Symposia

The Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality hosts annual or biennial symposia that explore current issues of law and inequality. Past symposia have explored assisted reproduction, law in the modern American family, the rights of children, issues facing LGBTQ athletes, critical race theory, and civil rights.

Upcoming Journal of Law & Inequality Symposium:

41st Anniversary Symposium: Punishing Poverty (2023)

On February 15, 2023, the Journal of Law & Inequality will be hosting its annual symposium, the theme
of which is “Punishing Poverty: Reification & Revolution Through the Legal System.” This symposium
features five panels highlighting the ways in which the law can perpetuate systemic poverty, but proper
legislative and judicial advocacy can combat these deep-rooted inequalities.

Register Here: https://z.umn.edu/PunishingPoverty

Past Journal of Law & Inequality Symposia:

40th Anniversary Symposium: Movement Lawyering (2022)

On Friday, March 25th, 2022, JLI hosted a symposium in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality. This year’s theme was Movement Lawyering, and our speakers discussed their work in support of criminal justice reform, police reform, environmental justice, and indigenous rights.

Summit for Civil Rights: First Hundred Days (2021)

On February 11, 2021, JLI co-hosted this virtual Summit alongside the Institute for Metropolitan Opportunity, the University of Kentucky College of Education, Case Western Reserve University, and Building One America. This conference featured panels of experts in housing policy and its relationship to education policy, racial segregation, and concentrated poverty.

Summit for Civil Rights (2020)

On July 30th and July 31st, 2020, the Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality co-hosted the virtual 2020 Summit for Civil Rights alongside the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity and Georgetown Law’s Workers’ Rights Institute. The prominent list of speakers included Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, University of Minnesota Law School’s Professor Myron Orfield, Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, Professors Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Sheryll Cashin, Theodore M. Shaw, john a. powell, John C. Brittain, and Eric Foner, Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, Author Richard Rothstein, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, leaders at NAACP, AFL-CIO, Rockefeller Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Century Foundation and Ford Foundation, numerous other elected officials, union leaders, activists and community organizers.

Feminism and Corporate Law: Reforming Corporate Governance Roundtable (2020)

The Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality (JLI) co-hosted a virtual Roundtable on Feminism and Corporate Law: Reforming Corporate Governance with the Institute for New Economic Thinking on July 24, 2020. JLI‘s faculty advisor Prof. June Carbone, Robina Chair in Law, Science and Technology was one of the organizers of the Roundtable. Eight legal scholars across the nation and the globe presented six cutting-edge research papers on the intersection of Socioeconomics, Competition, Race, Gender, Law & Inequality and addressed the role of internal corporate competition in exacerbating economic, gender, and racial inequality.

Immigration Law Forum: Civil Rights Behind Bars (2018)

The Summit for Civil Rights (2017)

We welcomed Vice President Walter Mondale, Congressman Keith Ellison, and other civil rights, labor, political, and faith leaders for a conference about building a movement to end racial segregation in the United States.

Legal Feminism: Looking Back, Looking Forward (2016)

Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice Presents its 35th Annual Symposium Honoring Catharine A. MacKinnon and her work, Toward a Feminist Theory of State, at 30 years.

Playing with Pride: LGBT Inclusion in Sports (2015)

A symposium exploring athletics and LGBT inclusion, with particular emphasis on the integration of openly gay and lesbian athletics into professional and collegiate sports, the definition of gender underlying athletic competitions, and the challenges of inclusion at every level of competition.

Civil Rights & Civil Justice: 50 Years Later (2013)

The symposium brings together nationally recognized scholars, practicing attorneys as well as advocacy organizations to discuss the present state of the law affecting non-traditional families in the United States. The program will feature four panels dealing with topics including family law issues, same sex marriage and beyond, immigration, and legislative and litigation developments.

“Children are Different”: Culpability and the Mandatory Sentencing of Juveniles under Miller v. Alabama & Jackson v. Hobbs (2012)

International Wrongs, International Rights: The Use of Criminal Law to Protect Human Rights (2010)

As the world becomes more and more globalized, international criminal law has become extremely important in preserving and ensuring the human rights of all people. Effective international criminal law protects not only the victims but also the war criminals by preserving procedural rights and substantive judicial defenses. Abusive corporations, military dictators, sex traffickers, and terrorists are just a few of the actors which international criminal law seeks to hold accountable. With a warrant out on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and American courts debating whether the alleged 9/11 mastermind should stand criminal trial in a civilian court or a military tribunal, a symposium on the issues faced by international prosecutors and victims will provide a forum for progressive scholarship and an open venue for discussing a dynamic area of emerging law.