 Good afternoon, everyone My name is Gregory Bowman and I have the honor and privilege of being the dean at Roger Williams University School of Law And I want to welcome you to today's integrating doctrine and diversity speaker series on auditing your syllabus and your classroom materials This is the fifth this year in our series of integrating doctrine and diversity Programs we're really proud of these and excited about it We all got into teaching and working at law schools because we believe in making the world a better place one student one project at a time and We all work very hard, but there are certain moments in our careers. There are certain moments certain eras when we can really Push forward with making the difference that we want to make in the world and making the world a better and more inclusive place And this series is part of what we're trying to do And I'm really proud of my faculty and staff colleagues for what they've done in this area and their research and their teaching And in this series, which is a way to have a collaborative conversation and bring together Leaders from across the country from different schools To to enlighten us and to learn from and with them. So again, welcome Glad you're here I'm looking forward to the program and I'm going to turn over the screen to my colleague Anna Baraza, who is our law school's director of diversity and outreach. Thank you Good afternoon, thank you Dean Bowman Before we begin I want to take a moment to reflect on the lands in which we reside We are coming from many places Physically and remotely and we want to acknowledge the ancestral homelands and traditional territories of Indigenous and native peoples who have been here since time immemorial and to recognize that we must continue to build our Solidarity and kinship with native peoples across the Americas and across the globe Brajulian's University School of Law is located in Bristol, Rhode Island And so we acknowledge and honor the Narragansett and Pokanaka people and Salams the original name of the land and art that our campus resides on We also acknowledge that this country would not exist if it weren't for the free enslaved labor of black people And we recognize that the town of Bristol and the very land our campus resides on have benefited Significantly from the trade of enslaved people from Africa The economy of New England, Rhode Island and more specifically Bristol was built from wealth Generated through the triangle trade of human lives During this time of national reckoning with our history of slavery and the disparate treatment of black people We honor the legacy of the African diaspora and the black lives knowledge and skills Stolen due to violence and white supremacy While the movement for justice and liberation is building and we are witnessing the power of the people Many are still being met with violence and even being killed as Upholders of justice our hope is to become agents of change For members of our society who have been met with violence physical mental emotional Through our privilege and as upholds of justice We believe that our students who soon will be practitioners of law can be and already are agents of change as well And for those who are not familiar with this practice Why do we do a land and labor acknowledgement? I want to share with you a statement from Northwestern University's Native American and indigenous initiatives Which explains it much better than I could It is important to understand the long-standing history that has brought you to reside on the land and to seek to understand your place within that history Land acknowledgments and labor acknowledgments do not exist in a past tense or historical context Colonialism is a current ongoing process and we need to build our mindfulness of our prison participation Thank you. I would now like to welcome and turn it over to my colleague Nicole Hi, thank you Anna. Thank you Dean Bowman I'm today is the final installment of the first year-long integrating doctrine and diversity speaker series I'm thanks everybody for being here today And I guess all of the presenters can turn on their cameras and you'll see everybody sort of start to come on As we approach the summer our focus day is on how to further invite conversations about diversity Inclusion equity and social justice into the classroom Age of today speakers will discuss an innovative technique or practice They've been using in their classrooms and then we'll end the session today with a discussion about strategies for using the summer To plan changes in your own classrooms I'm so proud of the work we've done on the series and the level of engagement we've gotten From professors lawyers judges students librarians and administrators All over the country today promises to be another exciting discussion and let me start by introducing all of the panelists So I'm going to do this alphabetically Bridget J. Crawford is a professor of law at Peace University where she teaches mostly courses in taxation Nadia J. Humber is an associate professor of law at the University of Connecticut School of Law She teaches courses in property law race in the law housing law and consumer protection Her research examines the intersection of civil rights legislation and emerging technologies Kathy stanchi is the EL cord professor of law at UNLV Boyd School of Law Kathy is a principal organizer of the United States Feminist Judgments project Carrie Stone is a professor of law at the Florida International University College of Law She teaches employment discrimination employment law labor law and contracts Carrie's research focuses on examining anti-discrimination jurisprudence and she is the author of the brand new book Pains of the Glass ceiling recently published in the last few weeks by Cambridge University Press And finally Rebecca Tushnet is the inaugural Frank Stanton professor of First Amendment law at Harvard Law School Rebecca's work focuses on copyright trademark and advertising law now that I've gotten that out of the way Let's start the discussion. I'm going to start with you, Rebecca Your piece in the book integrating doctrine and diversity draws on your experience co-writing a free and open source property casebook I absolutely love this as a librarian and as a professor who cares deeply about equity and inclusion Creating and using an open source casebook is an amazing practice Which allows you to integrate diversity into the classroom through the choices In the text itself but also sort of seems innovative in that it's a fundamental equitable and inclusive practice Which allows students access to course material for free Can you talk a little bit about the process of creating the book and how you envision