Education is undeniably central to efforts to promote racial justice. This session highlights the varied roles of three Black law and education graduates in expanding educational opportunity. Learn from the perspectives of a lawyer for school districts, the general counsel of a large charter school network, and a law professor. They will reflect on their own professional paths and share their insights about the ways in which our nation's systems of primary and secondary education either further or thwart efforts to expand educational opportunity.

Zoom webinar details will be emailed to registrants on December 9.

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About the Moderator: 

Ralph Richard Banks, BA/MA '87, is the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and Professor, by courtesy, at the School of Education. A native of Cleveland, Ohio and a graduate of Stanford University (including an MA in education in 1987) and Harvard Law School (JD 1994), Banks has been a member of the Stanford faculty since 1998. Prior to joining the law school, he practiced law at O’Melveny & Myers, was the Reginald F. Lewis Fellow at Harvard Law School and clerked for a federal judge, the Honorable Barrington D. Parker, Jr. (then of the Southern District of New York). Professor Banks teaches and writes about family law, employment discrimination law and race and the law. He is the author of Is Marriage for White People? How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone. At Stanford, he is affiliated with the Michelle R. Clayman Institute for Gender Research, the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and the Ethnicity, the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education and the Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality. His writings have appeared in a wide range of popular and scholarly publications, including the Stanford Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. He has been interviewed and quoted by numerous print and broadcast media, including ABC News/Nightline, National Public Radio, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, among others.

About the Speakers:

LaToya Baldwin Clark, JD '14, PhD '14 is an Assistant Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. She writes and teaches about education law, family law, property law, and race and discrimination. She earned her Ph.D. from Stanford University in Sociology and her J.D. from Stanford Law School, graduating in 2014. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California and the Honorable Goodwin Liu of the California Supreme Court. After clerking, she was the Earl B. Dickerson Fellow and Lecturer in Law at University of Chicago Law School.

Jonathan Berry-Smith, JD/MA '18 graduated from Stanford Law School in 2018, and also received his Master's degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Education through a joint degree program. While a student at Stanford, he participated in Street Law, Youth and Education Advocates, the Youth and Education Law Project clinic, and BLSA. After graduating, he moved to San Diego to work in house at their County Office of Education, where he participated in the review of charter school petitions, inter-district attendance transfer requests, and student expulsion appeals. Jonathan recently moved back to the Bay Area to become an associate attorney at Lozano Smith. His practice is now focused on the student, labor & employment, and governance aspects of education law.

As General Counsel for the KIPP Foundation, Nolan Highbaugh, JD '00, provides legal counsel to the KIPP Foundation on a wide range of issues including strategic decisions, corporate transactions, human resources, governance, and real and intellectual property. Prior to joining KIPP, Nolan worked as an Associate in the Public Finance Department of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP. Before entering law school, Nolan was a Budget and Policy Analyst for both the Chief Administrative Office of Los Angeles County and the Office of Mayor Willie L. Brown Jr. in the City and County of San Francisco. Nolan was born and raised in Vallejo, CA, attended U.C. Berkeley where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Political Economy and a Master’s in Public Policy. He earned his J.D. from Stanford Law School and is a member of the California State Bar Association. He currently serves as a director on the boards of GRID Alternatives in Oakland, and Caliber Public Schools in Richmond, CA. His all-time favorite movie is The Godfather Part II.