal securities nationwide. Ms. Lancaster Beal managed the financial advisory
and investment banking teams responsible for structuring, due diligence and
execution of in excess of $80 billion of fixed income and capital markets securities.
The teams’ clients included a diverse array of issuers including but not limited to the
District of Columbia, Philadelphia Gas Works, DASNY and Facebook. M.R. Beal was
named Financial Services Firm of the Year by Black Enterprise in 2011 and 2001. In
January, 2014 certain principals of the firm joined Blaylock, Robert Van to form
Blaylock Beal Vann, LLC.
Ms. Lancaster Beal is active in civic and community organizations, with a primary
focus on financial management, program evaluation and public education. From
2001 to 2006, she completed an interim assignment at the historic Abyssinian Baptist
Church, where she served as the Director of Stewardship and Membership
Development. At Abyssinian, she developed and implemented a financial
management and fund development system to improve internal and external
financial reporting. Upon completion of that project, she then directed an initiative
to use key operating metrics and quantitative analysis to inform instruction and
accountability at Thurgood Marshall Academy (TMA), a New York City public school
sponsored by the Abyssinian Development Corporation. Valerie also served as TMA’s
Director of College Readiness and Placement, an initiative funded by the Robin
Hood Foundation.
Ms. Lancaster Beal is passionate about advancing the mission of high quality
educational institutions and increasing access to such institutions for historically
underrepresented groups. She is a past member of the Board of Regents of
Georgetown University and currently serves as a trustee of the City University of
New York (CUNY). At CUNY, she is chair of the Faculty, Staff and Administration
committee and leads a task force charged with developing investment policies and
procedures for CUNY’s $6B employee retirement plan. She has served on or chaired
ten CUNY system wide presidential and chancellery level search committees. Ms.
Lancaster Beal also co‑chaired the Chancellor’s Initiative on the Black Male wherein
she directed a panel of distinguished scholars in examining the status of Black males
in our society and ways of using education to improve the outcomes. Valerie is also a
member of the Board of Directors of KIPP NYC, a network of free, open-enrollment
public charter schools.
Ms. Lancaster Beal holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Georgetown
University and a Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the
University of Pennsylvania.
She resides in New York City with her husband and is the proud mother of two adult
children.
Kent D. Lollis
Executive Director, Diversity Initiatives
Law School Admissions Counsel
Kent D. Lollis is executive director for diversity initiatives at the Law School
Admission Council and is a nationally recognized expert on equity and diversity in
higher education. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Brown
University, a master of management degree at Northwestern University, and a Juris
Doctor at Northwestern University School of Law. Prior to joining LSAC, he held
faculty and administrative positions at the Ohio Northern University—Claude W.
Pettit College of Law and the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law. At
LSAC, Mr. Lollis directs and implements the Council’s programs designed to increase
the number of lawyers from underrepresented minority groups, monitors the
Council’s equal opportunity efforts in employment and vending, and serves as the
principal staff liaison to LSAC’s Diversity Committee. He is the author and editor of
articles and books on labor law and affirmative action in higher education and has
received national recognition for his work in equal access to the legal profession,
including the 2013 American Bar Association Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner
Mossell Alexander Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Pipeline Diversity,
the 2013 Association of American Law Schools Section on Academic Support Award,
and the 2008 St. Thomas More Award from St. Mary’s University School of Law.
Ellen Marrus
Professor of Law
University of Houston Law Center
Ellen Marrus is the George Butler Research Professor of Law and the Director of the
Center for Children, Law & Policy at the University of Houston Law Center (UHLC).
She received her J.D. from the University of San Francisco in 1990 and her LL.M. from
Georgetown University Law Center in 1992. Professor Marrus started her legal career
as a public defender in California, representing children in delinquency and
dependency cases. She started teaching at UHLC in 1995 as the Director of Clinical
Legal Education and expanded the clinical offerings at the law center from one inhouse clinic to seven clinics and an extensive externship and judicial internship
program. Professor Marrus currently teaches juvenile law, children and the law,
professional responsibility, and practice skills. Her scholarship concentrates on
juvenile law, children’s rights, and professional ethics. She has published numerous
articles about juvenile law, the representation of children, and the rights of children
in legal settings. She has also published a casebook, CHILDREN AND JUVENILE JUSTICE and
has a book published by NYU Press that is forthcoming this spring entitled CHILDREN,
SEXUALITY, AND THE LAW. Professor Marrus has presented at regional and national
conferences on juvenile law, professional ethics, clinical education, and representing
children. She is also a certified Juvenile Training Immersion Program (JTIP) trainer.
