3rd Annual Law vs. Antisemitism Conference

2nd Annual (2023)

1st Annual (2022)

9 am - 11 am

Registration and Breakfast for Teaching Antisemitism and the Law

Rafael Diaz Balart Hall, Leonard Strickman Atrium

 

All Day

EXHIBIT

“Lawyers Without Rights: Jewish Lawyers in Germany under the Third Reich” (ABA) - Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall, Leonard Strickman Atrium

 

9:30 am - 11:30 am

WORKSHOP ON TEACHING ANTISEMITISM AND THE LAW 

Pre-registration recommended

Watch the Workshop

Convenor:

Prof. Robert Katz, IU McKinney School of Law

Presenters:

Steven Freeman, Senior Counsel, Anti-Defamation League

Prof. Victoria Woeste, IU McKinney School of Law

Meg M. Mitchell, Acquisitions Editor, Carolina Academic Press

Kenneth Marcus, Founder/Chairman, Brandeis Center

Noon - 6 pm

MAIN REGISTRATION and LUNCH (ALL REGISTRANTS) - Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall, Leonard Strickman Atrium

 

1 pm - 2 pm

KEYNOTE ADDRESS # 1 - Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 1000

Watch Rabbi David Saperstein’s Keynote Address

Official welcome:

Antony Page, Dean of the FIU College of Law

Keynote speaker:

Rabbi David Saperstein, Former United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, Former Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

2:15 pm - 3:30 pm

OPENING PLENARY ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION - Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 1000

How The Events of Oct. 7 & The Israel-Gaza War Are Affecting The U.S. Legal Academy

Watch the Plenary Roundtable

Moderator:

Prof. Robert Katz, IU McKinney School of Law

Participants: 

Prof. Rona Kaufman, Duquesne University Kline School of Law

Prof. Diane Kemker, Southern University Law Center

Kenneth Marcus, Founder/Chairman, Brandeis Center

Prof.  Howard Wasserman, FIU College of Law

3:45 pm - 5:15 pm

Panel A: Governmental, Professional, and Judicial Approaches to Fighting Antisemitism

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2005

Watch Panel A

Speakers:

Prof. Caroline Corbin, University of Miami School of Law, Religious Liberty for All? A Religious Right to Abortion

Prof. Lili Levi, University of Miami Law School, Betting on Awareness: Considering The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism

Mark Schickman, Esq., Allyship Among Jewish and Legal Institutions to Combat Antisemitism

Aleksandra Gliszczynska-Grabias, Antisemitism under judicial review: four dogmas and one pitfall in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (BDS)

 

Panel B: Antisemitism in Higher Education

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2006

Watch Panel B

Speakers:

Prof. Luis Fleischman, Palm Beach State College, Deconstructing De-Legitimization of Israel: A View from the Sociology of International Law

Dr. Leslie O’Connell, Psycho-social, physical impact of antisemitism on college students

Prof. Miyuki Kita, The University of Kitakyushu, Cracking the Quotas: The 1948 New York Fair Educational Practices Act and the Jewish Quest for Color-Blindness

 

Panel C: Fighting Antisemitic Hate Speech with Law

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2008

Watch Panel C

Moderator:

Steven Freeman, Senior Counsel, Anti-Defamation League

Speakers:

Prof. Doron Kalir, Cleveland State University College of Law, White Christian Nationalism & Antisemitism: A True Threat

Prof. Robert Katz, IU McKinney School of Law, Group Defamation

Prof. Victoria Woeste, IU McKinney School of Law, Jewish Advocacy Organizations and the Rise of Hate Crimes Laws, 1985-2020

 

Panel D: Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories & Stereotypes

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2007

Watch Panel D

Speakers:

Mike Rothschild, Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories

Prof. Rebecca Sanders, University of Cincinnati, Rethinking the Harms of Antisemitism

Prof. Kerri Stone, FIU College of Law, Spoken Beliefs: How overt stereotypes of Jewish people made Workplace Antisemitism Invisible, Shameless, and Pervasive

 

5:30 pm - 6:15 pm

Panel E: Author Meets Reader

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2007

Watch Panel E

Author:

Prof. Magda Teter, Fordham University, Christian Supremacy: Reckoning with the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism

