Belmont Law Review is pleased to invite you to our
Fall 2021 Symposium:
Contemporary Issues in Immigration Law
Friday, October 8, 2021
8:00AM – 3:25PM via Zoom
Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_DTOg54sLSbaAc8RHsyXTGQ
Click here for the full event schedule: Fall 2021 Symposium Full Schedule
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Will this event be in-person or via Zoom?
Our Fall 2021 Symposium will be held via Zoom.
May I attend portions of the event without attending for the entire day?
Yes. You are more than welcome to come and go to the event based upon your schedule. Please register for the entire day.
How many hours of CLE ARE AVAILABLE FOR THIS EVENT?
Tennessee licensed attorneys are eligible to receive up to 6.25 general hours of CLE credit for this event.
How much does this event cost?
This event is free to attend for all Tennessee-licensed attorneys.
Information on our Presenters
Professor Mariela Olivares
Professor Olivares is the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at Howard University School of Law. She also teaches courses on immigration, domestic violence, torts, and family law where her students voted her faculty member of the year in 2020. Her scholarship interests include immigration reform and the unique struggles of immigrant families. One of her most recent publications includes “The Rise of Zero Tolerance and the Demise of Family,” published with the Georgia State University Law Review. She earned her J.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where she served as the Executive Editor for the Michigan Law Review.
At the symposium, she will share her research on: “Migrant Family Detention and Family Separation: History, Struggle and Current Status.”
To learn more about Professor Mariela Olivares and her work please click here.
Professor David Baluarte
Professor Baluarte is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Clinical Professor of Law at Washington and Lee School of Law. He teaches and writes about topics ranging from immigration, refugees and stateless persons, and transnational law with a specific focus on international human rights law and practice. Professor Baluarte is also the Director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic that enlists second and third year law students as the primary representatives for non-citizens in their immigration matters. Some of his most recent publications include: “Family in the Balance: Barton v. Barr and the Systematic Violation of the Right to Family Life in U.S. Immigration Enforcement,” published in the William and Mary Journal of Race, Gender and Social Justice (2020), and “The Right to Migrate: A Human Rights Response to Immigration Restrictionism in Argentina,” published in the Washington University Global Studies Law Review (2019). He earned his J.D. from American University Washington College of Law where he was a Public Interest and Public Service Scholar.
At the symposium, he will share his research on: “Refugees Under Duress: International Law and the Serious Nonpolitical Crime Bar.”
To learn more about Professor David Baluarte’s background, please click here.
Professor Ericka Curran
Professor Curran is an assistant professor at the University of Dayton School of Law and was named Leadership Honors Program Director in May 2020. She specializes in clinical and experiential legal education with a focus on immigration and human rights. Professor Curran is also currently working on Afghan resettlement through humanitarian parole evacuation applications in conjunction with the American Immigration Lawyers Association of Florida. She earned her J.D. from the Seattle University School of Law and went on to practice immigration law before teaching. In practice, Professor Curran focused on the representation of detained immigrants, immigrant children, immigrant survivors of violent crime, and human trafficking victims.
At the symposium, she will share her research on: “Deporting Jane Doe: When Immigrant Crime Victims Fall Through Gaps in the Statutes Designed to Protect Us All.”
To learn more about Professor Ericka Curran’s background, please click here.
Professor Victor Romero
Professor Romero is the Maureen B. Cavanaugh Distinguished Faculty Scholar and Professor of Law at Penn State Law. He teaches courses on immigration law, constitutional law, and criminal law. His research emphasizes the law’s impact on marginalized groups, with a particular focus on borders and boundaries—both legal and cultural—and how these function. As an elected member of the American Law Institute (ALI), Professor Romero has written two books, co-edited a three-volume anthology, and published over thirty law review articles, book chapters, and essays. Forthcoming in the Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal is his article titled “Racism, Incorporated: Ramos v. Louisiana and Jogging While Black.” Professor Romero earned his J.D. from the University of Southern California where he served as an editor of the Southern California Law Review. Upon graduation, he worked in private practice and as a law clerk to a federal judge in Los Angeles before transitioning to teaching.
At the symposium, he will share his research on: “All the Presidents’ Dreamers: Immigration Reform that Biden and Trump Can Agree On (and Why That Reform May be Elusive).”
To learn more about Professor Victor Romero’s background, please click here.
