Public Service Events

Public service is a fundamental value at UW Law. Please join us at one of our many programs that encourage a hard look at the major public policy concerns of our time including employment and migration, educational disparity, and health and disabilities.

Social Justice Tuesdays

Throughout the school year, the Center for Public Service Law teams up with a different student organization as host of this innovative programming series. Programming includes a wide range of events such as talks by nationally recognized practitioners, films with related discussions, discussions facilitated by professors (including non-law professors), debates between professors and/or practitioners and much more.

Gates Public Service Law Speaker Series

The Gates Public Service Law Program features talks by individuals engaged in public service. The purpose of this series is to introduce the law school community and others outside the law school to information about the many ways attorneys can serve the public good. Speakers come from a range of different backgrounds and areas of expertise and engage our community in a conversation about the meaning of public service.

Other Center for Public Service Law programs

 In addition to Social Justice Tuesdays and Gates Public Service Law Speaker Series, the Center for Public Service Law hosts presentations on a variety of topics aimed at promoting public service in the legal profession as well as educating and supporting law students interested in pursuing public service law careers.

Upcoming Events

Forces of Change Conference

edleyApril 27 & 28, 2012

By the end of 4th grade, poor students of color are two years behind their wealthier, predominantly white peers in reading and math. By 8th grade, they have slipped three years behind, and by 12th grade, four years behind. Educators, attorneys, researchers, policymakers, organizers, and community members will convene at Forces of Change to address the crisis in public education.

edley Keynote: and Dean of the University of California, Berkeley Law School since 2004, as well as Senior Policy Adviser to the University President. He co-founded two multidisciplinary think tanks: the Civil Rights Project at Harvard – where he taught law for 23 years – and Berkeley's Chief Justice Warren Institute on Race, Ethnicity and Diversity. Mr. Edley held White House policy positions under Presidents Carter, Clinton, Obama, and was on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He currently co-chairs the Department of Education’s Equity and Excellence Commission, which examines disparities in meaningful educational opportunities that give rise to the achievement gap, focusing on systems of finance, and recommends ways in which federal policies can address such disparities.

  • Panel 1: Education Finance: Adequacy & Equity. There is a distinction between education finance litigation from an adequacy perspective versus that from an equity perspective. Panel members will assess current education funding litigation and legislation from both angles and identify ways to collaborate in moving reform.
  • Panel 2: Workforce and Employment: Issues around Teacher Evaluation. Panelists will discuss how current practices for teacher evaluation methods and employment policy affect the achievement gap.
  • Panel 3: Racial Exclusion: Disproportionality in Discipline. Recently, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education launched the Supportive School Discipline Initiative to address the “school-to-prison pipeline” whereby disciplinary policies push students out of school and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
  • Panel 4: School Choice and Charters: Effects on Education Equity. From New Orleans to New York City, school choice and charters have been the subjects of high hopes, serious critiques, and on-going litigation.

View Monthly Calendar

Students: Sign into Symplicity to RSVP for Social Justice Tuesdays and Gates PSL events.

Last updated 2/15/2012