Seattle University is hosting the fifth “People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference.”
Last held in 2019, the conference “is one of the nation’s premier gatherings devoted to scholarship examining race, law, justice, and public policy,” though it is held “only once every eight to 10 years,” according to a news release.
The outward-facing materials this year do not specifically exclude participants on the basis of race, but historically the conference has not been for white people.
A 2004 article in George Washington University’s law school magazine reported how the school “made history by hosting the largest gathering of minority law faculty at the Second National People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference.”
The 2010 conference at Seton Hall University “welcomed the largest gathering of legal scholars of color the U.S. had ever seen.”
The 2019 conference, held at American University, offered programming that excluded white people.
That conference included opportunities for “junior faculty of color to present their work in supportive workshops.”
Professor Jeffrey Omari, who is helping host the conference next year, said the event “serves as a form of unity for scholars of color and our allies in the legal academy.”
As expected, the conference has a heavy critical legal theory focus.
The March 2027 conference specifically “invites proposals from scholars, educators, practitioners, and researchers whose work examines race, law, justice, technology, and innovation through interdisciplinary and intersectional perspectives.”
The theme, “Justice by Design,” seeks to address (alleged) threats to democracy.
The website states:
As democracy faces growing challenges both in the United States and globally, legal scholars are increasingly called upon to examine how law can respond to authoritarianism, inequality, and rapidly evolving technologies. NPOC27 seeks scholarship that explores innovative approaches to advancing justice through interdisciplinary research, intersectional analysis, and collaboration across legal and nonlegal fields.
Suggested topics include “Race, democracy, and the future of legal institutions,” “Artificial intelligence, emerging technology, and communities of color,” and “Critical legal theory and social change.”
The 2019 conference also discussed threats to democracy.
“We find ourselves at a critical moment, both as a nation and as a community of legal scholars of color interested in the future of our democracy,” organizers previously stated.
That conference was titled “People of Color and the future of democracy.”
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