it being used? Um, sure. So, uh, thank you. Uh, I think uh, you really got to the heart of what we were doing I just got to the point where I could not ask students to spend 300 dollars on a casebook And I just felt it was it was wrong and I also found that I was adding so many of my own materials that It really was, you know supplemental and you know, there's a huge problem of You know, somebody has to do the work because casebooks are valuable, right? Absolutely. Uh, and in fact, uh Easily deserving of remuneration in appropriate circumstances um, you know putting together a primer on, you know, uh on Taking's law is not trivial. Um, so But I was in a place and I was with working with other people who were in a place in their careers Where we didn't need to publish new articles to, you know, continue in our career path And so we were in a good position to say, okay Let's do something to give back to the community and create something That anybody can pick up and they can modify however they want But we'll provide them Some of the building blocks that you don't want to have to put together yourself that you, you know You don't want to write a new thing about the rule against perpetuities And so just having that, uh around seemed like A useful tool and by making it open source It means like if you like our treatment of one thing, you know, but you really like your existing property casebook There's no marginal cost to swapping it out And I just found it very very rewarding and The the decisions I think followed naturally From that including that we actually do rely on fair use, which some publishers do not let you do And I think that's also important too To actually continue to exercise the muscle of fair use which allows people to Use things excerpts and images and so on in transformative ways for commentary So, uh, I guess that's the basics of my thinking Thank you. Um, so Using the materials you co-authored whether as your primary casebook or in a supplemental way in a property class allows professors To focus specifically on race within the context of u.s property law In the book you described some of the chapters in your caspus as being specifically and i'm quoting Designed to tell the story of how the built environment Reflects a series of deliberate public and private choices that were influenced by and often deliberate deliberately in support of racial stratification Did you develop this material because you thought currently existing material lacked the perspective? And do you see any real downside to the use of specific chapters or this entire book in the 1l curriculum? So, you know, I I I do think that the clarity of our focus on the ways that us law is racialized has increased I wouldn't say that, you know, anybody ignores it right now But, you know, when I was drafting in particular the zoning chapter I just there was no other way to tell the story Then to talk about race. So, you know, we sometimes joke that, you know To be a lawyer is to be able to think about one thing that is inextricably linked to another thing And only think about the first thing But that's actually not a great way to be a lawyer And certainly not a great way to be a teacher of law. So It just it just seemed to Be the the natural thing to do and also So I actually feel very proud of sort of centering it on st. Louis in part because it just gives people a very concrete example no pun intended, I guess Of how the system works as a whole and I found, you know Students actually got interested in looking up their own zoning like why do the plate? Why did the place that I grew up look the way it did? And so framing the question in that way I think helps students connect with how the law is actually affecting lived experience In terms of the the potential downsides, I mean, uh, you know, they're I I think There are students who may feel Uh Preached to I think there are things that you can do about that um I I do think that, you know, we didn't really want to include like The perspectives of the nimbies right as such on the other hand, we did want to do a little explaining about You know, so uh, william fischl has this great, uh account of home voters Right, so people whose primary assets are their houses and so they are laser focused on You know if i'm going to retire in the united states, this house has to be worth a lot of money And so that explains a lot of their choices in ways That are more complicated than just nimbyism So I I think, uh, that's That's the kind of thing that we wanted to give multiple perspectives But sometimes maybe not the perspectives that you expected I really liked what you said about, uh It giving the students the opportunity to connect with the material Um in a different way and maybe in a way you intended it and maybe a way you didn't really foresee But it it breeds sort of this real connection and I think that that's like a great pivot to My questions for carrey. Um, carrey, uh I want to talk a little bit about your approach. Um in your selection In the book you've written Diversity and inclusivity are not peripheral or satellite topics when teaching legal doctrine. They're woven into its very fabric You then discuss how you approach teaching contracts to first-year students with a focus on using themes The themes you discuss in the book that you intentionally leave into classroom discussions Are sex and agency Intersectionality and historical sex inequality and contextualizing present inequality When I first read your submission, I thought wow, these themes like they've been here the whole time Um, but the way that you framed it allows this to sort of bubble to the top and be really obvious and accessible Um, can you talk a little bit about how you engage students with the themes and Like I guess my specific question is do you tell them about the themes from the beginning? Um, or do you let them sort of discover it as they go? I love that question and thank you for what you said. Um So the themes the themes are right there kind of baked into the doctrine. They're organic. They're um, they're integral They're inextricable Um, and and here's why so when my students come in for first year We you know, we really are starting from the beginning. So we we tell them, you know, con You know, any body of law that we're going to study in a first-year survey class is this series Of conversations that occur across space and time and that's how the disagreement occurs and bubbles up That's how the evolution occurs. The trajectory progresses Um, so that's really important and I tell them specifically when we talk about contracts We're not talking obviously I distinguish it from criminal law Tort law that kind of comes from above and is you know, superimposed