Seattle University School of Law faculty scholars and administrators provided valuable leadership and academic insight at the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) annual meeting in San Diego, California, last week.

A statewide task force examining race and the criminal justice system in the state of Washington has developed a comprehensive set of 140 recommendations aimed at reducing or eliminating the disproportionate impact of the legal system on people of color.

Inspired by their visit to civil rights sites in Alabama earlier this summer, Seattle University School of Law’s Calhoun Fellows assisted in writing a moving and persuasive legal brief to encourage jury diversity. The case aims to strengthen the right of defendants to have a jury drawn from a jury pool that reflects a fair cross section of the community.

As a 2022 LEPPC Fellow, Timea Soos joined a cohort of inaugural fellows from 33 Consortium member law schools supporting a multidisciplinary approach to policing. The American Bar Association formed the Legal Education Police Practices Consortium in 2020 to contribute to the national effort to examine and address legal issues in policing and public safety.

Five dedicated students and equal justice advocates will undertake a summer of skills training and race equity work as part of Seattle University School of Law’s Calhoun Family Fellowship. The 2022 fellows are Marcel Baugh ‘24, Leslie Burnett ‘24, Naomi Rothenberg ‘24, Jean Russell ‘24, and Talia Starr ‘24.

As a professor of lawyering skills and director of the Fred T. Korematsu Center for Law and Equality, Lorraine Bannai spent 25 of her 41 teaching years at Seattle University School of Law. As a lawyer, she helped reopen the case of Fred Korematsu and often speaks on the atrocity of Japanese American incarceration during World War II.