Barrett Program News and Events


Three VLS students pursue legal careers focusing on civil rights as Marshall-Motley Scholars

Jan. 24, 2023—Ashley Fox ’24, Adom Abatkun ’25 and Sophia Howard ’25 were selected for the first and second cohorts of a groundbreaking scholarship program created “to endow the South with the next generation of civil rights lawyers.” The program was developed by the Legal Defense Fund and named for former Supreme Court Justice and LDF founder Thurgood Marshall and pioneering civil rights litigator and former LDF attorney Constance Baker Motley.

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Justin Brooks ’23 and VLS staffer Erin Parr-Carranza named to AALS Section on Pro Bono and Access to Justice Honor Roll

Jan. 3, 2023—This is the inaugural year of the AALS Pro Bono Honor Roll. Vanderbilt honorees Brooks and Parr-Carranza are among 140 students, faculty and staffers representing 58 law schools to receive this recognition.

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Alumni Barrett Program News and Events Public Interest News


Lauren Sudeall to join Vanderbilt Law faculty in summer 2023

Nov. 28, 2022—Sudeall’s scholarship focuses on constitutional law, criminal procedure and access to justice. She is currently a professor at the Georgia State University College of Law, where she is the founding faculty director of the Center for Access to Justice.

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View Supreme Court Affirmative Action Oral Argument, with introduction by Matthew Shaw, Nov. 1

Oct. 13, 2022—Education policy expert Matthew Shaw will provide an introduction to a recording of the Supreme Court hearing of the oral arguments in SFFA v. Harvard and SFFA v. UNC, both of which are Title VI cases.. Both schools are accused of discriminating against Asians and Aisan-Americans in their admissions policies. The event is sponsored by the Asian Pacific American Student Association and the George Barrett Social Justice Program.

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Barrett Program News and Events Branstetter Litigation and Dispute Resolution Program Equity, Diversity and Community


Faith and Politics: LGTBQIA+ Social Justice and Reproductive Rights, a panel discussion featuring Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow Oct. 3

Sep. 29, 2022—In addition to Sen. McMorrow, panelists include Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Women's and Gender Studies Katherine Crawford and Vanderbilt Divinity School Dean Emilie Townes. Sen. McMorrow, a self-proclaimed “straight, white, Christian woman,” delivered a powerful speech on the floor of the Michigan Senate in response to claims from a fellow senator of grooming and sexualizing kindergarteners, telling the audience, “We must not let hate win.” Sen. Morrow will begin the discussion and then participate in a moderated discussion on the topics of faith, politics, LGBTQIA+ rights, and reproductive freedom. This event is co-sponsored by the George Barrett Social Justice Program.

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Barrett Program News and Events Equity, Diversity and Community


Guggenheim Fellow Robert Barsky shares 5 insights from his book, Clamouring for Legal Protection: What the Great Books Teach Us About People Fleeing from Persecution

Sep. 26, 2022—Barsky's 10-minute podcast is featured by the Next Big Idea Club. His research combines social justice, human rights and border and refugee studies with literary and artistic insights into the plight of vulnerable migrants.

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Barrett Program News and Events Equity, Diversity and Community


The Hyatt Fund presents Anthony Ray Hinton, exonerated after 30 years on Alabama’s death row, Sept. 23 at 12:30 p.m.

Sep. 20, 2022—Hinton was convicted of two murders in 1985 and when exonerated through the invention of the Equal Justie Initiative. His talk is sponsored by the Law Students for Social Justice and the George Barrett Social Justice Program and made possible by the Hyatt Student Activities Fund.

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Barrett Program News and Events Criminal Justice News and Events


Incoming students tour historic social justice sites

Sep. 6, 2022—The tours, sponsored by Law Students for Social Justice, included historic sites in Nashville and on the Vanderbilt campus.

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Alumni Barrett Program News and Events Equity, Diversity and Community Public Interest News


More than 75 1Ls attend Public Service Orientation

Aug. 19, 2022—The event exposes incoming students to public service opportunities at VLS and in Nashville and connects them with faculty and local attorneys who work in the public interest.

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Jackson Hill named 2022 George Barrett Social Justice Fellow

Jul. 8, 2022—Hill will work with the Powell Project, offering resources and assistance to capital defense teams.

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Brian Ruben named 2022 George Barrett Social Justice Fellow

Jun. 24, 2022—Ruben will work with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy to support the development of an automated process for criminal record sealing.