Reader:Diane Kemker

7 pm - 9 pm

WELCOME RECEPTION

Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, 301 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139

8 am - 6 pm

Registration and Breakfast

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall, Leonard Strickman Atrium

All day

EXHIBIT

“Lawyers Without Rights: Jewish Lawyers in Germany under the Third Reich” (ABA) - Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall, Leonard Strickman Atrium

9 am - 10 am

KEYNOTE ADDRESS # 2 - Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 1000

Watch Marc Stern’s Keynote Address

Keynote speaker:

Marc Stern, Chief Legal Officer, American Jewish Committee, Former General Counsel of the American Jewish Congress

 

10:15 am - 11:45 am

Panel F: Groff v. DeJoy

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2005

Watch Panel F

Speakers:

Richard Foltin, Fellow for Religious Freedom, Freedom Forum; Executive Director, AAJLJ, Religious Accommodation – A Civil Right or Preferential  Treatment? (303 and DeGroff)          

Prof. Debbie Kaminer, Zicklin College of Business, Baruch College, CUNY,  Title VII and Religious Accommodation: The Impact of Groff v. DeJoy on Religious Minorities

Isaac May (J.D. candidate), Yale Law School, Sabbath Accommodations as a Civil Right: History, Title VII, and the Path to Groff v. DeJoy

Prof. Seth Oranburg, University of New Hampshire Law School, The Right Not to Work: How Title VII Protects the Free Exercise of Religion after Groff v. DeJoy

Panel G: Online Antisemitism & Holocaust Denial

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2006

Watch Panel G

Speakers:

Steven Freeman, Senior Counsel, ADL, Advocacy Group Influence on Social Media Platform Moderation

Aleksandra Gliszczynska-Grabias, Poznań Human Rights Centre, Institute of Law Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, "There is still Night”: Leszczynska v. Engelking and Grabowski and the antisemitic potential of Holocaust distortion

Filippo Venturi, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa), Beyond Criminalization: Unveiling the Role of Media and Non-Criminal Sanctions in Addressing Antisemitism

Panel H: Fighting Antisemitism in Florida: The Local Scene

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2008

Watch Panel H

Speakers:

Prof. Ira Sheskin, University of Miami, How Much Anti-Semitism Exists in the United States and Florida? 

Joshua Sayles, Greater Miami Jewish Federation

Sarah Emmons, Regional Director, Anti-Defamation League Florida

 

Noon - 1:30 pm

LUNCH and FILM SCREENING: “Recipe for Change: Standing Up To Antisemitism” - Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 1000

Watch Recipe for Change

Watch Q&A with Producer Todd Shotz

Sponsored by Podhurst Orseck, P.A.

Speaker:

Todd Shotz, Producer - Q & A to follow

1:45 pm - 3:00 pm

Panel I: North American Jewish History

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 1000

Watch Panel I

Speakers:

Isaac Amon, Jewish Heritage Alliance, From Tyranny to Freedom: The Story of Jewish Savannah

Prof. Paul Finkelman, Marquette University Law School, Anti-Semitism and Foreign Policy: The Swiss Treaty of the 1850s

Prof. Kenneth Grad, Osgoode Hall Law School, Trials and Tribulations: The Prosecutions of Ernst Zundel and James Keegstra, 1985

3:15 pm - 4:45 pm

Panel J: Antisemitism, Race, and Gender

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2006

Watch Panel J

Moderator: Prof. Diane Kemker

Speakers:

Milena Baker, Brazilian antisemitism and its invisibility – the non-validation of Jews as a minority group (the Ellwanger case)

Prof. Carole Huberman and Prof. Stephen Sussman, Barry University,  Dwayne O. Andreas School of Business and Public Administration, Exploring the Intersectionality of Antisemitism and the Law: A Case Study of the Crown Heights Riots and Aftermath

Prof. Rona Kaufman, Duquesne University Law, Anti-Feminist Anti-Zionism

Prof. Emerita Suzanna Sherry, Vanderbilt University Law School, Bred in the Bone: DEI and Antisemitism

Panel K: European History

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 2007

Watch Panel K

Speakers:

Isaac Amon, Jewish Heritage Alliance, The Racialization of Religion:  Purity of Blood, the Inquisition, and Antisemitism

Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota, University of Antwerp (Belgium), A History of Antisemitic Legal Systems in Europe: 1391-2021

Paul Finkelman, Marquette University Law School, The First Antisemitic Conspiracy: Jews and the Black Death, and Some Thoughts About Covid

William Choyke, ABA, Lawyers Without Rights: Jewish Lawyers in Germany Under the Third Reich

 

5:00 pm - 6:15 pm

Panel L: Teaching Anti-Antisemitism

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 1000

Watch Panel L

Speakers:

Prof. Mark Malisa and Cailyn Hamstra, University of West Florida, The Never Again Education Act and the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism: Implications for K-12 Education in Combatting Contemporary Antisemitism

Prof. Michael Lewyn, Touro University Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, Touro University’s “Structural Barriers and the Pursuit of Equity  Curriculum on Antisemitism

Prof. Robert Katz, IU McKinney School of Law, Teaching Antisemitism and the Law

6:30 pm - 6:45 pm

CLOSING REMARKS

Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall 1000

Live Stream

​KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Marc Stern, a keynote speaker, is the Chief Legal Officer of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and a leading expert in legal advocacy on issues of concern to the Jewish community, including the new field of "lawfare"—pursuing war through international legal procedures. He came to AJC after 33 years at the American Jewish Congress, where he was General Counsel since 1999 and acting Co-Executive Director since 2008. Stern has authored numerous legal briefs, published many scholarly articles, and has argued four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. He earned a B.A. at Yeshiva University and a J.D. at the Columbia University School of Law.  His keynote address will discuss the current state of Jewish legal advocacy in the U.S. and future directions.  sternm@ajc.org

• Monday, February 26, 9 - 10 a.m.

Rabbi David Saperstein, a keynote speaker, served for 40 years as Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, one of the leading Jewish advocacy groups in Washington, D.C.  He also served as President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism and Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom under the Obama administration. Also an attorney, he taught seminars on Church–State law and on comparative Jewish and American Law for 35 years at Georgetown University Law Center and continues his academic work as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Foreign Service School and Center for Jewish Civilization and as a Distinguished Fellow at the PM Glynn Institute at Australian Catholic University. His keynote address will discuss how Jewish values should inform Jewish advocacy.

• Sunday, February 25, 1 - 2 p.m.

 

PRESENTERS AND PANELISTS

Isaac Amon is Director of Academic Research at Jewish Heritage Alliance and Adjunct Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis, where he earned his J.D., LLM, and JSD in Comparative Criminal Procedure.  He will be speaking on “From Tyranny to Freedom: The Story of Jewish Savannah” and “The Racialization of Religion: Purity of Blood, the Inquisition, and Antisemitism.” isaac@jewishheritagealliance.com

• Panel I: Colonial and Antebellum U.S. Jewish History
• Panel K: European History

Milena Baker is an independent researcher whose research focuses on minorities and the Holocaust. She received a Ph.D. in Criminal Law and a B.A. from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and law degrees from the University of Miami and Salamanca University. She will be speaking on “Brazilian Antisemitism and its Invisibility – the Non-validation of Jews as a Minority Group (the Ellwanger case.” milenabaker18@gmail.com

• Panel J: Antisemitism, Race and Gender

Bill Choyke is a Coordinator of the American Bar Association project, “Lawyers Without Rights: Jewish Lawyers In Germany Under the Third Reich” (www.lawyerswithoutrights.com) and a Senior Strategist for ABA Media Relations.  He earned a B.A. from Ohio University, an M.S. in Justice from American University, and an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. He will be speaking on the Lawyers Without Rights project, which is both a traveling exhibit and a book on the purge of Jewish lawyers in Berlin during the Nazi era. bill.choyke@americanbar.org

• Panel K: European History

Caroline Mala Corbin is Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law. She teaches courses on constitutional law, feminism and the First Amendment, and reproductive rights. Her scholarship focuses on the First Amendment’s speech and religion clauses, particularly their intersection with equality issues. She earned a J.D. from Columbia and a BA from Harvard. She will be speaking on “Religious Liberty for All? A Religious Right to Abortion.” c.corbin@miami.edu

