Race and the Foundations of American Law: A Free CLE Event

According to a recent Federal Bar Association blog, “Model Rule 8.4(g) of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct is the American Bar Association’s (ABA’s) long-awaited answer, at least in part, to curbing bias, discrimination, and harassment in the practice of law. There is no serious question that bias, discrimination, and harassment are present in the practice of law, and that, despite advances, the profession continues to struggle with its diversity efforts.” This free CLE allows Rhode Island attorneys to learn about a local DEI initiative, recent changes to legal education standards, and the potential impacts these changes might have on practicing law in Rhode Island.

Earn one ethics Rhode Island CLE credit by attending this online panel discussion co-sponsored by Roger Williams University School of Law and the Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association.

Meet the Panelists

Nicole P. Dyszlewski
Roger Williams University School of Law
Director of Special Programs, Academic Affairs

Nicole P. Dyszlewski is one of the editors of Integrating Doctrine and Diversity: Inclusion and Equity in the Law School Classroom. She currently serves as the Director of Special Programs, Academic Affairs at RWU Law and as an adjunct professor. She received a B.A. from Hofstra University, a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. She is a member of the Massachusetts State Bar and the Rhode Island State Bar. Her areas of interest are mass incarceration, access to justice, and systems of race and gender inequality in law. Nicole was the 2020 recipient of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Volunteer Service Award and the 2015 recipient of the AALL Emerging Leader Award.
Twitter:@LibrariaNicole 

Bernard Freamon
Roger Williams University School of Law
Professor of Law

Bernard Freamon brings a unique and impressive set of qualifications to the job.  A Professor of Law Emeritus at Seton Hall Law School, he has visited on the law faculties of the University of Nairobi, Washington and Lee University, Rutgers University (Newark), and Pace University, and he has served as an adjunct faculty member at New York University School of Law for the past four years, teaching Islamic Jurisprudence. He also recently taught an innovative course on slavery and human trafficking, based in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and sponsored by the Global Education Program at George Mason University.

Professor Freamon began his legal career working as a project director for the American Civil Liberties Union, focusing on the representation of underrepresented persons in civil rights and civil liberties litigation. He also has extensive experience in clinical legal education. As founding director of Seton Hall’s Center for Social Justice, he participated in extensive litigation in the federal courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, involving claims under the First, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. In addition, he has worked on a variety of issues in the state courts related to the wellbeing of the poor, the underrepresented, religious minorities, lawyers, prisoners and criminal defendants.

In recent years, much of Professor Freamon’s research and writing has focused on Islamic law and jurisprudence. He recently published the first comprehensive legal history of slavery and abolition in the Muslim world and he is currently at work on a textbook for law students on slavery and human trafficking. It was his work in this area of law in particular that drew him to RWU Law.

Diana J. Hassel
Roger Williams University School of Law
Professor of Law

Diana J. Hassel regularly leads a group of students to experience "legal Washington," which features attendance at a Supreme Court argument, a session with Associate Justice Samuel Alito and his law clerks, a visit to the Department of Justice, and a session with United States Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. She has also taught in our summer program in London.

Professor Hassel serves as a member of the Rhode Island Bar Association’s Legal Services Committee and participates in community legal education through a program called Citizen’s Law School. Prior to joining RWU’s faculty, she served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. There, she represented the United States in various aspects of civil litigation including civil rights, environment issues, tax matters and defense contractor fraud.

Professor Hassel teaches classes in Constitutional Law, Civil Rights litigation, and lawyering skills, and won a national award for an article on Constitutional law that appeared in the Texas Law Review.

Lorraine N. Lalli
Roger Williams University School of Law
Associate Dean, Student Life and Operations

Lorraine N. Lalli is Associate Dean of Student Life and Operations at Roger William Law School where she works with senior university and law school administration to support law students in their academic, professional and personal goals. She is a member of the School of Law’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan Steering Committee. 

Lorraine is a magna cum laude graduate of Spelman College, and Roger Williams Law School. She is admitted to the state bars of Massachusetts and Rhode Island and practiced with Brown Rudnick, LLP in Boston before returning to her alma mater to as the inaugural Director of Diversity & Outreach. In this role, Dean Lalli energized existing programs designed to improve the academic experience and success of students from diverse backgrounds.

Dean Lorraine is active in a variety of organizations. She serves on the board of the National Association of Law Student Affairs Professionals, Mt. Hope Learning Center, One Neighborhood Builders, and Inspiring Minds.  She previously served on the Rhode Island Judicial Nominating Committee and the Providence School Board. She is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.

Monica Teixeira de Sousa
Roger Williams University School of Law
Professor of Law

Monica Teixeira de Sousa is a Professor of Law at Roger Williams University School of Law where she teaches Property, Family Law, and Race & the Foundations of American Law.  Prior to joining the RWU Law faculty in 2022, Monica was a tenured professor at New England Law | Boston where she created and served as the director of the First Generation Students Program.  Before her academic career, Professor Teixeira de Sousa was a staff attorney at Rhode Island Legal Services, where she began practicing in 2002 as a Skadden Fellow and created a school-based legal clinic at her former elementary school in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. She represented parents and students in school discipline and special education cases, as well as public benefits and eviction defense matters.

Professor Teixeira de Sousa has written and presented on issues of equity and education law and policy. In 2014, she took a sabbatical from academic teaching and worked as a volunteer attorney in the Public Benefits Unit at Rhode Island Legal Services. Her current pro bono work includes volunteering in the Housing Unit at Rhode Island Legal Services through a collaboration with the law school's Feinstein Center for Pro Bono & Experiential Education.  Professor Teixeira de Sousa has served as a member of the Rhode Island College Upward Bound Program Alumni Scholarship Committee since 2013. She also serves on the board of directors of both the Cape Verdean American Lawyers Association and the nonprofit Justice at Work.  Professor Teixeira de Sousa earned her JD from Georgetown University Law Center in 2002 and her BA from Brown University in 1998.  

This virtual program is complimentary; Registration is required.

This program has been approved for one Rhode Island MCLE ethics credit.