Kansas Law Review

2024 Kansas Law Review Symposium

Strategic Litigation Advancing Indigenous Rights

Friday, November 22, 2024
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
104 Green Hall

Indigenous communities in the United States face a variety of systemic obstacles that derive from a history of colonization, forced displacement and assimilation efforts that have marginalized them for generations. Currently, these communities deal with issues connected to their resources, environmental sustainability, economic well-being and the preservation of their cultural heritage. In response to these ongoing challenges, indigenous communities have resorted to legal action in order to protect their rights and sovereignty. Impact litigation allows these communities a chance to advance their rights through the courts by establishing important legal precedents.

The 2024 Kansas Law Review Symposium will explore ways that indigenous communities have recently used strategic and impact litigation as a way to advance their rights. On November 22, 2024, the Kansas Law Review and the Tribal Law & Government Center at KU Law will host a joint symposium and tribal law conference at Green Hall, featuring scholars from across the country to discuss contemporary developments in strategic litigation aimed to support indigenous rights.

The symposium will examine strategic and impact litigation aimed at advancing indigenous rights and addressing systemic issues affecting tribal communities. Through this symposium, we seek to engage scholars writing in diverse areas of law including class actions, tribal lawyering, environmental protection, property rights, criminal law, etc.

Visit the 2024 Kansas Law Review Symposium event page for a full schedule of the speakers' presentations.

No CLE credit was offered during the symposium.

Scholarship associated with the Symposium will be published in a spring 2025 edition of the Kansas Law Review.

Speakers and topics included:

"Developments, Innovations and Opportunities for Indian Country on the Southern Plains "

• Alex Red Corn | University of Kansas | Associate Vice Chancellor, Office of Sovereign Partnerships and Indigenous Initiatives; Director and Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies Program 
• Raymond Red Corn III | 𐓨𐓘𐓺𐓟𐓮𐓤𐓘𐓪𐓰𐓘𐓲𐓣 (Place to Borrow Money), A Community Development Financial Institution of the Osage Nation | Former Assistant Principal Chief of the Osage Nation
• Joseph "Zeke" Rupnick | Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation | Chair Person 

"Improving Upon the Status Quo: Tribal Co-Management and Shared Services"

• Elizabeth Kronk Warner | S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah | Dean and Professor of Law 

"Strategic Litigation in Pursuit of Indigenous Justice"

• Laura Hines | University of Kansas School of Law | Centennial Teaching Professor; Director, Shook, Hardy & Bacon Center for Excellence in Advocacy
• Stacy Leeds | Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University | Dean and Professor of Law

"Cy Pres in Action: How the Native American Agriculture Fund Works Toward Addressing and Reducing the Harms of Claimants"

• Whitney Sawney | Native American Agriculture Fund | Director of Communications and Policy 

"Tribal Sexual Assault Jurisprudence"

• Sarah Deer | University of Kansas | Distinguished Professor

"Rosalind’s Refund: A Young Woman’s Challenge to $16.29 in Taxes Leads to McClanahan v. Arizona"

• Bethany Berger | Iowa Law School | Professor of Law

"The Evolution of Tribal Lawyering"

• Robert Odawi Porter | Cornell Law School | Visiting Professor

"Recent Developments in Tribal Law"

• Layatalati Hill | Oneida Judiciary | Chief Trial Court Judge
• Zach Pahmahmie | Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation | Vice Chair Person 
• Darren Root | Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation | Tribal Attorney

2023 Kansas Law Review Symposium

Home is Where the Law Says: 75 Years of Shelley v. Kraemer

Friday, October 13, 2023
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
104 Green Hall

At a most basic level, a person’s home should be a source of safety, comfort, and privacy. Home ownership is central to family life and plays a critical role in generational wealth and financial security. Where a person lives is correlated to crime rates, mortality rates, and school success. The freedom to decide where you live has historically been restricted to a small, wealthy, white section of the population. As we’ve struggled as a nation to ensure greater access for all Americans, the law has played the role of both sword and shield, at times cutting off access to housing for marginalized communities, at other times protecting it. 