Pamela J. Meanes
President
National Bar Association
Pamela Meanes is a partner in St. Louis’ largest law firm. She was the first African
American in Thompson Coburn’s history to be elevated from associate to partner.
Since joining the firm in 1996, she has represented clients such as Furniture Brands
International, Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, Metro/Bi-State Development
Agency, Monsanto Company, and many others. In addition, she played a significant
role in the land acquisition for the extension of MetroLink in Illinois.
Pamela received her formal education from the East Saint Louis Public School system.
She holds an earned: 1) Bachelor of Arts in English and Education from Monmouth
College, Monmouth, IL; 2) Masters of Arts in African/African American Studies from
Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA; and 3) Juris Doctorate from the University of
Iowa, Iowa City, IA. In addition, she holds an honorary Doctorate in Divinity from the
New Freedom Bible College.
Pamela is the current President of the National Bar Association (NBA). She was sworn
in as the organization’s 72nd President on July 31, 2014. During the 2014-2015 bar
year, the NBA will focus on four crucial areas: 1) Education: The New Civil Right, 2.)
Voter Protection: Restoring the Voting Rights Acts and Advancing Democracy; 3)
Judicial Equality: Dismantling The Barriers That Prohibit A Diverse Bench; and 4)
Police Misconduct.
Pamela has served as Vice President of the NBA (2011-2013); Regional Director of
Region VIII of the NBA (2007-2008 and 2009-2011); President of the Mound City Bar
Association, a Missouri affiliate of the NBA (2006-2007); and co-chair of the ABA
Section of Litigation Legal Service Delivery Committee (2008-2011). In addition, she
serves Vice President of the Mound City Bar Foundation of Missouri. Finally, she is a
former board member of the Greater East St. Louis Community Fund, Inc., Legal
Services of Eastern Missouri and MERS Goodwill.
She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Award of Merit from BAMSL,
St. Louis University Black Law Student Association’s 2008 Outstanding Attorney
Awards, Washington University of St. Louis Black Law Student Association 2008
Outstanding Achievement in Public Service Award, St. Louis Business Journal’s “40
under 40” recipient, selection in Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly “Up and Coming
Lawyers,” St. Louis Business Journal’s Most Influential Minority Business Leader, the
YWCA Leader of Distinction Award, the Women of Achievement Award, 2012 Sister
to Sister Award and the 2014 Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly Litigation Practitioner
Award. In addition, she has received numerous NBA honors including the 2013
Outstanding Officer’s Award, 2012 NBA Special Presidential award, 2012 & 2011
WLD Chair's award, 2011 & 2010 Presidential award, 2011 & 2010 Region of the
Year, 2010 NBA Young Lawyers’ Hon. A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. award, and the
2007 Affiliate Chapter of the Year award.
Pamela is married to Reverend Doctor William M. Meanes, Sr., and they have seven
wonderful children: Wilson, Ciara, Kandia, William, Jr., Anointing, Aayannah, and
Divinity.
Alain V. Massena
President, Alumni of Color Chapter
St. John’s School of Law
Born and raised in the heart of Brooklyn, Alain is a reflection of his upbringing
exhibited by the fighting spirit that he displays in the courtrooms of our great City.
At an early age his parents, instilled in him the importance of education, service and
tenacity. A proud product of our public schools Alain graduated from P.S. 189 in
Brownsville and then proceeded on to Brooklyn Technical High School.
Alain earned his bachelor’s degree in English from St. John’s University and was
twice named to the University’s Dean list. Alain then earned his Juris Doctorate at
St. John’s University’s School of Law. It was here where Alain's passion for litigation
was ignited. As law student Alain interned with Honorable Justice Rivera of the
Appellate Division 2nd Dept and Honorable Arthur D. Spatt 2nd Circuit Court Senior
Judge for the Eastern District of New York.
After graduating from law school Alain worked as an assistant district attorney in
Brooklyn. As a prosecutor worked tirelessly serving the public and ensuring the swift
and fair administration of justice. During this period he successfully tried over a
dozen criminal cases and prosecuted over one thousand felony and misdemeanor
cases, ranging from attempted murders, to kidnapping and even multiple defendant
narcotic takedowns.
