Speakers at the “People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference” included Jodie Roure, Associate Professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, left; Elaine Chiu, Professor of Law, St. John’s University School of Law; Camille Nelson, Dean and Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law; Leonard M. Baynes, UH Law Center Dean and Professor of Law; Deborah Post, Professor of Law, Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg School of Law; and Kristen Guiseppi, director of the UH Law Center Pre-Law Pipeline program.
March 27, 1019 — The University of Houston Law Center last week sponsored the welcoming reception for hundreds of law professors and scholars at the 4th National People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference at American University Washington College of Law.
Dean Leonard M. Baynes made opening remarks at the standing room only gathering and later participated in a panel discussion during the conference March 21 – 24. Kristen Guiseppi, director of the Law Center’s award-winning PreLaw Pipeline Program, also participated in a panel on the status of such preparatory programs.
University of Houston Law Center Dean Leonard M. Baynes welcomes participants at the start of the four-day conference in Washington, D.C.
The conference, co-sponsored by 35 law schools and law associations, drew more than 550 law professors and scholars, including 350 speakers, to discuss a wide range of topics dealing with legal scholarship and social issues of interest to communities of color around the world.
“These kinds of conferences provide a sense of community and affirmation for many attendees who are sometimes still the only or one of very few people of color at their home institutions,” said Baynes. “It also provides a great opportunity for networking and seeing former colleagues and old friends. I was delighted that the University of Houston Law Center was able to sponsor that welcoming reception at the 4th National People of Color Conference.”
Baynes participated in a panel titled “How to Write and Publish Excellent Law Review Articles,” which offered tips from choosing a topic to successfully pitching an article for publication, He also talked about what a law school could do to enhance and facilitate faculty scholarship.
Guiseppi’s panel addressed the outlook for pipeline programs at a time when affirmative action and race-based admission considerations are in jeopardy.