• Panel M: On the Docket

Sarah Emmons is Florida Regional Director at Anti-Defamation League. She earned a Master's in Public Policy and Education Policy Analysis at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and a B.A. from Middlebury College. semmons@adl.org

• Panel H: Fighting Antisemitism in Florida: The Local Scene

Yehonatan Elazar-DeMota is a postdoctoral research fellow in the political history and urban history departments at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) and an affiliated fellow at the Center for the Study of Religion at Emory University.  He earned a Ph.D. in International Law from the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and a B.A. and Master’s in Philosophy of Religion and Anthropology from FIU. He is also an ordained rabbi and a certified shohet and mohel.  He will speak on “A History of Antisemitic Legal Systems in Europe: 1391-2021.”  yehonatan.elazar-demota@uantwerpen.be

• Panel K: European History

Paul Finkelman is Robert F. Boden Visiting Professor at Marquette University Law School.  He previously served as Chancellor and President of Gratz College and President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law at Albany Law School. A specialist in American legal history, constitutional law, and race and the law, Professor Paul Finkelman is the author of more than 200 scholarly articles and more than 50 books. He earned a  Ph.D. in History from the University of Chicago and was a Fellow in Law and Humanities at Harvard Law School. He earned his B.A. from Syracuse University. He will be speaking on “The First Antisemitic Conspiracy: Jews and the Black Death, and Some Thoughts About Covid'' and “President Millard Fillmore and the Antisemitic Aspects of the Treaty with Switzerland in the 1850s.”  paul.finkelman@marquette.edu

• Panel I: Colonial and Antebellum U.S. Jewish History
• Panel K: European History

Luis Fleishman is Professor of Sociology at Palm Beach State College and founding co-chair of the Palm Beach Center for Democracy and Policy Research. He is the author of The Middle East Riddle: An Analysis of the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict and Israeli/Arab Relations in Changing Times. He earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociology from the New School for Social Research and a B.A from Tel Aviv University. He will speak on “Deconstructing the De-Legitimization of Israel: A View from the Sociology of International Law.” fleischl@palmbeachstate.edu

• Panel B: Antisemitism in Higher Education

Richard Foltin is Fellow for Religious Freedom at the Freedom Forum, which each year engages thousands of Americans in classes, conversations, and celebrations of the essential rights protected by the First Amendment, and where he writes and speaks on religious liberty, pluralism and the role of faith in society. In addition, he recently assumed the position of Executive Director of the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (AAJLJ), the national voluntary bar association of Jewish American lawyers. Foltin previously served in several senior positions for the American Jewish Committee (AJC), including national and legislative affairs director. He earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from New York University.  He will speak on “Religious Accommodation – A Civil Right or Preferential Treatment?” rfoltin@gmail.com

• Panel F:  Groff v. DeJoy

Steven Freeman is Senior Counsel at the Anti-Defamation League’s National Headquarters, where he contributes to ADL’s amicus work and oversees its Library and Archives, as well as collaborating with Professor Robert Katz on key sections of a forthcoming casebook on antisemitism and the law. A long-time veteran of the ADL, he has previously served as Legal Director, Deputy Director of Policy and Planning, and Vice President of Civil Rights, overseeing the ADL’s legal work in church-state relations, discrimination, free speech, bias crimes, and international human rights.  He earned a J.D. from Stanford and a B.A. from Yale. He will speak on “Advocacy Group Influence on Social Media Platform Moderation'' and moderating the panel on Fighting Antisemitic Hate Speech with Law. sfreeman@adl.org

• Panel G: Online Antisemitism & Holocaust Denial

Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Legal Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She teaches courses on international human rights protection and constitutional law.  She is an expert in international human rights law, constitutional law, freedom of speech, and memory laws. She graduated from the Faculty of Law, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland.  She will be speaking on Holocaust distortion in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on Poland. aggrabias@gmail.com

• Panel A: Governmental, Professional, and Judicial Approaches to Fighting Antisemitism

Kenneth Grad is a doctoral candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, where he also teaches criminal law as an adjunct professor. He received his J.D. from Osgoode, following which he obtained an LLM from Harvard Law School and clerked for Justice Morris Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada. His Ph.D. research studies the efficacy of criminal sanctions and other regulatory measures as tools for combating racist speech, focusing on the social and legal history surrounding the prosecutions of Holocaust deniers Ernst Zündel and James Keegstra. He will be speaking on a chapter of the dissertation entitled "Trials and Tribulations: The Prosecutions of Ernst Zundel and James Keegstra, 1985.  kennethgrad@osgoode.yorku.ca

