Vulnerable Populations and Economic Realities Conference, March 19-20

Vulnerable Populations and Economic Realities Conference, March 19-20

The two-day conference sponsored by SALT and Golden Gate University School of Law  Vulnerable Populations and Economic Realities: an interdisciplinary approach to law teaching was an enormous success, with particular ideas about how and why to bring issues of class, and race, into the classroom.

This conference is generously supported by the Elfenworks Foundation. 

The Friday morning plenary: a presentation by Richard Delgado, (Seattle University School of Law) and Paul Butler, (George Washington University School of Law) author of Let's Get Free: A Hip Hop Theory of Justice on the criminalization of poverty challenged those in attendance to consider poverty and race in a different light.

Friday’s lunchtime speaker was Lauren Speeth, founding CEO of The Elfenworks Foundation, which is underwrote some of the costs of the conference. 

Friday evening California Newsreel is sponsored a wine and beer reception and showed a sneak preview of its documentary-in-progess “Turkey Creek,” about a Mississippi community in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Producer Leah Mahan was there to answer questions about the film. 

Saturday’s morning plenary featured Senior Judge Thelton Henderson, United States District Court, Northern District of California, introducing his life-long friend John Payton, President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. John Payton's speech was inspiring and placed today's challenges into historical context.

Saturday’s lunch included Doug Colbert, (University of Maryland School of Law) challenging the academy to infuse the entire law school curriculum with the concept of the “public citizen” found in the Preamble to the Canons of Ethics.

Gallery of Photographs