2023 Symposium

JLPA is looking forward to to welcoming many thoughtful speakers and participants at our 2023 symposium: “A Virtual Roundtable Deliberation on CEDAW General Recommendation 40 on Stereotypes and Intersectionality“. After months of planning, the symposium planning team is bringing together educational and interesting conversations on eliminating discrimination towards women. This symposium will bring together members of the United Nations and globally recognized scholars and policymakers to help support the writing of a proposed General Recommendation to the United Nation’s Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. JLPA will be publishing an Issue containing articles from the legal scholars and policymakers that will directly shape the drafting of the General Recommendation, and will serve as a lead convener alongside Harvard and the UN. Currently, the UN has convened in Geneva and our submitted draft pieces for this symposium have been circulated to its members to aid in their decision-making. We are honored to take part of such important work. The virtual event will take place on Friday, March 31 12:00PM–1:30PM. Zoom link forthcoming.

JLPA is committed to creating spaces for critical discussions on issues of policy that matter to us. We are looking forward to seeing you there!

2020 Symposium

On February 5, 2020, JLPA hosted “Red Lines, Red Tape”, a symposium that focused on focused on affordable housing, poverty and race. The symposium featured the following speakers:

  • Introduction (10:00-10:15am)
    • Wendell Pritchett (Provost of the University of Pennsylvania)
  • Keynote Address (10:15-11:00am)
    • Speaker: Matthew Desmond (Author of Evicted and Principal Investigator of the Eviction Lab)
  • Housing Discrimination Panel (11:15-12:30pm)
    • Moderator: Norrinda Hayat (Clinical Professor and Director of the Civil Justice Clinic at Rutgers Law)
    • Panelists:
      • Gustavo Velasquez (Director of Urban–Greater DC at the Urban Institute and former Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at HUD).
      • John Relman (Founder and Managing Partner of Relman, Dane & Colfax)
      • Rasheedah Phillips (The Shriver Center on Poverty Law)
      • George Donnelly (Independence Foundation Fellow at the Public Interest Law Center)
  • Philadelphia-Focused Lunch Discussion (12:45-1:45pm)
    • Introduction: Dean Ted Ruger (Penn Law)
    • Panelists
      • Helen Gym (Philadelphia Councilwoman)
      • Jake Blumgart (Reporter, PlanPhilly Planning, Development, and Housing)
      • Affordable Housing Development Panel (2:00-3:15pm)
        • Moderator: Oscar Abello (NextCity)
        • Panelists:
          • Anne Fadullon (Director of Planning and Development, City of Philadelphia)
          • Vincent Reina (Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design)
          • Edward Pinto (Director of the Housing Center at the American Enterprise Institute)
  • Residential Segregation Panel (3:30-4:45pm)
    • Moderator: Akira Drake Rodriguez (Lecturer at the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design)
    • Panelists:
      • Sheryll Cashin (Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law, Civil Rights and Social Justice at the Georgetown University Law Center)
      • Andre Perry (Metropolitan Policy Program Fellow at the Brookings Institution)
      • Ingrid Gould Ellen (The Paulette Goddard Professor of Urban Policy and Planning and Faculty Director at the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy).

Symposium Archive

March 13, 2019: “Addicted to the War on Drugs”

  • Keynote Addresses:
    • Ethan Nadelman, founder and Former Executive Director (2000-2017) of the Drug Policy Alliance
    • Will Jones, Communications and Outreach Associate, Smart Approaches to Marijuana
  • Related Links

February 8, 2018: “Regulation of Genetic Engineering”

March 20, 2017: “Achieving Equal Justice”

  • Speakers:
    •  Rebbeca Vallas, Managing Director of the Poverty to Prosperity Program at the Center for American Progress
    • Paul Haton, Academic Director of the Quattrone Center
    • Marc Mauer, Executive Director of The Sentencing Project
    • John Hollway, Executive Director of The Quattrone Center
    • Mary Catherine Roper Deputy Legal Director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania
    • Robert Alt, CEO and President of the Buckeye Institute
  • Related Links

March 24, 2016: “Is Government Broken?”