Author: Rose McKinley

BLSA has organized a great opportunity for 1Ls to learn more about Diversity Fellowships during 1L summer, and has invited OutLaw to attend on Tuesday, November 3rd.

An amazing group of law firm leaders is coming to Duke, including the global hiring partner from Latham out of DC, the hiring partner of Reed Smith from PA, a partner and member of the diversity committee at Cooley in New York, and the National Head of Recruiting from K&L Gates.  As you may know, many firms have diversity opportunities for 1Ls that provide great exposure to private practice, perhaps time at a client or company, and in many cases significant monetary grants towards tuition.  This program aims to demystify the summer programs and process for the whole 1L student body so that more Duke students from diverse backgrounds apply and take advantage of these opportunities.  In addition to perhaps getting a fellowship as a 1L, these are great contacts for the 2L search.

It’s Pride Week in Durham! Join us at 1:00pm on Saturday (Sept. 26) on East Campus and celebrate Triangle Pride! Or, come out the night before to the the Duke Field Hockey field. The Team is doing their annual partnership with Duke LGBT groups to encourage them to come have a presence at their game.  There will be free food and other giveaways throughout the night.  This year, the Duke Pride game will be held this Friday, September 25^th at 6 pm.   The event will be located at Williams Field at Jack Katz Stadium.

Please join us for our first general body meeting of the semester on Friday, September 11th at 12:30pm. Dean Boswell, Professor Helfer, and Bernadette Brown, Duke’s Director of the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, plan to attend.  Contact Seth Pearson for further information.

Duke Law is hosting a panel discussion on Marriage Equality in North Carolina. The discussion is jointly hosted by The American Constitution Society and The Program in Public Law. Elizabeth Gill (Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Norther California), and Niel Siegel (Co-Director of the Program in Public Law) will discuss past and present marriage equality litigation. Specifically, the panel will focus on the strategy choices that accompany nationwide civil rights litigation, the practical and theoretical issues surrounding equal protection and due process jurisprudence, and the impact these cases will have on civil rights, constitutional adjudication and federalism going forward.

The panel discussion will be at 12:30 in room 3041.

Duke OutLaw is excited to announce the election of new officers for the 2014-15 academic year. Jason Ervin, a 2L, will serve as President while Seth Pearson, also a 2L, is the new Vice President. 1Ls Rosie McKinley and Paul Gray will serve as the Communications Chair and Social Events Coordinator, respectively. The group looks forward to hosting new events in furtherance of OutLaw’s goals, and increasing the awareness of LGBTQ rights and legal issues within the Duke Law community.