• Panel I: North American Jewish History

Carole Huberman is an Associate Professor of Public Administration at Barry University. She received a Ph.D. from Union Institute & University, an MPA from the University of Pennsylvania, and master's and bachelor's degrees from Temple University. Dr. Huberman is also a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and a Certified Forensic Accountant. She is a Board Member of the American Board of Certified Forensic Accountants. CHuberman@barry.edu   Professors Huberman and Sussman will speak on “Exploring the Intersectionality of Antisemitism and the Law: A Case Study of the Crown Heights Riots and Aftermath.”

Panel J: Antisemitism, Race and Gender

Doron Kalir is a Senior Clinical Professor of Law at Cleveland State University College of Law, serving as the Director of its Appellate Practice Clinic. His scholarship focuses on Supreme Court practice, statutory interpretation,LGBTQ+ rights, and Jewish Law.  He has earned law degrees from Columbia Law School and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem School of Law. He will be speaking on “White Christian Nationalism & Antisemitism: A True Threat.” d.kalir@csuohio.edu

• Panel C: Fighting Antisemitic Hate Speech with Law

Debbie Kaminer is Professor in the Department of Law at the Zicklin College of Business, Baruch College, CUNY.  Her areas of expertise are employment discrimination, religion and the law, and vaccine law. She holds a J.D. from Columbia and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.  She will speak on “Title VII and Religious Accommodation: The Impact of Groff v. DeJoy on Religious Minorities.” debbie.kaminer@baruch.cuny.edu

• Panel F: DeGroff v. DeJoy

Robert Katz, a co-founder and co-organizer of the Law vs. Antisemitism Conference, is Professor of Law at Indiana University McKinney School of Law and Senior Research Fellow at the ADL’s Center for Antisemitism Research.  He is currently writing a casebook titled Antisemitism and the Law,  to be published by Carolina Academic Press, and which will support a law school course on the subject. He earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago and an A.B. from Harvard College.  He will speak on group defamation law and teaching law and antisemitism at law schools.

• Panel C: Fighting Antisemitic Hate Speech with Law
• Panel L: Teaching Anti-Antisemitism

Rona Kaufman is an Associate Professor of Law at the Kline School of Law at Duquesne University, where she teaches Constitutional Law, Family Law, Gender & the Law, and Employment Discrimination. Rona’s scholarship generally focuses on the intersections of women and law. She is currently exploring Anti-Zionism. She received an L.L.M. from Temple University and a J.D. from the University of Arizona. She will speak on “Anti-Feminist Anti-Zionism” and participate in the Plenary Roundtable. kitchenr@duq.edu

• Plenary Roundtable: How the Events of Oct. 7 & the Israel-Gaza War are Affecting the U.S. Legal Academy
• Panel J: Antisemitism, Race and Gender

Diane Kemker, a co-founder and co-organizer of the Law vs. Antisemitism Conference, serves as a Visiting Professor at the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge and Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine Law School. Her scholarship focuses on applying Critical Race Theory and other anti-discrimination law approaches to wills and trusts, taxation, property, and professional responsibility. She earned an A.B. from Harvard College, a J.D. from UCLA, and an LLM from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She will be participating in the Plenary Roundtable and hosting Professor Magda Teter to discuss her new book, Christian Supremacy.  diane.kemker@pepperdine.edu

• Plenary Roundtable: How The Events of Oct. 7 & The Israel-Gaza War Are Affecting The U.S. Legal Academy

Miyuki Kita is an Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Kitakyushu, Japan, and was a former visiting Fulbright Scholar at NYU.  ​​Professor Kita researches Jewish involvement in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and has published a book about a Jewish Brandeis student who volunteered as a civil rights worker in the South during the summer of 1965.  She earned a Ph.D. and M.A. from Kyushu University, Japan, and a B.A. from the University of Ochanomizu, Japan.   Her presentation is titled “Cracking the Quotas: The 1948 New York Fair Educational Practices Act and the Jewish Quest for Color-Blindness.” miyukik@kitakyu-u.ac.jp