After serving the people of Brooklyn for nearly five years as a prosecutor, Alain next
sought to impact the lives of others on a global scale by taking his fight for justice to
the heart of Africa. Alain volunteered with the United Nations sponsored
organization FIDA, and provided six months of legal services to the women and
children of Ghana, West Africa. FIDA is a not-for profit organization that advocates
for women’s rights in third world countries across the globe. While there, Alain also
volunteered at a orphanage where he; taught a class of 10 year old children, helped
write and file the orphanage’s constitution and raised funds in the United States
that helped build a new building for the orphanage.
Since his return home, Alain has continued the fight for justice, as the principal
attorney at Massena Law P.C. Massena Law P.C., is a boutique firm specializing in
defense litigation. Located in downtown Manhattan, Massena Law PC has
represented a wide range of individuals ranging from those facing serious federal
and state criminal charges to protecting individuals who have been victims of police
misconduct. In addition to serving as the principal attorney at Massena Law, Alain
has also served as:
* Trial Counsel for JASA/Legal Services for the Elderly in Queens
* Adjunct professor at St. John's University School of Law
* Guest Lecturer - Stop & Frisk seminars throughout south east queens
* Member of the City Bar Judicial screening committee
* Member - Downtown Lawyers
* Life Member - National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys
* Member of numerous local state and federal bar organizations.
Camille Nelson
Dean and Professor of Law
Suffolk University Law School
Before joining Suffolk University Law School, Dean Nelson served as Professor of Law
at Hofstra Law School. From 2000 to 2009, she was a member of the faculty of Saint
Louis University School of Law, where she was named Law School Faculty Member of
the Year in 2004 and received the University Faculty Excellence Award in 2006. She
was also a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law,
where she became the Dean’s Distinguished Scholar in Residence in 2009. She
became the first woman and first person of color to serve as Dean of Suffolk
University Law School in 2010.
Following her undergraduate education in Administration at the University of
Toronto, where she graduated with high distinction, Dean Nelson received her law
degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law and went
on to receive a Master of Laws from Columbia Law School in New York, where she
also served as an Associate-in-Law. She clerked for the Honorable Mr. Justice Frank
Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada, the highest court in Canada, before
working as a litigation associate at McCarthy Tétrault in Toronto, the largest law
firm in Canada.
Dean Nelson is an elected member of the American Law Institute and is widely
recognized for her scholarly writings and lectures which focus on criminal law and
procedure, health law, critical theory and comparative law. She is widely published
internationally and domestically and her scholarship is featured in law reviews,
journals, anthologies, legal encyclopedias, governmental and non-governmental
working publications and legal textbooks. She also speaks frequently on issues
related to diversity, leadership and professional development. She has appeared in
the media, taught, delivered lectures, and presented in numerous countries, most
recently in Jamaica, Lebanon, Sweden, Canada, and France. She has been named to
the Power 100: The Most Influential Black Lawyers in the U.S. and has been
recognized by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as a Top Woman of Law. She is a CoChair for the Association of American Law Schools Section on Law School Deans and
serves on the Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Judicial Nominations as an
appointee of Senator Elizabeth Warren.
James B. O'Neal
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Legal Outreach
James B. O’Neal is the Executive Director of Legal Outreach, Inc., a law-related,
college prep and pipeline diversity organization. Mr. O’Neal co-founded the
organization in 1983 upon graduating from Harvard Law School as the first recipient
of the Harvard Fellowship in Public Interest Law. Through Legal Outreach, Mr.
O’Neal has devoted his entire professional life to serving the civic and educational
needs of urban youth by creating law-based programs that inspire and prepare
young people to pursue higher education and professional careers.
Mr. O’Neal has developed four law-related curricula, each of which provides young
people with substantive legal information enabling them to avoid, address, and
confront recurring social problems and issues within their own communities. Over 40
different topics related to community issues are explored.
In seeking to reach the largest audience of students, Legal Outreach has worked
through the NYC Department of Education to train teachers to use the curricula.
Over 500 teachers from multiple school districts across the five boroughs have
infused one or more of the law curricula into their programs at the elementary,
junior high, or high school levels.
In addition to the above, Legal Outreach is a direct services educational provider.
Each year, it organizes summer law programs for 120 eighth graders who reside in
underserved neighborhoods and profess a desire to learn more about the law and
the legal profession. Those students participate in one of six Summer Law Institutes
held at Fordham, Columbia, Brooklyn, St. John’s, New York and NYU Law Schools.
