Speaker

Ara Gershengorn

University Attorney, Harvard Office of the General Counsel

Ara’s work at Harvard includes advising on strategic and legal matters across the University including in the areas of admissions, research, faculty and student affairs, and regulatory compliance, as well as managing investigations, litigation, and law enforcement related matters. She advises the University on race-conscious admissions, including serving as the in-house lawyer responsible for the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard matter. Prior to joining the Office of the General Counsel, Ara was a partner with the law firm of Foley Hoag, LLP in Boston, MA and previously served as an Appellate Attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorney with the Justice Department.

Ara is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School.

Speaker

Dennis D. Parker

Executive Director, National Center for Law and Economic Justice

Prior to joining NCLEJ, Dennis served as the director of the Racial Justice Program of the ACLU, leading its efforts in combating discrimination and addressing a range of issues which have a disproportionate negative impact upon communities of color. Dennis also served as the Chief of the Civil Rights Bureau of the New York Attorney General’s office and worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. He has written and lectured extensively on discrimination and teaches civil rights and education law at Columbia Law School/Teachers College and New York University Law School.

Dennis is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and Middlebury College.

Speaker

Richard H. Sander

Jesse Dukeminier Professorship in Law, UCLA

Richard Sander is an economist and law professor at UCLA, where he has taught since 1989. Much of Rick’s work concerns racial inequality and how it can best be addressed. His 2012 book, Mismatch (with Stuart Taylor, Jr.), argues that heavy admissions preferences often hurt the intended beneficiaries more than they help. His 2018 book, Moving Toward Integration (with Yana Kucheva and Jonathan Zasloff) offers a comprehensive explanation of how housing segregation has evolved over the past century, and why reducing housing segregation is the most efficient and effective way to tackle many other forms of racial inequality.

Rick is a graduate of Harvard College and holds MA, JD, and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern University.

Moderator

Nahal Kazemi

Senior Counsel at Keller/Anderle

Moderator Nahal Kazemi is Senior Counsel at Keller/Anderle, a business litigation boutique in Irvine, California and an adjunct professor at Chapman University’s Fowler Law School. She is the President of the Harvard Law School Association, Orange County Chapter and the Harvard Law School Women’s Alliance, Orange County Chapter.

Nahal is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.