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MCLE Program

International Perspectives on
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law

July 23-25

University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands
Amsterdam, Netherlands



Co-sponsored by the Williams Institute, Whittier Law School and Hofstra Law School

This three-day program will offer attorneys the opportunity to earn up to 17 units of MCLE credit (including elimination of bias (CA only), ethics in the profession and substance abuse credits) while studying International LGBT legal issues in historic Amsterdam.  The program will be led by leading experts in LGBT legal issues from the United States and Europe including:

·        Lee Badgett, Research Director, The Williams Institute    

·          Jon Davidson, Legal Director, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

·          Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

·          Elizabeth Glazer, Professor, Hofstra Law School

·          John Heilman, Professor, Whittier Law School

·          David Kaye, Executive Director, International Human Rights Program, UCLA School of Law

·          Holning Lau, Professor, Hofstra Law School

·          Jenny Pizer, Senior Counsel, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

·          Russell Robinson, Professor, UCLA Law

·          Brad Sears, Executive Director, The Williams Institute, UCLA Law

·          Kees Waaldijk, Doctor of Law, Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands

·          Evan Wolfson, Executive Director, Freedom to Marry

Participants will also have the chance to interact with over twenty-five law students and lawyers from around the world attending a month-long summer program co-sponsored by Whittier Law School and the Williams Institute. Credits will be approved in advance for California and New York and will include one unit of elimination of bias, three units of ethics, and one unit of substance abuse credit.  Registration for the entire program will be $1150, including one lunch and one cocktail reception.

Checks should be made payable to "Whittier Law School."


The Radisson SAS, Amsterdam is offering a special room rate from July 22-July 27th for reservations made before June 2nd. Please call their reservations desk at
+31 20 5208300 and ask to book a room under the Williams Institute room block.


UCLA School of Law is a state bar of California approved MCLE provider.

Hofstra Law School is an Accredited Provider of New York State Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit. New York CLE credits are available to satisfy the mandatory requirements for non-transitional attorneys.  Fourteen (14) professional practice and three (3) ethics CLE credits are available to those in attendance. To receive all seventeen (17) credits, a person must attend the entire three day program. No credit can be given for partial attendance.  Scholarships are available.

To sign up for the program, please fill out the form below. If you have any questions, contact Darcy Pottle at pottle@law.ucla.edu or at 310-825-8760.
 

I would like to attend the three-day CLE program in Amsterdam.
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Checks should be made payable to "Whittier Law School." Registration will be considered complete upon receipt of payment. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis and is not limited to lawyers.

 

Schedule

July 23

10am-12pm
Course Overview and Introduction: LGBT Rights in the United States (2 units of general CLE credit)

This introductory session will provide an overview of the three-day program and introduce its main themes.  To provide a common understanding for the international material covered in the rest of the course, an overview of LGBT rights in the United States will be provided.  This session will explore basic problems of equality and liberty faced by the LGBT community and how various constitutional concepts have been used to challenge forms of discrimination against LGBT people.  An overview of the legal rights of LGBT people in the United States in the areas of criminalization of same-sex sexual behavior, anti-discrimination law, couples rights, and parenting rights will be provided.

·          Jon Davidson, Legal Director, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

·          Professor Russell Robinson, UCLA Law

1pm-3pm
The Rights of Same-Sex Couples: The U.S. and Western Europe (2 units of general CLE credit)

This session will use a comparative law approach to examine how the rights of same-sex couples have been recognized in the United States and Western Europe.  Major cases and legislation in the United States that have resulted in domestic partnerships, civil unions, and marriage for same-sex couples will be compared with the ways in which the legal rights and obligations of same-sex couples have been recognized in Scandinavia and Western Europe.  Panelists will discuss the differences between marital and non-marital forms of recognition, the varying levels of rights attached to different forms of recognition, the use of the legislative and the judicial process to achieve recognition, and the political process that led to recognition in each country. 

·         Brad Sears, Executive Director of the Williams Institute at UCLA Law

·         Evan Wolfson, Executive Director, Freedom to Marry

·         Jennifer Pizer, Senior Counsel, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

6pm-8pm
Elimination of Bias in the Legal Profession/Ethics in the Profession (one hour of each) 

The first hour of this session (1 hour of elimination of bias credit) will help lawyers build skills for working with colleagues of color and colleagues who are members of the LGBT community. Awareness of bias issues in today's evolving cross-cultural society is essential, both to prevent discrimination against, and to assure fairness in the work environment. The session will help lawyers to work with colleagues of color and members of the LGBT community in a culturally sensitive manner. The session will also explore how to address issues of racial, gender, and sexual orientation bias in a variety of law practice settings.

The second hour of this session (1 hour of ethics credit) will explore the unique professional, ethical, and moral challenges that arise for people of color and LGBT people in the legal profession. To what extent do prevailing identity and behavior norms limit or shape professional opportunities for these overlapping groups of lawyers? What personal and ethical dilemmas are presented by sexual orientation, gender and race-based discrimination in the workplace? How does one balance the often competing goals of providing adequate client representation, preserving individual autonomy, and securing avenues for personal expression?
 

·          Professor Russell Robinson, UCLA Law

·          Professor Elizabeth Glazer, Hofstra Law School

July 24

10am-4pm
Trip to the Hague: LGBT Rights and International Human Rights (4 hours of general credit)

This session, which will include two two-hour presentations, will also include an additional tour of the international courts of the Hague and an overview of International Human Rights documents and how they protect LGBT rights.

The Hague is the center of international legal arbitration.  These presentations in the Hague will include take place in international tribunals such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Court (ICC), and Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal.

