1st Amendment: Friend or Foe? The Pending 303 Creative v. Elenis Decision: Where are we Headed?

SKU: CIVR2400N Back to Course Listings

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About This Course

Join NYCLA’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues in the Law Committee for a lively discussion of the impact of the First Amendment on LGBTQ rights and where we are headed.

Our expert panelists will discuss 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, a pending Supreme Court case, where the Court will decide whether the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act compelling a graphic artist to speak or stay silent about her religious objections to same-sex marriage violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment, as well as discuss other pertinent issues.

*This course qualifies as a Transitional course and can be taken by both Experienced and Newly Admitted attorneys in NY.

Lecturers for this Course

Arthur S. Leonard Tobias B. Wolff Jeffrey S. Trachtman

Lecturer Bios

Arthur S. Leonard

When Arthur Leonard first came to New York Law School in 1982, only one state banned discrimination based on sexual orientation, gay sex was illegal in half the country, and only a handful of lawyers were actively litigating sexual orientation discrimination cases. Today, he reports proudly, the situation has radically changed. Using law to help win equality has been a guiding passion of Professor Leonard’s, and he uses his role as a legal educator to constructively help shape the law.

Over the past 40 years, Professor Leonard has written numerous articles on employment law, AIDS law, and lesbian and gay law, including an influential law review article in 1985 on AIDS discrimination that helped form the nation’s legal response to the AIDS epidemic. A frequent national spokesperson on sexual orientation law, and an expert on the rapidly emerging area of gay family law, he is also a contributing writer for Gay City News, New York’s weekly lesbian and gay newspaper, and has written for several other lesbian and gay newspapers in New York City. Professor Leonard has held a variety of influential and activist positions in civic and legal organizations, including trustee of Lambda Legal, trustee of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City University of New York, and chair of the Section on Gay and Lesbian Legal Issues of the Association of American Law Schools. He is chair of the Corporate Compliance Committee and a trustee of the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services of New York. He is also a board member of TENET Vocal Artists, an early music performing group based in New York City. He has testified on the New York City gay rights bill, organized forums that helped change rules on domestic partnership benefits, and helped produce oft-cited studies of the court system and legal profession that demonstrated the need for equality of opportunity and treatment for minorities.

At NYLS, he advises the LGBT student group and has been an effective advocate for change on lesbian and gay issues. In 2000, Professor Leonard was honored by the School at a symposium commemorating the 20th anniversary of the now-celebrated LGBT Law Notes, an extensively-cited publication that chronicles the legal aspects of the lesbian and gay community. In 2010, the NYLS and the LGBT Law Association Foundation honored him again on the publication’s 30th anniversary.

Professor Leonard received the prestigious 2005 Dan Bradley Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association in recognition of his significant contributions to the advance of LGBT rights under the law.

Tobias B. Wolff

Tobias Barrington Wolff writes and teaches in the fields of civil procedure and complex litigation, the conflict of laws, constitutional law, and LGBT rights.

He is co-author (with Linda Silberman and Allan Stein) of Civil Procedure: Theory and Practice (Wolters Kluwer, 5th ed. 2017), and his recent articles include “Class Actions, Statutes of Limitations and Repose, and Federal Common Law” (with Stephen Burbank) (University of Pennsylvania Law Review), “Choice of Law and Jurisdictional Policy in the Federal Courts” (University of Pennsylvania Law Review), “Scott v. Harris and the Future of Summary Judgment” (Nevada Law Review), “Discretion in Class Certification” (University of Pennsylvania Law Review), “Managerial Judging and Substantive Law” (Washington University Law Review), “Civil Rights Reform and the Body” (Harvard Law & Policy Review), and “Redeeming the Missed Opportunities of Shady Grove” (with Stephen Burbank) (University of Pennsylvania Law Review).

Wolff has served as pro bono counsel in many civil rights cases seeking equal treatment under law for LGBT people. He won the Beacon Award for Public Service in 2013 and the A. Leo Levin Award for Excellence in an Introductory Course in 2009.

Jeffrey S. Trachtman

Jeffrey S. Trachtman litigates complex bankruptcy, mass tort and securities fraud matters, including some of the nation’s most significant and high-profile cases in recent years. Skilled and accomplished both as writer and courtroom advocate, Jeff has built a long and successful record representing clients in both trial and appellate courts. Jeff is also a nationally recognized pro bono leader. In addition to helping to build Kramer Levin’s award-winning program as chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee for more than 17 years, Jeff has represented poverty law and civil rights clients throughout his career, most notably in landmark marriage equality cases in New York and before the U.S. Supreme Court.

As one of the principal litigators on behalf of breast implant tort claimants in the Dow Corning bankruptcy, Jeff helped fashion, and obtain judicial approval for, the $3.17 billion settlement. He continues to represent the interests of tort claimants in the Settlement Facility – Dow Corning Trust as lead counsel for the Claimants’ Advisory Committee. Jeff has also helped lead litigation teams in bankruptcies and class actions involving asbestos and diet drugs, and on behalf of the creditors’ committees in the massive Chrysler, General Motors and Residential Capital bankruptcies.

He also has represented creditors or creditor groups in such other well-known bankruptcy cases as Adelphia, Washington Mutual and WorldCom. Earlier in his career, Jeff helped lead a team of lawyers that obtained a $90 million recovery – at the time, one of the largest arbitration awards – in a contract and securities fraud action arising out of a failed merger between Gulf Oil and Cities Service Corp.

Jeff has distinguished himself as an appellate advocate, winning reversal in the Seventh Circuit of a valuation decision in the United Airlines bankruptcy – more than doubling the recovery of Los Angeles International Airport bondholders – and serving as lead counsel in several Sixth Circuit appeals involving plan interpretation disputes in the Dow Corning case. He has also argued three Second Circuit appeals involving constitutional and administrative law issues affecting Social Security disability claimants and served as lead author on innumerable amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal appellate courts.

Throughout his career, Jeff has committed himself to pro bono activities. He helped build Kramer Levin’s widely praised program as chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee from 1994 to 2011. During his tenure, the firm received major awards from the American Bar Association, the National Law Journal, the New York State Bar Association and the Legal Aid Society.

In his own pro bono activities, Jeff has litigated extensively in the area of Social Security disability, as well as civil rights and civil liberties, with a particular focus on LGBT rights, including serving as co-counsel with Lambda Legal in the New York State marriage equality litigation and submitting amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court in the Dale, Lawrence, Windsor, Perry and Obergefell cases. As a result of these efforts, Kramer Levin earned the Empire State Pride Agenda’s 2009 Equality@Work Award, given in recognition of the firm’s “historic pro bono litigation” on behalf of the LGBT community.

Jeff has been recognized for his personal pro bono efforts, including receiving the New York University School of Law OUTLaw 2015 Alumnus of the Year Award, the City Bar Association’s 2014 Arthur S. Leonard Award for distinguished service on behalf of the LGBT community, the 2013 American Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award and the 2005 New York State Bar Association President’s Pro Bono Service Award. He is co-founder and was a longtime director of Cause Effective, an organization that teaches other nonprofits how to generate human and financial resources. He currently serves on the boards of Volunteers of Legal Service and the Musical Theatre Factory.

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1st Amendment: Friend or Foe? The Pending 303 Creative v. Elenis Decision: Where are we Headed?

About This Course

Lecturers for this Course

Spend less and get more

Dedicated CLE Manager

Riveting Content & an Exceptional Library

Free Customized CLE Tracker

Online, Audio CD, DVD, iOS/Android App, USB Stick

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