Edward V. Sparer Symposium

The Sparer Symposium commemorates the life and work of the late Edward V. Sparer, Professor of Law and Social Policy. Details about the 37th Annual Sparer Symposium are coming soon!

Description    

At the heart of TPIC’s public interest program is the annual Sparer Symposium planned by the Toll Public Interest Scholars each year. The Symposium brings together legal academics and practitioners to provide insight into the dynamic relationship between scholarship and practice in the area of poverty law, merging theory and practice. Students and alumni attend panels and meet with speakers, delving deeply into important issues of our time.

History      

Sparer’s work combined a passionate concern about the poor with intellectual rigor and a profound conviction that the problems of poverty are solvable.           

In 1983, he founded Mobilization for Youth Services, the first neighborhood legal services program and then the Columbia Center on Social Welfare and Policy and Law, the first national support center for legal services. In 1984, the first Sparer Symposium was organized.

Past Sparer Symposia:

(Click on the image to see details of event)

2016-2017: “A Country Divided: The 2016 Presidential Election and the Future of American Democracy” Keynote: Beth Donovan Senior Washington Editor for NPR News	2015-2016: “Buying Justice: How Big Money Defines Our Rights and Solutions that Level the Playing Field” Keynote:  Brenda Wright, Vice President, Policy and Legal Strategies, Demos
2014-2015: “Law 2.0: Progress and Challenges for Justice in the Digital Age” Keynote: Mark O’Brien, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Pro Bono Net	2013-2014: “Gender and Social Inequality: Why Women’s Rights Still Matter” Keynote: Marcia Greenberger, Esq., L’70, Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center, Washington, DC
2012-2013: “Repairing the Broken Door:  Strategies for Immigration Advocacy and Reform” Keynote: Jose Antonio Vargas, Founder of Define American, Pullitzer Prize Winning Journalist	2011-2012: “Overcoming the Odds: Strategies for Facilitating the Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood” Keynote: Rachel Lloyd, GEMS: Girls Educational & Mentoring Services
2010-2011: “Partnering Against Poverty: Examining Cross-Disciplinary Approaches to Public Interest Lawyering” Keynote: Sister Mary Scullion, Co-Founder, Executive Director and President of Project H.O.M.E.	2009-2010: “Now More Than Ever: Expanding Access to Justice in Times of Crisis” Keynote: Peter Edelman, Georgetown University Law Center Special guest remarks from Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez
2008-2009: “Crime in the City: Current Policies & Alternative Approaches” Keynote: Jeremy Travis, President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice	2007-2008:“Redefining Aggregate Welfare: Revitalizing a City in Pursuit of Economic Justice” Keynote: Mary Houghton, President of ShoreBank Corporation

 

 

2006-2007:   “War: International Judicial Responses to Violence”

Keynote: Juan Mendez, United Nations Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide

2005-2006: “Civil Gideon: Creating a Constitutional Right to Counsel in the Civil Context”

Keynote: Michael Greco, President, ABA 

2004-2005: “Drug Policy Reform:  In the Courts and in the Streets”

2002-2003: “Terrorism and the Constitution:  Civil Liberties in a New America”

1999-2000: “Unlock America:  Prisons and Policing in the 21^st Century”

Keynote:  Angela Y. Davis, Professor, University of California at Santa Cruz

1998-1999: “Welfare Reform:  A War on Poverty or the Poor?”

Keynote:  Lucy A. Williams, Professor, Northeastern Law School, “Welfare and Legal Entitlements: The Social Roots of Poverty”

1997-1998:  “Civil Rights in the 21^st Century:  Resurrection or Requiem?”

Keynote:  Andre Dennis, Esquire

1994-1995: “Crime and Punishment:  The Criminal Justice System in the 1990’s”

Keynote Dialogue:  Alvin J. Bronstein, Executive Director, National Prison Project of the ACLU Foundation and Joseph McGettigan, Chief Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania, Criminal Investigation and Prosecution Section

1994: “Human Rights in Urban America” 

1991: “Kids in Crisis:  Opportunities for Change”

1990: “Brave New Workplace:  Exploring the Legal Landscape”

Keynote:  Ralph Neas, “Civil Rights:  Where We Are, Where We Are Going”