The Black Law Students Association (BLSA) at Vermont Law School will present “Shades of Authority: A Celebration of Diversity in Legal Advocacy,” the school’s annual Race and the Law Forum, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, in Chase Community Center. The event is free and open to the public, and will be streamed live at vermontlaw.edu/live.
“Shades of Authority” is designed to provide answers to the obstacles that institutional leadership imposes on women and women of color. The forum’s keynote address will be delivered by Gwen Keyes Fleming, a partner with Van Ness Feldman, LLP, who previously served as the principal legal advisor for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and as chief of staff of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Obama administration.
The forum schedule and guests include:
8:45 to 9 a.m. Registration and Breakfast
9 a.m. Opening Remarks by President and Dean Thomas McHenry
9:30 a.m. Introduction by Professor Mark Latham
9:45 a.m. Panel 1: Women in Institutional Leadership in the Northeast
Cathleen Price: Cooperating Senior Attorney, Equal Justice Initiative; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia University
Sheriece Perry: President, Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association
Kesha Ram: Former Vermont State Representative
Sandy Baird: Vermont Chapter, National Lawyers Guild
11:30 a.m. Lunch and Film Screening of “The Women’s List”
12:30 p.m. Keynote Address by Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming: Partner, Van Ness Feldman, LLP
2:15 p.m. Panel 2: Diversity and Integrity in the Law
Sarah George: State’s Attorney for Chittenden County, Vermont
Ebony Freedom: Black Lives Matter VT
Ruquiyah “Kiah” Morris: Former Vermont State Representative
Tabitha Pohl-Moore: President, Vermont Chapter, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
3 p.m. Closing Remarks by BLSA President Raynald Carre JD’20
4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Reception in Chase
“Shades of Authority” is cosponsored by the Women’s Law Group and VLS chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. Continuing legal education (CLE) credit is available. For more information, including preregistration to reserve lunch, email BLSA@vermontlaw.edu or raynaldcarre@vermontlaw.edu.
The purpose of the Black Law Students Association at Vermont Law School is to articulate and promote the professional goals and needs of minority law students; to encourage and foster professional competence; to focus upon the relationship between minority law students and the law structure; to instill in minority law students a greater awareness of and commitment to the needs of the minority community; to influence American law schools and legal associations to use their expertise and prestige to bring about change within the legal system in order to make it responsive to the needs of the minority community; and to do any and all things necessary and lawful for the accomplishment of these purposes. For more information about BLSA, visit vermontlaw.edu/blsa and like on Facebook.