2006

March 24, 2006

IP/Gender: The UnMapped Connections

The Intellectual Property and Gender Studies Program brought together eminent scholars in Intellectual Property and Gender Studies to present innovative scholarship to unite these two fields. It was the third in a series of workshops discussing the intersection of gender-related imbalances in wealth; cultural access; political power, and social control; creative production and gender; the effect of stereotyping and the feminization and masculinization of participant roles in intellectual property; the gendered development of IP doctrine; and feminist jurisprudence insights about intellectual property law.

Scholars from a number of universities presented research exploring the interconnections among intellectual property law and gender. Panelists included: 

• Ann Bartow, Associate Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law
• Boatema Boateng, Assistant Professor, University of California, San Diego
• Dan L. Burk, Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School
• Carys Craig, Professor of Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University
• Eileen M. Kane, Ph.D., J.D., Assistant Professor of Law, Penn State Dickinson School of Law
• Victoria Phillips, Assistant Director, Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, American University, Washington College of Law
• Susan Scafidi, Associate Professor of Law & Adjunct Professor of History, Southern Methodist University
• Rebecca Trushnet, Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

WCL professors Christina Haight Farley, Peter Jaszi, and Ann Shalleck provided commentary.

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March 8-10, 2006

Gender and Legal Education in Latin America Workshop:  Developing a Casebook

The Women and International Law Program, the Women and the Law Program and the Office of the Dean, hosted a workshop March 8-10 in conjunction with partner law schools from the Network of Latin American Scholars Red de Academicas Latinoamericanas (Red Alas).  Participating schools included: Universidad de los Andes (Colombia); Universidad de Beunos Aires (Argentina); Universidad Catolica de Lima (Peru); Universidad Diego Portales (Chile); Universidad San Carlos (Guatemala); and Universidad de San Andres (Argentina).

The Red Alas is comprised of approximately 30 law professors from throughout Latin America committed to the development, study and inclusion of legal feminism and women’s rights in the law curricula in Latin America. The network has been working to integrate gender into the legal curriculum in Latin America since 2004.  WILP was invited to join the network based upon its extensive work in this area, and has been working with Red ALAS in collaboration with Macarena Saez, International Programs Coordinator.

The three-day workshop at WCL focused on developing a casebook on gender and law for use in Latin American law schools. The book analyzes decisions from Latin American courts and legal issues that affect women’s lives and Macarena Saez appears as co-editor of the volume.  This casebook is the second book in a line of eight publications that Red Alas will produce in conjunction with Siglo del Hombre Press (Colombia), with partial funding by the Ford Foundation.

The group worked intensively while at WCL to determine the content and structure of the casebook and the authors and editors of each chapter.

WILP and WLP also hosted several events during the workshop to promote our initiatives in Latin America among organizations, law students, and funders interested in women’s rights in Latin America, including WILP’s annual Founder’s Dinner, a reception and book launch for Red Alas, a panel presentation for the WCL community, and a meeting with representatives from the World Bank.

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2005

October 17-21, 2005

Gender and Legal Education in India Project Visiting Delegation

The Women and International Law Program and the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, in collaboration with Women and the Law Program Director Ann Shalleck, Professors Brenda Smith and Associate Professor Muneer Ahmad, hosted a visiting delegation from India as part of the Gender and Legal Education in India Project. 

The delegation was made up of seven members of the Gender and Law Association of India, a network of law teachers and practitioners working to mainstream gender into Indian legal education with support from the US Department of State, Office of Citizen Exchanges. 

WILP and the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law began the week with a welcome reception for the delegation on Monday, October 17. Guests included the project’s program officers from the US Department of State, staff from the Council for International Exchange of Scholars and the World Bank, WCL faculty and students, and faculty from local law schools.

During their visit, the delegates observed WCL’s clinical programs and other experiential learning models, and explored how these models can be integrated into Indian legal education. The program included discussions with various clinic faculty on clinic design and pedagogy, observations of clinic and externship seminars, and discussions with students, staff and faculty from experiential learning models such as the Marshall Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project. The delegates also met with alumni from the clinical program, who shared how their clinic experience has informed their work as practicing lawyers. In addition, the delegation visited local NGOs where WCL frequently places students, including Ayuda, Inc., the Employment Justice Center’s Worker’s Rights Clinic, the DC Public Defender Service and Women Empowered Against Violence. The program also included observations of students practicing at the DC Superior Court, and a luncheon with District Court Judges Henry Kennedy, Gladys Kessler and Emmet Sullivan.

June 2-5, 2005

Collaborative Research Network (CRN) on Gender and Legal Education

The Women and International Law Program hosted the sixth consecutive Gender and Legal Education Collaborative Research Network (CRN) at the Law and Society Association Annual Meeting in Las Vegas in June 2005. As the CRN sponsor, the Women and International Law Program provides an ongoing forum for feminist legal educators from the United States and around the world to share strategies for mainstreaming gender into legal education, culminating in a roundtable discussion at the Law and Society’s Annual Meeting. Women and International Law Program Coordinator April Fehling chaired the panel, and Domestic Violence Clinic Director Margaret Johnson participated. The panel also included professors from New York University School of Law; Seattle University School of Law; University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law; University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law; The University of Sydney Law School; and University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law. Panelists discussed the importance of mentoring in supporting feminist educators, the positive role that feminist deans can play in promoting structures that support feminist teaching, and strategies for integrating feminist perspectives into the core legal curriculum.