on us as we go about our lives Whether we know about it or not if you do something wrong you can get caught into court contracts is Basically consists of the rules we make for ourselves So naturally and that's this is where it comes it becomes very natural Um, the adjudication of contract disputes when someone says hey, that's not what we said or that's not what we meant Or I did say that but I have a very good reason that you should now come in And police this and and create a basis for rescission and you know, based on policy This is what you should do. We have to answer these questions We have to really and I tell my students think of it as we are reconstructing the sphere of transaction We are reentering it As the trier that's what the judge needs to do And there's this sort of double helix of the subjective strand and the objective strand So what was going on in this person's head? But to the extent that we can't ascertain that what reasonably objective manifestations or or typical Typically ascribed meanings of words that they used how can we bring in an objective strand and kind of interweave those and we get to these questions of what was said what was meant by what was said and um You know, is there a basis to undo what was essentially done? And if so what so these interpersonal dynamics become critical in the identities of not only the parties but of the trier the adjudicator becomes critical The identity is the language they use it cannot be divorced from the historical and social context in which each of these things Occurs and just I'll give like some quick examples if it's okay Just to kind of illustrate what i'm saying But if we're talking about principles that that rest on agency we move about the world with agency We act of our own volition And then you look at atriers and what level of agency do they ascribe to the parties before them or to the general public when they Kind of you know come up with these rules that are going to be applied to other people What um what levels of agency do they expect and what levels of agency do they ascribe and impute? um You know at the end of the day. I tell my students this is sort of you know All of these these debates that we're having should we undo this what was meant by what was said how should we interpret this What rule should we apply these are various tugs of war? um this advocacy across a line and in order to Sell you know your side to the judge. You've really got to understand Um, what's going to play what's going to work for this particular judge? So if you're talking about a doctrine like duress or undue influence Um, what does it take to overcome someone's will to have someone's will overborn? What does it take such that you can get a judge to say all right? I see what happened, but I know you didn't really mean it all choices are constrained So identity thus becomes crucial and the level of agency that we impute to the parties becomes crucial Um, I can just quickly follow up by saying, you know my the book that I've chosen to use Starts with um a surrogacy case And I think it's such an incredible vehicle to introduce all of these things and to lay this out for my students. Um You know they're they're fit, you know, there's an issue of first impression What are the via you know? What is the the viability in the state of massachusetts? Of these of surrogacy contracts generally if in fact, they're going to be viable What will the contours be and we'll kind of craft those contours according to What we expect from society the incentives and deterrence we want to build in for future people who are going to engage in these kinds of agreements What happens when technology sort of outpaces the law and we have law for adoption or even we have laws that regulate something like sperm donation, but but now we have new technologies for reproduction And it's outpace the law and we have to come up with well. What are we going to do with these surrogacy agreements now that we can have them? So it really is an incredible vehicle and you can't really get into any of that Without getting into issues of sexual agency paternalism and the regulation of reproduction And this is just the first day. So there's there's so much that's already there sort of baked in. Sorry if I took too long No, that was amazing. I was like cheering you on and Amen from from my little office here because the way you're saying it is it's not others it's not it's not about It's not let's teach contracts and then maybe we'll add in something about Gender we will add in something about sexual identity. It's that it is here. It is part of it I'm just acknowledging it and it's coming up from the beginning because this is the first case in the case book And you can't do it without it and that really speaks to my soul Um So my next question for you carry is in your selection uh in the book You stated Impediments on women's abilities to contract persist today Whether they manifest in the form of predatory sales techniques to use on women or as wage inequality Structural discrimination pervades modern life with rules framed as if to apply evenly to all Even as situational differences between the sexes Operate to systematically disadvantage women. This really makes it clear to me that gender is relevant to our lives Our students lives our clients lives. Um, do you feel like using gender inequality as a theme? Helps the students to connect to the material sort of in a similar way to what rebecca was describing I see you and it's woven in and I would also say I love the excerpt you picked but um But there's also material that that I've written that and that many others You know far better than we've written about about racial inequality and how that pervades our cases and our curricula So this is just one example, but it's it's really it's it's there's a wide array Of topics when it comes to inequality that pervade our curricula Um, I think specifically you asked about the gender inequality that I mentioned I draw upon the research and and articles about pedagogy Written by others to to a great extent and I of course my own thoughts which kind of sent me out in search of them Um, so for example, you know when we talk about and just different principles and contract I go back to the idea of okay You need a bargained for exchange in order for there to be a viable contract because a gift promise can be rescinded And we we've learned about that delineation When we cover cases that have to do with sort of domestic or familial dynamics such as and I'll just throw them out for the contracts professors here, but you know Kirksy v. Kirksy or Hamer versus Sidway and you've got the brother-in-law sister-in-law Uncle nephew when it comes to women