In 1948, the United States Supreme Court decided the landmark case Shelley v. Kraemer, a case brought to enforce a racially restrictive housing covenant in St. Louis, Missouri. This type of housing covenant, which kept Black and Asian Americans from living in that neighborhood, was not uncommon, and, in this case, was used to expel the Shelley family from their new home. The Court held for the first time that it was unconstitutional under the 14 Amendment for the judiciary to enforce such racially restrictive covenants. This holding was the most protective national measure yet against racial housing discrimination in the United States, but it stops far short of preventing discrimination itself. After 75 years, this case and the issues that created it are still in play in the United States.

On October 13, 2023, Kansas Law Review hosted a symposium on this very issue on KU’s Campus, featuring scholars from across the country to revisit Shelley v. Kraemer after 75 years.

This symposium explored modern legal theory and realities of property rights, housing access, race and segregation, contracts, and the implicit and explicit powers and effects of the law. Through this symposium, we seek to engage scholars writing in diverse areas including property rights, housing rights, constitutional law, contracts, tenancy, access and discrimination, zoning, tax, etc.  

Visit the 2023 Kansas Law Review Symposium event page for a full schedule and abstracts of the speakers' presentations.

No CLE credit was offered during the symposium.

Scholarship associated with the Symposium will be published in a spring 2024 edition of the Kansas Law Review.

Speakers and topics included:

• Keynote speaker: Taja-Nia Henderson | Professor of Law, 
  Dean of Rutgers Graduate School-Newark | "Before Shelley: Black Community Making in the Face of Local Hostility"
• Stephen Clowney | University of Arkansas School of Law | Professor of Law | "Nationalize Zoning Law"
• Randall Johnson | UMKC School of Law | Professor of Law | "How To Limit The Downstream Costs Of Racially Restrictive Covenants"
• Rosa Newman-Ruffin | Elon University School of Law | Assistant Professor of Law | "Community Choice: Does the law do enough to protect access to housing when our economic system does not?"
• Brandon Weiss | American University Washington College of Law  | Professor of Law | "Affirmatively Moving Beyond Shelley in Light of Major Questions"
• Lua Yuille | Northeastern University School of Law | Professor of Law and Business; Associate Dean for Research and Interdisciplinary Education | "Shelley Can’t Save Us … Because It Wasn’t Meant To"

2022 Kansas Law Review Symposium

“Parents” and the Modern Family: What Do the Evolving Laws of Parenting Mean for Children and the Rest of Us?

Tuesday, November 15, 2022
9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
203 Green Hall

Families living in the United States are more economically, racially, and socially diverse than ever before. And yet, the law has inconsistently—and sometimes inadequately—protected the interests of individuals who parent outside of the functionalist nuclear family model. But how do laws that protect, establish, disestablish, regulate, or otherwise imagine "parenting" impact the rights of children and childhood outcomes?

The Kansas Law Review Symposium will host a panel of scholars from across the country to respond to this essential question, as well as to propose legal reforms to improve outcomes for the children of America's modern families.

Visit the 2022 Kansas Law Review Symposium event page for a full schedule and abstracts of the speakers' presentations.

No CLE credit was offered during the symposium.

The symposium was sponsored by the Shook, Hardy & Bacon Center for Excellence in Advocacy.

Scholarship associated with the symposium will be published in a spring 2023 edition of the Kansas Law Review.

Speakers and topics included:

• Keynote speaker: Catherine Smith | Strum College of Law, University of Denver | “Exploring Children’s Equality Law in the Age of Parents’ Rights”
• Charisa Kiyô Smith | CUNY School of Law | Associate Professor | “Of Empathy Gaps & Family Survival: How COVID Capitalism Silences Children”
• Sacha Coupet | Loyola University Chicago School of Law | Professor of Law | “Parents as Partners in Protecting Democracy”
• Neoshia Roemer | University of Idaho College of Law | Assistant Professor of Law | “Parenting and the Ninth Amendment”
• Melanie Daily | University of Kansas School of Law | Clinical Associate Professor | “Finding a Place for Children in the Law of Disestablishing Relationships”
• Gillian Chadwick | Washburn University School of Law | Associate Professor | “The Noncitizen Parent Trap”