Over the course of five weeks, the students are engaged in discussions about the
criminal justice process, interact daily with lawyers serving as guest speakers, and
participate in mock-trial competitions. Upon completing the Summer Law Institute,
students are invited to apply to Legal Outreach’s four-year, college preparatory
program known as “College Bound.”
Through College Bound, Legal Outreach has developed 10 different programs to
help minority youth develop skills and disciplines which will enable them to succeed
academically in high school, college and beyond including a four-year writing
program, three-year Constitutional Law Debate program, an SAT prep program, a
study and life skills program, and several more.
As a result of this comprehensive approach, over 99.3% of the students completing
College Bound have matriculated at colleges across the U.S., including Harvard, Yale,
Princeton, MIT, Columbia, Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, the University of
Pennsylvania, Wellesley, Brown, Duke, Cornell, Dartmouth, the University of
Chicago, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, Emory, Vanderbilt,
the University of California at Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, NYU, Barnard, Brandeis, Tufts,
Middlebury, Wesleyan, Hamilton, Colgate, Carnegie Mellon, and a host of others.
Over 80% have graduated from college in four years and 95% in five years.
For its educational and pipeline work, Legal Outreach was chosen in 2010 as the
nation’s outstanding pipeline diversity program by the ABA’s Council for Racial and
Ethnic Diversity and was selected by Root Cause in 2011 as one of New York City’s
best college access and success programs. In addition, Mr. O’Neal received an
honorary degree from CUNY Law School in 2003 and was chosen as a Diversity and
Inclusion Champion by the NYC Bar Association in 2008.
Carla D. Pratt
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Educational Equity
Penn State University Dickinson School of Law
Carla D. Pratt serves as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Educational Equity
at Penn State’s Dickinson School of law, and as a tenured professor of law she also
holds the title of Nancy J. LaMont Faculty Scholar. Dean Pratt also serves as an
Associate Justice for the Supreme Court of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in Fort
Yates, North Dakota, and has produced scholarship at the intersection of
constitutional law, federal Indian law and race. Dean Pratt has also engaged in
scholarship examining race and the legal profession with particular emphasis on the
role of diversity in the profession and the use of race conscious affirmative action
and pipeline interventions to achieve diversity. One of her most recent works is a
book co-authored with Dr. Dorothy Evensen at Penn State’s College of Education,
which reports the findings of a qualitative study of African American attorneys who
struggled to enter the legal profession in the asserted “post-racial” era. The book is
entitled: The End of the Pipeline: A Journey of Recognition for African Americans
Entering the Legal Profession and shares the strategies for overcoming challenges
that many African Americans deploy in order to become lawyers. Prior to joining the
law faculty at Penn State, Dean Pratt engaged in the private practice of law as a
commercial litigator with the law firm of Drinker, Biddle & Reath LLP in Philadelphia
and served as a Deputy Attorney General in New Jersey. Dean Pratt has taught
Constitutional Law, Federal Indian Law, Professional Responsibility, and a course on
Race, Racism and American Law.
Theodore M. Shaw
Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law
and Director of the Center for Civil Rights
University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill
Theodore M. Shaw is the Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and
Director of the Center for Civil Rights at the University of North Carolina School of
Law at Chapel Hill. Professor Shaw teaches Civil Procedure and Advanced
Constitutional Law/Fourteenth Amendment. Before joining the faculty of UNC Law
School, from 2008-2014 Professor Shaw taught at Columbia University Law School,
where he was Professor of Professional Practice. During that time he was also “Of
Counsel” to the law firm of Norton Rose Fulbright (formerly Fulbright & Jaworski,
LLP). His practice involved civil litigation and representation of institutional clients
on matters concerning diversity and civil rights.
Professor Shaw was the fifth Director-Counsel and President of the NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., for which he worked in various capacities over
the span of twenty-six years. He has litigated education, employment, voting rights,
housing, police misconduct, capital punishment and other civil rights cases in trial
and appellate courts, and in the United States Supreme Court. From 1982 until 1987,
he litigated education, housing, and capital punishment cases and directed LDF’s
education litigation docket. In 1987, under the direction of LDF's third DirectorCounsel, Julius Chambers, Mr. Shaw relocated to Los Angeles to establish LDF’s
Western Regional Office. In 1990, Mr. Shaw left LDF to join the faculty of the
University of Michigan Law School, where he taught Constitutional Law, Civil
Procedure and Civil Rights. While at Michigan, he played a key role in initiating a
review of the law school’s admissions practices and policies, and served on the
faculty committee that promulgated the admissions program that was upheld by the
U.S. Supreme Court in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger.