And this is something this is a quote. I actually I often you know quoting class from professor devra 3d She said bargaining like beauty is in the eye of the beholder and judges may be Less likely to perceive contract bargaining between the sexes in a family context Um, there are incredible articles I'm sure we'll talk at the end about you know finding things and incorporating them, but I you know You can look to angela may capenda. You can look to mary and cherry There's so many people who've written brilliant takes on some of these cases They're just giving a little bit here and there to the students really helps them appreciate Well, what does it mean to be bargained for what do we mean past consideration is no consideration If you're talking about a case that involves what's traditionally been perceived as women's work Is that already sort of baked into what we expect they will have done versus something that they actually You know, they relied to their detriment. They went out into the world and did something So now I believe they relied to you know, she relied to her detriment Um, you know, these concepts really are everywhere because we were constantly called upon in contracts to make these determinations Did the party rely to his or her detriment? Um, you know, was this the bargained for exchange? Um There's a case that that mary and cherry talks about a woman went to arthur murray and was Flattered by the sales person and was sold and in order to number of dance lessons and and the idea there You know Can her case proceed under the theory that she should have been given leave to consult with someone who could have helped her To accurately assess what was going on versus just falling prey to the flattery, you know And and merriam wonders and I wonder, you know, if she had a different identity and you can plug in any identity You know merriam, I think talks about a Wealthy businessman, but but we can look at all facets of identity there Would the court meet her in the same place see her the same way? And I think these questions arise so naturally that again It's not this onerous effort to inject these sort of musings into the class and get the students thinking I taught pr last summer and I like sort of made an off-handed comment to the students about how My I really believe my gender dictates the way in which I write emails And my like natural set point. I am uh originally from new york I think that uh, I I described my style as northern, but I think I mean not like southern and fluffy I'm like to the point like I don't say hi. How are you doing? Oh my god? How was your day? Can you do this? I just say can you do this when can you get it done by and what I've learned Through the practice of law and working in academia is that there is an expectation that I flower it up for the sake of Not appearing to assertive And I was talking about this and I said I have this little voice in my head It's the like no cold writing email voice where I write Hey, can you get this done and then I go back and I say Dear blah blah blah How is your day today? And the students in the class said wow That really explains why when I get an email from a partner who's a male It's usually one sentence and when I get an email from a partner. Who's a female It's usually a paragraph asking me how I'm doing And it wasn't I didn't intend to do that I just sort of was having this conversation and so there was this like direct way that they all of a sudden became more engaged and they saw it in a way that You know, I didn't think they were going to connect with pr which is Pardon me for saying sometimes a bit boring and rules-based Um, I'm going to move on to Nadia Whether we're talking about the choice of our reading materials or the choices we make About what themes to illuminate throughout the semester Each of the speakers today is talking about a different way to integrate diversity social justice equity or inclusion into the classroom I've had the privilege of teaching alongside Nadia And uh, she is one of the authors currently writing a submission for our second book And she's going to talk today about her use of pictures in the classroom So Nadia, can you talk a little bit about how you use pictures in the classroom? Yes, of course. So thank you for just inviting me to be here and I'm loving this conversation. So Um, yes, I had the pleasure of teaching with Nicole. Um, when I was at Roger Williams. And so when I was there, um I was fortunate to have been accepted as a faculty fellow for what was called the diversity and inclusion Intense of summer institute. Um, and this was the summer of 2020 So what the institute did was it focused on helping professors Be more inclusive in their teaching It provided readings that framed issues experiences of other faculty And what it really did was helped the fellows look inward and rethink their assignments their syllabi and what they're doing in the classroom And so participating in the institute was just it was incredibly rich And taught me a lot about myself as a teacher and what it really means to be a teacher of color as well but um My transformative experience in that institute is a conversation for another day But one of the things that I took away. Um, one of the recommendations that I took from the experience was Not just the importance of only having inclusive content, but also visual representations of featured authors. And so What was so great About this practice was that it was just so easy to do Um, and it really was one of the first things that I I've always tried to be inclusive in my syllabi in my syllabi And when i'm teaching but this was just something that Could add to that and it was so easy to do. Um, and so I um, Truly, you know, I know we're preaching to the choir here, but you know representation matters and as an educator of color I am representation but um, I really wasn't entirely aware of The authors who I assigned and what they looked like and how their appearances may Impact how they walk through the world and how their identities might influence their work So I started using this technique for quotes that I would reference for featured articles and um, and of course i'm also very mindful of you know, the speakers that I come in and have a diverse Pool of speakers, but I thought what an easy way to do this if I can't have a diverse pool of speakers is do it through Pictures um of my authors and the content. So that's what I started doing Thanks. Um, can you talk a little bit about what the response has been? um from students to you doing this Yeah, so the students have been really receptive. Um, you know, some have shared with me that they really have just never thought about seeing who they Read um and