Experts to examine gender bias in law, legal education

A symposium, "Gender Bias and the Law: Ideas for Education and Action," will be held at the Law School on Friday, Dec. 2, and Saturday, Dec. 3. The symposium will bring together some of the nation's leading scholars on gender bias and the law and will examine what role, if any, legal education plays in eliminating gender bias.

Among the featured speakers will be Catharine MacKinnon, professor of law at Michigan, who will present the final keynote address; Marcia Greenberger, president of the National Women's Law Center; and Lynn Hecht Schafran, director of the National Judicial Education Program to Promote Equality for Women and Men in the Courts.

The symposium is organized by students in the law seminar Gender Bias in Judicial Decisions, taught by Kathleen Mahoney, Visiting Professor in the Law School and symposium coordinator. Admission is free for University faculty, students and staff; the fee for all others is $35.

Mahoney will open the symposium with introductory remarks at 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2. Session topics will include defining the gender-bias problem, the responsibility of the legal community in addressing gender bias, and gender bias in specific areas of the law.

A dinner with Judge Ilana Rovner of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will be held Friday evening. Tickets for the dinner are $15 per person; the dinner is not included in the registration fee.

The symposium will continue at 9 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, with discussions on gender bias in family law, criminal law and child-protection law, plus a dialogue on the future of legal education. MacKinnon's address, at 3 p.m., will conclude the conference.

Law School faculty members participating in the two-day symposium are Douglas Baird, the Harry A. Bigelow Professor and Dean of the Law School; Richard Epstein, the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor; Stephen Schulhofer, the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor; and Cass Sunstein, the Karl N. Llewellyn Professor. Lawrence Lessig, Elena Kagan and Tracey Meares, all Assistant Professors in the Law School, will also be symposium panelists.

For registration information, dinner tickets or a complete list of panelists and topics, call 702-3306.