In 1993, Mr. Shaw returned to LDF as Associate Director-Counsel, and in 2004, he
became LDF’s fifth Director-Counsel. Mr. Shaw’s legal career began as a Trial
Attorney in the Honors Program of the United States Department of Justice, Civil
Rights Division in Washington, D.C., where he worked from 1979 until 1982.
Mr. Shaw has testified on numerous occasions before Congress and before state and
local legislatures. His human rights work has taken him to Africa, Asia, Europe, and
South America. In addition to teaching at Columbia and at Michigan Law School,
Professor Shaw held the 1997-1998 Haywood Burns Chair at CUNY School of Law at
Queens College and the 2003 Phyllis Beck Chair at Temple Law School. He was a
visiting scholar at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia in 2008-2009. He is a
member of the faculty of the Practicing Law Institute (PLI).
Mr. Shaw served on the Obama Transition Team after the 2008 presidential election,
as team leader for the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.
Michael A. Simons
Dean and John V. Brennan Professor of Law and Ethics
St. John's School of Law
B.A., College of the Holy Cross (magna cum laude), 1986
J.D., Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), 1989
Michael A. Simons joined the St. John's faculty in 1998 and was appointed Dean of
the School of Law in 2009.
Dean Simons teaches in the areas of criminal law and evidence, and he has been a
frequent lecturer to the bench and bar on both topics. He was selected by the
students as "Professor of the Year" in 2000 and 2011. From 2005 through 2008, he
served as Associate Dean for Faculty Scholarship. His own scholarship has focused on
sentencing, prosecutorial decision-making, and punishment theory. His articles have
appeared in the New York University Law Review, the Vanderbilt Law Review, the
George Mason Law Review, the Villanova Law Review, the St. John’s Law Review,
The Catholic Lawyer, the Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, the Journal of Civil Rights
and Economic Development, and the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review.
Since 2001, he has been a Fellow with the Vincentian Center for Church and Society.
During 2005 and 2006, he was a member of the New York City Mayor's Advisory
Committee on the Judiciary. He has also been involved with St. John's efforts to
increase the diversity of the legal profession, including by organizing and hosting
the annual Catholic Middle Schools Mock Trial Program, by teaching in the Ronald
H. Brown Center's Summer Prep Program, and by lecturing for Legal Outreach.
Dean Simons graduated magna cum laude from the College of the Holy Cross in
1986 and magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School in 1989, where he was an
editor of the Harvard Law Review. After law school, Dean Simons clerked for the
Honorable Louis F. Oberdorfer of the United States District Court for the District of
Columbia (1989-90). He later served as a staff attorney for The Washington
Post (1990-91), as an associate at Stillman, Friedman & Shaw (1991-95), and as an
Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York (1995-98).
A graduate of Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York, Dean Simons resides
on Long Island with his wife Karen and their five children.
Beverly McQueary Smith
Professor Emerita, Touro Law Center
Past President, National Bar Association
Professor Beverly McQueary Smith hails from Touro College: Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law
Center in Huntington, NY. Professor McQueary Smith teaches contracts, torts,
environmental law, consumer law, race and American law, land use planning and
zoning, appellate advocacy, professional responsibility and legislation. She serves or
has served on several boards: the Jersey City Medical Center, the Minority
Environmental Lawyers Association, Southern Africa Environment Project,
Consumers Union--the publishers of Consumers Reports, and from 1988-2005, she
was a member of the Board of Governors of the National Bar Association (NBA). She
chaired the Southern Africa Environmental Project and the National Campaign on
Black Health. She also served as a board member of the New York County Lawyers
Association and the Council on Legal Education Opportunity (CLEO). In August 2000,
she was elected to the Executive Council of the National Conference of Bar
Presidents. In 2000, she became the Secretary-Treasurer of CLEO. She also served on
the Advisory Group of the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation for Environmental Justice, and the Enforcement Committee of the
National Environmental Justice Advisory Group of the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (NEJAC). In 2003, she became a member of the New York State
Bar Association’s House of Delegates. In January 2006, she became Secretary to the
Women in Legal Education Section of the Association of American Law Schools.
From January 2008 to January 2009, Professor McQueary Smith chaired the Section.
