Welcome to Baltimore, the home of Thurgood Marshall and Freddie Gray. The experiences of both men—one the iconic civil rights lawyer who became the first Black person to serve as United States Solicitor General and United States Supreme Court Justice; the other who died at 25 years of age after suffering fatal injuries while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department in April 2015—offer lessons for confronting these chaotic, perilous, and utterly frightening times.
We are living through coordinated and dizzying blitzes of orders, policies, and laws at the federal, state, and local levels that rage against our clients, students, community partners, colleagues, friends, and family members, as well as our universities, law schools, clinics, and other vital institutions. So-called safe spaces are narrowing. All of us feel the weight professionally. Most of us live with the weight personally. The sieges are real.
The opening plenary will focus on us, as lawyers, clinical professors, externship directors, administrators, and members of impacted communities. The panelists will share perspectives on their positions, internally and externally, in this critical moment—of doing the work, teaching (and reaching) students, and, more broadly, building and serving as bricks in the bulwark. They will share insights from their varied practice areas and wealth of experiences.
This opening plenary will not offer answers, but rather strategies and pathways to reinforce our roles and resolve as lawyers and legal educators, anchored in persistence and preservation.