what that might mean for them And so when my students have shared that with me, you know, I I told them I I think seeing the authors It's not necessarily to affect how You think right not necessarily to affect What you think about the viewpoints that are expressed in the content? That's not necessarily my goal and I told them that But one of the goals that I have Is that by sharing the images and I've told my students is by sharing these images I want them to be able to see that I'm including a variety of speakers But I also want students to see that um the variety of speakers That actually engage in the topics that we're talking about so I teach race in the american legal system at ucon Which is the course that I also taught with Nicole and a professor jane hassel and so For me, you know, it was just really important to show my students in that class in particular That um, it's not just black latinx and indigenous scholars that are engaging in these discussions about structural racism institutions, but It's also, you know, white men and women. Um, and I want students to really see that the Responsibility of engaging in these conversations belong to all of us Um, you know, not just by puck authors. So the visual Really serves a multi-purpose and I think students really appreciated that that's what I was trying to do So, um, I remember speaking with a contracts professor Who told me that it would be hard if not impossible to integrate racial diversity? Um into the standard one out contracts class because most of the cases in the case book involve white parties and white judges Um, does the fact that most of the parties and judges being white impact your strategy for including content or discussions of race in your class Yeah, so I really appreciate this question. Um, especially in light of the conversation. We just had with carry And so, you know, I echo everything that karya said and what everyone else has said But one thing I did want to add to that was really, um I tried to remember that If we really want to be inclusive and encourage our colleagues to be inclusive and to try to do better I think it's important that we meet our colleagues where they are And I say that, you know that being said, I also really think that if you're teaching a doctrinal subject You know during the middle year and you're not discussing the subject at least on occasion Within the sociopolitical context, I think you can potentially be doing a disservice to your students And you know, we just heard how, you know, carry did that masterfully, right? Um in the contracts course in particular, so I don't think it's a herculean task to be able to do this. Um Necessarily, right? I think you can be very intentional about choosing one or two cases that have underlying public policy concerns related to race gender Religion all all, you know, you name it I do think there's the problem is not necessarily where, you know, there's no lack of material Available from which a professor can choose case law To organically raise the issue. I do think the problem though lives within the discomfort Um that some faculty have in facilitating the conversations That may arise because of the content that's chosen. So Um, you know, I think a focus should be on helping our colleagues know what inclusive teaching looks like and sounds like Doesn't have to be perfect. Um, and I think small steps are necessary. So In thinking about, you know, professors who have sort of raised concerns like that before What could we do right to sort of help with those small steps? Um, some may be receptive to this some may not but You know, perhaps offer These are the cases I've used or these are the cases that I've heard others have used and offer some teaching notes to Demonstrate what that conversation might look like or questions that you could raise. So That's a tough one. But that's how I wanted to think about that that question Thanks, and I think it's really important just to amplify what you said The conversations are going to be uncomfortable. So Nadia didn't say, oh, well, don't worry. They're not going to be that bad You're worried about nothing Um, Nadia said the conversations are going to be uncomfortable and they're going to be uncomfortable for Nadia And they're going to be uncomfortable for me and they're going to be uncomfortable for you And so I think part of bringing people along Um, although I try not to convince people this is the work to do I just try to say if you want to do the work Here's here's some suggestions on how to do it But I think if part of this is trying to convince people to lean more into this I think it's good for us to just say we're all in this together Let's walk together with grace and humility and it's going to be hard and let that not surprise you and let that Let us not hide that let us be very open about it. Like, hey, it's going to be uncomfortable But that's okay. We're going to do it anyway So thank you Nadia and I'm going to move along to Kathy and Bridget In your chapter of the book you state Feminist judgments can also be a rich source of alternative analysis and arguments In first year legal writing as well as first year or upper level doctrinal courses Can you tell us about feminist judgments and how you might use it in our legal writing class? So I'm going to take this one since I'm the legal writing teacher So feminist judgments for those who don't know are a series of books National to the u.s. But now also international In which feminists rewrite Major court decisions from a feminist perspective but using the precedent that was in place at the time so essentially the Feminist judge is situated as the judge or justice at the time of the original decision is bound by the record and The precedent at that time but is charged with writing a Different kind of opinion with different reasoning or a different outcome or whatever their choice is and one of the Ways in which I really Think that these alternative judgments can be eminently useful in legal writing is to just Take a day just like Kerry said like the synergy Of what we all do is so apparent to me from from this conference And I really am grateful to nicole for bringing us together because I just found myself nodding like crazy when Everyone else was talking um So way back in the day, right? We you know When we were teaching legal writing there was a movement to oh, you should make your judge have a latinx name You should make your characters in your problems a certain race or sexualities Just for visibility and representation purposes. And of course, that's very important, right? But small steps What I try to emphasize in my class And that can be emphasized in any legal writing class which is which is client