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"A Crime on the Bayou"--Learning from Civil Rights Litigators & Activists about Fighting Systemic Racism in the Justice System

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JANUARY 27, 2023

This new CLE program from ReelTime Creative Learning Experiences features the award-winning documentary “A Crime on the Bayou,” a behind-the scenes exploration of two civil rights era arrests in Louisiana that led to landmark constitutional law cases.

In the original case, a young Black man named Gary Duncan was convicted of assaulting a young white boy, when Duncan was in fact intervening to try to prevent a fight. Duncan's conviction was ultimately reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which held for the first time that the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial applies to the states.

In the other case, Duncan’s volunteer out-of-state lawyer was arrested for practicing law without a Louisiana license. A federal court enjoined the prosecution upon a showing that the constitutional rights of people of color could not be protected in Louisiana at that time without the efforts of out-of-state volunteer lawyers.

This CLE program will feature selected clips from the documentary, along with a lively roundtable discussion involving several of the still-living participants themselves. Attendees will learn not only about the legacy of civil rights litigation and constitutional practice in the heyday of the civil rights movement, but will also draw powerful lessons for navigating issues of bias, discrimination, and systemic racism as they continue to manifest themselves in our justice system today.

Schedule:
9:00 PT/Noon ET Discussion of the “crime” on the bayou, systemic racism and U.S. Supreme Court decision in Duncan vs. State of Louisiana
10:00 PT/1 p.m. ET Discussion of Sobol v. Perez and the crucial role of pro bono service
10:30 PT/1:30 pm ET Contextualizing COTB in light of current civil rights challenges
11:30 PT/2:30 pm ET Practical and sustainable strategies for managing vicarious trauma and maintaining well-being in all areas of practice; Thinking differently about why why we don’t do more pro bono work—and how to change that.
12/3 Adjourn

Time

Jan 27, 2023 12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

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Message preview	Hi there, You are invited to a Zoom webinar. When: Jan 27, 2023 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: "A Crime on the Bayou"--Learning from Civil Rights Litigators & Activists about Fighting Systemic Racism in the Justice System Register in advance for this webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_suwHdb2iQVOO0I71AKletA After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. ---------- Webinar Speakers Armand Derfner (Civil Rights Attorney and Co-Author of "Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court" @Derfner & Altman, Charleston, SCV) Armand Derfner has been a civil rights lawyer for over 50 years. He has been counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and helped desegregate university systems and legislatures across the South. He has helped shape the Voting Rights Act through his Supreme Court arguments in several of the earliest cases interpreting it, including Allen v. State Board of Elections (1969) and Perkins v. Matthews (1971). He has frequently testified before the Judiciary Committees of the U.S. Senate and House about extensions of the Voting Rights Act. With his late wife, Mary Frances Derfner, he assisted in passage of the Civil Rights Attorneys' Fees Awards Act of 1976, and the Equal Access to Justice Act of 1980. In 2002, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice named Derfner as Trial Lawyer of the Year, and in 2007, his law firm received the ABA's Pro Bono Publico Award. Gary Duncan (Protagonist of the Film, Civil Rights Leader ) Gary Duncan, the Black protagonist of "A Crime on the Bayou" was a fisherman living and working in Plaquemines Parish Louisiana. He and his 7 brothers and sisters eked out a living on the Mississippi River, trawling for shrimp. Before that, enslaved ancestors worked the cane fields of French, Spanish, and English plantations. Duncan is one of many unsung heroes who stood up for what was right during the Civil Rights Movement. He did not set out to change history, but his actions remind us that anyone can. At 19 years old, he tried to break up a fight as he witnessed two Black boys being bullied by white boys outside a newly integrated school. He diffused the fight but was arrested that night and re-arrested numerous times before his case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has said we need to know the real people behind their groundbreaking cases. Gary Duncan is one of them. Lolis Elie, Jr. (Son of Civil Rights Lawyer, Lolis Elie, Sr. ) Lolis Elie, Sr. a celebrated and effective civil rights lawyer, served as the star witness in the Sobol case challenging Louisiana’s ban on out-of-state lawyers representing criminal defendants. Prof. Anthony G. Amsterdam, an emeritus professor at the NYU School of Law, who was a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Lawyers Constitutional Defense, has in a New Yok Times article described Mr. Elie’s powerful testimony as follows: “On cross-examination, the state’s attorney was dumb enough to ask him: ‘Mr. Elie, is it not true that the condition of Negroes in the State of Louisiana has improved during the past five years?’ Lolis said, ‘Yes, but … ’ And then went on to give a two-hour answer that was easily the finest, most fiery civil-rights speech I have ever heard — in court, in church, or anywhere else.” Valerie Jackson (Asst. Public Defender @Office of the Public Defender-State of New Jersey) Prof. LaJuana Davis (Professor of Law and Director of Clinics @Cumberland School of Law. Samford University) Before entering academia, LaJuana Davis was an attorney with Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama in Montgomery, specializing in direct appeals and state and federal habeas litigation. Davis has also worked as a consultant for the Federal Defenders Office for the Middle District of Alabama, and frequently consults with private lawyers on the negotiation and litigation of capital cases. At Cumberland School of Law, Prof. Davis teaches criminal law and procedure, appellate advocacy, business crimes, interviewing and counseling, and postconviction remedies. Her research interests include criminal procedure, women’s rights, and the right to counsel. She also advocates for juveniles facing criminal prosecution and indigent persons seeking competent counsel. Prof. Davis is a graduate of Georgia State University and Harvard School of Law. She is a member of the Alabama, Georgia, and Minnesota state bars and a member of the Birmingham Bar Association and the Magic City Bar. Prof. Sean O'Brien (Professor of Law/Clinical Director @Univ. of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law) Professor Sean O’Brien teaches criminal law and procedure at UMKC School of Law since 2005 and serves as the Habeas Assistance and Training Counsel for the Eighth Circuit. He has represented people in death penalty cases across the country since 1983, and he has qualified as an expert witness on standards of performance for capital defense lawyers in state and federal courts throughout the United States. His U.S. Supreme Court cases include Schlup v. Delo, which set the standard for innocence claims in federal habeas corpus, and Stewart v. Martinez-Villareal, which empowers habeas courts to prevent the execution of insane prisoners. He directed the research and writing of the Supplementary Guidelines for the Mitigation Function of Defense Teams in Death Penalty Cases, and publishes and lectures nationally on death penalty, indigent defense and related mental health issues.

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