Through the Gale

How are lawyers working to promote diverse electoral representation and ensure broad voting access? Are lawyers mere partisans or do they have a special role in advancing rule of law values in service of democracy? In this episode, the hosts meet with Amanda Litman (Run for Something) and Sam Spital (NAACP Legal Defense Fund) to delve into public service, the aftermath of the 2020 election, and the roles that lawyers play in the democratic process.

In this episode, we examine how law schools have responded to calls to develop new curriculum and pedagogy that is critical, inclusive, and attentive to how race, power, and identity shape jurisprudence and the culture of law schools. Through conversations with Susan Sturm (George M. Jaffin Professor of Law and Social Responsibility), Kendall Thomas (Nash Professor of Law), and Professor Meera Deo (Southwestern Law School), the hosts explore the role of hiring practices, pedagogy and curriculum in law schools’ evolving anti-racism efforts.

Can “Big Law,” the segment of the legal industry that regularly provides assistance, representation and counsel to the nation’s largest and most powerful corporate and economic actors, be an effective force for racial equity in the nation? If so, what are the crucial steps? In the third installment of our podcast, Professor Scott Cummings (UCLA) and Debo Adegbile (WilmerHale) join the hosts to address the role of “Big Law” in shaping a multiracial democracy.

Traditionally, civil rights lawyers have focused on establishing anti-discrimination rights in courts. But today, the Movement for Black Lives, abolitionist, and other social movements de-center courts and instead emphasize the need to to build power to advance transformative social change. Can these approaches to social change be reconciled? Through conversation with Ashok Chandran (NAACP LDF), Theodore Shaw (UNC Center for Civil Rights), and Alexis J. Hoag (Brooklyn Law School), co-hosts Olatunde Johnson and Andre Esteves delve into the history of civil rights lawyering, and examine how it is responding to current social movements.

Join the hosts of Through the Gale as they detail the background and significance of podcast, and give listeners a preview of what’s to come.

Go Through the Gale with us as we explore the role of lawyers in the struggle for multiracial democracy, a question made more urgent by the racial reckonings of 2020, the inequities laid bare by the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 election, and the January 6th insurrection. Columbia Law Students are joined by advocates, teachers, and experts to better understand the role of lawyers in building a racially equitable society.