In April 2006, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Touro Law
School Chapter of the National Black Law Students’ Association. In September 2007,
she earned a Trailblazer Award from the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholars
Conference. In spring 2010, she became President of the North Jersey Chapter of the
Links, Inc., and in July 2010, the International President of the Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority, Inc., appointed her to the Internal Leadership Training for External Service
Committee.
In 1988, she became co-chair of the Law Professors Division of the NBA. After serving
a three -year term as co-chair, she then became director of Region II of the NBA.
After a three year stint as Board Member-at-Large; she became a vice president in
1995 and gained the President-elect post of the NBA in 1997. She was installed as
President of the National Bar Association on July 31, 1998 in Memphis, TN. As
President of the NBA, she represented some 18,000 Black lawyers, judges, legal
scholars and law students throughout the United States of America, and increasingly
the world. In recent years the NBA has formed international affiliate chapters in
Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, South Africa, England, Canada and Ghana.
A member of The Links, Inc., and the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Professor
McQueary Smith is also a member of the American Law Institute, and from
November 1997 until 2002 served as a Commissioner of the New York State Ethics
Commission for the Unified Courts System.
She authored a host of articles on a wide variety of topics and delivered papers at
professional and continuing legal education programs in the United States and
abroad. She also served as an official election observer during the 1994 South
African Elections.
She has a Bachelor of Arts from Jersey City State College, a Master of Arts from
Rutgers--The State University of New Jersey, a Juris Doctor from New York University
School of Law and a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School.
Professor McQueary Smith is a member of the bar of the District of Columbia, and
the States of West Virginia, Texas and New Jersey. After graduating from NYU Law
School, she embarked on a seven year career with the federal government. During
that time she worked for U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits (R-NY); clerked for a federal
district court judge; served as the Program Advisor for Mail Order Rule Enforcement
at the Federal Trade Commission and as an Attorney-Advisor in the Office of the
Solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior where she drafted a federal
regulation dealing with surface coal mining on Indian lands.
Professor Beverly McQueary Smith was known professionally for many years as
Beverly M.M. Charles, she now prefers to be identified as Beverly McQueary Smith.
Matthew Sykes
Founder & Board President
Legal Educational Advocacy and Reentry Network (LEARN)
Matthew Sykes is the founder and board president of the Legal Educational
Advocacy and Reentry Network (LEARN), a New Jersey based non-profit. LEARN
mobilizes private attorneys, law students and community members to provide
educational advocacy to court-involved youth. Matthew recently completed a
Skadden Fellowship at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and
established LEARN to continue the work he began as a fellow. Before his fellowship,
Matthew clerked for the Hon. Dolores K. Sloviter of the United States Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit. He obtained his J.D. from Rutgers School of LawCamden, where he was editor-in-chief of the Rutgers Law Journal.
Junius W. Williams
Director, Abbott Leadership Institute, Rutgers University - Newark
and Past President, National Bar Association
Junius W. Williams is a noted attorney, educator, musician and community advocate.
As the Director of the Abbott Leadership Institute, at Rutgers University, Newark, he
teaches advocacy skills to parents and professional educators.
Junius is the youngest person elected President of the NBA. As NBA President (197879), he presented a critique of the proposed constitution for the African Nation of
Zimbabwe to the United Nations. His administration was called “The Year of
Affirmative Action”, in support of affirmative action in the wake of the Bakke case.
Junius was the first President of the modern day Young Lawyers Division, and each
year is honored by the Young Lawyers with a luncheon in his name. He has attended
every NBA Convention since 1971, except 2004, upon the demise of his mother,
Bernyce W. Williams, who often attended NBA Conventions. In 2009, he was
inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame for 40 years of the practice of law and service to
the community.
As an attorney in Newark NJ, Junius Williams successfully represented Rev. Jesse
Jackson in the historic court decision making it possible to cast one vote for the
presidential candidate and all of his delegates in New Jersey in 1988.
He served as the Director of Community Development and the Model Cities Program
for the City of Newark (1970-72), and the University Heights Development
Corporation (1988-93). As advocate, planner, administrator and developer, he is
responsible for the construction of more than 2000 units of housing in Newark.
Junius Williams served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Greater Abyssinian
Baptist Church (1990-2003), and the Education Law Center (2000-2005). He was an
Official Observer at the first South African National Election in 1994.
In addition to his advocacy, Junius Williams is an accomplished musician. He is cofounder, business manager and performer with the singing group, “Return to the
Source.” As a writer and producer, he has created multi-media productions
performed before local and national audiences.
