UPDATE MARCH 3, 2016: Due to a family matter, our planned co-keynote speaker, Paulette Brown, will not be able to attend the symposium. We apologize for any inconvenience.


Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law’s Diversity Initiative Symposium and Publication will host its inaugural symposium,
Blinded Justice: A Discussion About Whether the Legal System Values and Protects Diverse Communities
, next Thursday, March 3, from 1 to 8 p.m., in Kennedy Hall. Founder and Former Executive Director of the South Asian Network Hamid Khan will serve as the keynote speaker.

The event invites locally and nationally recognized legal practitioners and social justice advocates to discuss unequal justice in diverse communities on three distinct panels:

  • Inequality: The Immigration and Asylum Process;

  • Impracticality: The School to Prison Pipeline; and

  • Impunity: The Criminal and Civil Justice Response to Violence Against Minorities


Hamid Khan headshot


Symposium keynote speaker Hamid Khan

Hamid Khan currently is campaign coordinator for Stop LAPD Spying. Before his current role, he served for 20 years as Executive Director for the South Asian Network – an organization dedicated to advancing the health, empowerment and solidarity of persons of South Asian origin in Southern California.


Panelists include John Burris, Esq., best known for his work in the area of civil rights with an emphasis on police misconduct, excessive force cases; James Bell, Esq., founder and director of the W. Haywood Burns Institute; Farida Chehata, Esq., an immigrant rights attorney for the Council on American-Islamic relations; Jorge Gutierrez, founder and director of Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement; and Margaret Prescod, founder of Black Alliance Fighting Black Serial Killers and host of Sojourner Truth on Pacifica Radio. Moderators include Fowler Law Professor Bobby Dexter, Thurgood Marshall Bar Association President Michael Gregg, Orange County Hispanic Bar Association Chief Financial Officer Darrell White, and Sasha Tymkowicz  from the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association Board of Directors.

See full list of panelists and presenters.


The Fowler School of Law’s
Diversity Initiative
is a “super group” made up of leaders and senior members from a diverse cross section of law school student organizations, including the Minority Law Students Association, Asian Pacific American Law Student Association, Children and Family Law Society, Animal Law Society, National Lawyers Guild, Outlaw, Public Interest Law Foundation, and more.

This activity has been approved for MCLE credit in the amount of 5.5 units, including elimination of bias credit. The event is open to the public and free to those not seeking MCLE credit, and $10 for those seeking MCLE credit. Chapman University Dale E. Fowler School of Law is a State Bar of California approved MCLE provider.

See a complete schedule and register
.