Legal scholars and professionals from across the country will convene at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center on Friday, March 25, for the “Seeking Justice for Survivors of Sexual Assault” symposium, presented by the George W. and Jean H. Pugh Institute for Justice.
The symposium will take place in the McKernan Auditorium from 1 to 5:15 p.m., and it will also be presented virtually. Four hours of CLE credits in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi are available for attendees. Get complete details on the symposium and register to attend.
Among the distinguished panel of speakers will be the Hon. Rosemarie Aquilina, who presided over the 2018 Ingham County, Michigan sentencing of Larry Nassar, the longtime physician of the U.S. women’s gymnastics team who was accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of girls and women. Aquilina will share her experience presiding over the sentencing hearing of Nassar, including discussion about why survivors’ voices featured so prominently in the hearing. Aquilina gained national attention after she presided over an unprecedented seven days of victim impact statements that concluded with her sentencing Nassar to 175 years in prison. Nassar is serving up to 175 years in prison and is expected to be incarcerated for the rest of his life.
Other speakers include:
- Alena Allen, interim dean and law professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law. She teaches family law, health law, public health law, professional responsibility, and torts. Allen’s research focuses on the intersection of health policy and feminist theory.
- Cordelia Coppleson, an assistant attorney general in the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. She is a committed prosecutor, having spent the majority of her 20-year career as a Cook County State’s Attorney assigned to the criminal division, with extensive experience in investigating, preparing, and trying sexual assault cases. Coppleson also serves as the Law Enforcement Training Project Coordinator for the Sexual Assault Incident Procedure Act.
- Laura Dunn, a founding partner of the L.L. Dunn Law Firm who is a nationally recognized victims’ rights attorney and social entrepreneur. Dunn is a published legal scholar, adjunct at Maryland Law, liaison to the ALI’s Model Penal Code on Sexual Assault and Student Sexual Misconduct Project, and a previously appointed member to the ABA’s Commission on Domestic & Sexual Violence (2016- 2019) and Criminal Justice Section Task Force on College Due Process and Victim Protection (2017).
- Annette Milleville, deputy supervisor of the Sexual Assault Domestic Violence Division in the Cook County, Illinois State’s Attorney’s Office since 2012. As deputy chief, she is jointly responsible for managing the seventeen assistant state attorneys who work in the division as well as overseeing sexual assault charging considerations for all of Cook County. In addition, Milleville actively prosecutes cases involving sexual predators.
- LSU Law Professor Lisa Avalos, who teaches in the areas of criminal law and procedure, sex crimes, and professional ethics. Much of her scholarship addresses gender-based violence and has appeared or is forthcoming in the University of Illinois Law Review, Brooklyn Law Review, Nevada Law Journal, Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, and others.
- LSU Law Professor Raymond T. Diamond, director of the George W. and Jean H. Pugh Institute for Justice at LSU Law Center, who will moderate the symposium.
Learn more about the symposium speakers, and see the full symposium schedule.
The George W. and Jean H. Pugh Institute for Justice provides support for research and educational activities that promote justice for individuals in the administration of the criminal and civil justice systems in Louisiana and elsewhere. The Institute achieves its mission in partnership with the Louisiana Law Review, as well as student and community, and public interest organizations, sponsoring symposia that foster publication and electronic distribution of related research, as well as bringing to the LSU campus speakers who enrich public dialogue related to the achievement and protection of individual rights. The Pugh Institute was founded in 1998.