He is the author of the book Unfinished Agenda, Urban Politics in the Era of Black
Power, a political and historical memoir, available through Random House Books.
Junius holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College and a Juris Doctorate
from Yale University Law School. He has two daughters, Camille and Junea, two
sons, Junius and Che; and is married to Dr. Antoinette Ellis-Williams.
Anne Williams-Isom
Chief Executive Officer
Harlem Children’s Zone
Newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), Anne
Williams-Isom found her calling to improve the lives of vulnerable and underserved
children when she was still a child herself. As a young girl growing up in Queens, she
witnessed firsthand many of the challenges confronted by HCZ’s 12,000 youth. Yet
she also learned that, with the right supports and opportunities, kids have the
potential to overcome those challenges. The nurturing love and protection she
received from her mother served as a constant ballast, and her mom’s unwavering
focus on education filled her with hope and ambition.
Bolstered by this support, Ms. Williams-Isom vowed: “I never want any other child to
feel scared or unsafe in their own home, on their own block, or in their community.”
Her leadership of HCZ marks the culmination of her lifelong commitment to
fulfilling that vow and helping all children, no matter their background, achieve
long-term academic and personal success.
Ms. Williams-Isom’s vow quickly turned to action after her graduation from Fordham
University (B.A. Political Science and Psychology) when she accepted a position in
Community Affairs at the New York Police Department (NYPD) in Brooklyn. Working
in Brooklyn in the 1980s at the height of community policing helped strengthen her
understanding of the risks facing struggling communities and further fueled her
commitment to social justice; however, it was not until she attended law school at
Columbia University two years later, and especially during her participation in the
Children and Family Law Clinic, that she came to fully appreciate the complexity of
social problems and the pivotal role of the community in solving them.
After receiving her J.D., Ms. Williams-Isom practiced law for five years at two
prestigious New York firms: Robinson Silverman Pearce Aronsohn & Berman and
Kalkines, Arky, Zall & Bernstein. Eager to bring her legal background and expertise
in community development to bear on child advocacy issues, she then took on the
position of Director of the Office of Community Planning and Development at New
York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). There, she oversaw the
development of crucial community partnerships, including a partnership with HCZ, a
proven system of academic, community-building, health, and social services for
children and families in a 97-block Zone in Harlem, as well as a pioneering leader in
education and the fight against poverty. She offered essential strategic counsel
during the creation of the original HCZ Project in the 1990s, working closely with
HCZ’s legendary founder Geoffrey Canada to design an interlocking network of
neighborhood-based preventive services.
After two years as a Director, Ms. Williams-Isom served as Special Counsel to the ACS
Commissioner/Associate Commissioner, ultimately becoming Deputy Commissioner
of the Division for Community and Governmental Affairs. In taking on these
managerial roles, she grew to appreciate the importance of leadership development
and helped create the first ACS Leadership Academy for Child Protection.
Throughout her 13-year tenure at ACS, which investigates 55,000 reports of child
abuse and neglect each year, she remained steadfast in her primary goal: to support,
empower, and lift up the City’s vulnerable children and families.
In 2009, Ms. Williams-Isom joined Mr. Canada to become HCZ’s Chief Operating
Officer, overseeing operations across the organization, including its two Promise
Academy Charter Schools. As COO, she worked to advance HCZ’s results-oriented
culture of accountability, spearheading numerous initiatives to strengthen services
and improve outcomes for HCZ’s nearly 25,000 children and families. One of
her crowning achievements was leading HCZ Stat, a roundtable review of 3,000
middle and high school student cases. Ms. Williams-Isom also oversaw HCZ’s College
Success Office, reorganizing its internal structure and working directly with students
to help them negotiate the challenges of college life. To them and to all of HCZ’s
kids, she is “Ms. Anne”—a moniker that captures her role as both a loving,
supportive mentor and an acknowledged strong leader with an eye for solving
complex problems and creating wide-scale solutions.
As CEO, Ms. Williams-Isom looks forward to further increasing HCZ’s college success
rates; strengthening the organization’s comprehensive cradle-through-college
pipeline of best-practice programs; and supporting children and families in the St.
Nicholas Houses, where HCZ recently opened a new state-of-the-art school building
and community center—a microcosm of HCZ’s holistic, community-based approach.
Foremost, she will continue working with Mr. Canada to realize HCZ’s mission to end
generational poverty and to fulfill its promise to help every child in the Zone, every
step of the way to college graduation.
