Symposia

Each year the Journal hosts two symposia and one lecture. One symposium is held each semester, and the Law Journal Lecture generally occurs in October or early November. Each symposium typically features between ten and fifteen presenters, most of whom will produce an article related to the symposium topic for publication in the Journal. Similarly, the keynote speaker invited to give the annual Law Journal Lecture will write an article for publication.

Please see below for more information on upcoming and recent symposia and lecture events. There you will also find an overview of all of our symposia and lectures from past academic years, as well as links to the contents of each corresponding issue of the Journal.

Events for the 2011-2012 Academic Year

This year we are pleased to be working with Dean Robert Vischer and Professor Mark Osler to organize two exciting symposia. Dean Vischer's symposium is entitled "The Lawyer's Role and Professional Formation." At this event we will explore the question: "What is the nature of the lawyer's role and what are the implications for how we educate lawyers?" Professor Osler's symposium, which is as yet untitled, will focus on Federal and State Sentence Commutations.

The annual Law Journal Lecture will be delivered by Rice Distinguished Professor Raj Bhala of The University of Kansas School of Law. His lecture will discuss The Doha Round as a Failed Instrument of Counter-Terrorism.

Dates and event information is detailed below.

	Fall Symposium:	"The Lawyer's Role and Professional Formation"
	Date:	September 23rd, 2011 — all day
	Confirmed Participants:	— Deborah Rhode, Stanford Law School — Tom Morgan, George Washington Law School — Brad Wendel, Cornell Law School — Robert Vischer, University of St. Thomas School of Law — Paul Paton, McGeorge School of Law — Paul Tremblay, Boston College Law School — Judith McMorrow, Boston College Law School — Mickey Bebeau, University of Minnesota — Neil Hamilton, University of St. Thomas School of Law — Richard Painter, University of Minnesota Law School — Eli Wald, Sturm College of Law (University of Denver) — Russ Pearce, Fordham Law School — Amy Uelmen, Georgetown Law School — Alice Woolley, University of Calgary — Kate Kruse, William S. Boyd School of Law (University of Nevada Las Vegas)
	Event Information:	At a time of wrenching change in the legal profession, there is a pressing need to step back and ask foundational questions about the nature of the lawyer's role in society and how that role should shape the way we educate and form lawyers. The symposium gathers many of the leading scholars who are working to help clarify our understanding of the lawyer's work and to chart the future course of legal education. Often the more theoretical conversations about the nature of the lawyer's role proceed separately from the more practical conversations about the future course of legal education. This symposium brings both conversations together in what promises to be an energized and productive new dialogue.


	Law Journal Lecture:	Professor Raj Bhala, "Poverty, Islamist Extremism, and the Debacle of Doha Round Counter-Terrorism: Part One of a Trilogy—Agricultural Tariffs and Subsidies"
	Date:	November 2nd, 2011 — 4:00pm in the University of St. Thomas Law School atrium
	Event Information:	Professor Raj Bhala will give our annual Law Journal Lecture this Wednesday, November 2 at 4:00 at the University of St. Thomas School of Law campus in Minneapolis. His topic is titled: “Poverty, Islamist Extremism, and the Debacle of Doha Round Counter-Terrorism: Part One of a Trilogy—Agricultural Tariffs and Subsidies.” He describes his Article and lecture as follows: “The theme running throughout the Trilogy, as intimated by the title, is that the WTO Doha Round negotiations (2001-present) have lost sight of their original purpose: to liberalize trade and thereby help alleviate poverty, and by alleviating poverty, in turn to fight Islamist extremism, which breeds amidst poverty and marginalization. Put simply, the over-arching argument of the Trilogy is the Doha Round has failed to be an instrument of counter-terrorism as it was initially designed to be. Part One explains the link among poverty, Islamist extremism, and the multilateral trade liberalization. It then analyzes critically how the December 2008 Doha Round Draft Agriculture Modalities Agreement and April 2011 Agriculture Document fail to counter terrorism.” The lecture will be followed by commentary by Prof. Robert Delahunty of the University of St. Thomas Law School and Prof. Frank Garcia of the Boston University School of Law.


