What is Next?: Understanding the Implications of the Recent SCOTUS Affirmative Action Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in two cases challenging higher education institutions’ consideration of race in admissions, with possible wider implications for diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. Because these issues are critical to TCDIP’s mission, we are presenting educational programming on the background and implications of the affirmative action decision.

Learn from our panelists who will provide their insight and analysis of the decision, with an eye on how it may impact the legal recruiting pipeline and employers.

Elimination of bias CLE credits will be applied for in Minnesota.

Professor Jill Hasday

Jill Hasday is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and the Centennial Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota Law School. She teaches and writes about anti-discrimination law, constitutional law, family law, and legal history. Hasday graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School.  After law school, she clerked for Judge Patricia M. Wald of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

 Professor Hasday has written two books. Family Law Reimagined was published by Harvard University Press in 2014.  Intimate Lies and the Law was published by Oxford University Press in 2019. It won the Scribes Book Award “for the best work of legal scholarship published during the previous year” and the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award for Family and Relationships.

Jeff Justman

Jeff Justman is a legal strategist and advocate who represents clients in shareholder and securities litigation, appellate matters, and class actions in state and federal courts across the country. Jeff also manages an active pro bono practice, with a particular emphasis on protecting the right to vote and to participate in the political process.

Jeff has litigated cases in all stages of appeals, from interlocutory appeals in intermediate appellate courts to extraordinary writs at the Supreme Court of the United States. He focuses on litigation and advocacy before the Eighth Circuit and has briefed and argued numerous cases before that court. Jeff is a past president and director of the Eighth Circuit Bar Association, has been appointed by that court to argue appeals, and clerked for two Eighth Circuit judges: then-Chief Judge James B. Loken and Judge Diana E. Murphy.

Jeff also manages an active pro bono practice, with a particular emphasis on protecting the right to vote and to participate in the political process. Jeff represents nonprofit entities such as state affiliates of the League of Women Voters and the NAACP, as well as individual voters, in pro bono lawsuits designed to make it safer, easier and fairer to vote. 

Sarah Lewenstein

Sara has a wealth of experience supporting employers through complex matters, from single-plaintiff cases to nationwide class action suits. She defends employers against all types of employment litigation, including Title VII, FMLA, and ADA discrimination and retaliation claims, state and federal whistleblower claims, and charges before the NLRB, EEOC, and other agencies.

Sara has worked on a wide range of matters impacting the education industry, such as compliance with FERPA, Title VI, Title IX, and the Clery Act. She spent her collegiate years working as well as studying, knowing she wanted to practice in the education system. This experience informs how Sara counsels private and public post-secondary and K-12 educational institutions.

Passionate about serving the community, Sara uses her “spare time” to take on pro bono matters.

Sequoia L. Butler

Sequoia’s practice focuses on insurance coverage. She received her BA from Macalester College, majoring in Political Science and International Studies. She obtained her JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where she served as a Senior Managing Editor and Diversity Liaison for the Wisconsin International Law Journal.
  
Prior to attending law school, Sequoia spent a year working at an intellectual property docketing company. While attending law school, Sequoia interned for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Massachusetts General Court, and an environmental litigation law firm. Most recently, Sequoia was a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Sara R. Grewing. 

Outside of work, Sequoia enjoys exploring different neighborhoods in the Twin Cities, trying new restaurants, and going on road trips. She has also been to almost every farmers market in the Twin Cities.