problem driven Which all of them are and probably should be Is that the identity of the person as kerry said makes a substantive difference in the potential outcome that they Might expect in the law So you can find the statistics for yourself, but you know plaintiffs of color in tort cases get lower damage awards. They are more likely to lose Obviously, we all I think many of us know at this point um Criminal defendants who are people of color particularly men of color get higher bail For the same crimes they get longer sentences. They get overcharged, right? They're more likely to face much more serious charges than White defendants charged with similar crimes. And so this is a reality of the law and yet for years and years and years We've been teaching legal writing as if we just read the law and tell the client. Here's how this is going to turn out Without even really thinking about what the identity of the parties are And in large part that's been driven by the courts as well You know, I hear I heard that statement about well all the you know people in the contracts casebook are white. It's like Like who's who's fault is that like we don't throw up our hands at that point and say like oh, well I guess we can't teach anything about race because the contracts book doesn't have any people of color in it So I I did want to there was a question in the chat Asking for a link to I don't I couldn't tell which book it was but I do want to encourage all of us to put the links to our books in the chat Rebecca, please carry you as well Just so that people know what we're talking about because it's a little bit hard to Remember as we're all talking very quickly So I wanted to give an example of how I use feminist judgments in my legal writing class if I have the time to do that So one problem that I use involves a woman whose husband is spying on her. He's reading her emails He's reading her texts and she wants to know if she has a privacy tort claim It turns out that she wants to leave her husband because after being in a very religious environment She is coming to terms with the fact that she is gay and she is very she's speaking with her therapist and talking to confidence about how she can come out to people, but she is not yet out And so she's very worried that now that her husband has been spying on her that he is going to out her And she might lose custody of her children that she might face repercussions at her job, etc And so I want the students to think about What the harm is of that outing Even though right it's going to be an uncomfortable conversation because everyone's like, oh, there's nothing like everyone accepts it now. There's nothing wrong with it like Sexual orientation is we're all cool with it. And it's like, well, okay That's great that we're all cool with it But let's look at how what the reality is out there, both in the law and in our general social culture Like what is the harm here that's happening to this woman that is potentially protected by tort law and I use The feminist judgment in simple the chronicle publishing which is in the tort opinions volume Which talks very eloquently about how tort law Can address the issue of outing in a sensitive but also but a way that also recognizes the potential harm of outing and one of the Amazing benefits of using this alternative judgment I wanted just the students to see the reasoning in judicial language as opposed to Academic language and that happens But one of the byproducts that I was not expecting which was so cool Which was because the alternative judgment had to use the law that was in place at the time Students were actually able to see the precedent that they were working with on their own assignments in a new way Like I challenged them to try to find Courts talking about the harm of outing And they were it was much harder to do that until they read the alternative judgment that saw things in the precedent pieces of reasoning ways that things were phrased that could be Used to interpret the case in a way that was more favorable to the client or understood The harm of outing in a way that was not obvious from the precedent. So That's just an example You can do that in a bazillion different ways and you know feminist judgments now has multiple volumes And we are really committed to the idea that The alternative judgments are not just about gender or not that gender is a just but also sexuality race socioeconomic class disability all of those things are raised by pretty much every law case you can imagine and are very rarely grappled with in the mainstream law So that's just one example of how I use it in legal writing Thanks, and I'm going to continue on the feminist judgments question by asking Bridget Beyond using feminist judgments in a writing class Your essay in the book advocates for their use in large doctrinal classes dating large enrollment courses with heavy doctrinal coverage Provide natural if surprising opportunities to work with feminist feminist judgments by integrating feminist judgments into doctrinal courses Instructors can deepen students engagement with doctrinal material while also inviting more explicit consideration Of how judicial reasoning works and how it may be affected by an advocate's argument choices Can you talk a little bit about the use of feminist judgments in a large doctrinal class? Thank you so much. I I teach um really big classes I teach tax to about a hundred students every semester and I teach trust in the states to between a hundred and two hundred and um Tax might be the the case where you might at least suspect someone would use a feminist judgment, but here's how I do it. There's a case in The casebook uh that involves the deductibility of medical expenses associated with gender affirmation surgery and I Don't assign what's in the book instead. I pull the case from lexus I format it in microsoft word and then I also Format excerpts of of the feminist judgment in that case in microsoft word And I have the students read them and come to class the next day and we discuss both of them Facts as you holding in a very traditional way and we work through the different prongs for the test of deductibility for medical expenses and one important thing to note even for the non-tax nerds Is that to be a medical expense the the tax law says That the amount expended has to be for the diagnosis cure mitigation or prevention of disease disease, okay And so the students will go through the exercise I asked them To identify the the language being used by the judges. How is the taxpayer being described? Which decision has stronger reasoning which was more accessible to them? The original case actually allows almost all but not all of the expenses associated