Only a few spots left for 2 Ethics Credits: From “Loving” to “Get Out:–Overcoming Bias about Interracial Relationships
Register now for this 2.0 Ethics Credit CLE titled, From “Loving” to “Get Out”: Legal and implicit/explicit bias about interracial relationships. The course is being held on April 26 at 10am – 12 noon. Register here through eventbrite.com.
Credits: 2.0 ethics Cost: $99
Time: 10 am – 12 noon
Course Description: The US Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia outlawed the miscegenation laws that made it illegal for African American and white persons to marry. While the most harsh form of legal bias against interracial relationships is illegal, there is still implicit and explicit bias related to interracial relationships. This was depicted in the recent number one movie, “Get Out”, which is a social/psychological horror story of an African American man who visits the parents of his white girlfriend at their home. There has been much discussion in the media about the popularity of “Get Out” and what it says about interracial relationships today.
This CLE will discuss Loving v. Virginia in the context of the legal and social implications of interracial marriage in the 1960s and before and Loving’s precedential value in the more recent court decisions regarding gay marriage. The CLE will then discuss “Get Out” in the context of the current social and political environment, both conservative and liberal. The course will weave in a discussion of personal implicit and explicit bias and how it impacts attorney/client relations, from an attorney’s decision to take on, prosecute or defend a client who may be in an interracial relationship to the manner in which that attorney interacts with the client. The course will cover methods that attorneys can use to examine and attempt to overcome their own implicit and explicit bias. The course will include selected clips from the movie, Loving.
Location: Nucleus Legal Education, The Land Title Building, 100 South Broad Street, Suite 1525, Philadelphia, PA 19110. nucleuslegaleducation@gmail.com
Course Instructor:
Sheilah D. Vance, Esquire has a B.A. in Communications, magna cum laude, from Howard University and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Vance maintains a private law practice in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, primarily concentrating in education law. She also is an Affiliated Consultant with The NCHERM (National Center for Higher Education Risk Management) Group, where she works with higher education and K-12 institutions on education compliance issues with a focus on Title IX and civil rights investigations and policy review, as well as general risk management. She is an adjunct professor at Villanova University School of Law, where she teaches Education Law.
Formerly, Vance was Chief of Staff and Deputy to the President at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. She oversaw all operations of the Office of the President., assisted the president on all major initiatives and projects, chaired eight committees, and served as the university’s Title IX Coordinator, Social Equity Officer, Right-to-Know Officer, Campus Coordinator for the Fraud Incident Reporting System of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, and chaired the Administration Group of the University’s 2014 Middle States Reaccreditation Steering Committee, which successfully proved institutional compliance with Standards 4 – 6. She was extensively involved in establishing educational partnerships with Institute Polytechnique de Byumba and Rwanda Governance Board.
Vance was formerly President and General Counsel of the Institute for Educational Equity and Opportunity, a research, education and training organization that focused on K-12 public school finance issues, which was based in Washington, DC and Philadelphia. She previously spent nine years at Villanova Law School as Assistant Dean for Academic Support and as a legal writing professor.
Vance has published and presented extensively in the areas of public and legal education, family law, church law and publishing law, including at conferences at Oxford University in England, the Association of Title IX Administrators, the American Council on Education Women’s Network, the National Bar Association, the American Association of Law Schools, the Education Law Association, the Law School Admissions Council, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, and for the African Methodist Episcopal Church Philadelphia and Delaware Conferences. She also has been interviewed and featured in numerous media outlets, including CNN Radio and The Washington Post, about family law issues. Vance has given workshops and spoken on many related topics including the Top 10 Land Mines of Divorce, 10 Things Every Married Woman Should Know, Divorce from the Client’s Perspective, Five Ways to Help Children Cope With Divorce, and Legal Issues in Book Publishing.
In 2006, Vance received the 2006 Woman of Distinction Award from the Barristers Association of Philadelphia, the local affiliate of the National Bar Association, for “exemplary service to the community through the practice of law” and “impressive personal accomplishments as an African American attorney.”
Vance is the author of three novels: Becoming Valley Forge, which won the Regional Fiction Award, 2016 Next Generation Indie Book Awards; Land Mines, which has won several awards for women’s, multicultural and African American fiction; and Chasing the 400, which was the first selection of the African American Museum of Philadelphia book club and a Top 20 Bestseller in Black Expressions Book Club. She also is the author of three other nonfiction books, Six Days in December: General George Washington’s and the Continental Army’s Encampment on Rebel Hill, December 13 – 19, 1777; Creativity for Christians, and Navigating the Land Mines. To manage her creative pursuits, Vance operates the Elevator Group, LLC, which is a publishing and media development company that is dedicated to helping people rise above and live an abundant life.
She is a member of numerous civic and professional organizations, including the Board of Directors of Teach for American, Greater Philadelphia Region; Board of Directors for the Association of Title IX Administrators; and National Association of College and University Attorneys. She is also a member of the Penn Towne Chapter of the Links, Inc, and Bethel AME Church, Ardmore, PA, and its Lay Organization.
Previously, Vance worked as Project Manager for the American Cities Foundation Best Practices in Urban Education Project, Special Assistant to the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, Assistant Counsel for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Associate in the firm of Atkinson & Archie, Editor for Higher Education Publications for the National Education Association, and Legislative Correspondent for U.S. Congresswoman Cardiss Collins. She was Press Secretary to former Pennsylvania Governor Robert P. Casey during his successful 1986 campaign, and has worked as a consultant for the Democratic National Committee and numerous political candidates.
Nucleus Legal Education 