• Panel B: Antisemitism in Higher Education

Lili Levi is a Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law, where she teaches courses in Business Associations, Copyright Law, and Media Law. Her scholarship focuses primarily on communications and media law.  She earned a J.D. from Harvard Law School and an A.B. from Bryn Mawr College. She will be speaking on the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.  llevi@law.miami.edu

• Panel A: Governmental, Professional, and Judicial Approaches to Fighting Antisemitism

Michael Lewyn is an Associate Professor of Law at Touro Law Center, where he teaches courses on property, land use, and environmental law and serves as Director of its Institute on Land Use and Sustainable Development. His scholarship focuses on urban and suburban development.  He earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. He will be speaking on “Structural Barriers and the Pursuit of Equity  Curriculum on Antisemitism.” mlewyn@tourolaw.edu

• Panel L: Teaching Anti-Antisemitism

Mark Malisa is Associate Professor in the School of Education at the University of West Florida in Pensacola.  He teaches courses on Qualitative Research, Research Design, and Research Applications and mentors graduate students.  His research interests include Critical Theory, Antisemitism, and Genocide Studies.  He earned a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Nevada, a Master’s of Divinity at Berkeley, and a B.A. from the University of Zimbabwe. mmalisa@uwf.edu

Cailyn Hamstra is a high school Social Studies teacher in Gulf Breeze, Florida, and is working towards a Ph.D. in Curriculum Instruction at the University of West Florida. Her research interests include Trauma and Education and Holocaust Education. They will speak on “The Never Again Education Act and the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism: Implications for K-12 Education in Combating Contemporary Antisemitism.”

• Panel L: Teaching Anti-Antisemitism

Kenneth Marcus is the founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Center for Liberty & Law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.  He is the author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism (Oxford University Press) and Jewish Identity and Civil Rights in America (Cambridge University Press).  During his public service career, Marcus served as Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights, Staff Director at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, and General Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.  Mr. Marcus earned a J.D. from UC Berkeley and a B.A. from Williams College.  He will participate in the Plenary Roundtable and speak about current Jewish civil rights litigation. klmarcus@brandeiscenter.com

• Plenary Roundtable: How The Events of Oct. 7 & The Israel-Gaza War Are Affecting The U.S. Legal Academy
• Panel M: On the Docket

Isaac Barnes May is a J.D. candidate at Yale Law School. He recently published his second book, God-Optional Religion in 20th-Century America with Oxford University Press. He earned a bachelor’s in history from Earlham College and a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. He received his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia, where he later taught as an assistant professor of American Studies. He will be speaking on “Sabbath Accommodations as a Civil Right: History, Title VII, and the Path to Groff v. DeJoy.” isaac.may@yale.edu

• Panel F: Groff v. DeJoy

Dr. Leslie O’Connell, Ph.D. (California School of Professional Psychology), Ed.M. (Harvard), specializes in treating depression, anxiety, trauma, and abuse. She currently works with adults, including college-age young adults, and has more than twenty years of experience working with children and adolescents. Dr. O’Connell will be speaking on “Psycho-social, physical impact of antisemitism on college students.”  laoconnell@sbcglobal.net

• Panel B: Antisemitism in Higher Education

Seth Orangburg is Associate Professor at the University of New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce School of Law and Co-director of the Program on Business, Organization, and Markets at the Classical Liberal Institute at NYU School of Law.  He teaches Contracts Law, Business Associations, and Corporate Finance.  His research focuses on form contracts in the metaverse, which is not -- as many people believe - an alternate section of the Marvel Comics multiverse. [DEGREES]  He will be speaking on “The Right Not to Work: How Title VII Protects the Free Exercise of Religion after Groff v. DeJoy.” Seth.Oranburg@law.unh.edu

• Panel F: DeGroff v. DeJoy

Mike Rothschild is a journalist and expert in conspiracy theories and has spoken to dozens of news outlets, wrote a report for the January 6th Committee, and testified to Congress about the danger of election fraud conspiracy theories. He earned a B.A. from the University of Iowa. He will be discussing his most recent book, Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories.  rothschildmd@protonmail.com

• Panel D: Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories & Stereotypes

Rebecca Sanders is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Public & International Affairs. Her research examines international human rights, international law, and the politics of rights tradeoffs during wars and public health emergencies. She also studies the global far-right, illiberal populism, and anti-feminism and is embarking on a new analysis of global antisemitism. She earned a Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Toronto and an M.A. and B.A. from McGill University. She will be speaking “Rethinking the Harms of Antisemitism.” sanderr8@ucmail.uc.edu

• Panel D: Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories & Stereotypes

Joshua Sayles is the Director of Jewish Community Relations and Government Affairs for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He earned a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.

