The Georgetown Law Journal is hosting its Volume 114 Symposium on “The Labor Movement and Civil Rights in the Modern Era.” Workers are encountering a series of major setbacks—including, but not limited to, executive orders banning DEI initiatives, erosion of discrimination protections, a hostile and underfunctioning NLRB, and mass terminations of federal employees—challenging workers’ rights in both the private and public sectors. GLJ’s symposium will focus on the state of the labor movement as navigating a series of civil rights issues and will highlight this moment in history as a means to consider worker rights beyond traditional protections. When legal protections are eroded, how can workers and advocates respond? This symposium seeks to answer that question with a look to history, an analysis of the present, and a reimagination of future labor advocacy.

The Symposium will be held on October 24, 2025 on 111 Massachusetts Ave NW (Lower Lobby), and will entail a full day of conversation with four robust panels and a keynote address by the incredible Professor Heather Steffen. To RSVP, click here.(This link opens in a new tab)

Symposium-2025-Flyer-Final

Broadly, the day will include the following:

9:00am – 9:30am Breakfast | 9:20am – 9:30am Introductory Remarks

• Speaker: Freedom Gobel, Senior Symposium Editor
• Speaker: Amritha Ramalingam, Editor-in-Chief

9:30am – 10:00am “Does the Past Foretell Today’s Challenges?” (A Historical Perspective)

• Speaker: Dr. James Benton

10:00am – 11:30am “Crisis at the NLRB: Legal Challenges, Political Power, Future Labor Rights”

• Moderator: Mark Gaston Pearce
• Panelist: Cathy Creighton
• Panelist: Jennifer Abruzzo
• Panelist: Richard Griffin
• Panelist: Richard Bensinger

11:40am – 12:30pm “Keynote Address and Q&A”

• Speaker: Heather Steffen

12:30pm – 1:30pm Lunch

1:30pm – 2:20pm “Rollbacks, Backlash, and Deregulation: Civil Rights Enforcement in the Workplace”

• Moderator: Llezlie Green
• Panelist: Jamie Prenkert
• Panelist: Abbey Stemler
• Panelist: Shirley Lin
• Contributor: Michael Green

2:30pm – 3:20pm “Working in the Margins: Reimagining Protections for Excluded Workers”

• Moderator: Anibha Singh
• Panelist: César F. Rosado Marzán
• Panelist: Jared Trujillo
• Contributor: Noah Zatz

3:30pm – 4:30pm “Worker Power, Resistance, and Collective Action”

• Moderator: Brishen Rogers
• Panelist: Julian Hill
• Contributor: Hiba Hafiz
• Contributor: Anibha Singh

4:30pm – 4:40pm Closing Remarks

• Speaker: Freedom Gobel, Senior Symposium Editor
• Speaker: Amritha Ramalingam, Editor-in-Chief