Georgia Law conference to focus on social justice issues

Monday, February 25, 2013 Writer/Contact: Cindy Rice, 706/542-5172, cindyh@uga.edu Athens, Ga. – Gun control, homelessness, affirmative action and alternative courts as well as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights are among the issues to be addressed at the University of Georgia School of Law’s Eighth Annual Working in the Public Interest Law Conference. The daylong event will take place March 2 beginning at 9 a.m. in Harold Hirsch Hall. The conference is free for all UGA faculty, staff and students. Registration is $10 for the general public. For planning purposes, registration is requested at http://ugawipi.wordpress.com before Feb. 28. “This conference seeks to highlight dynamic, creative ways to combat social injustice through the vehicle of the law,” said Cari E. Hipp, conference co-organizer and a third-year law student. “We hope that by providing a forum to address social injustices, we may get one step closer to resolving major public interest law issues in the Southeast and beyond.” The conference will conclude with an evening keynote address by Aimee Maxwell, executive director of the Georgia Innocence Project, at 6 p.m. at the Melting Point in downtown Athens to be followed by the school’s 28th Annual Equal Justice Foundation Auction. Proceeds from the auction will help support Georgia Law students who choose to take unpaid or low-paying public interest legal positions this summer. Past EJF scholarship recipients have served in organizations such as the Georgia Law Center for the Homeless, the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Humane Society and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. For more information about the conference, for which attorneys can receive continuing legal education credit, see http://ugawipi.wordpress.com. For more information about the EJF Auction, see www.law.uga.edu/ejf. #