• Panel I: Fighting Antisemitism in Florida: The Local Scene

Suzanna Sherry is the Herman O. Loewenstein Professor of Law Emerita at Vanderbilt University Law School.  She is one of the nation’s foremost scholars on constitutional law and federal courts. She earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago and an A.B. in history from Middlebury College. She has written or co-written three monographs, four textbooks, and over 80 journal articles. She will be speaking on “DEI and Antisemitism: Bred in the Bone” as part of the panel on Antisemitism, Race and Gender. suzanna.sherry@law.vanderbilt.edu

Panel J: Antisemitism, Race and Gender 

Mark Schickman is the Principal of Schickman Law,  practicing labor and employment law and civil litigation. He served on the Boards of Governors of the State Bar of California and the American Bar Association,  and as President of the San Francisco Bar Association. He has Chaired major ABA entities including the Section of Civil Rights and Social justice, Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service and Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence.  He has also been President of the San Francisco Holocaust Center, Israel Center and Jewish Community Relations Council, Chair of the California Jewish Public Affairs Committee and Chair of the Policy Plenum of the national Jewish Council for Public Affairs. He received a J.D. and B.A. at Columbia University. He will be speaking on “Allyship Among Jewish and Legal Institutions to Combat Antisemitism.”

mark@schickmanlaw.com

• Panel A: Governmental, Professional, and Judicial Approaches to Fighting Antisemitism

Ira Sheskin is Professor of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of Miami and Chair of its Geography Department. He is widely recognized for his work on the geography and demography of the American Jewish community. www.jewishdatabank.org. He will be speaking on “How Much Anti-Semitism Exists in the United States and Florida?” sheskin@miami.edu

• Panel H: Fighting Antisemitism in Florida: The Local Scene

Todd Shotz is an Emmy Award-winning film & television producer, Jewish educator and a leading consultant on Jewish representation in Hollywood. Shotz, who recently won an Emmy Award as part of the team behind “Recipe for Change: Standing Up to Antisemitism,” is a partner in Los Angeles-based production company T42 Entertainment. Shotz most recently produced feature film “The Grotto,” the writing & directing debut of Tony Award-winning actress Joanna Gleason ("Into the Woods," "Crimes & Misdemeanors").  Leading a dual life as both a film producer and Jewish educator, Todd founded and serves as the Executive Director for the personalized Jewish educational company, Hebrew Helpers. Hebrew Helpers is a nationwide Jewish studies program that provides Jewish education to students of all backgrounds and affiliations. In 2019, Todd founded the nonprofit Mitzvah Learning Fund, which strives to make personalized Jewish learning opportunities accessible to all regardless of financial ability.  Additionally, he has become a leading consultant on Jewish representation in film and TV, including working with the producers of the recent Netflix film “You People,” starring Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy & Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the long-running ABC series “Grey’s Anatomy.” He also appeared on-camera as a rabbi in both "You People" and "Grey's Anatomy."

• LUNCH and FILM SCREENING: “Recipe for Change: Standing Up To Antisemitism”

Kerri Stone is Professor of Law at FIU School of Law, where she teaches courses on Contract Law, Employment Discrimination, Feminist and Gender, and Labor & Employment Law. Her research focuses on anti-discrimination jurisprudence. She earned a J.D. from NYU School of Law and a B.A. from Columbia. She will be speaking on “Spoken Beliefs: How overt stereotypes of Jewish people made Workplace Antisemitism Invisible, Shameless, and Pervasive.” stonek@fiu.edu

• Panel D: Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories & Stereotypes

Stephen Sussman is a Professor of Public Administration at Barry University in Miami and co-founder and co-president of the Palm Beach Center for Democracy and Policy Research. He currently serves as a research fellow for the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) and as the chair of the Academic Engagement Network’s Interest Group for Faculty in the Southeast. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Georgia State University (1999), where he wrote his dissertation on U.S. Supreme Court Voting Behavior in the Religion Cases.  ssussman@barry.edu. Professors Sussman and Huberman will speak on “Exploring the Intersectionality of Antisemitism and the Law: A Case Study of the Crown Heights Riots and Aftermath.”

