Although the Law Conference had one more day to go, I headed home on Saturday (had to be at the airport at 5:30 in the morning). I had a very successful and enjoyable trip. After the first day of less-than-productive time wasters, things really took off on Friday. The career fair was a bust for me. I don't know what I was thinking. It was not designed for middle-age law students who are NOT choosing a firm after law school.
On Friday, however, I thoroughly enjoyed everything I did. The opening panel discussion was on "Marriage, Domestic Partnerships, Civil Unions and other family structures" and was conducted by four law professors. Most exciting for me, was the portion of the talk given by Professor Julie Greenberg (a professor at Thomas Jefferson Law School, she has written extensively on transgender legal issues and was even quoted by the appelate court in Gardiner). It was a packed house and it was excellent. I may choose to post more about it later -- it really hit my interest area directly. Indeed, as a consequence of that panel discussion, I am leaning very heavily to specializing in family law (focused, of course, on the LGBT community).
At the first break-out session, I attended a discussion entitled, "Transgender Civil Rights Bills: What difference do they make". One of the panelists, Lisa Mottet, is in charge of the Transgender Civil Rights Project at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF). She is one of the women I hope to get an offer from to intern with next summer. I've known her for sometime and have a great deal of respect for her and her work. The discussion was good, but not extraordinary.
The next break-out session was "Transgender Law and Constitutional Doctrine". This panel WAS extraordinary. As with the earlier panel, one of the panelists - Chris Daley - is someone I hope to get an offer from for an internship next summer. Chris was with the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR; the same place Shannon Minter works) when he left to work for the Transgender Law Center. One of the exciting things for me in this panel was the thoroughness of my constitutional education in the area. I understood, and often was ahead of the panelists in every constitutional area they discussed: Full Faith and Credit, Dormant Commerce Clause, Substantive Due Process and Equal Protection. I had a good conlaw prof! :)
In the third and final break-out session, Updates in Title VII Employment Discrimination Claims, I again found that I was very familiar with almost all of the cases that the panelists discussed. It was a very educational and informative panel. The audience consisted of about 50% lawyers and 50% law students (plus one law professor). The Q&A session that followed the panel's discussion was lively and informed.
As exciting as that panel discussion was, however, the thing that was most excellent for me was that I met a very nice, very intelligent young FTM law student (a 3L at a law school I won't name just yet). That was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I had hoped to meet other trans law students. There were a handful of trans-lawyers there (including some of the panelists) but he was the only other trans law student I met. We had a great conversation both just prior to that session and again at the law student reception held that evening.
The reception itself was surprisingly enjoyable. I mingled with several other law students and a few lawyers and, as always, had the opportunity to educate several about trans ... what? ... issues/rights/existence. Sometimes, despite all the education and effort and progress we've made thus far, I still feel like transgender issues are under the radar for almost everyone, but even including the LGB community. This is one of the reasons that I feel it is so necessary to be out, despite my sometimes inclination to be "stealth" (see next post).
That pretty much sums up the conference. I went out for a couple of drinks with some women after the mixer on Friday night, but came home after two (standing on a darkened street corner outside a bar trying to hail a cab was interesting; fortunately one came along within about 7 minutes).
I wasn't sure at first, but I'm glad I went.