The Northeastern School Law colloquium was held on March 1 and 2, 2001. The conference opened with a reception and dinner for deans of area law schools on Thursday evening. Clint Bamberger spoke to the group, giving an historical perspective on legal education and equal justice concerns. Catherine Samuels, director of the Open Society Institute’s Project on Law and Justice, and Robert Hirshon, president-elect of the ABA, also joined us. Jim Rowan, who organized the NE colloquium along with Claire Dalton, provoked a lively discussion among the deans by posing the question, “What would you do with a million dollars to advance equal justice concerns at your school?”

On Friday, the program began with Northeastern Dean Roger Abrams, Jim, and myself, on behalf of the AALS, welcoming the 100 or so attendees. Robert Hirshon then discussed his presidential initiative, which will focus on the theme of equal justice. One specific project is legislative and other efforts to relieve students of indebtedness so that they can pursue careers in public interest law. Getting the ABA engaged in this issue is an exciting developing.

The first panel was particularly noteworthy in that it introduced an interdisciplinary perspective to issues of teaching and scholarship about equal justice. Moderated by Lonnie Powers, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corp., the panelists - Randy Albelda, a professor of economics and author of The War on the Poor, Barry Bluestone, a professor of political science and author of The Boston Renaissance, and Thomas Shapiro, a professor of sociology and author of Black Wealth/White Wealth - spoke about their research. Among the topics discussed were inequality in wealth accumulation, barriers to affordable housing, and women and welfare policy. This panel emphasized the need to broaden our thinking about equal justice strategies.

We then broke up for two sessions of small group presentations and discussions. The first was divided substantively, with panels on housing/ economic development, criminal law, family law, health/education/welfare, and immigration/globalization. In each group, there were presentations by faculty and legal services providers. The second small group session was thematically organized, and there were panels addressing four topics: networks linking law schools and practitioners, curricular innovation, scholarship and research opportunities, and development of institutes and centers. The mix of thematic and substantive subjects provided an excellent structure for the Colloquium.

At the concluding large group session, Jim Rowan elicited recommendations for future action developed in the groups. These included: developing faculty/legal services networks that are institutionalized at the law schools; actively working with the ABA on student loan relief; exploring mandatory pro bono requirements; making a longitudinal commitment to students pursing public interest careers; and developing public center centers to build community in the law schools. The day ended with a moving address by David Hall, former dean and now provost at Northeastern, who spoke about the need for laws school to incorporate notions of justice and equality as a thread that runs throughout the curriculum and the work of the faculty.

A brochure with information about the program is available from this website. To view a PDF file containing the Northeastern Colloquium brochure, you must have the Adobe Reader program, which may already be on your computer. If not, you can download it for free from Adobe.

Clare Dalton
Northeastern University School of Law
400 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
(617) 373-8882
cdalton@nunet.neu.edu

James V. Rowan
Northeastern University School of Law
400 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
(617) 373-3347
jrowan@nunet.neu.edu