Access to Justice conference to feature Jane Spinak, founder of the Child Advocacy Clinic, March 27

Feb. 25, 2009 -- The School of Law's Clinical Affairs Program will host its ninth annual "Access to Equal Justice Colloquium: Critical Perspectives on Court and Law Reform" on March 27 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

The goal of the conference is to provide a forum for University faculty and students, lawyers, judges, community leaders and government officials to discuss and critique law, court and related systems reform efforts. Organizers hope that the information about how these reforms succeed and fail shared at the conference will drive future reform efforts.

The colloquium is free and open to the public; registration however, is required.

The conference begins at 9 a.m. with a keynote address by Jane M. Spinak, J.D., the Edward Ross Aranow Clinical Professor of Law at Columbia University, on "Court Reform: Rhetoric and Experience."

Spinak is the co-founder of the Child Advocacy Clinic at Columbia University, where law students work collaboratively with lawyers representing children at the Juvenile Rights Division of The Legal Aid Society of New York City, the oldest and largest law office dedicated to child advocacy in the country.

Conference discussion panel topics are:

• Domestic Violence Legal Processes: Changing Theory and Practice;

• Pursuing Environmental Justice: Obstacles and Opportunities;

• Using Intellectual Property to Preserve Access to Justice;

• Using Mitigation Specialists in State and Federal Cases; and

• Ethical Considerations in Working with Other Professions.

The colloquium also will introduce Annette Appell, J.D., professor of law and associate dean for clinical affairs, who joined the faculty in 2008.

To view the complete conference agenda and register, visit law.wustl.edu/clinicaled/AccessEqualJustice.

The conference provides 5.3 hours of Missouri Continuing Legal Education credit (to include 1.1 ethics credit), as well as 6 Social Work Professional Education Credits.