with the gender affirmation Surgery and then at the when it sort of seems like we're done with the case I then asked the students well, wait a second. We just read two opinions neither was denominated as a concurrence or a dissent Until you know one of them was not the real judgment. Which one do you think was the fake judgment? And they almost always pick the one written by the actual tax court judges as being the inferior product Very surprised at the way the judges very much other the taxpayer and stumble over her pronouns And go into extraordinary detail about the taxpayers Prior relationship with her wife her ability to bear children etc Which was not at issue in the case at all And then I late and then I tell the students. Well, that's interesting because you picked one that was written by a colleague a law professor And now let's go back and discuss this these two opinions again And so we do the same exercise again And what's the point? What's the point of doing that? Well, I I'm trying to accomplish four things first I think you already Have a hint that of course tax law isn't just about boring numbers. It's political It's about human choices. It's about how the economy works It's about societies about what groups and structures and people get preferred and supported and who doesn't Um, secondly tax law is really important to people's lives. It matters to everyday human beings It's not just something that rich people have to to to deal with Um, if one goal of tax law is to treat similarly situated taxpayers similarly How well are we doing? This is a litmus case for evaluating the fairness of of the tax code Third it invites us To consider what choices do you need to make as an advocate in order to be successful? Uh, Kathy had said earlier identity matters. Well, here's a case where the taxpayers very identity Was um, the the fundamental Intrinsic to the fundamental facts And in this case the taxpayers own lawyer had to fully embrace the argument that being trans And wanting surgical interventions Is indicative of a disease. So what did it mean for the lawyer? For the trans client to have to argue that being trans is a disease when many people Not least of all Trans folks themselves will tell you they don't have a disease Um, this is who they are And then for finally, um perspective matters When my colleague who wrote the feminist judgment centers the taxpayer in the argument I think the writer made the Plaintiff more intelligible as a taxpayer as a citizen to the judges of the tax port In the original opinion the focus is really on extraneous Facts I had mentioned the taxpayers prior relationship and biological ability to bear children, which was really not at issue The student reaction first is that they are surprised. Um, that they thought that the The tax court judge opinion the real opinion was so poor Um Second I do get a certain amount of silence about uh talking about the gender identity issues students are not especially Eager to voice contrary opinions that that Maybe the deduction should or shouldn't have been limited that this is or is not like other medical expenses I've had more success using race in both tax cases And wills trust in estates cases. Um gender identity still Is not something lots of folks are comfortable talking about in the classroom um But most of all I get asked well, why'd you call this book feminist judgments? You kind of turned off a whole bunch of readers because we'd never pick up a book called feminist judgments And I used to try to defend that decision but now um, I I've learned a lot from hearing how Kathy and other colleagues teach with these tools And say actually the subtitle of the book really should be how to be an effective lawyer Because when you broaden your lens, uh, you diversify your toolbox you sharpen your your your skills as an advocate And isn't that why we're all here? So Usually by then I've got some buy-in and then we're on to another juicy tax topic for the day But feminist judgments, there's tons of room for them in any and every kind of classroom doctrinal skills oriented legal writing tax. There it is. Um, and I put Uh, Kathy also put a link to the Cambridge core Where anybody whose library subscribes to it can access all of these feminist judgments We have them in property trust in states corporate law criminal law Just about every area you can think of so please check them out and um, look forward to talking more with everyone Thank you Kathy and Bridget. Um, it's actually really exciting to hear that we're all doing a little something different but it all goes together and it's just Makes me happy that there's this much innovation happening For my part, um, I work to audit my syllabus and classroom materials every year I try and present the same topic for multiple perspectives whenever possible Um, although the students do complain that that makes for a lot of reading sometimes Um, I look at my teaching materials from the point of view Of who is represented in my class as authors as parties. What perspectives are, um identified and Who who are the victims and who are the heroes and the stories? And then I work to change my material based on who I find is absent or where I find their holes However, this is not always successful. And so for my example, I'm just going to use an example of where it didn't go well Um, I really struggled to find content by or about native american attorneys in the united states for my professional responsibility class um, and so I was sort of forced with the choice of um, how What do I do? I can't find something that I think fits in. This is only a nine-week summer class I I want something and so instead um, I decided to Make it a part of the conversation In class and I highlighted um a staggering statistic. I found from a 2014 ab article That says that in 2014 there were only 2,640 native american attorneys in the united states Comprising point two percent of the more than 1.2 million attorneys in the united states um, so I settled for a discussion About the systemic issues as a substitute for including the perspective that I was really looking for Um, I'm not sure if this was the best solution But it was at least an example of well What happens when I do this and it I don't find something or it doesn't go well Um, I sort of just do the best I can and keep looking. Um So one of my suggestions is to sort of audit your materials on a regular basis. Um, and I suggest asking one of your colleagues So perhaps there is somebody in our audience today who would be willing to help you Perhaps you know someone from a different school You can send it to or at your own school to take a look and see what their feedback is um, this allows for different perspectives