2021 Kansas Law Review Symposium

Judicial Conduct & Misconduct: A Review of Judicial Behavior from Sexting to Discrimination

November 15, 2021
12:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Virtual event

Tasked with resolving all matters before them, judges are perceived to be impartial, fair and just. They are expected to behave ethically according to the Model Code of Judicial Conduct. Their authority, however, has prevented judges from always seeing the consequences of their actions. Judges have allegedly engaged in many unethical behaviors such as sexting through smartphone applications and emails, posting about political biases and confidential cases on social media, and engaging in discrimination against staff and litigants. 

The Kansas Law Review Symposium will host a panel of judicial ethics experts from across the country to discuss judicial conduct and misconduct, guidelines necessary to promote ethical behavior, and reforms needed to prevent any similar conduct in the future.

A recording of the symposium is available on KU Law's YouTube channel.

Visit the 2021 Kansas Law Review Symposium event page for a full schedule and abstracts of the speakers' presentations.

No CLE credit was offered during the symposium.

Scholarship associated with the symposium will be published in a spring 2022 edition of the Kansas Law Review.

Speakers and topics included:

• Keynote speaker: Hon. Caleb Stegall | Kansas Supreme Court | "The Ethics of Decision Making: Result Oriented Judging and the Oven of Akhnai"
• Ross Davies | Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University | "Impeachment By Any Other Name"
• Michael Ariens | St. Mary’s University School of Law​​​​​​​ | "The Appearance of Appearances"
• Stephen Sheppard​​​​​​​ | St. Mary’s University School of Law​​​​​​​ | "Justice and the Rules: The Moral Obligations of Magistracy Versus Canons, Codes, and Rules of Judicial Conduct"
• Susan Saab Fortney​​​​​​​ | Texas A&M University School of Law​​​​​​​ | "Taking Courthouse Discrimination Seriously: The Role of Ethical Leadership by Judges"
• Christopher Joseph​​​​​​​ | Joseph, Hollander & Craft, LLC | "Representing Judges in Judicial Conduct Cases"

2020 Kansas Law Review Symposium

Accelerating Clean Energy: The Next Decade of Reform

October 16, 2020
1-3:30 p.m.
Virtual event

Speakers from across the nation presented and discussed the topic of "Accelerating Clean Energy: The Next Decade of Reform” at the 2020 Kansas Law Review Symposium.

We are now at a point in the renewable energy transition that wind and solar power have become essential generation resources on the electric grid. For the first time, in 2019, wind overtook coal production in two states – Kansas and Iowa. At the same time, the next phase of development will only be more challenging. Fossil energy companies are fighting to preserve market share through litigation and advocacy at the state and federal levels; new facilities are facing opposition as they are proposed closer to population centers; and grid governance continues to evolve and adapt to accommodate increased intermittent power sources.

Current legal frameworks have carried renewables this far, but are they sufficient to accelerate clean energy in the next decade? We know from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the next ten years – 2020 to 2030 – is critical for climate change mitigation. The overarching question the symposium will explore is – what reforms are needed in law and policy to accelerate clean energy over the next critical decade?

No CLE credit was offered during the symposium.

Speakers and topics included:

• Joel Eisen | University of Richmond School of Law | "COVID-19’s Impact on Renewable Energy Development"
• Elizabeth Kronk Warner | University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law | "Renewable Energy Development in Indian Country"
• Uma Outka | University of Kansas School of Law | "Renewable Energy Siting for the Critical Decade"
• Melissa Powers | Lewis & Clark Law School | "Beyond Natural Gas: Lessons from the Beyond Coal Movement to Prevent Natural Gas Lock-In"
• Joseph Tomain | University of Cincinnati College of Law | "Still Greening After All These Years"

2019 Kansas Law Review Symposium

Antitrust Law and Policy in the 21st Century

November 8, 2019
8:45 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
University of Kansas School of Law
Green Hall

Antitrust law has returned to prominence on the national stage. The 2019 Kansas Law Review Symposium will explore the legal and economic questions raised by recent developments in antitrust law.

