This conference in November 2008 will explore the connections and the tensions between”feminist jurisprudence”and what might be called (in the language of June Carbone)”child-centered jurisprudence.”The experiences of American women have been entwined with their roles as child bearers and child rearers in a society in which race and class also determine how those roles play out. Children obviously share the fates of their families and caregivers socially, economically, and in the legal system. For example, the effects of the family law or public welfare law regimes on women and children are often inseparable. At the same time, however, the experiences of children in American society are not simply the flip side and are not mere reflections of the difficulties encountered by their care givers. Once having entered the child welfare system, for instance, children remain subject to its tender mercies, perhaps until achieving the age of majority, at which point they are summarily ejected to make their way on their own without support or resources to bridge the transition. Children caught in the juvenile justice system, for another example, clearly present problems of autonomy as well as issues of dependency. Children therefore have their own unique legal problems, quite apart from how they interact with the women and families who care for them.
Featured Speakers
§ Prof. Annette Ruth Appell, Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Professor of Law, Washington University School of Law
§ Prof. Martha Albertson Fineman, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
§ Prof. Martin Guggenheim, Fiorello LaGuardia Professor of Clinical Law, New York University School of Law
§ Prof. Angela P. Harris, Professor of Law; Executive Committee Member, Center for Social Justice, Boalt Hall, UC Berkeley
§ Prof. Barbara Bennett Woodhouse, David H. Levin Chair in Family Law and Director of the Center on Children and Families at Levin College of Law, University of Florida
§ With Commentary by Prof. Ellen Marrus, Co-Director, Center for Children, Law & Policy, George Butler Research Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center, Prof. Laura Oren, Co-Director, Center for Children, Law & Policy, Law Foundation Professor of Law, University of Houston Law Center
Conference Details
§ Date: Friday, November 14th, 2008
§ Location: University of Houston Law Center
§ Event Time: 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
§ Registration Cost: Pre-Registration $25, after November 1st increased to $50.
§ CLE: 2.75 Hours
View the Conference announcement (PDF) here.