and um, perhaps might allow us to drop some content that we think is still anyway Um, and I think that would be welcome if we really opened our mind Up to it. Um, so my question is for the group generally has um, do you audit or routinely audit your syllabus? And if so, do you have any additional tips for the audience? I mean, uh, I go I would say that I tend to go back to my notes after every class And try and make notes while things are still fresh in my mind about what worked and what didn't um, and uh And so I don't do a full scale audit what I have been doing in the past few years is actually adding Assignments, um, sometimes graded sometimes ungraded, but so more opportunities for students to You know do some intermediate work and I think that's been a huge benefit and going back through that I think is quite helpful. Uh, and again, you know, my experience has been with the more that the student can bring Of themselves to the assignment the more they engage with the class So actually in my copyright class the single best assignment I have is actually I tell them to create a derivative work Uh, which you know, there's a technical definition and they have to explain why they what they created is a derivative work But the the responses are so amazing and uh, and just deepen my understanding of who these students are And what they bring to the table. So I you know in some I guess from my particular perspective, I would say You know, if you can find an assignment where you ask the students like find an a contract that's offered to you You know in in your daily life or you know find an ad that suggests committing An act that is some that is risky in some way Right and think about that from a tort perspective like they'll bring stuff that matters to them to you and I think that's super important Thank you. Does anyone else want to sort of talk about their practices of auditing their work and how where that leads them I would I just want to add there are actually a couple of questions in the q&a but I would just especially with things related to diversity and inclusion not I would Urge us not to be too hard on ourselves in terms of things not working Just because they may not have worked right in that minute. Um, like a lot of this stuff That we're teaching requires sort of noodling students sort of noodling over it or planting a seed that then germinates kind of down the line Um, so I just would tell people to sort of keep that in mind. You may not get like Warm and fuzzies on the day that you do it. Um, but maybe that's not such a terrible thing Thanks. Um anyone else want to talk about auditing or I will move on to a question from the audience Okay, then this is coming to you Nadia um I have considered showing photos of judges who author opinions. We read it could provide a teaching moment about race and gender in the judiciary But it could also reinforce stereotypes reflecting white male dominance in the judiciary. Um, do you have any thoughts on that? I really like that question. Um so I think my initial thought on that is Is um the fact that the judiciary is primarily white male a stereotype or a reality and so I think that naming the reality or I or just um Acknowledging that reality is an important thing because of course there's always a teachable moment there and so I um I think that You would then be able to sort of expand on And this goes exactly to what Kathy was talking about. How might an all white male judiciary impact Outcomes in cases and why that might be important. Um, so I don't necessarily think you should shy away from You know providing photos of judges and just think about how those identities Are are speak to the cases And so I also really like that question because it reminds me of a very similar situation where Um, in one in my property law class, I was talking about um family property and marital property and there was a case Tomkins v. Jackson, which uh, the plaintiff's name was sheniqua tomkins and curtis jackson So for any of you who might not be familiar. That's the rapper 50 cent And so this case was interesting Because I thought very much about this word stereotype issue, right when you hear the name sheniqua We have biases that make us think certain things about what that plaintiff would it mean And so this was a case about sort of division of marital assets for non married parties um And the fact that I was able to sort of discuss, you know, this it was raised in the notes in the case book But the idea of stereotypes and what that might mean for parties like in this case And so just being able to have that conversation and acknowledge that those are stereotypes that exist We I was able to sort of elevate I think the conversation a little bit So that's how I would respond to that acknowledge the reality Okay. Well, we are at time. Does anyone have any final comments that you want to make? The only thing I'll say is if people have questions and we didn't have time for them You can find me on the web and I'm happy to answer questions About feminist judgments by email phone whatever And I just want to thank everyone who actually who came today to listen to us speak about all of this Thank you. I think that's so important. Thank you to the audience for being here. Thank you. Yes. Thank you And to Nicole big thanks to Nicole. Oh, yeah Thank you all for participating in today's conversation and in this year-long speaker series this year long five part speaker series has now come to a conclusion and The good news is it's come to a conclusion and people were so tremendously engaged That we get more questions than we can answer. We never have enough time to have a great To continue things because there's just so much to share I think we'll be continuing this in some form in the future and I would obviously invite everyone who spoke today to come back But I want to give a special thanks to the people who make this happen Thank you to rw law cuny law and jurist for co-sponsoring this over the last year The sessions have happened because a lot of people have worked really hard to make them happen You see my face But you don't know that there's a whole bunch of people whose faces you don't see Thank you to Chrissy and the cuny law team. Thank you to Ralph. Thank you to chelsea Anna morgan jane lorraine greg jared susie olivia michael Mike um and the other and the rw law library and others at rw law who have helped create and publicize these events and finally, thank you to the Co editors of the book integrating doctrine and diversity Genevieve Susie Anna and rakel who don't like to talk as much as I like to talk But who do honestly do all the work that I do if not for um, so thank you everybody and have a great rest of the day