Lawyering in a Diverse World
Relevant, real-world workshops on issues of diversity to empower future lawyers for a just and humane world
These trainings are brought to you by the Office of Student Affairs, Student Bar Association, the Center for Professional Development, and the Access to Justice Institute.
Join us for a series of engaging workshops designed to create awareness and empower you with skills and tools on a variety of issues related to diversity, and ultimately give you the competitive edge for effective lawyering in our increasingly diverse and complex world.
Whether you choose to start your legal career in a solo or large-firm business or corporate practice, serve as government or public interest lawyer, or use your legal education to teach or enhance civic leadership or a business career, you will be more successful and effective if you are skilled at working with diverse groups of clients, constituents, colleagues and communities.
Through the following series of workshops, you will gain tools to better understand and engage in issues of inclusion, diversity, and cross-cultural competence which are not only global and business imperatives, but is also a justice imperative.
Any student is welcome to attend any and all of these trainings.
There is no cost to participating in these events, however, space is limited so RSVP is required.
While there is no requirement to attend the entire series, we encourage you to attend as many as you are able to so that you can receive a comprehensive experience. To encourage attendance, we will award a Certificate of Completion of the Whole Lawyer series if you attend at least five of the trainings and one Table Talk event.
Workshops/Events At a Glance
Schedule of Trainings and Events
September |
|---|
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Racial Justice Leadership Institute
Discussion Leader: Dean Spade, Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law & Jolie Harris, Assistant Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs.
The Racial Justice Leadership Institute (RJLI) is designed to foster Seattle University School of Law students' leadership skills for working toward racial justice. This opportunity offers 40 students dedicated time to focus on understanding white supremacy, recognizing operations of racial oppression in general and in the legal profession, and building skills to work for racial justice.
October |
|---|
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Poverty Simulation & CLE
Presented and facilitated by Fé Lopez, Assistant Director for Student Life and Roxanne Mennes, Director, Continuing Legal Education and Therese Norton, 2L. As part of Social Justice Week, this poverty simulation is a unique interactive workshop where participants role-play what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family trying to survive from month to month. Students gain awareness about the way in which various legal and social service systems come together in the lives of people living in poverty.
November |
|---|
Monday, November 2, 2009
Diversity Table Talk
The small group conversations are facilitated by trained individuals provided by Seattle University's Office of Multicultural Affairs.
Table Talk is an informal, facilitated conversation over a meal. Participants discuss whether a personal philosophy of lawyering is needed and how such a philosophy can fill the gap between a lawyer's duty to a client and a lawyer's personal value of taking on the larger issue affecting that client. This is important as students prepare to take on their roles as legal interns/future lawyers. These conversations and personal reflections better prepare students to serve diverse communities.
January |
|---|
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Inclusion, Diversity, and Cross-Cultural Competence as a Justice Imperative
Discussion Leader: Ada Shen-Jaffe, Senior Advisor to the Dean
Ada Shen-Jaffe facilitates an interactive work session where students learn about and review frameworks that can strengthen their effectiveness as advocates and leaders in an increasingly diverse and global world. Students look at some of the basic building blocks of self-awareness and "EQ" (emotional intelligence), and move on to anti-oppression frameworks relating to status, social rank and power that can help ground students' work as professionals, wherever their career paths take them, in the increasingly important justice imperatives of inclusion, diversity, and cross-cultural competence.
February |
|---|
Thursday, February 25, 2010
The Dollars & Sense of Diversity: The Value of Diversity & How to Achieve It
Presented by Lourdes Fuentes and Mark O'Halloran.
This CLE will address two questions: "What is the value of diversity?" and "How do you achieve that value?" The sessions is divided into three parts: The business case, recruitment and retention strategies, and making a commitment to diversity.
Diversity in the law profession is important for many reasons including demands by clients, the diversity of corporate America, the changing demographics of our country, the need for different points of view to solve complex issues in our interconnected world, and the needs of the new generation of law graduates who expect to work in a diverse and vibrant workplace. In addition to providing the framework for a discussion on the value of diversity, this session goes a step further and provides practical information on doing an internal audit, exploring recruitment and retention strategies, and learning the steps for reaching desired results. Participants gain tools to: measure where they are and where they are going; idenfity strategies and approaches that would work in their environment; access the trends in successfully creating a diverse workforce.