Panel J: Antisemitism, Race and Gender

Magda Teter is the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies and Professor of History at Fordham University, and President of the American Academy for Jewish Research. She is a scholar specializing in Jewish history, Jewish-Christian relations, cultural, legal, and social history, and the history of antisemitism and racism in the premodern and modern periods. She has authored several books, including Blood Libel: On the Trail of An Antisemitic Myth, which won a 2020 National Jewish Book Award.  https://thebloodlibeltrail.org/  She will be speaking at “Author Meets Reader,” where she will discuss her most recent book Christian Supremacy: Reckoning with the Roots of Antisemitism and Racism, published in 2023 by Princeton University Press. She received a Ph.D. in History, an M.Phil. and an M.A. at Columbia University, and an M.A from the Institute of Oriental Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland.  mteter@fordham.edu

• Panel E: Author Meets Reader - Professor Magda Teter, Christian Supremacy  

Filippo Venturi is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Criminal Law at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa) and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law. He specializes in criminal law and theories of criminalization. He earned an LLM from the University of Pisa and a II level Master’s Degree and PhD in Criminal Law from Sant’Anna School.  He will speak on the legal complexity of contemporary antisemitism, the inadequacy of criminal law to address it, and the expressive importance of alternative (non-criminal) sanctions in the media counternarrative.  filippo.venturi@santannapisa.it

• Panel G: Online Antisemitism & Holocaust Denial

Howard Wasserman, the site host for this year’s Law vs. Antisemitism Conference, is Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development at FIU College of Law.  He teaches courses on civil procedure, evidence, federal courts, civil rights, and the First Amendment. He researches freedom of speech, the role of procedure and jurisdiction in public law and civil rights litigation, and recently on baseball’s Infield Fly Rule. He blogs at PrawfsBlawg, including numerous posts about free speech on campus. Howard earned a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was named to the Order of the Coif, and a B.S. from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism. wasserma@fiu.edu

• Plenary Roundtable: How The Events of Oct. 7 & The Israel-Gaza War Are Affecting The U.S. Legal Academy

Victoria Saker Woeste is an Affiliated Research Professor at the American Bar Foundation and Adjunct Professor of Law at Indiana University McKinney School of Law.  She is a historian of American law, focusing on constitutional rights, religion, discrimination, and economic change. She wrote the definitive history of the most famous antisemitic libel lawsuit in U.S. history, titled Henry Ford’s War on Jews and the Legal Battle Against Hate Speech.  She earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Jurisprudence and Social Policy at UC Berkeley and a B.A. at the University of Virginia. She will speak on “Jewish Advocacy Organizations and the Rise of Hate Crimes Laws, 1985-2020." vwoeste@iu.edu

• Panel C: Fighting Antisemitic Hate Speech with Law

Academic Engagement Network

Anti Defamation League

Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, Dorothea Green Lecture Series

FIU College of Law

FIU Law Review

American Jewish Committee

Greater Miami Jewish Federation

Anti Defamation League-Florida

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Anonymous Supporter

Hillel at FIU

Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU

Promo Products.com

Podhurst Orseck, P.A.

Miami-Dade Chapter,; Florida Association for Women Lawyers

FIU School of Social Work

White & Case LLP

Courtyard by Marriott at the Dolphin Mall, 11275 NW 12th Street, Miami. (305) 994-9343.
A block of rooms has been reserved at a rate of $ 219/night for a king; rooms available until January 24, 2024. This is convenient to the airport and FIU.

Click here to register at the Courtyard by Marriott.

Miami International Airport (MIA) offers closest option. It is located 20 minutes or less by car from FIU and from both hotels.

Fort Lauderdale International Airport (FLL) offers a second option. It is about a 45-minute drive from FIU and from the hotels at non-rush hour times.