Legal Studies Program

Legal Studies Events

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Past Events

The Larger Conversation: Mass Incarceration, Creativity, and Healing

November 17, 2022

Professor Rosalind Kabrhel, accompanied by a group of Legal Studies and Brandeis Educational Justice Initiative students and facilitators attended The Larger Conversation: Mass Incarceration, Creativity, and Healing on Nov. 17 at The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Calderwood Hall The group heard award-winning poet, lawyer, and author Reginald Dwayne Betts, Stacey Borden of New Beginnings Reentry Services, Erika Rumbley of the New Garden Society, and André de Quadros of the Prison Arts Project at Boston University, as they discussed their work at the intersection of the arts and social justice in Boston and beyond. The presentation examined the effects of mass incarceration on individuals and communities, and discussed how the arts can support our imagining of more just futures and seed change on both personal and systemic levels.

As part of this program, the Museum hosted a book drive in partnership with the Prison Book Program, a local non-profit supporting the growth and development of people in prisons and jails.  

Inspector General Michael Horowitz Visited The Legal Studies Program

March 9, 2022

Michael Horowitz '84 — recent recipient of the 2022 Alumni Achievement Award, who is the Inspector General of the Department of Justice. Attorney Horowitz came to speak to LGLS 118 and LGLS 89A on March 9 on the topic of law school, the Inspector General statute, and the way it structures Horowitz's role as IG of the Justice Department. He went on to speak about the importance of the Rule of Law and the need to make sure powerful agencies like the FBI stay within the rules." Several of the students from Dan’s class joined him for an informal dinner later in the afternoon.

Since 2012, Attorney Horowitz has overseen high-profile investigations such as the query into allegations of wrongdoing by FBI Director James Comey. Attorney Horowitz is acting chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.

Michael Horowitz speaking

A Discussion with Michael Bien

October 25, 2021

Alumnus Michael Bien ’77 joined students in the Legal Studies Practicum, Experiences with Justice, and students working with the Brandeis Educational Justice Initiative (BEJI) on Oct. 25 for an interesting discussion about his advocacy, the needs of incarcerated individuals suffering from disabilities, and his views on criminal justice reform.

Attorney Bien has devoted his career to protecting the civil rights of incarcerated individuals, particularly those with mental illness and other disabilities.  This includes his successful advocacy (with his wife, Jane Kahn ’77) on behalf of a class of incarcerated individuals in California prisons. That case resulted in the Supreme Court ordering a reduction of the California prison system which it found to be violating inmate’s constitutional rights.