Legal Momentum Honors Vice President Biden at Georgetown Law Symposium April 22

Legal Momentum Honors Vice President Joe Biden

April 20, 2009 -

 

Award and Symposium Mark 15th Anniversary of Historic Violence Against Women Act Legislation

NEW YORK AND WASHINGTON, DC—Legal Momentum, the nation's oldest legal defense and education fund dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls, honor United States Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on April 22 with its Legal Momentum Hero Award at a symposium marking the fifteenth anniversary of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), initiated and championed by then-Senator Joseph Biden. The historic Act was the first comprehensive federal legislative package designed to end violence against women and put the issue on the national agenda. Legal Momentum’s Board Chair Linda Willett, partner at Sedgwick Detert Moran and Arnold, LLP, and Legal Momentum President’s Irasema Garza will present the award to Vice President Biden.

Legal Momentum, then known as NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, worked closely with Vice President Biden, his staff, and an array of organizations throughout the four-year struggle to pass VAWA, and also on its subsequent reauthorizations in 2000 and 2005. Through VAWA, billions of federal dollars are allocated to the states, tribes, and territories to prevent violence against women, serve survivors, and improve the justice system’s handling of these cases. VAWA funds are administered by the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW).

Legal Momentum and The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law are co-sponsor the all-day symposium that will bring together a remarkable group of individuals who have been, or continue to be, involved in drafting, litigating, and reauthorizing VAWA. Speakers will relate the law’s history and impact from their perspectives as key players in this historic legislation.

WHAT:

Legal Momentum and The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law Symposium Celebrating the Fifteenth Anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

HONOREE:

Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Vice President of the United States

AWARD:

Legal Momentum Hero Award

WHEN:

Wednesday, April 22, 2009
9:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

WHERE:

Georgetown University Law Center
600 New Jersey Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20001

WEBCAST:

A Webcast available at https://www.law.georgetown.edu/webcast/

 

 

 

PROGRAM:

9:15 - 9:30 a.m. 
Welcoming Remarks

T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Dean, Georgetown University Law Center

Jessica N. Heaven, Symposium Editor, Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law

Irasema Garza, President, Legal Momentum

Lynn Hecht Schafran, Director, National Judicial Education Program to Promote Equality for Women and Men in the Courts, Legal Momentum and Symposium Chair

9:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Panel 1: Present at the Creation: Drafting and Passing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

Victoria Nourse, Professor, Emory University School of Law and former Special Counsel to then-Senator Joseph Biden

Sally Goldfarb, Professor, Rutgers University School of Law and former Senior Staff Attorney, Legal Momentum

Patricia Reuss, Senior Policy Analyst, National Organization for Women and former Vice President for Government Relations, Legal Momentum

Hillary Shelton, Director, NAACP Washington Bureau

Helen Neuborne, Director, Quality Employment, Ford Foundation and former President, Legal Momentum (Moderator)

11:00 - 11:45 a.m.

Presentation of Legal Momentum Hero Award to Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for Initiating and Championing the Violence Against Women Act.

Presenters: Legal Momentum’s Board Chair Linda Willett, partner at Sedgwick Detert Moran and Arnold, LLP,  and Legal Momentum President’s Irasema Garza

 

11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

Panel 2: The VAWA Civil Rights Provision: Shaping It, Saving It, Litigating It, Losing It

Mary Schroeder, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Julie Goldscheid, Professor, City University of New York Law School and former Senior Staff Attorney, Legal Momentum

Judith Resnik, Professor, Yale Law School

Fred Strebeigh, Author, "Equal: Women Reshape American Law"

Martha Davis, Professor, Northeastern University School of Law and former Legal Director, Legal Momentum (Moderator)

1:45 - 2:45 p.m.

Panel 3: The Impact of VAWA: Billions (yes, with a B) for Prevention, Victim Services, Law Enforcement, Underserved Populations and the Courts, and Looking Ahead to VAWA IV

Claudia Bayliff, Project Attorney, National Judicial Education Program to Promote Equality for Women and Men in the Courts, Legal Momentum and former Assistant Director, Boulder County, Colorado, Rape Crisis Team

Lisalyn Jacobs, Vice President for Government Relations, Legal Momentum

Leslye Orloff, Director, Immigrant Women Program, Legal Momentum

Lynn Hecht Schafran, Director, National Judicial Education Program to Promote Equality for Women and Men in the Courts, Legal Momentum and Symposium Chair

Juley Fulcher, Director of Policy Programs, Break the Cycle; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University; and former Consultant to Legal Momentum on VAWA Reauthorization (Moderator)

2:55 - 3:00 p.m.

Closing

Irasema Garza, President, Legal Momentum

 

 

About Legal Momentum

 

Founded in 1970 as NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, Legal Momentum is the nation’s oldest legal advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls. Legal Momentum is a nonpartisan, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. As chair of the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women, Legal Momentum led passage of the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, and its subsequent reauthorizations in 2000 and 2005. The historic federal legislation protects the rights of victims of all forms of violence against women, including immigrant women and girls.

 

About the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law

 

The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law is celebrating its tenth year of existence. The mission of the Journal is to explore the impact of gender, sexuality, and race on both the theory and the practice of law. The Journal complements a long tradition of feminist scholarship and advocacy at Georgetown, which established the first sex-discrimination clinic in the country and boasts one of the nation’s most prestigious feminist legal faculties. The Journal seeks to supplement the critical work being done by existing feminist journals while expanding inquiries into the intersection of gender, sexuality, and race.

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