Access to Equal Justice Conference Nov. 1

Law school’s top-ranked Clinical Education Program celebrates 40th anniversary

The Washington University School of Law in St. Louis will celebrate 40 years of clinical education and community collaborations at the 13th annual Access to Equal Justice Conference from noon–4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, in Anheuser-Busch Hall’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom. The conference is free and open to students, faculty, staff and the public.

Michelle Alexander
The keynote speaker will be Michelle Alexander, JD, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, associate professor of the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University and former director of the Civil Rights Clinic at Stanford University School of Law. She will present at noon that day as part of the Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series.
Winner of the NAACP’s award for best nonfiction book in 2011, The New Jim Crow argues that by incarcerating African Americans at rates much higher than whites, the U.S. criminal justice system is perpetuating a system of rules, laws and customs that keep African Americans locked in second-class status.

Other confirmed speakers include Jane Aiken, JD, Georgetown University Law Center; Sarah Jane Forman, JD, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law; Josh Gupta-Kagan, JD, University of South Carolina School of Law; Emily Hughes, JD, University of Iowa College of Law; Cortney Lollar, JD, University of Kentucky College of Law; Michael Pinard, JD, University of Maryland School of Law; Sue McGraugh, JD ’88, Saint Louis University School of Law; and Brendan Roediger, JD ’05, Saint Louis University School of Law. All are former WUSTL law faculty or students.

Two plenary sessions will focus on “Increasing Access to Criminal Justice: Innovative Criminal Law Reform Initiatives and Collaborations,” moderated by Peter Joy, JD, the Henry Hitchcock Professor of Law and director of the Criminal Justice Clinic, and “Increasing Access to Civil Justice: Innovative Civil Law Reform Initiatives and Collaborations,” moderated by Karen Tokarz, JD, the Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law & Public Service, director of the Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Program and of the Civil Right, Community Justice and Mediation Clinic. An award presentation to Peter Ruger, JD, former director of the school’s Intellectual Property and Nonprofit Organizations Clinic and former WUSTL general counsel, will follow the second plenary session. All are invited to finish the day with a reception in Crowder Courtyard.

The law school’s nationally recognized Clinical Education Program, consistently ranked in the top 10 clinical law programs in the country for more than 15 years, offers 16 distinct clinics and externships, including the long-standing D.C. semester externship, the International Justice and Conflict Resolution semester externship, and the Semester-in-Practice externship that debuted last spring. The last gives second- and third-year law students the chance to get hands-on experience at the agency or firm of their choosing, anywhere in the country.

The school also guarantees that all students will have a clinical or externship experience during their second or third year. Visit here for more information about the Clinical Education Program.

The conference is eligible for four Continuing Legal Education credits in Missouri.