Student Journals: 2024 Symposia Recap

There are a dozen student-run legal journals at Georgetown Law, each publishing original academic scholarship on themes ranging from deepfakes to medical malpractice settlements to prosecutorial reform. In addition to selecting and editing articles, comments and notes in every issue, most of the journals have an opportunity every other year to host a symposium, or conference, with panels and keynote speakers discussing topics relevant to the journal’s area of focus.

Planning an event like this is no small task, especially for full-time law students who also have jobs and externships. Journal symposium editors not only work with their fellow journal members to define a symposium theme and identify panelists who will contribute to stimulating discussions, they also have to handle logistical arrangements from registration systems to travel budgets to catering options. Despite the extra workload, however, most students who take on the assignment say they are glad they did so. 

“Symposium development is a great example of how Georgetown Law provides its students opportunities to learn the skills we will need to make us well-rounded, competent professionals,” said Journal of National Security Law and Policy (JNSLP) Symposium Editor Caitlyn Johnson, L’24, who organized a symposium on election security in March.

 

The Future of Work: The Intersection of Poverty and Labor

On March 1, The Future of Work: The Intersection of Poverty and Labor Symposium, organized by The Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy (GJPLP) and co-sponsored by Georgetown Law’s Workers’ Rights Institute, Center on Poverty and Inequality and Center on Privacy and Technology, focused on child labor, unions and employment law.

In her presentation Labor and Employment Law as Poverty Law, Sejal Singh, U.S. Department of Labor Honors Attorney and co-founder of People’s Parity Project, a progressive legal reform organization, said, “Poverty is a policy choice. It is a policy choice shaped by, reflected in and entrenched by labor and employment law and policy…[It] has disempowered workers, our families, and our communities in favor of the bottom line.”

The panel, Resurgence of Unionism and the Changing Landscape of the NLRA, featured Visiting Professor Mark Gaston Pearce, Executive Director of the Workers’ Rights Institute; Craig Becker, Senior Counsel at AFL-CIO; and Brandon Magner, Field Attorney at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Symposium Editor Joe Anderson, L ’24, said he enjoyed putting together a conversation from a variety of perspectives. “It was enriching to hear lawyers, on the ground workers, judges, historians, professors and government appointees exchange their viewpoints and flesh out a rich portrait of what labor in 2024 looks like.” 

Editor-in-Chief of GJPLP Sierra Campbell, L ’24, was most excited to highlight all of the work being done at the intersection of labor and poverty law, adding, “Worker protections and pro-worker policies are critical to addressing economic and racial inequities.”

Click here to watch the panel discussions.

 

70 Years Later: Revisiting Brown v. Board of Education and the Struggle for Racial Equity in Education

70 Years Later: Revisiting Brown v. Board of Education and the Struggle for Racial Equity in Education, hosted March 7 by the Georgetown Journal of Law & Modern Critical Race Perspectives (MCRP) and co-sponsored by The Office of Journal Administration, Racial Justice Institute, Racial Equity in Education Law and Policy Clinic, Georgetown Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, Georgetown Black Law Students Association, Georgetown Latin American Law Students Association and Georgetown American Constitution Society, used the anniversary of a landmark Supreme Court decision on public school desegregation to focus on the history of segregation, school discipline and racial equity in education. 

Rebecca Epstein, Executive Director of the Georgetown Center on Gender Justice & Opportunity, moderated the panel Examination of School Discipline and Exclusionary Practices. The panelists included Noelia Rivera-Calderón, Staff Attorney for the Advancement Project; Thalia González, Professor of Law and Co-Director at the Center for Racial & Economic Justice at UC Law San Francisco; and Paige Joki, Staff Attorney at the Education Law Center.

Senior Symposium Editor Chelsea Clayton, L ’24, reflected on her time at Georgetown Law and how proud she is of the work being done through the MCRP Journal. 

Clayton said, “Planning this symposium was a remarkable culmination of my three years at  Georgetown, allowing me to incorporate all the knowledge and experiences I have gained during this time.”

Clayton, a Research Assistant for Georgetown Law’s Racial Equity in Education Law and Policy Clinic, highlighted how the MCRP Symposium can help students find their area of interest. 

“Throughout my time in law school, I have been on the journey of learning all the potential career options in the area of education law, and planning the symposium provided me the opportunity to work with practitioners who do a variety of work within the area.”

Click here to see the full agenda.

 

Election Integrity as a National Security Imperative: Current and Future Challenges to Securing American Elections

Election Integrity as a National Security Imperative: Current and Future Challenges to Securing American Elections, organized by the Journal of National Security Law and Policy (JNSLP) and co-sponsored by Georgetown Law’s Center on National Security, highlighted lessons learned from the 2020 election and securing future elections.

The panel, Careers in National Security Law: The Intersection of Policy, Politics and Practice, included: Todd Huntley, Georgetown Law Professor; Sabrina McCubbin, Department of Defense Attorney; and Susan Kovarovics, an International Trade Partner at Akin.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) gave the keynote address via video. “We are living in a time in our country and our world where the fractures in democracy and the rule of law are being laid bare — when political rhetoric has become more and more divisive, when the husband of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives is bludgeoned with a hammer, when election workers are facing threats just for doing their job, when a tyrant in Russia thinks nothing thinks nothing of killing his political opponent. That’s why it’s on all of us to protect democracy and uphold and preserve the ideals at the heart of our system of government,” she said.

Symposium Editor Caitlyn Johnson, L’24, noted all the practical professional skills she’d gained from helping plan her journal’s symposium. “We all learned a great deal about event and personnel management, networking, grant proposal writing and invoicing,” she said. Shehe was also impressed by the support the symposium received from the Georgetown Law alumni community. “We relied on the engagement and support of alumni from government agencies, firms, and think tanks as we were developing our panels, and it was a real privilege to get to meet so many of them and see the way Georgetown Law continues to be a part of their professional journey.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click here for a recording of the JNSLP Symposium.