	Spring Symposium:	"Sentence Commutations and the Executive Pardon Power" - Register Now
	Date:	Friday, April 20, 2012 8:45 AM to 5:00 PM in the Schulze Grand Atrium at the University of St. Thomas
	Confirmed Participants:	— P.S. Ruckman (PardonPower.com & Rock Valley College) — Jeffrey Crouch (American University) — David M. Zlotnick (Roger Williams University School of Law) — Cecelia Klingele (Univ. of Wisc. School of Law) — Gov. Robert Ehrlich (Former governor of Maryland) — Judge Richard Sullivan (U.S. District Court for Southern District of NY) — Doug Berman (The Ohio State University, Michael E. Moritz College of Law) — Steve Chanenson (Villanova) — Nancy Gertner (Harvard) — Margaret Colgate Love (Private Practice) — Judge Doty (U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota) — Serena Nunn (Recipient of sentence commutation) — Denise D. Reilly (Minnesota State District Court Judge) — Dafna Linzer (Propublica.org) — Daniel T. Kobil (Capitol University Law School)
	Event Information:	The University of St. Thomas School of Law Journal Spring Symposium will host a group of national scholars and legal professionals to discuss sentence commutations and the executive pardon power on Friday, April 20 beginning at 8:45 a.m. in the Schulze Grand Atrium at the School of Law in downtown Minneapolis. The keynote speaker for the symposium will be former Maryland governor Gov. Robert Ehrlich.The former governor and congressman recently contributed the piece "A Broken System, And Too Few Pardons," to the New York Times, authored the book, Turn This Car Around: The Roadmap to Restoring America. He has also established a pardon-focused law school clinic modeled after St. Thomas' own commutations clinic. The symposium will feature panels of experts on a range of pardon-related topics and will culminate in the story of Serena Nunn who, at the age of nineteen, received a guidelines-imposed prison sentence of nearly sixteen years for minor participation in a nonviolent drug offense. This final panel, entitled "One Commutation: Three Perspectives," will bring together the defendant, the prosecutor, and the Judge involved in the 1989 conviction of Ms. Nunn. Judge Doty of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, former Hennepin County Prosecutor Denise D. Reilly, and Ms. Nunn—now a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School—will discuss the inspiring story leading up to President Clinton's commutation of the sixteen-year sentence on July 7, 2000, after Ms. Nunn had been incarcerated for more than a decade. The legal community and others are invited to attend. This even has been approved for 6.25 general CLE credits, and lunch will be provided for participants who pre-register. Please register here.

Past Events/Issues

This list constitutes the available archives of our past symposia and lecture publications. The links provided contain content information and PDF copies of the articles published in each issue.

Fall 2009: Vol. VII, No. I	Exxon Valdez Revisited: Rights and Remedies
Winter 2009: Vol. VI, No. II	Train Wrecks in Legal Education & Our National Challange: A Blueprint for Restoring Public Trust
Fall 2008: Vol. VI, No. I	Human Trafficking: Global and National Responses to the Cries for Freedom
Spring 2008: Vol. V, No. III	Latin America: Economic Development and Social Justice
Winter 2008: Vol. V, No. II	The Formation of an Ethical Professional Identity in the Peer-Review Professions
Winter 2008: Vol. V, No. I	Peace With Creation: Catholic Perspectives on Environmental Law
Spring 2007: Vol. IV, No. III	Workplace Restructuring to Accommodate Family Life
Fall 2006: Vol. IV, No. II	Catholicism and the Court: The Relevance of Faith Traditions to Jurisprudence
Summer 2006: Vol. IV, No. I	Selected Papers from the Terrance J. Murphy Institute Conference: Public Policy, Prudential Judgment and the Catholic Social Tradition
Spring 2006: Vol. III, No. III	Exploring Alternatives to the Incarceration Crisis
Fall 2005: Vol. III, No. II	American Exceptionalism in the 21st Century
Summer 2005: Vol. III, No. I	Selected Papers from the Terrence J. Murphy Institute Conference Sacrifice and the Common Good in the Catholic Tradition
Spring 2005: Vol. II, No. II	Can the Seamless Garment be Sewn? The Future of Pro-Life Progressivism
Fall 2004: Vol. II, No. I	The Federal Marriage Amendment: Yes or No?
Spring 2004: Vol. I, No. II	Understanding the Intersection of Business and Legal Ethics
Spring 2003: Vol. I, No. I	God, the Person, History and the Law: Themes from the Work of Judge John T. Noonan, Jr.