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Fellowship Program | Public Interest Law Curriculum | Sparer Fellowship Committee
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 Symposia & Forums |
Publications | Sparer Alumni | Centers Home
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Past Symposia and Forums
The Secretary-General’s Study on Violence Against Women February 22, 2007 In December 2003, the General Assembly of the United Nations requested the Secretary-General to prepare an in-depth study on global violence against women. This landmark study was presented to the General Assembly in September 2006 for consideration, the first time that the General Assembly has ever discussed this issue. The study highlights the persistence of all forms of violence against women in all parts of the world and the unacceptability of such violence, seeks to strengthen political commitments and joint efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women, and identify ways and means for better and more sustained and effective implementation of Government commitments and obligations to combat all forms of violence against women and increase accountability. This forum will bring together a number of leading international human rights scholars and activists who work on global violence against women, including individuals who were involved with this study. They will discuss the possibilities that this study presents for future work and assess the obstacles that are presented. Read the Secretary-General’s Study. Read the speaker bios. (PDF) View video from the event.
Edward V. Sparer Fellowship Celebration Panel Discussion and Dinner March 24, 2006 On March 24, 2006, Brooklyn Law School celebrated 20 years of the Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship Program. The Sparer Program continues to serve as the heart of the Law School’s public interest law community, offering students the opportunity to serve leading public interest organizations throughout the nation. A panel discussion, "The Many Roads to Change: Reaffirming Ed Sparer’s Vision," was followed by cocktails and a buffet dinner at the Forchelli Conference Center. View video from the event. View photos from the event.
March 3, 2005 As BLS Professor David Reiss introduced the guest speakers headlining the 2005 Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship program on legislative gridlock in Albany, it was hard to miss how diverse the participants’ backgrounds were: a public policy watch-dog, a former Democratic state senator, a grassroots activist, a veteran Albany lobbyist, and a conservative Republican policy analyst. Yet despite the panel’s varying credentials and experiences, they could all agree on one thing: something is rotten in Albany. The March 2005 panel – moderated by Reiss and organized with the help of Sparer student fellows – explored the source of legislative gridlock in Albany, what harm such inefficient government can cause to the democratic process, and what methods voters might use to combat the problem. Read more.
February 9, 2005 On February 9, 2005 the Edward V. Sparer Public Interest Law Fellowship Program held a luncheon entitled "Current Issues in American Indian Law,” and featured Raymond J. Heslin, a partner at the law firm of Sonneschein, Nath & Rosenthal LLP. Mr. Heslin, who recently obtained a $250 million judgment in a land claims case against the State of New York on behalf of the Cayuga Nation, provided an historical background of American Indian law in New York. Read more.
What Have We Learned Since the 2000 Election? March 11, 2004 Three distinguished speakers addressed issues and problems related to and resulting from the contentious 2000 election. Laughlin McDonald, Director of the Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in Atlanta spoke about partisan gerrymandering and the continuing problems of race in the electoral process. John Bonifaz, Executive Director of the National Voting Rights Institute in Boston addressed campaign spending limits as a civil rights issue. And Jessie Allen, valedictorian of BLS Class of 1996 and Associate Counsel of the Brennan Center for Justice of NYU Law School, spoke on felon disenfranchisement and equal protection. Brooklyn Law School Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Joel M. Gora will moderate the forum. Read more.
April 11, 2003 The erosion of longstanding workplace protections such as healthcare and the loss of traditional job stability are sources of concern and anxiety for Americans at every economic level. Personal and commercial bankruptcies are soaring, adding to the unease of working individuals and their families. On Friday, April 11, Brooklyn Law School presented a conference, "The New Economy and the Unraveling Social Safety Net," on the changing work environment, resulting gaps in the healthcare system, and the effects of easy consumer credit. The participants presented a range of initiatives to address these problems. The keynote speaker was Elizabeth Warren, the Leo E. Gottlieb Professor at Harvard Law School, whose work in bankruptcy and commercial law extends beyond the traditional confines of these business-oriented subjects, provided a demographic picture of the impact of the new economy on the two-income middle class family. Joining Professor Warren were scholars, practitioners, and public policy advocates, all of whom are experts in their respective fields of employment and health law, bankruptcy, and commercial law. Read more.
National Security vs. Civil Liberties: Must We Choose?
Among the panelists were Mary Jo White, former United States Attorney, Southern District of New York; Professor David Cole, Georgetown University Law School, author of No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System; Joshua L. Dratel, a criminal defense attorney who has defended clients charged with terrorism, including a defendant charged with participating in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa; and Christopher A. Ford, Minority Counsel for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, who will join BLS’s faculty in 2003. BLS Professor Susan Herman organized and served as moderator of the forum. Read more.
April 5, 2001 How has Congressional limiting of the jurisdiction of federal courts impacted on prisoners’ and immigrants’ rights? Why does depriving the rights of some individuals and groups to vindicate their constitutional claims in federal courts threaten the liberty of all citizens? On April 5, Brooklyn Law School focused on examined three recent pieces of legislation that inflict immeasurable suffering to people under sentence of execution, held in conditions that violate civilized standards of decency, and who are threatened with deportation to countries in which they face torture or death. The distinguished panelists included highly respected scholars and experienced litigators in the area of habeas corpus, prisoners’ rights, and immigration: John Boston, Director, Prisoners’ Rights Project, Legal Aid Society; Lee Gelernt, Senior Staff Counsel, ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project; and James S. Liebman, the Simon H. Rifkind Professor of Law at Columbia University School of Law. Read more.
Other topics addressed at past symposia and forums: Markets
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