Law Talk: Recent Episodes
American Constitution Society, Washington and Lee School of Law Chapter
American Constitution Society members at Washington and Lee School of Law sit down with faculty members, students, and practitioners for open and engaging discussions of the most important legal issues of our time. Presented by the American Constitution Society's Washington and Lee School of Law Chapter.
For this episode of Law Talk, we spoke to Charles Bonani about his experiences as president of our ACS chapter and as a law clerk after law school. Mr. Bonani graduated from W&L Law in 2021, where he created this podcast. After graduating from law school, he clerked for the chief judge of the Augusta Circuit Court, the Honorable William Chapman Goodwin. He currently serves as an Administrative Law Clerk for the Honorable Thomas Mann of the Supreme Court of Virginia.
Maureen Edobor is Counsel on the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Earlier in her career, she was a clerk for Judge Pamela J. White of the Baltimore City Circuit Court, a Litigation Associate at Goldberg Segalla, a Staff Attorney at the League of Women Voters of the United States, and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Penn State Law. Professor Edobor’s research focuses on voting rights through the lens of critical race theory.
Professor Edobor received her BA from the University of Texas at Arlington and her JD from Washington and Lee University School of Law.
For today's episode of Law Talk, we spoke to Aliza Shatzman. Shatzman is the co-founder and president of the Legal Accountability Project. After experiencing harassment and retaliation as a clerk in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, she started the Legal Accountability Project to foster positive clerkship experiences and support clerks with negative experiences. The organization is collecting data and partnering with law schools and other stakeholders to analyze the extent of harassment and discrimination in the courts and develop solutions to address those issues.
In addition to her work with the Legal Accountability Project, Shatzman speaks and writes about judicial accountability. You can read her work in outlets including Above the Law, Law360, Ms. Magazine, and Slate. You can follow her on twitter at @AlizaShatzman and visit legalaccountabilityproject.org to learn more about her organization’s work.
For this episode of Law Talk, we spoke to Gail Deady, a W&L Law alum and Staff Counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights. At the Center, Deady litigates reproductive rights cases in the United States.
Deady graduated from W&L Law in 2011 and focused her studies on gender equity and civil liberties. As a law student, Deady was the president of the Women Law Students Organization and received the National Association of Women Lawyers Outstanding Student Award. Before joining the Center, Deady worked at McCandlish Holton, P.C. and the ACLU of Virginia.
You may follow the Center for Reproductive Right's work at https://reproductiverights.org/ or on Twitter at @ReproRights.
Today's episode of Law Talk features a conversation with Walter Shaub on the relationship between government ethics and democracy. Mr. Shaub leads the Project On Government Oversight’s Government Ethics Initiative as POGO’s Senior Ethics Fellow.
Before joining POGO, Mr. Shaub served for four years as the Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and was a member of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. Mr. Shaub has also served in the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He has worked in private practice and as a CNN contributor. Mr. Shaub has written for numerous publications, including the New York Review of Books, the Washington Post, the New York Times.
Mr. Shaub earned his J.D. from American University’s Washington College of Law and his B.A. in history from James Madison University.
To learn more about Mr. Shaub’s work, you may follow him on Twitter @waltshaub, subscribe to his newsletter, The Bridge, on POGO’s website, and listen to his new podcast, The Continuous Action, which premiered on April 8, 2022.
Today's episode of Law Talk features a conversation with the Honorable Michael Missal. As Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Mr. Missal leads a staff of more than 1,000 lawyers, auditors and others to root out criminal activity, fraud and abuse at the VA. Mr. Missal also chairs the Investigations Committee of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and is a member of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.
Mr. Missal was previously a partner at K&L Gates and senior counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He received his undergraduate degree from Washington and Lee University and a juris doctor from the Catholic University of America.
Laura Iheanachor '15L joins Law Talk to discuss how she uses open records laws to make federal and state governments more transparent and accountable to the public.
Ms. Iheanachor is Staff Counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonprofit that works to combat money in politics and conflicts of interest throughout the government. As a law student, Ms. Iheanachor competed on the Black Law Student Association’s mock trial team and interned with the North Carolina Department of Justice and the Wake County District Attorney's Office. Before joining CREW, Mr. Iheanachor worked as a prosecutor in the Kings County District Attorney's Office in Brooklyn and defended the City of New York in federal civil rights lawsuits in the New York City Law Department.
At CREW, Ms. Iheanachor develops open records requests and litigates them under the Freedom of Information Act and state open records laws. Her work focuses on protecting voting rights and exposing the influence of special interest groups on legislation that harms racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities.
Join us again with former ACS President Charles Bonani and Professor Nora Demleitner to discuss criminal justice and related issues.
An oldie but goodie (or at least an interesting topic). Listen in to hear former ACS President, Charles Bonani, discuss abortion law with a panel of law students and professors. Panelists include Sam Calhoun, Robert O. Bentley Professor of Law at W&L Law School; Carliss Chatman, Associate Professor of Law at W&L Law School; and Bethany Barrett, W&L Law Alumna. DISCLAIMER: This episode was recorded in 2019. A lot has changed since then in the legal world of abortion law. We invite you to listen with that in mind and look forward to an update soon.
Listen in for a special episode: our annual SCOTUS PREVIEW! Washington and Lee University School of Law professors discuss upcoming cases on the Supreme Court's docket and the implications of the possible outcomes. Speakers: Professor Joan Shaughnessy [introduction on the Supreme Court of the U.S.], Professor Carliss Chatman [Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization], Professor Todd Peppers [Ramirez v. Collier], Professor Alan Trammell [Servotronics, Inc. v. Rolls-Royce PLC], and Professor Alexandra Klein [United States v. Zubaydah]. Enjoy!
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W&L Alumnus & Former ACS President Charles Bonani discusses housing law with panelists Louisa Rich, Palmer Heenan, and Laura Wright. Listen in for an informative and important discussion of both the housing law field and the most pressing local and national housing issues, which have only been exacerbated by the pandemic. Louisa Rich is a housing attorney at the legal aid justice center. Palmer Heenan is a housing attorney & Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Central Virginia Legal Aid. And Laura Wright is an Equal Justice Works Housing Justice Program Fellow. Presented by the student chapter of the American Constitution Society at Washington & Lee University School of Law.
W&L ACS President Charles Bonani Zooms with Professor Christopher B. Seaman to discuss election law and make sense of the current election litigation taking place around the country. With an election coming up, these issues are more prevalent than ever. Professor Seaman is an Associate Professor of Law and Director, Frances Lewis Law Center, at Washington and Lee University School of Law. Professor Seaman has written several works on the history, constitutionality, and potential future of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.