The presentations will be lead by Professor David Kaye, who was a legal advisor to the American Embassy in the Hague, where he worked with the international criminal tribunals and acted as counsel to the United States in several cases before the International Court of Justice and the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal.  From 1999 to 2002, Professor Kaye was the principal staff attorney on humanitarian law, handling issues such as the application of the law to detainees in Guantanamo Bay and serving on several U.S. delegations to international negotiations and conferences.

These sessions will cover international efforts to eradicate discrimination and violence against the LGBT community and will explore international conventions that address violence on the basis of gender and sexual orientation as well as strategies to protect the LGBT community from violence and discrimination and how those strategies have been and are being utilized in specific countries across the globe. In addition, participants will explore the major political, judicial and non-governmental institutions in human rights. The session will review, in particular, institutions in the United Nations system as well as regional institutions such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and how individuals pursue human rights claims before these international bodies.  

·          David Kaye, Executive Director, International Human Rights Program, UCLA Law

·          Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission

·          Professor John Heilman, Whittier Law School 

6pm-7pm
Substance Abuse in the Legal Profession: How to recognize abuse and how to intervene (1 hour of substance abuse credit)

This session focuses on substance abuse, addiction, and ways to help attorneys "stop managing the problem" and start getting rid of it.  Subjects include the nature of addiction, causative factors, and recognition of symptoms.  The session will explore why attorneys believe they can handle substance abuse and addiction better than non-attorneys, unique signs of trouble, and resources for attorneys in need of assistance or treatment.

The session will be led by Ken Seeley, who has been certified by the National Association of Drug and Alcohol Interventionists and has been involved, professionally and personally, in recovery since 1987.  His organization, Intervention911, is one of the most prominent and successful private intervention services in the country.  Currently, Ken is one of the on-camera interventionists featured on the groundbreaking A&E television series Intervention.  Seeley will discuss how to recognize signs of substance abuse in colleagues and how to intervene.

·          Ken Seeley, Founder and Executive Director of Intervention911

July 25 

10am-12pm
Eastern Europe and Asia: Recent Developments (2 hours of general credit)

This panel will provide a brief overview of recent legal developments in Eastern Europe and in Asia. With regard to Eastern Europe, special emphasis will be placed on court decisions involving the rights of same-sex couples and the impact that the EU accession process is having on LGBT rights. With regard to Asia, the discussion will address general trends in the region as well as recent milestones in a variety of specific jurisdictions, including Hong Kong, South Korea, and Nepal.

·          Professor Holning Lau, Hofstra Law School

·          Brad Sears, Director of the Williams Institute at UCLA Law

1pm-3pm
Policy Data on Same-Sex Couples in Europe (2 hours of general credit)

The legal rights and obligations of same-sex couples have been recognized in Scandinavia and Western Europe for close to two decades.  As a result, a great deal of empirical information is now available about the impact that state recognition has had on same-sex couples, the LGBT community, and the population as a whole in the countries that have extended the rights of marriage to same-sex couples. 

The scholars in this panel will present some of the latest research on the legal recognition of same-sex couples in Scandinavia and Western Europe.  Topics covered will include: how do the types of recognition offered by different countries differ in terms of the amount of rights and obligations they provide?  What factors lead a country to recognize the rights and obligations of same-sex couples?  Can a model be developed to predict what countries will recognize such rights in the future?  How many couples are registering or marrying in these countries?  How many have sought dissolutions? What do we know about the demographic characteristics of these couples compared to married couples or compared to same-sex couples who are not registering?  As some conservative commentators have claimed, has the legal recognition of same-sex couples increased rates of divorce and non-marital birth rate and decreased marriage rates?

·          Kees Waaldijk, Doctor of Law, Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands

·          Lee Badgett, Research Director, The Williams Institute

6pm-8pm
Ethical Issues Faced in Lawyering on Behalf of the LGBT Community (2 hours of ethics credit)

Group decisions about litigation are structured by the rules of civil procedure and professional ethics.  Those rules currently adhere to an individualist model.  They generally require the attorney to be, above all else, loyal to her individual client’s desires -- even where the consequences of the litigation affect entire groups of people.  Why is any individual group member able to step forward in the litigation arena and unilaterally claim to represent, and indeed bind, all similarly situated group members to a particular legal position?  Further, why can any single attorney or organization litigating one of many cases brought on behalf of a group decide alone what tactics and strategies to employ in pursuing that case?

This session examines professional responsibility issues through the lens of public interest law practice and the representation of LGBT groups and individuals.  This session will examine the procedural and ethical questions about individual decision-making in litigation on behalf of the LGBT community as a whole.  The course will consider problems of the allocation of control between lawyer and client, conflicts between advocacy for social change and the needs of the client, conflicts between the lawyer's individual morality and the client's needs, and problems in class action and other multiple client situations.

·          Jon Davidson, Legal Director, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

·          Jennifer Pizer, Senior Counsel, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund

·          Evan Wolfson, Executive Director, Freedom to Marry


UCLA School of Law is a state bar of California approved MCLE provider.

Hofstra Law School is an Accredited Provider of New York State Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credit. New York CLE credits are available to satisfy the mandatory requirements for non-transitional attorneys.  Fourteen (14) professional practice and three (3) ethics CLE credits are available to those in attendance. To receive all seventeen (17) credits, a person must attend the entire three day program. No credit can be given for partial attendance.  Scholarships are available.

For more information, contact Darcy Pottle at pottle@law.ucla.edu or at 310-825-8760.

Checks should be made payable to "Whittier Law School."
Registration will be considered complete upon receipt of payment. Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis and is not limited to lawyers.