At a symposium sponsored by the Women’s Rights Law Reporter, Professor Tanya Hernandez introduces the keynote speaker, Professor Joan Williams, a law professor at the American Law School, Washington College of Law in Washington,D.C. where she teaches Property, Women\u27s Legal History, Feminist Jurist Prudence, and a Jurist Prudence seminar. The topic of the symposium is Work/Life Conflict in the Legal Profession

Amir, Jamie

Deutsch, Stuart L.

Hernandez, Tanya Kateri

Lechner, Sarah

Fordham University School of Law

Fordham Law SchoolFLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and HistoryFaculty Scholarship2006Welcome and Opening Remarks Work/LifeConflict in the Legal ProfessionJamie AmirRutgers School of Law-Newark, THERNANDEZ@law.fordham.eduSarah LechnerRutgers School of Law-NewarkStuart L. DeutschRutgers School of Law-NewarkTanya Kateri HernandezFordham Law School, THERNANDEZ@law.fordham.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarshipPart of the Labor and Employment Law Commons, and the Women CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted forinclusion in Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For moreinformation, please contact tmelnick@law.fordham.edu.Recommended CitationJamie Amir, Sarah Lechner, Stuart L. Deutsch, and Tanya Kateri Hernandez, Welcome and Opening Remarks Work/Life Conflict in theLegal Profession, 27 Women's Rts. L. Rep. 1 (2006)Available at: http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/faculty_scholarship/26Women's Rights Law ReporterSymposiumWELCOME AND OPENING REMARKSJAMIE AMIR: Good afternoon and wel-come to Rutgers Law School, administratorsand faculty and our distinguished speakers andguests.My name is Jamie Amir and this is SarahLechner and we are Co-Editors-in-Chief of theWomen's Rights Law Reporter. I'd like to wel-come you to this year's symposium entitledWork/Life Conflict in the Legal Profession. Wechose this topic because it is important to every-one who enters this building. Work/Life con-flicts cuts across all dimensions of family, race,ethnicity, and gender. Today we'll hear from awide variety of speakers on the subject and wehope that will all interest and inform you.SARAH LECHNER: Before we begin theday, Jamie and I want to express our gratitudeto people without whom this would not havebeen possible. First and foremost, the staff andeditors of the Women's Rights Law Reporterwho have gone above and beyond in their assis-tance in preparing for this event.Second, we would like to thank DeansDeutsch and Bouchoux for their continued sup-port and guidance. We would also like to thankformer EIC Jessica Kitson who has returned toRutgers Law School in the Career Services of-fice. We know that future editorial boards willhave a good resource so long as Jessica isaround.Next we would like to thank ProfessorTwila Perry who serves as our faculty advisor.She has been a valuable leader and we are sopleased that she cantoday.also join us as a panelistFinally, Jamie and I would like to offer aheartfelt thank you to our managing editorRuth Rauls. Without her presence in the officekeeping us in line every day, we would not beable to host an event of this magnitude.Now I'd like to welcome Dean Deutschwho will say hello to everyone followed by Pro-fessor Tanya Hernandez who will introduceProfessor Joan Williams, our keynote speaker.DEAN DEUTSCH*: I think we all owe adebt of gratitude to Jamie and Sarah for thephenomenal leadership they've shown and forall their hard work in putting together today'ssymposium we're very pleased to have. AndI'm pleased to welcome everybody.We have some guests from outside, re-turning editors of the Women's Rights Law Re-porter sitting in the audience who have just ar-rived. I see at least one - actually, I see two -some alumni come back for this. And I want tothank all of our speakers today, it's a wonderfulgroup of people.And just - this shouldn't detract from Pro-fessor Williams, but she and I have been friendsfor about twenty-five years and so I'm delightedthat you're back here today. You also spokehere a couple years ago at a faculty symposium.I'm delighted that Joan has joined us today.She really is a leader and has created attentionon an incredibly important topic that had some-*Stuart L. Deutsch is the Dean of Rutgers School of Law-Newark.[Women's Rights Law Reporter, Volume 27, Number 1, Winter 2006]© 2007 by Women's Rights Law Reporter, Rutgers-The State University0085-8269/80/0908HeinOnline  -- 27 Women's Rts. L. Rep. 1 2006how been slipping through the- I'll let ProfessorHernandez.PROFESSOR HERNANDEZ**: I'll keepthis very brief because if I were to detail all theaccomplishments of our keynote speaker, I'llprobably take up all of her talk time.I can think of no better person to talk to usabout the Work/Life Conflict in the Legal Pro-fession than Professor Joan Williams. She iscurrently a law professor at the American LawSchool, Washington College of Law in Washing-ton, D.C. where she teaches Property, Women'sLegal History, Feminist Jurist Prudence, and aJurist Prudence seminar.She is not only a law teacher, she is a pro-lific legal scholar. She's actually been voted oneof the most prolific law professors in the coun-try and written nearly 40 articles. Her most,sort of, noteworthy work that, at least as far asthe media is concerned, all her work is notewor-thy, is her book Unbending Gender: Why Fam-ily and Work Conflict and What to Do about It.And then a number of fascinating articles thatfit very well with our topic today: Make WayFor Mothers, Using Title 7 to Deconstruct andReconstruct Work, Restructuring Work andFamily Around Family Values.But her work is not only that of a legalscholar, she also gets out of the ivory tower and*Tanya Hernandez is a Professor of Law and JusticeFrederick W. Hall Scholar at Rutgers School of Law-Newark.WOMEN'S RIGHTS LAW REPORTER [Vol. 27:1 2006]is the director of the program on WorkLife Law- a research and advocacy center that seeks toeliminate employment discrimination againstcare-givers such as parents. The mission of thecenter is to provide valuable information tohelp shape the public conversation aroundchanges, family, and their experiences in thework place. They hope to influence the futureof work so that individuals can participate infamily life as they desire and deserve to do.The work that Professor Williams and hercolleagues have done in that center has receivedmuch public attention. I'll just quote one ad-mirer of her work, a law partner that states that"Professor Williams' academic work has suchrelevancy to today's work place and work force.Her ideas lend themselves to immediate appli-cation."She has stepped out of the ivory tower andinto the world of thousands upon thousands ofwomen and men who struggle. We as individu-als and employers and as a nation benefit fromher thinking, prodding, and belief that work andlife do not have to be add-ons with one another.She is a public speaker extraordinaire. Youmay have already heard her comment on theNational Public Radio and so it is wonderfulthat she is able to be with us today and I wouldlike to welcome Professor Joan Williams.HeinOnline  -- 27 Women's Rts. L. Rep. 2 2006

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Welcome and Opening Remarks Work/Life Conflict in the Legal Profession

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