Public Interest News
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Chris Slobogin to moderate criminal justice reform panel featuring Cyntoia Brown Long and former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam March 15
The event, “Reform for Redemption: Cyntoia Brown Long and Gov. Bill Haslam on Criminal Justice Reform and the Power of Mercy,” will be held in Langford Auditorium and livestreamed at 6 p.m. March 15. Now an author and advocate, Brown was a trafficking victim when she was convicted of murder at 16. She was later granted clemency by Gov. Haslam. Professor Slogobin will moderate a discussion about criminal justice reform. The public is invited to attend in person or virtually. Read MoreMar. 2, 2022
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Julie Su, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, to deliver Barrett Social Justice Lecture Feb. 24
Su is a nationally recognized expert on workers’ rights and civil rights who served as secretary for the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency before her appointment as deputy secretary of labor. Her talk, "Fulfilling the Unfulfilled Promise of Racial and Economic Justice," will draw on her trailblazing career as a civil rights and workers' rights attorney. Read MoreFeb. 11, 2022
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VLS Housing Law Clinic students, faculty support national call to action to address eviction crisis
Students in the Housing Law Clinic directed by Jennifer Prusak represented Nashville tenants facing eviction and advocated for changes in housing policy during the COVID=10 pandemic. Read MoreJan. 28, 2022
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Terry Maroney named to 2022 cohort of Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholars
Maroney will work in residence at the RSF in New York City during the 2022-23 academic year. Visiting scholars pursue research and writing projects in the social, economic and behavioral sciences. Read MoreJan. 18, 2022
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Wesley Dozier ’19, Dawn Deaner and Erica Perry to discuss Law and Organizing at VLS Feb. 1
Wesley Dozier '19 and Dawn Deaner of the Choosing Justice Initiative and Erica Perry of the Nashville Community Bail Fund will engage in a panel discussion sponsored by the Public Interest Ofiice on Tuesday, Feb. 1, at 1230 p.m. The event will be held live if circumstances permit. Read MoreJan. 15, 2022
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Matthew Shaw joins VLS faculty as assistant professor
Shaw joined the law faculty from the faculty of Vanderbilt Peabody College. His research focuses on the intersection between federal law and education policy. Read MoreJan. 13, 2022
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Spring Miller, Karla McKanders and Scott Jeffrey JD/PhD ’23 featured in Tennessee Voices podcast
Miller, McKanders and Jeffrey discuss their public interest legal work with David Plazas, director of opinion and engagement for USAToday Network Tennessee, in this 20-minute podcast. Miller is the Assistant Dean and Martha Craig Daughtrey Director of Public Interest, McKanders directs the Immigration Practice Clinic, and Jeffrey will earn his J.D. and Ph.D. in law and economics in 2023. Read MoreDec. 10, 2021
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Free Justice, a book by Sara Mayeux chronicling the debate about public defense, discussed in New York Review of Books essay by Sarah Seo
Mayeux's book is one of three books addressing public defenders and how public defense has evolved since its inception in the Progressive Era. Seo writes that Mayeux's book "leaves readers with a provocative thought: If we moved beyond adversarialism, what kind of legal representation could defendants receive?" Free Justice, published by the University of North Carolina Press, received the 2020 David J. Langum Prize in American Legal History. Read MoreDec. 3, 2021
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Sasha Beatty, Daniel Metzger and Marian Mikhail, all Class of 2017, to serve as public interest advisors
Beatty, Metzger and Mikhail will mentor current VLS students interested in public service practice as prosecutors, environmental advocates or public defenders as part of a new program coordinated by the Public Interest Office. Read MoreNov. 18, 2021
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22 government and public interest employers participate in new Public Interest Viritual Recruiting Program
Employers participated in one of two ways—through virtual interviews that took place Sept. 20-Oct.1 and through resumé collections in mid-September. 2L students had opportunities to apply and interview for internships in summer 2022, and 3Ls could apply and interview for postgraduate opportunities, including those supported by sponsored fellowships. Read MoreOct. 19, 2021