Ms. Williams-Isom is an Annie E. Casey Foundation Fellow, having completed the
Foundation’s prestigious program for professionals who dedicate their careers to
large-scale efforts to improve outcomes for vulnerable children and families. She
and her husband of more than 20 years, Phil, reside in Harlem and have three
children. She is also an avid Bikram yogi and runner.
We gratefully acknowledge the efforts of the
Planning Committee
for the 25th Annual Wiley A. Branton East Coast Symposium
Leonard M. Baynes
Dean and Professor of Law
University of Houston Law Center
Everett Bellamy
Adjunct Professor of Law and former Senior Assistant Dean
Georgetown University Law Center
and
Co-Chairperson, 25th Annual Wiley A. Branton East Coast Symposium Planning Committee
Rosa C. Castello
Assistant Professor of Legal Writing and Assistant Director
The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development
St. John’s School of Law
Elaine M. Chiu
Professor of Law and Director
The Ronald H. Brown Center for Civil Rights and Economic Development
St. John’s School of Law
Valerie Cartright
Councilwoman
Town of Brookhaven
and
Immediate Past President
Amistad Long Island Black Bar Association, New York
Cenceria Edwards
Law Firm of Cenceria Edwards
Jawan Finley
Vice President
Macon B. Allen Black Bar Association
Tracie R. Porter
Associate Professor of Law
Western State College of Law
and
Co-Chairperson, 25th Annual Wiley A. Branton East Coast Symposium Planning Committee
Sondra Tennessee
Associate Dean for Student Affairs
University of Houston Law Center
We’d like to give a special thank you to our co-chairs of the planning committee,
Tracie R. Porter and Everett Bellamy
Tracie R. Porter
Associate Professor of Law
Western State College of Law
Co-Chairperson, 25 Annual Wiley A. Branton East Coast Symposium Planning Committee
th
Professor Porter is an Associate Professor of Law and the Director of the Western State
College of Law’s Business Law Center. She has taught widely at law schools throughout
the Midwest and overseas; she is an authority on real estate and probate matters.
Professor Porter earned her J.D. from Drake University Law School, where she was an
NAACP Earl Warren Scholar and a Sadie T.M. Alexander Law Scholar. Before arriving at
Western State, she was on the faculty of the Southern Illinois University School of Law
and has had extensive law faculty experience in the Midwest and in China.
Professor Porter's previous professional experiences included positions in both
government and private sector settings. She was the principal of the Law Offices of Tracie
R. Porter, LLC, a practice focused on diverse areas of real estate and business law,
including transactional and litigation cases, corporate law, and probate proceedings.
Before starting her own law firm, she was a litigator with the United States Department
of Labor in Chicago and an associate with the Chicago firms Barnes & Thornburg and
Brown Udell & Pomerantz. Professor Porter has held numerous leadership positions in
national and local bar associations.
Everett Bellamy
Adjunct Professor of Law and former Senior Assistant Dean
Georgetown University Law Center
Co-Chairperson, 25 Annual Wiley A. Branton East Coast Symposium Planning Committee
th
Everett Bellamy is the former Senior Assistant Dean for the JD Program at Georgetown
University Law Center. He served as a dean for 30 years. Since 1990, he has been an
adjunct professor teaching a course on small business law and entrepreneurship.
He is a member of the American Bar Association, Business Law Section and the Business
Week Alliance Market Advisory Board. For twelve years, he was co-chair of the National
Bar Association Law Professors Division. In 1998, he taught a course in international
business regulation at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. He has advised
small business owners and entrepreneurs for over twenty-five years.
Bellamy has been a guest lecturer at Howard University Small Business Development
Center, Babson College (MA) School of Entrepreneurship and the University of Maryland’s
Hinman CEOs Program in Entrepreneurship Education.
In addition, he was an instructor in the Council on Legal Education Opportunity Program
(CLEO). He taught in summer institutes held at Georgetown, the University of Richmond
and the University of South Carolina Law Schools in the 1980s and 1990s. From 1988 to
1990, he was a guest lecturer for the University of Maryland Thurgood Marshall Pre-Law
Society.
He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and is a graduate
of the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University. In 2011 and 2012,
he attended the Northwestern University School of Law, Searle Center on Law,
Regulation and Economic Growth Program. In 2012, Bellamy was named to On Being a
Black Lawyer’s inaugural “Power 100” list of the most influential black attorneys working
in government, academics, and the public and private sectors in the United States.