Professor Johnson at New Media in Education Conference

LAW SCHOOL PROFESSOR CONRAD JOHNSON TO PRESENT AT
NEW MEDIA IN EDUCATION CONFERENCE
Johnson to Discuss Collateral Consequences of Criminal Charges Calculator

Press Contact:
Sonia von Gutfeld, 212-854-1453, [email protected]
Public Affairs Office, 212-854-2650

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October 15, 2008 (NEW YORK) – Columbia Law School Professor Conrad Johnson will discuss web-based support tools for public defenders at “New Media in Education 2008: Connecting a Global Community,” a conference hosted by the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning on October 17. Johnson will be one of two speakers in a panel on the intersection of education, research and the community.

Johnson, the co-director of the Law School’s Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic, will present the Four Cs Calculator: Collateral Consequences of Criminal Charges, a tool the Clinic has played a key role in developing.

WHAT: “New Media in Education 2008: Connecting a Global Community” Conference
WHEN: Friday, October 17, 2008
WHERE
: Low Memorial Library, Columbia University

SPEAKERS
include Columbia Law School Professor Conrad Johnson (Session 1A, from 9:10 – 10 a.m.)

Visit http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/nme2008/ to register to attend.

The Four Cs Calculator provides users with an at-a-glance overview of what collateral consequences a criminal defendant in New York State may face if convicted. Unlike direct consequences, such as prison terms or parole eligibility, collateral consequences may not be explicitly stated but nevertheless can be devastating. They include loss of public housing, relinquishment of voting rights, or even deportation.

The Calculator serves multiple purposes: Faculty can build case studies around it, lawyers can better counsel their clients, judges can assure appropriate sentencing, and public policy researchers can use it as a lens through which to examine the matrix of the New York State legal system. Hon. Judith S. Kaye, Chief Justice of New York State, has supported the development of this tool, which she sees as a valuable social justice initiative.

The Calculator is a project of the Columbia Center for New Media, Teaching and Learning’s Triangle Initiative, a strategic effort to create digital tools and capacities that serve the intersecting interests of education, research and the larger community.

Johnson, Clinical Professor of Law, co-directs with Professor Mary Marsh Zulack and Director of Educational Technology Brian Donnelly Columbia Law School’s Lawyering in the Digital Age Clinic, which they co-founded in 2001. The clinic explores the impact of technology on law practice and the profession through client work and collaborative projects with major public interest legal organizations and prominent jurists.

Johnson served as director of Clinical Education at Columbia Law School from 1992 to 1996. He also co-founded and for eleven years directed Columbia Law School’s Fair Housing Clinic, which specialized in civil rights litigation. He joined the Columbia faculty in 1989 after two years as an assistant professor at the City University of New York School of Law. Prior to teaching, Johnson was the attorney-in-charge of the Harlem neighborhood office of The Legal Aid Society of New York City.

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.