Real Estate Law as a Catalyst for Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

The racial wealth gap in the United States has witnessed alarming growth in recent years, with BIPOC households now possessing less than 25% of the wealth held by their white counterparts. A substantial portion of this wealth gap can be attributed to disparities in housing. Owning a home remains a principal method for building and transferring wealth, constituting approximately 70% of an individual’s net worth. However, challenges such as housing discrimination, restrictive zoning laws, income disparities and lending practices have created barriers to homeownership, particularly for BIPOC individuals and first-time homebuyers.

Real estate lawyers and practitioners have a unique opportunity to address this critical issue by creating new pathways to homeownership for increasingly diverse communities. Industry professionals examined how real estate law plays a pivotal role in the short-term provision of affordable housing to underserved communities and, in the long term, contributes to the wealth accumulation of Black individuals and families. View the videos here.

Topics:
1. Housing, Real Estate and Lending Discrimination
2. Affordable Housing, Zoning and Law Reform
3. Community Education and Coalition Building

Opening Remarks: Dean Eboni Nelson, UConn School of Law

Panel 1: Housing, Real Estate and Lending Discrimination
Panelists:
Prof. Nadiyah Humber, UConn School of Law
Attorney Judith Rothschild, City of Hartford Director of Licenses and Inspections, Housing Liaison
Attorney Michael Powers, CATIC Title Counsel

Panel 2: Affordable Housing, Zoning and Law Reform
Panelists:
Prof. Kristen Haseney, UConn School of Business
Pete Harrison, Director of Desegregate CT & CT State Director, Regional Plan Association
Attorney William Hennessey Jr., Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP
Attorney Dwight Merriam

Panel 3: Community Education and Coalition Building
Panelists:
Prof. Kristen Haseney, UConn School of Business
Fanita Borges, Residential Sales Manager, Affordable Lending Officers, Liberty Bank
Marcus Smith, Director, Research, Marketing and Outreach, Connecticut Housing Finance Authority
Marcus Ordoñez, Executive Director, Hartford Land Bank

The Corporation and the Public Interest: The Environment, Diversity, and Human Rights

Annual Symposium hosted by the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal.

Environmental, social, and governance issues have brought the roles and responsibilities of the contemporary business corporation to the forefront of the public agenda and have changed the nature of legal practice. This symposium gathered a select group of leading experts to discuss issues of corporate sustainability and societal impact. It consisted of three panels on topics that lie at the intersection of corporate activity and the public interest: the environment, diversity, and human rights. View the videos here.

Panel One: The Corporation and the Environment
Moderator: Professor Jack Lienke, University of Connecticut School of Law
Panelists:

• Professor Sarah Haan, Washington and Lee University School of Law
• Professor Madison Condon, Boston University School of Law
• Professor Anne Tucker, Georgia State University College of Law

Panel Two: The Corporation and Diversity
Moderator: Professor Sachin Pandya, University of Connecticut School of Law
Panelists:

• Professor Lisa Fairfax, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
• Professor Atinuke Adediran, Fordham University School of Law
• Professor Darren Rosenblum, McGill University Faculty of Law

Keynote Fireside Conversation
Panelists:

• Professor Aaron Dhir, University of Connecticut School of Law
• Professor Michael Fakhri, University of Oregon School of Law and U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
• Director Leilani Farha, The Shift, and former U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing

Panel Three: The Corporation and Human Rights
Moderator: Professor Richard Wilson, University of Connecticut School of Law
Panelists:

• Professor Jena Martin, St. Mary’s University School of Law
• Attorney Maryum Jordan, EarthRights International
• Professor Stephen Park, University of Connecticut School of Business

A Connecticut Law Review Symposium

Access to safe and affordable housing remains a challenge for millions of Americans. Historical and systemic factors, including redlining and discriminatory lending practices, have disproportionately affected minority communities, contributing to disparities in home ownership and exacerbating the housing affordability crisis. Unsafe or inaccessible rental housing, as well as rising rental costs, create additional barriers to housing security nationwide. While progress has been made due to the passage of the Fair Housing Act and other consumer protection laws, the affordable housing crisis and tenant rights’ violations persist. Moreover, the use of artificial intelligence in housing markets and public housing is raising new concerns. Leading scholars discussed some of these problems and innovative efforts to address them. Participants also shared their predictions for future housing law and policy needs and made recommendations for how to move forward. View the videos here.

Keynote speaker: Richard Rothstein
Author of The Color of Law—A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America (2017); and Just Action—How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law (2023, and co-authored by Leah Rothstein).

Panel 1: A Better Fair Housing Act – Evaluations & Recommendations
Moderator: Professor James Matthews
Panelists: Professor Melvin Kelley, Professor Rigel Olivieri, & Professor Stacy Seicshnaydre

Panel 2: Understanding AI’s Effect on Tenants, Prospective Buyers, and Housing Markets
Moderator: Professor Nadiyah Humber
Panelists: Dr. Michael Akinwumi, Senior Counsel Marc Epstein, & Dr. Erin McElroy

Panel 3: Housing Access & Affordability: Challenges and Proposed Solutions
Moderator: Professor Jeffrey Gentes
Panelists: Professor Rashmi Dyal-Chand, Professor Julie Gilgoff, Professor Anika Singh Lemar, & Professor Nicole Summers

The Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal’s symposium on January 26, 2024, explored how the law of evidence intersects with systems of inequality based on gender, racial, and other marginalized group-based status. It included sessions aimed at problem-solving, both through reform efforts and transformation in pedagogy. The discussion highlighted the possibilities and solutions brought by a critical approach to law, using evidence law as the focus of study. A live recording of the Excited Utterance podcast hosted by Professor Ed Cheng, Hess Chair in Law at Vanderbilt Law School, followed lunch. He was joined by Professor Erin Collins, Professor of Law at Richmond Law School. Watch the videos here.

Panel 1: Theoretical Frameworks
This panel discussed the power of evidence rules and how they may reinforce existing knowledge hierarchies or alternatively serve to expand existing perspectives.
Moderator: Professor Kiel Brennan-Marquez
Panelists: Professor Erin Collins, Professor Bennett Capers, Professor Julia Simon-Kerr, & Professor Jocelyn Simonson

Panel 2: Reform Efforts and Implementation
This panel will identify different areas where reform is being attempted or has been accomplished.
Moderator: Professor Julia Simon-Kerr
Panelists: Asees Bhasin, Professor Andrea Dennis, Professor Anna Roberts, Professor Jasmine Gonzales Rose, & Professor Maneka Sinha

Panel 3: Critical Approaches to Pedagogy and Practice
This panel will focus on ways to teach and practice evidence from a critical perspective.
Moderator: Taylorann Vibert
Panelists: Professor Lauryn Gouldin, Professor Jasmine Harris, Professor Montre Carodine, Professor Nina Chernoff, & Professor Christine Goodman

Excited Utterance Live Recording
Excited Utterance is a podcast focusing on scholarship on evidence law and proof, consisting of interviews of various evidence scholars on their recent or forthcoming scholarship. Professor Ed Cheng, the host of Excited Utterance and Hess Chair in Law at Vanderbilt Law School will be joined by Professor Erin Collins, Professor of Law at Richmond Law School.