Friday, May 19, 2017
9:30 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Hosted by:
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP
Location: 4 Times Square (In the Conde Naste Building on 42nd and Broadway)
Co-sponsored by:

Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute
Columbia Law School Human Rights Law Review
Northeastern University School of Law, Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative

AGENDA

8:30 – 9:30 a.m. – Registration and Coffee

9:30 – 9:45 a.m. – Welcoming Remarks 

  • Risa Kaufman, Executive Director, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute

9:45 – 10:30 a.m. – Introductory Keynote Remarks and Q&A

  • Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Illinois State Attorney General
    • Introduced by JoAnn Ward, Deputy Director, Human Rights in the U.S. Project, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute

10:30 – 11:45 A.M. SESSION I: The Renewed Relevance of Human Rights at the State and Local Level

State and local governments play a significant role in bringing the United States into compliance with its international human rights commitments. Lawyers and advocates are initiating, encouraging, and promoting these efforts and developing new strategies to “bring human rights home.” This introductory panel will explore the relevance and challenges of state and local implementation of human rights in the United States, particularly in light of the current political landscape; domestic and international comparative approaches to subnational human rights implementation; the role of the federal government in facilitating and supporting state and local human rights implementation; and the critical importance of working in close partnership with impacted communities.  

Panelists:

  • Martha Davis, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law, and Co-director, Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy
  • Cathy Albisa, Executive Director, National Economic and Social Rights Initiative, and Commissioner, New York City Human Rights Commission
  • Michele Grigolo, Lecturer in Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Nottingham Trent University
  • Olatunde Johnson, Professor of Law and Vice-Dean for Intellectual Life, Columbia Law School
  • Meredith Johnston, Attorney-Adviser, Office of the Legal Adviser for Human Rights and Refugees (L/HRR), U.S. Department of State

Moderator: JoAnn Ward, Deputy Director, Human Rights in the U.S. Project, Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute

11:45 a.m.– 12:00 p.m.  Break

12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. SESSION II.  Strategies For Effective State and Local Implementation of Human Rights: Bringing Women’s Rights Home

This session will explore specific strategies for effective and creative implementation of human rights at the state and local level, with a particular focus on women’s rights, including local implementation of the women’s rights treaty, CEDAW.

Panelists:

  • June Zeitlin, Director of Human Rights Policy, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
  • Yolanda Francisco-Nez, Director, Mayor’s Office of Diversity and Human Rights, Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Krishanti Dharmaraj, Executive Director, Center for Women’s Global Leadership at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
  • Caroline Bettinger-López, Professor of Clinical Legal Education, Director, Human Rights Clinic, University of Miami School of Law

Moderator: Debra Liebowitz, Professor of International Relations and Women’s & Gender Studies, and the Associate Dean for Curriculum and Faculty Development, Drew University

1:00 – 2:00 p.m.  Lunch (provided) & Remarks

  • Robin Toma, Executive Director, Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission

2:00 – 3:00 p.m. SESSION III.   Litigating Human Rights: The Role of State Courts in U.S. Human Rights Implementation

In this session, panelists will discuss the role that state courts can play in ensuring U.S. compliance with human rights, with a particular focus on strategies, successes, and challenges of integrating international human rights law into state court litigation. 

  • Hon. Kristin Booth Glen, former New York County Surrogate Court Judge, and Dean Emerita, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law
  • Johanna Kalb, Associate Professor of Law, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
  • Wilhelm H. Joseph Jr., Esq., Executive Director, Maryland Legal Aid

Moderator: Steven Watt, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU Human Rights Program

3:00 – 3:15      Break

3:15 – 4:30      Session IV: Leveraging Successes and Addressing Challenges: Local Human Rights Advocacy for Water and Sanitation

Advocates for the right to water and sanitation have had particular success by drawing on international human rights standards and engaging with international and regional human rights mechanisms. Panelists in this session will explore human rights advocacy for the right to water and sanitation in local campaigns in Detroit, Michigan, rural Alabama, and California. 

  • Inga Winkler, Lecturer, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University
  • Catherine Flowers, Rural Development Manager, Equal Justice Initiative & Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise Community Development Corporation, and Director of Environmental Justice and Civic Engagement, Center for Earth Ethics
  • Alice Jennings, Edwards & Jennings, Detroit, Michigan

Moderator:  Cindy Soohoo, Director, International Human Rights Gender Justice Clinic at CUNY School of Law

4:30 – 4:45 p.m. Closing Remarks 

  • The Honorable William Bell, Mayor of the City of Birmingham

Register Here

Information Regarding New York CLE Credits: Columbia Law School has been certified by the New York State Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Board as an Accredited Provider of CLE programs. Under New York State CLE regulations, this live non-transitional CLE Program will provide 5 credit hours that can be applied toward the Areas of Professional Practice requirement. CLE credit is awarded only to experienced New York attorneys for full attendance at the Program in its entirety. Attorneys attending only part of a Program are not eligible for partial credit, although they are most welcome to attend it.  Attendance is determined by an attorney's sign-in and sign-out as shown in the Conference registers. On sign-out, attorneys should also submit their completed Evaluation Form, provided at the Conference. Please note the NYS Certificates of Attendance will be sent to the email address as it appears in the register unless otherwise noted there.

CONFERENCE MATERIALS: Conference materials will be distributed on CD to attendees. Printed review copies of the CD will be available at the conference. Registrants can request a printed copy.

REGISTRATION: Online registration will close for all transactions, including refunds, at 5pm on Monday, May 15. On-site registration will be available at the Conference, space permitting. Confirmed reservations are transferrable. Kindly notify Randi Aho ([email protected]) of transfers by the close of preregistration and otherwise as soon as possible

Registration Rates

Please note that all rates are 'per person' and, as flat fees, cannot be prorated according to attendance. The CLE is free for attorneys and persons who are serving in public interest organizations (including government, academic, and non- and not-for profit organizations) or are experiencing financial hardship.

Professional/Private Practice: $350
Public Interest/Nonprofit/Academia/Government: $0

Persons seeking a hardship scholarship should register using the online form and then separately complete their registration by submitting a scholarship request, no later than May 1, 2017, to Randi Aho ([email protected]). Requests, which will be answered, should detail in a few sentences the basis of the applicant's need and the background to his or her interest. Please understand that without a complete scholarship request, the applicant may be notified that the scholarship registration has been cancelled.