Speakers included:

• Roger P. Alford| Notre Dame Law School
• Elyse Dorsey | Federal Trade Commission
• Jéssica Dutra | Economists Incorporated
• Thom Lambert | University of Missouri School of Law
• Derek Schmidt | Attorney General, State of Kansas
• Kristian Stout | International Center for Law & Economics
• Sean Sullivan | The University of Iowa College of Law
• John Yun | Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

2018 Kansas Law Review Symposium

Addicted: Legal Perspectives on the Opioid Epidemic

September 21, 2018
9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
104 Green Hall

Killing over 115 Americans every day, the opioid epidemic has become one of our nation’s foremost health crises. The 2018 Kansas Law Review Symposium brought together scholars of varying backgrounds to explore legal issues and perspectives related to this epidemic. 

Speakers included:

• Elizabeth Weeks, Associate Dean for Faculty Development and J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law, University of Georgia
• James G. Hodge, Jr.,Professor of Law, Arizona State University
• Kelly K. Dineen,Assistant Professor & Director, Health Law Program, Creighton University
• Laura Hines, Professor of Law, University of Kansas School of Law
• Micah Berman, Associate Professor of Public Health and Law, Ohio State University
• Stacy L. Leeds, Professor of Law and Vice Chancellor for Economic Development, University of Arkansas
• Stacey A. Tovino, Judge Jack and Lulu Lehman Professor of Law, University of Nevada Las Vegas

2017 Kansas Law Review Symposium

Inequity and the Law

October 20, 2017
9 a.m. - 4:15 p.m.
University of Kansas School of Law
Green Hall

While the law is equated with justice, it is not free from the inequities that exist in society. The Kansas Law Review 2017 Symposium brought together legal scholars and thinkers from a variety of perspectives who addressed how inequity affects their fields of expertise, including education, immigration and business.

Speakers included:

• Alia Al-Khatib, Law Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center
• Bertrall Ross,Professor of Law, Berkeley Law
• Jamila Jefferson, Associate Professor of Law, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
• Jayesh Rathod,Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law
• Lua K. Yuille, Associate Professor of Law, University of Kansas
• Matthew Shaw, Assistant Professor of Law, Assistant Professor of Education, Vanderbilt University
• Richard Hynes, John Allan Love Professor of Law, University of Virginia
• Yolanda Vazquez, Associate Professor of Law, University of Cincinnati College of Law
   

2016 Kansas Law Review Symposium

50th Anniversary Perspectives on the Modern Class Action

October 14, 2016
9 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
104 Green Hall

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the 1966 Amendments to Rule 23, the symposium explored the emerging challenges and contemporary contours of the class action. A prestigious collection of scholars, judges and practitioners addressed topics including the ascertainability of class members, post-Comcast heightened scrutiny of class damage models, dual certification of money damages and injunctive class actions, and the expansion of class actions globally.

Speakers included:

• Adam Zimmerman, Professor of Law, Gerald Rosen Fellow, Loyola Law School
• Deborah Hensler, Judge John W. Ford Professor of Dispute Resolution and Director of Law and Policy Lab, Stanford Law School
• Laura Hines, Professor of Law, University of Kansas School of Law
• Myriam Gilles, Professor of Law, Cardozo School of Law
• Robert Bone, G. Rollie White Teaching Excellence Chair in Law, University of Texas School of Law
• Suzette Malveaux, Professor of Law, The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law

Judges Panel:

• Judge Robert Dow, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
• Judge John Lungstrum, U.S. District Court, District of Kansas
• Judge Laura Denvir Stith, Supreme Court of Missouri

Practitioner Panel:

• Eric Barton, Wagstaff & Cartmell
• Molly Carella, Shook, Hardy & Bacon
• Robert Coykendall, Morris Laing
• Rex Sharp, Rex A. Sharp PA
• Holly Pauling Smith, Shook, Hardy & Bacon
• Victoria Smith, Stinson Leonard Street
• Brad Wilders, Stueve Siegel Hanson