Mr. Reis Pagtakhan & Ms. Jessica Jensen
Mr. Pagtakhan is a Canadian corporate immigration lawyer with more than 26 years of experience advising businesses and individuals on immigration matters. As a Partner at MLT Aikins Firm, his international trade and customs practice focuses on advising clients on compliance with Canadian sanction, export control, anti-bribery laws, and customs seizures and fines. He also contributes to numerous papers, presentations, and op-eds, both in Canada and on the world’s stage. Mr. Pagtakahn earned his law degree in Canada from Manitoba and also completed a course on Introduction to U.S. Immigration Law from American University Washington College of Law.
Ms. Jensen is an associate at MLT Aikins Firm where she practices in U.S. and Canadian Immigration Law. Ms. Jensen earned her J.D. from the University of North Dakota and is a member in good standing with the Minnesota and North Dakota Bars, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She also serves as the Chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s Canada chapter.
Together, they will share their comparative law research on: “Is the Future of the U.S. Immigration System Just North of the Border? Why Canada’s Economic Immigration System Should be Adopted by the U.S.”
To learn more about Reis Pagtakhan’s background, please click here. For more information on Jessica Jensen’s practice, please click here.
Professor Bill Hing
Professor Hing is the Director of the Immigration and Deportation and Deportation Defense Clinic at the University of San Francisco School of Law. The clinic currently assists over 500 clients, primarily from Central America. However, most recently, Professor Hing has worked to resettle up to 15 Afghan refugees, as well as tackle issues related to climate migration. Professor Hing is the author of a myriad of academic and practice-oriented publications on immigration policy and race relations, including his most recent book titled American Presidents, Deportations, and Human Rights Violations (Cambridge Univ. Press 2019). He also served as co-counsel in the precedent-setting U.S. Supreme Court asylum case, INS v. Cardoza–Fonseca (1987), and represented the State Bar of California in In Re Sergio Garcia (2014), in granting a law license to an undocumented law graduate. Additionally, Professor Hing is the founder of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco and continues to volunteer as general counsel for this organization. Professor Hing received his J.D. degree from the University of San Francisco.
At the symposium, he will be sharing his research on: “Addressing the Intersection of Racial Justice and Immigrant Rights.”
To learn more about Professor Bill Hing’s background, please click here.
Professor Stewart Chang
Professor Chang teaches immigration law, race and law, critical race theory, comparative law, family law, and sexual orientation and law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law. Before becoming a professor, he practiced public interest law for over a decade with the Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California where he specialized in domestic violence, immigration, and family law. Professor Chang is also well published with seven book contributions, fourteen articles, as well as numerous commentaries, essays, and reviews. His most recent article is titled, “Bridging Divides in Divisive Times: Revisiting the Massie-Fortescue Affair” and is published in the University of Hawaii Law Review (2020). He earned his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.
At the symposium, he will share his research on: “Racial Contagion: Anti-Asian Nationalism, the State of Emergency, and Exclusion.”
To learn more about Professor Stewart Chang, please click here.
Professor Anastacia Greene
Professor Greene is an Immigration Clinical Fellow with the Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Clinic at the University of Florida Levin College of Law. She previously served as the Supervising Attorney at John Marshall Law School’s Pro Bono Clinic, where she taught seminars on foreclosure law, transgender law, and litigation practices. Greene has focused her legal career in the public interest sector and has worked as an attorney representing low-income clients with legal aid agencies. Her recent scholarship includes: “The Campaign to Make Ecocide an International Crime: Quixotic Quest or Moral Imperative?” published in the Fordham Environmental Law Review (2019). She earned her J.D. from the Washington and Lee University School of Law.
At the symposium, she will share her research on: “What’s Old is New: Can Past Immigration Laws Offer a New Way to Address Climate Migration?”
To learn more about Professor Anastacia Greene’s background, please click here.
Professor Shane Dizon
Professor Dizon is the Associate Professor of Academic Success and Director of the Academic Success Program at the Brooklyn School of Law. He currently teaches courses on advanced legal analytics, negotiations, and pre bar review. Among his many accomplishments, Professor Dizon served as the co-editor of Immigration Law Service Second Edition, one of Westlaw’s multivolume immigration law treatises. He’s also published numerous articles, as well as professional practice manual contributions on the Child Status Protection Act. Further, Professor Dizon was an NYU Kauffman Foundation Legal Research Fellow and has worked as an employment-based immigration law professional for 21 years. He earned his J.D. from University of California, Hastings College of the Law where he served as the Executive Symposium Editor for the Hastings Women’s Law Journal.
At the symposium, he will share his research on: “Private and Public Sector Models for Entrepreneur, Small Business Owner, and Investor Immigration Pathways.”
To learn more about Professor Shane Dizon’s background, please click here.