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Alumni Barrett Program News and Events Career Services Criminal Justice News and Events Public Interest News


Natalia Wurst named Garrison Social Justice Scholar for the Class of 2024

Jun. 23, 2022—Wurst is working this summer at Her Justice, a New York-based legal nonprofit that connects low-income women with legal needs to pro bono representation.

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Alumni Barrett Program News and Events Public Interest News


Social Justice Reporter, new scholarly journal, to launch at Vanderbilt in 2022-23

Jun. 7, 2022—The Social Justice Reporter will publish cutting-edge intersectional scholarship and expert perspectives on social justice, civil rights and public-interest lawyering after it launches next year. Its name acknowledges the legacy of the historic Race Relations Reporter, which was published at VLS from 1956 to 1972.

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Miles Malbrough ’22 to address estate planning in Nashville’s Black community as Equal Justice Works Fellow

Apr. 28, 2022—Malbrough will focus on preventing houses from becoming “heirs property” by promoting estate planning as an EJW Fellow at the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. His two-year fellowship is funded by the Albert & Anne Mansfield Foundation.

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Miles Malbrough, Class of 2022

Apr. 28, 2022—2022-24 Equal Justice Works Fellow, Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands

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Barrett Program News and Events Public Interest News


Students work at Tennessee Justice Center during Pro Bono Spring Break 2022

Apr. 27, 2022—A student team headed by Raghav Gupta ’24 worked with attorneys at the Tennessee Justice Center to observe and interview pro se litigants.

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Students work at Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center during Pro Bono Spring Break 2022

Apr. 27, 2022—A student team headed by Emma Harrison ’24 traveled to Whitesburg, Kentucky, to collaborate with attorneys at the Appalachian Citizen’s Law Center on cases involving mine safety and disability benefits for former coal miners.

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Robert Barsky receives 2022 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship to study the 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees

Apr. 20, 2022—Barsky is a professor of French, European studies, Jewish studies and law. His multidisciplinary research combines social justice, human rights, and border and refugee studies with lterary and artistic insights into the plight of vulnerable migrants. The fellowship will support his research for a book examining the role of the U.S. in the negotiation of the 1967 Protocol.

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Barrett Program News and Events Faculty News General News


“Implicit Bias, Structural Bias and Implications for Law and Policy,” April 21 lecture by California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu

Apr. 20, 2022—The Dean’s Lecture Series on Race and Discrimination for spring 2022 will conclude with Justice Liu's lecture in Flynn Auditorium from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, April 21. The public is invited to attend the lecture via Zoom.

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Emily Burgess ’22 (BS’19) uses law school experience to expand advocacy work

Apr. 18, 2022—Burgess will serve as a law clerk for Judge Travis McDonough '92 of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. She is a Judge Martha Craig Daughtrey Public Interest Scholar and a Justice-Moore Family Public Interest Scholar.

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Film Night: “My Name Is Pauli Murphy,” a critically acclaimed 2021 documentary spotlighting an influential civil rights activist

Apr. 8, 2022—Dr. Murray's writings were described by Justice Thurgood Marshall as essential reading for civil rights lawyers. Often overlooked, Dr. Murray was an extraordinarily influential figure in the history of civil rights in America. This documentary screening in Flynn Auditorium is co-sponsored by the George Barrett Social Justice Program and the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community, in partnership with the Black Law Students Association, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council, the Law Students for Social Justice, OUTLaw and the Women Law Students Association.

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Barrett Program News and Events Equity, Diversity and Community


“Thirsty Places: The Roots of Water Injustice in Flint and Appalachia,” a lecture by Priya Baskaran, scheduled Monday, April 11

Apr. 5, 2022—Baskaran directs the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic at American University Washington College of Law. Her lecture, scheduled in Flynn Auditorium from 12:30 to 1:30 April 11, will address water insecurity and its links to redlining.

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Alumni Barrett Program News and Events Equity, Diversity and Community Public Interest News


“Patient or Prisoner: Hospitals as Carceral Settings,” a lecture by Ji Seon Song, scheduled April 1

Mar. 30, 2022—Song is an assistant professor of law at University of Calfornia Irvine. Her scholarship examines the deployment of policing authority and its effects on racial minority and other marginalized groups. Her lecture, scheduled from 12:30 to 1:30, Friday, April 1, is free and open to the public and available via Zoom.

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Barrett Program News and Events Criminal Justice News and Events Equity, Diversity and Community Public Interest News