AFCC MN Annual Film Night: Becoming Black Lawyers

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Please join us for our Annual Film Night, featuring the film Becoming Black Lawyers on April 25th at 5:00pm.

Co-hosted by the Minnesota Black Lawyers Association and the St. Thomas Law School Family Law Society, this is a FREE EVENT open to only members of AFCC MN , MABL and students of St. Thomas. (Become an AFCC MN member here: https://www.afccmn.org/membership)

This will be a hybrid event, inviting any in-person attendees to the OurFamilyWizard office space for socializing, beverages and light snacks before the film.

In-Person gathering at:

OurFamilyWizard Office

701 N Washington Ave #700

Minneapolis, MN 55401, USA

(Parking validated at the Nordic Ramp, details provided upon registration) 

Speakers Attorney Debra Bulluck and Judge JaPaul Harris will be leading the discussion before and after the film. Film Synopsis: When these five Black lawyers set out on their journeys to receive a professional legal education, they did not realize that they would have to struggle against additional daily battles even more challenging than the rigors of learning the law in a hypercompetitive environment. They discover the paradox of studying in an institution that idealistically represents “justice” for all. 

1.5 credit of Elimination of Bias approved

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/549307447

Agenda:

5:00pm Social Hour

5:30pm Introductions

5:45pm Film Viewing

6:15pm Discussion

7:00pm Formal presentation ends, but open for informal discussion

Speakers/Bios:  

Click to view Debra's Photo

Debra Marie Bulluck, Esq.(she/her/hers) is a Southerner notorious for moving to snow plagued states where she manages to create "family" wherever her journey takes her. Prior to relocating to the tundra (Minnesota), Debra was an active member in the Casper community first as an AmeriCorps*VISTA member at ServeWyoming. Prior to attending the University of Wyoming College of Law (Laramie), Debra worked at several area nonprofits, including as a Branch Director at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Wyoming. Upon earning her Juris Doctor from UW, she began her legal career as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Mary Madden in Hennepin County 4th Judicial District - Family Court (Minneapolis, MN).

 

She is a dancer-performer, volleyball enthusiast, a Big Sister (BBBS Twin Cities) and up until the new year was a Nonprofit Project Attorney at Standpoint (St. Paul, MN) providing wholistic legal representation to survivors of primarily non-intimate partner sexual violence. Now, Debra is an Associate Attorney at Moss & Barnett in the Family Law Group (Minneapolis Office) and an Adjunct Professor at the University of St. Thomas School of Law where she is co-teaching domestic violence in the law.  Debra is a member of several legal and bar associations, including, AFCC (co-chairs AFCC’s Values Committee), Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers (MABL), and member of the Family Law Council for the Tri-Bar Family Law Section (MSBA, RCBA, HCBA).

Click to view JaPaul's Photo

JaPaul J. Harris (he /him) | Judge  of Ramsey County District Court The Honorable JaPaul J. Harris was appointed  to the 2nd Judicial District in Ramsey County, Minnesota by Governor Mark  Dayton in 2018. Judge Harris is currently the presiding judge in the juvenile  and family division for the 2nd Judicial District Ramsey County Minnesota. In  Ramsey County, Judge Harris is the current co-chair of the 2nd Judicial  Districts Equal Justice Committee, the chair of the Youth Justice  Transformation Initiative (formerly JDAI), and chair of the Ramsey County Pretrial Justice committee. Judge Harris is an active member of the Minnesota  judiciary. Judge Harris is the chair of the Supreme Court Rules of Juvenile  Delinquency Procedure committee. Judge Harris is a member of the Minnesota  Supreme Court Committee for Equality and Justice (CEJ), serving as chair of  its diversity inclusion education committee. In this role Judge Harris  developed and implemented an implicit bias jury instruction that is now  included in the Minnesota pattern jury instructions in the Minnesota Practice  series, and in 2017 spearheaded the development of a diversity equity and  inclusion training requirement for the judiciary. In addition, in 2019 Judge  Harris spearheaded an effort to review the Minnesota Racial Bias Taskforce  report to determine what we have accomplished and what more we need to  accomplish. Judge Harris is a trial skills Instructor in the Minnesota  Judicial Branch Trial Skills Program, co-chair of the Minnesota District  Judges Foundation Program and Education Committee, and a member of the  Minnesota District Judges Association Criminal JIGS committee, a member of  the Minnesota Supreme Court strategic planning committee, a mentor judge,  serve as an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline College of Law and the University  of St, Thomas School of Law, chair of the Supreme Court Juvenile Delinquency  rules committee, on the Board of the Volunteer Lawyers Network, the Hennepin  County Bar Association serving as chair of the Hennepin Lawyer Magazine  committee, and the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers, and served on the  Minnesota State Bar Association Council. Judge Harris has written numerous  articles, participated in numerous presentations, trainings, and CLE’s on  various legal issues. Prior to his appointment Judge Harris served as a  judicial referee in the Hennepin County, presiding over housing, harassment,  juvenile, and mental health civil commitment courts. Judge Harris was  supervising attorney of the Senior Law Project at the Legal Aid Society of  Minneapolis, worked at Minneapolis Public Schools, and was a staff attorney  at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services in its Housing Equality Law  Project (H.E.L.P). Judge Harris is a 2000 graduate of Syracuse University and  2003 graduate of Hamline University School of Law. Judge Harris completed a  Humphrey Institute Public Policy Fellowship at the University of Minnesota  Humphrey School of Public Affairs.