EVENTS & CLE

    LGBT+ Forum Written Materials

    April 30, 2019

    LGBT+ Issues in a Post-Kennedy World

    1:15 PM – 2:45 PM

    Supreme Court practitioners and experts come together to reflect on what the Court did with Justice Kennedy on the bench and where the Court is likely to go from here as it relates to issues affecting the LGBT+ community. The program will touch on myriad topics, including: (a) the exclusion of transgender persons from the military; (b) the balance between non-discrimination, on the one hand, and religious freedom and freedom of speech, on the other; (c) application of state parentage laws in light of Obergefell v. Hodges and Pavan v. Smith; and (d) the applicability of Title VII to claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or transgender status.

    Moderator: Mary-Christine “M.C.” Sungaila, Haynes and Boone LLP, Costa Mesa, CA

    Speakers: Joshua Matz, Gupta Wessler PLLC; Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, Washington D.C.; Douglas NeJaime, Yale Law School, New Haven, CT; Melissa A. Sherry, Latham & Watkins LLP, Washington, D.C.; Hon. Therese M. Stewart, California First District Court of Appeal, San Francisco, CA

    Written Materials

    Paving the Way: Top LGBT+ Litigators Offer Tips for Surviving and Thriving in Law Firms

    3:00 PM – 4:15 PM

    What are the most effective strategies LGBT+ litigators can use to navigate courtrooms and their law firms? How can law firms use LGBT+ affinity groups and other programs to eliminate bias in the workplace and help LGBT+ lawyers thrive? Join five successful LGBT+ litigators as they discuss these questions and offer specific tips for both litigators and law firms.

    Moderator: Christopher M. Repole, Jackson Lewis PC, New York, NY

    Speakers: Adam B. Banks, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York, NY; Marla R. Butler, Robins Kaplan LLP, Minneapolis, MN; Julie E. Fink, Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP, New York, NY; Larry W. McFarland, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, Beverly Hills, CA

    Written Materials

    Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby: LGBT+ Family Building Issues Beyond Assisted Reproduction

    3:00 PM – 4:15 PM

    Many lesbian, bisexual, and queer women or female-assigned at birth individuals are having sex to become single parents or parents with a same-sex partner. Laws that limit families to two parents may cut out a parent, while those that allow more than two parents may embolden nonparents to seek parentage rights or support. Come join a lively discussion between litigators and academics on how these families come to be and whether the law can keep up.

    Moderator: Amira Hasenbush, Law Office of Amira Hasenbush, Los Angeles, CA

    Speakers: Celeste Fiore, Argentino Family Law and Advocacy LLC, Montclair, NJ; Angie Martell, Iglesia Martell Law Firm PLLC, Ann Arbor, MI; Nancy Polikoff, American University Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C.

    Written Materials

    Paths to Engagement: Developing Client Relationships Between In-House and Outside Counsel and Professional Development in Both Contexts

    4:30 PM – 5:45 PM

    The heightened focus by many law firms and companies on the diversity within their ranks and the ranks of their service providers has expanded opportunities for LGBT+ attorneys. This program will discuss the impact of these developments, the interplay between these developments and the presence or absence of statutory protections against discrimination, and how LGBT+ attorneys can use these opportunities for their professional development and overcoming bias.

    Moderator: William E. Weinberger, Parker Milliken Clark O’Hara & Samuelian APC, Los Angeles, CA Speakers: William Crosby, Interpublic Group, New York, NY; Brogiin Keeton, Evercore, New York, NY; Patricia O’Prey, ContourGlobal PLC, New York, NY; Michelle Waites, Xerox Corporation, Norwalk, CT

    Written Materials

    Hot Topics: Transgender Advocacy in Prisons, Health Care, ID Documents, and Beyond

    4:30 PM – 5:45 PM

    As transgender people in our communities continue to face discrimination across all aspects of life, it is critical that we continue to fight to ensure that transgender individuals have full access to equal rights and freedoms under the law. From access to healthcare to protections in public institutions such as prisons and the military, this discussion will cover many of the hot topics being fought for by advocates today.

    Moderator: Louis L. Lobel, Goodwin Procter LLP, Boston, MA

    Speakers: Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, Lambda Legal, New York, NY; Jennifer L. Levi, GLAD, Boston, MA; Noah E. Lewis, Transcend Legal, New York, NY

    Written Materials 

    May 1, 2019

    Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are! Or…Don’t?

    9:00 AM – 10:15 AM

    Fear of bias from employers, colleagues, and clients can inhibit attorneys from being openly LGBT+, raising the questions: Should I come out? If so, when and how? Join a panel of the country’s top LGBT+ litigators in exploring why (or whether) coming out matters, best practices, and how law firms can create a more welcoming environment for this process.

    Moderator: Ghenete “G” Wright Muir, Ghenete Wright Muir Attorney at Law, Sunrise, FL

    Speakers: Todd Anten, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, New York, NY; Joanne Bland, Journeys for the Soul, Elizabethtown, KY; Ashley King, Hogan Lovells LLP, Los Angeles, CA

    Written Materials

    From Mouth to Mind: Why Language Matters When You’re Different From Others

    9:00 AM – 10:15 AM

    This program will explore language used in the LGBT+ community. The panel will aid the audience in understanding that language is extremely important as a litigator, judge, or court personnel. To assume someone’s gender, especially if assuming their gender within the binary (i.e., masculine or feminine), is to box them into a whole set of preconceived cultural ideas about how they should be and behave, while also disempowering them by stripping them of the freedom to self-identify.

    Moderator: Donna L. Wilson, Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP, Los Angeles, CA

    Speakers: John Culhane, Delaware Law School, Wilmington, DE; Barrett Marshall, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA; Kimberly Mutcherson, Rutgers Law School, Camden, NJ

    Written Materials

    • Non-CLE/ No Written Materials

    From Riots to Rights: An Overview of How the Stonewall Riots Sparked the LGBT+ Civil Rights Movement

    10:30 AM – 12:00 PM

    On June 28, 1969, a riot by patrons of the Stonewall Inn against police harassment catalyzed a civil rights movement for the LGBT+ community. The Gay Liberation Front was founded shortly thereafter. In this program, panel members, some of whom have worked in the LGBT+ legal rights movement since Stonewall and one who has been involved since the 1980s, will discuss the early days of the LGBT+ civil rights movement. The discussion will center on the legal impact of the riots, how they changed the course of legal history for the better, and how street activism and legal advocacy work, sometimes in tandem, sometimes with some friction, to achieve greater equality. From achieving the freedom to marry, the freedom to love, to the freedom to serve in the military, this panel will explore the importance of our history in strategizing the further legal and activist steps to take in the continuing quest for full rights.

    Moderator: James A. Reeder, Jr., Vinson & Elkins LLP, Houston, TX

    Speakers: Perry Brass, Author-Activist, Member of the Gay Liberation Front, New York, NY; William Eskridge, Jr., Yale Law School, New Haven, CT; Martha Shelley, Lesbian Activist, Feminist, Writer, Member of the Gay Liberation Front, Portland, OR; Phill Wilson, LGBT and HIV/AIDS Activist, Founder and Former CEO of Black AIDS Institute, Los Angeles, CA

    Written Materials