CDI Corner
CDI Corner
CDI Luncheon : Dean Rachel F . Moran
EUNICE BAROS
DEAN RACHEL F . MORAN
Two years after we met at the American Bar Foundation in San Diego , I still remember how understanding , compassionate and optimistic Dean Rachel F . Moran was when I told her the troubling story of a brilliant law graduate who could not get a job .
She was a good listener , thoughtful and encouraging . And that ’ s still an accurate description of our invited scholar / professor / dean who joins us as the keynote speaker Sept . 21 for the annual Palm Beach County Bar Association ’ s Committee on Diversity and Inclusion ( CDI ) luncheon .
At the time we met , Dean Moran was presenting her most recent comprehensive research on racial and ethnic equality , in particular , work based on an American Bar Foundation initiative on “ The Future of Latinos in the United States : Law , Opportunity , and Mobility .” She is codirecting the project with Robert L . Nelson , the Foundation ’ s director emeritus and a professor of law and sociology at Northwestern University .
The project explores four key areas of law and policy that affect the growing Latino population ’ s prospects in the coming years : education , economic participation , civic engagement and political mobilization , and immigration . Dean Moran ’ s presentation here focuses on recent developments surrounding the rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ( DACA ) program , which addresses the difficulties confronting undocumented youth who have arrived in the United States as children , obtained an education , been law-abiding members of their communities , and , in some cases , even served in the military .
Since its inception in 2012 , Dean Moran notes the DACA program deferred immigration enforcement actions against these particular young people for a period of two to three years and gave them authorization to work legally in the United States during that time . The program did not , however , provide a pathway to permanent resident status or citizenship .
In 2017 the DACA program was rescinded by the Department of Homeland Security . President Donald Trump has called on Congress to take legislative action to provide relief to undocumented immigrant youth who have been strong contributors to American society , says Dean Moran . As of this writing though , Congress has yet to pass a bipartisan immigration bill on these issues . The rescission itself has been tied up in the courts , observes Dean Moran . Accordingly , she will review these developments and consider their relevance to deeper debates about equality and liberty as well as personhood and citizenship in our democracy .
Rachel F . Moran ’ s resume is impressive . She is Dean Emerita and Michael J . Connell Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law . Prior to her appointment at UCLA , Dean Moran was the Robert D . and Leslie-Kay Raven Professor of Law at UC Berkeley School of Law .
From 2008 to 2010 , Dean Moran served as a founding faculty member of the UC Irvine Law School .
She earned her A . B . in psychology with honors and distinction from Stanford University in 1978 where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa . She obtained her J . D . from Yale Law School in 1981 where she was an editor of the Yale Law Journal . After law school , Dean Moran clerked for Chief
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Judge Wilfred Feinberg of the U . S . Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and worked for the San Francisco firm of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe . She has been a visiting professor at UCLA , Stanford , NYU School of Law , the University of Miami Law School , the University of Texas , Fordham Law School and last year at Harvard University . From 1993 to 1996 Dean Moran served as chair of the Chicano / Latino Policy Project ( now the Center for Latino Policy Research ) at UC Berkeley ’ s Institute for the Study of Social Change . In 2003 , she became Director of the Institute and in 1995 , she received UC Berkeley ’ s Distinguished Teaching Award .
“ Professor Moran has not only been a leading scholar in the field of education , law and diversity , she has helped launch the ABF ’ s newest project on the Future of Latinos ,” says
Ajay K . Mehrotra , Executive Director of the American Bar Foundation ( ABF ). “ The American Bar Foundation has been incredibly fortunate to have Professor Rachel Moran as part of our research community for the last few years .”
Please join CDI at our luncheon on September 21 , 2018 to hear more about this crucial and current topic affecting the legal community and our country . One hour of CLE credit and one half hour of Bias Elimination credit has been granted plus certification credits .
Eunice Baros , attorney and mediator in Palm Beach Gardens , has been a member of the Bar ’ s CDI for several years . She is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation .