Hear a Lecture, There a Lecture
Selected Spring 2025 Lectures, Conferences and More
Hope Lewis Distinguished Lecture
Human Rights and the UN System
Gay McDougall (right), Distinguished Scholar-in- Residence at the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham University School of Law, delivered the inaugural Lewis Lecture, “Human Rights and the UN System,” during a three-day visit to Northeastern Law in which she shared insights from her work on issues of race, equity and justice in the global context. Award-winning R&B singer-songwriter Danielle Ponder ’11 offered a musical tribute to her mentor, Hope Lewis, on March 25. Ponder’s debut album, Some of Us Are Brave, has garnered critical praise as well as dozens of major sync placements, including a recent Apple campaign for the iPhone 16 Pro.
Photographs by Michael Manning
03.26.25 ›› The Hope Lewis Distinguished Lecture honors the late professor Hope Lewis, a globally renowned legal scholar and advocate for human rights, and her enduring legacy. The annual series, organized by the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, focuses on human rights issues.
The fight for human rights is not a moment — it is a movement that demands our daily commitment.
Center for Law, Information and Creativity (CLIC)
The Battle for Our Attention: Empirical, Philosophical and Legal Questions
FROM LEFT: Professor Alexandra Roberts of Northeastern Law, Professor Richard Daynard of Northeastern Law, Professor Leah Plunkett of Harvard Law School, Professor Woodrow Hartzog of Boston University School of Law and Professor Zephyr Teachout of Fordham Law School.
Photograph by Elettra Bietti
04.11.25 ›› This conference explored the business models, legal frameworks and societal impacts of digital engagement across panels on the political economy of attention, the challenges of empirically studying human attention in the digital age, the law and ethics of attention protection, and the sociology of content communities. Presenters focused on how privacy, antitrust and consumer protection laws can mitigate the harms of attention extraction. This conference was organized by Professor Elettra Bietti and colleagues from Harvard Law School and Stanford University.
Author Talk with Liz Pelly: Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist
3.13.25 ›› Author Liz Pelly spoke about her new book on the origins of the music streaming service Spotify and its seismic impact on the music industry. From a legal perspective, Mood Machine highlights challenges presented by platform economies, the lack of legislation addressing 21st-century payola, and the role of collective organizing in the face of Big Tech.
CLIC for Social Justice: The Free Exercise of Copyright Behind Bars
Professor Viva Moffat argues that prisoners deserve full access to copyright protections for their works while in confinement.
Photograph by Michael Manning
02.20.25 ›› This lively discussion on the role of copyright law in civil rights and as a tool for carceral reform featured Professor Viva Moffat of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, who spoke about her paper “The Free Exercise of Copyright Behind Bars.” Professor Alexandra Roberts, faculty director of CLIC, moderated the discussion.
There is no reason to not allow the exercise of copyright from behind bars.
Centers of Excellence
Some Reflections on Democracy and the Rule of Law
02.25.25 ›› Northeastern Law’s Centers of Excellence hosted this timely discussion reflecting on democracy and the rule of law. Speakers included Professor Martha Davis, faculty co-director of the Center for Global Law and Justice and faculty director of NuLawLab; Professor Dan Danielsen, faculty director of the Program on the Corporation, Law and Global Society; and Professor Patricia Williams, director of Law, Technology and Ethics Initiatives at Northeastern.
Dr. King and Labor: Connecting Past and Present
Following the documentary screening, experts in labor law and voices from labor organizing talked about the convergence and divergence of stakeholders’ overlapping and competing interests and the legal realities incumbent in the organizing process. Panelists included (from left) Eli Hovland ’26 of the Graduate Employees of Northeastern University (GENU-UAW); Professor Karl Klare, a renowned labor and employment law expert; and Ryan Quinn ’19, formerly an associate attorney with Segal Roitman and now a member of the Northeastern Law faculty. Ingrid Nava ’03 (right), associate general counsel of the Service Employees International Union, participated virtually.
Photographs by David Leifer
01.22.25 ›› Northeastern Law’s Centers for Excellence hosted a viewing of clips from the 1993 documentary At the River I Stand, which chronicles Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s involvement in the organizing campaign for sanitation workers.
Center for Global Law and Justice
Greenland, the US and Human Rights
04.07.25 ›› CGLJ joined with the University of Minnesota Law School’s Human Rights Center and International Law Society for this online conversation with Danish lawyer and renowned human rights expert Morten Kjaerum and Greenland lawyer Aviaja Helms. They unpacked the Trump administration’s statements on Greenland from the perspective of human rights and international law while also discussing the history and nature of Greenland’s unique status and relationship to Denmark.
Human Rights Defenders in the United States
06.02.25 ›› CGLJ joined the Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers’ Network in sponsoring the Annual Human Rights in the United States Symposium and CLE, this year focused on the topic of human rights defenders in the United States.
Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture
Anne Orford (top left) spoke about “The Role of Human Rights in Climate Activism.” David Hall (top right), former dean of the School of Law and recently retired president of the University of the Virgin Islands, returned to Northeastern to offer remarks on the 30th anniversary of the Gordon Lecture, which he launched as dean in 1995. “We create magical moments in our lives and the world when we use the power each of us has to create change right before our eyes, to remove human pain and suffering and replace it with healing and hope,” said Hall. Valerie Gordon’s husband, Christian Lamar ’93 (bottom left), and their son, Foluke Lamar, spoke about Valerie’s legacy.
