Fourteenth Annual Paul Robeson Conference
The 14th Annual Paul Robeson Conference
To Address Continuing Housing Inequality and Ideas for Change
April 11, 2008 (NEW YORK) – Forty years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, the subprime mortgage crisis has hit minority homeowners at disproportionate rates. Columbia Black Law Students Association will host a day-long conference on April 18 to probe why homeownership remains out of reach for much of today’s minority population, and to discuss how legal activism can aid communities devastated by foreclosures.
The 14th Annual Paul Robeson Conference features panel discussions with legal experts on the passage and ideals of the Fair Housing Act; subprime, predatory lending and the foreclosure crisis; and using legal activism to rehabilitate communities.
WHAT: 14th Annual Paul Robeson Conference, “The 40th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act: Continuing Housing Inequality and Ideas for Change”
WHEN: Friday, April 18, 2008, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
WHERE: Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, 435 West 116 Street, Room 105, between Amsterdam Ave. and Morningside Drive, New York City. Via subway: #1 train to 116 Street (Broadway)/Columbia University.
Media interested in attending the event should contact Sonia von Gutfeld in advance at 212-854-1453 or [email protected].
Confirmed panelists include: Brian Gilmore, adjunct professor, Howard Law School, the Howard Fair Housing Clinic; Michael Seng, professor, John Marshall School of Law; Mechele Dickerson, professor, University of Texas School of Law; Ben Howell, associate, Munger Tolles & Olson; Ted Janger, professor, Brooklyn Law School; Josh Zinner, co-director, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project; Julia Forrester, professor, SMU Dedman School of Law; Adam Levitin, associate professor, Georgetown University Law Center; Susan Block-Lieb, professor, Fordham Law School; Stuart Rossman, head of litigation, National Consumer Law Center; and Andrew Weissmann ’84, partner, Jenner & Block.
Jeh C. Johnson ’82, partner at Paul Weiss, will give the luncheon address, while student Brian Larkin ’08 will deliver the welcome and opening remarks. Nadir Joshua '05 of White & Case and Columbia Law School professors Conrad Johnson and Olati Johnson will moderate.
Columbia Law School’s annual Paul Robeson Conference honors alumnus Paul Robeson, Class of 1923, for his courageous stance against oppression and inequality. Now in its 14th year, the conference is hosted by the Black Law Students Association.
Columbia Black Law Students Association is a chapter of the National Black Law Students Association, the largest student-run organization in the United States. The organization’s mission is to facilitate the academic and professional development of African-American students at Columbia and to instill in them a greater commitment to the needs of the black community.
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, stands at the forefront of legal education and of the law in a global society. Columbia Law School joins traditional strengths in international and comparative law, constitutional law, administrative law, business law and human rights law with pioneering work in the areas of intellectual property, digital technology, sexuality and gender, and criminal law.