Adalah Presents at Progressive Lawyers' Conferences and Law Schools in the US
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG), a voluntary association of thousands of progressive American lawyers and law students, invited and hosted Adalah for a two-week speaking tour in New York and California earlier this month. Adalah Staff Attorney Marwan Dalal represented Adalah at these meetings and events. Adalah is thankful for the NLG International Committee's sponsorship.
The speaking tour began in New York City, where Mr. Dalal participated in the Society of American Law Teachers Annual Convention (SALT) held at Fordham Law School from 11-12 October 2002. Formed in 1972, SALT is an organization of over 800 law professors, which is deeply engaged in making the legal profession more inclusive, enhancing the quality of legal education, and extending the power of law to under-served individuals and communities. The theme of SALT's Annual Convention was "Teaching in Crisis, Teaching about Crisis: Law, Peace and Pedagogy." Mr. Dalal presented a paper as a keynote speaker entitled, "Between Law and Lawyering: Challenging the System from Within?" Mr. Dalal's talk focused on legal challenges brought against Israeli governmental policies concerning Palestinian citizens of Israel as well as Palestinians in the 1967 Occupied Territories. He critically reflected on the Israeli legal system, past and present.
Following the SALT Conference, Mr. Dalal participated in numerous events in California, speaking about institutionalized discrimination against Palestinian citizens in Israel, Israeli governmental policies in the Occupied Territories, and attempts to legally challenge both issues. He spoke before audiences of law professors, lawyers and law students at the California Commonwealth Club; Boalt Law School at the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California Los Angles School of Law; and Whittier College. He also gave numerous interviews on radio shows broadcast in California and nationally throughout the US including programs on KPOO, a San Francisco African-American station; KPFA, a public radio station in the town of Berkeley; KPFK, a Los Angeles radio station; KABC's national program; National Lawyers Guild radio station; and Radio Intifada.
Mr. Dalal also presented on panels and at workshops at the National Lawyers Guild 2002 Annual Convention held on 16-20 October 2002 in California. Entitled "Law for the People," the Convention was attended by hundreds of progressive lawyers from across the United States. Speaking on the NLG's major panel, "The Scheme to Crush Palestinian Resistance," Mr. Dalal analyzed Israel's policies of occupation and discussed recent legal challenges brought against the army and the state before the Israeli courts.