Photographs by Michael Manning
04.03.25 ›› Anne Orford, Melbourne Laureate Professor and Michael D Kirby Chair of International Law at Melbourne Law School, delivered the 30th annual Valerie Gordon Human Rights Lecture, which honors the memory of Valerie Gordon ’93, an anti-racism and women’s rights activist, member of the Black Law Students Association and co-founder of the Students of Color Coalition. The Spirit of Valerie Gordon Essay Award was presented to Jalon Fowler ’25.
We create magical moments in our lives and the world when we use the power each of us has to create change right before our eyes, to remove human pain and suffering and replace it with healing and hope.
Water Justice: A World Water Day Speaker Series
03.24.25 ›› The Environmental Law Society, National Lawyers Guild student chapter and Law Students for Justice in Palestine joined with CGLJ to host this World Water Day event featuring Ameya Gehi, a staff attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation; Professor Sharmila Murthy; and Talia Landry, secretary of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council. The panelists discussed the need for recognizing the human right to drinking water and how the US law and policy landscape reflects and exacerbates existing social inequalities. In an era of federal environmental deregulation, the speakers encouraged everyone to ensure clean and affordable drinking water for all. Jennifer Loveland-Rose ’25 moderated.
Growing Otherwise from Eugenics, Fascism and Genocide: Disability Justice and the Limits of the Law
02.19.25 ›› Lydia X.Z. Brown ’18, assistant teaching professor in disability studies and law and public policy discipline coordinator for the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities fellowship program at Georgetown University, returned to Northeastern Law to share their expertise.
Center for Health Policy and Law
Annual Health Law Conference: Three Years After Dobbs — The Reproductive Justice Landscape
Professor Khiara Bridges of Berkeley Law, a prominent scholar on race, class and reproductive rights, delivered an insightful keynote address.
Photograph by Michael Manning
04.18.25 ›› This conference brought together national experts who offered critical insights into the state of reproductive rights, including matters of global health, vulnerable populations, grassroots advocacy, medication abortion and more.
Book Launch with Professor Tiffany Joseph
03.18.25 ›› Professor Tiffany Joseph, who directs Northeastern’s graduate program in sociology, spoke about her new book, Not All In: Race, Immigration, and Health Care Exclusion in the Age of Obamacare. Joseph’s book examines how health policy shifts fail to fully serve immigrant communities due to structural racism and anti-immigrant rhetoric and enforcement measures. She illustrates how patients’ race, ethnicity and legal status determine their access to health coverage and care services in the United States.
Center for Law, Equity and Race
The Role of Lived Experience in Making Change
04.16.25 ›› Kenneth Hartman, executive director of Transformative Programming Works and an award-winning writer and prison reform activist, spoke about how leveraging the lived experience of formerly incarcerated individuals is the key to making substantial and sustainable change to the criminal legal system. Professor Emeritus Michael Meltsner moderated the conversation.
Reconstructed Blackness: Race, Identity and Belonging in the Life and Work of Pauli Murray
Professor Lisa A. Crooms- Robinson of Howard University School of Law
Photograph by Catherine McGloin
02.07.25 ›› Professor Lisa A. Crooms- Robinson of Howard University School of Law, who is the Marilyn Beaudry- Corbett Schlesinger Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in 2024–2025, delved into her research on civil rights activist and advocate Pauli Murray, including Murray’s complex relationship with Blackness, framed by the historical context of Scott v. Sandford and the Reconstruction Amendments.
Office of New Markets
Lights, Camera, Action … The Entertainment Industry Through a Government Affairs Lens
02.26.25 ›› The Office of New Markets welcomed Tejasi Thatte ’13, vice president of government affairs at NBC Universal, for a discussion as part of New Markets’ The Power of Your JD in an Interdisciplinary and Innovative World Lunch and Learn Series. Students enjoyed a front-row seat to a seasoned insider’s perspective on the entertainment industry along with her policy work insights from both the public and the private sector.
Center for Public Interest Advocacy and Collaboration
The Strike: Screening and Conversation
03.23.25 ››The Northeastern community gathered for a screening of The Strike, an award-winning feature documentary that tells the story of how more than 30,000 incarcerated individuals across California’s prison system united against the practice of indefinite solitary confinement in the largest hunger strike in US history. The event included a brief conversation with the film’s protagonist and one of the filmmakers.
Northeastern Law
Junior Scholars Conference
02.28–03.01.25 ›› For the second year in a row, Professor David Simon led the way for Northeastern Law to host this conference designed to provide a space for junior faculty from across the nation to engage with their peers in a friendly environment.
Daynard Public Interest Visiting Fellow
Movement Lawyering: From the US South to the Global South
Professor Carl Williams of Cornell Law School (left) and Lea Kayali (second from left), an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, joined Azadeh Shahshahani (second from right) for a roundtable discussion, “Free Speech: The Palestine Exception.” Professor Zinaida Miller (far right), faculty co-director of the Center for Global Law and Justice, moderated the discussion.
Photograph by David Leifer
02.03–05.25 ›› Azadeh Shahshahani, legal and advocacy director with Project South, visited Northeastern Law for three days in February as a Daynard Public Interest Law Fellow. She delivered a community lecture, “Movement Lawyering: From the US South to the Global South,” participated in a roundtable discussion and met with faculty, students and staff.
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Professor Richard Daynard, president of the law school’s Public Health Advocacy Institute, was recently featured in several lengthy articles about his pioneering work fighting Big Tobacco and his new focus on sports gambling as a threat to public health.
We have to make sure that energy resources align with state climate goals and that energy is affordable. That is paramount, says Jolette Westbrook ’81.
