Lavender Law: An Overview
The Lavender Law Conference is an annual legal convention coordinated by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that promotes LGBTQ+ equality in the law and the legal profession. Founded in 1989, the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association strives to connect and empower LGBTQ+ legal professionals and to help them achieve equality in the law.
The Lavender Law Conference, which began in 1989, is the largest legal conference for LGBTQ+ legal professionals in the world. It is designed to provide legal professionals with opportunities for continuing legal education (CLE), networking, and leadership development. In addition to traditional CLE courses, the Lavender Law Conference often includes keynote speeches and panels by prominent legal professionals, judges, academics, and LGBTQ+ activists . The topics covered at the Conference range from the general to the very specific, and can include everything from recent trends in legal ethics and advice on work-life balance for legal professionals, to updates on recent developments in case law and legislative proposals of interest to the LGBTQ+ community.
The Lavender Law Conference also offers attendees the opportunity to earn CLE credits toward their hourly requirement for professional re-education. Many continuing legal education sessions are offered at various points during the Conference, with subject matter ranging from ethical issues relating to LGBTQ+ legal representation to specific issues dealt with LGBTQ+ legal professionals within particular practice areas.
Overall, the Lavender Law Conference promotes LGBTQ+ legal professionals and facilitates conversations on relevant legal issues and trends in the ever-evolving world of law and public policy. It helps build connections and provides practical knowledge and professional development for LGBTQ+ legal professionals.
Recent Conference Highlights
Some of the highlights of our most recent Lavender Law Conferences include:
-Lightning Key Note Speaker Senator Tammy Baldwin on 30 years of change -she founded the first LGBTQ College organization at Georgetown University Law Center.
-Dual MC’s – Janet Reno and Kate Kendell were able to draw in more than 50+ volunteers and staff from across the country to bring Lavender Law Conference to life.
-Patti Solis Doyle helped to open the conference and bring an interesting perspective to the election.
-We had great turnout for our first Trial Advocacy Workshop.
-Keynote at Gala by National Gay Pilots Association who did a great job – very well received.
-2732 registrants = 3rd highest attendance in Lavender Law history.
-Keynote Speaker Emmett Rensin brought a new audience to Lavender Law.
-Oakland Mayor Libby Schraaf appeared with a diverse panel of labor attorneys.
-The Peterman Family made a $5,000 gift to the Foundation in honor of Comstock.
-The National LGBTQ+ Bar sponsored the FIRST Annual Lavender Law 5K Run/Walk in Oakland.
-Earned media in Bloomberg, Fox, CBS, USA Today (no LGBTQ or legal outlets made it through the pay wall, so non-LGBT outlets), ABC.
-A panel on gender neutral bathrooms led to a spirited discussion on Linked-In that went viral.
Conference Sessions and Workshops
Lavender Law Conference attendees also have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of educational sessions and workshops that span a broad range of topics affecting LGBTQ+ legal professionals. These sessions cover developments in the law, best practices in serving LGBTQ clients, and relevant learning opportunities in the areas of risk management, business development, and new technologies.
Some Lavender Law Conference sessions, such as our annual Employment Law Institute, focus on the law. In a series of plenary sessions and targeted breakout groups, our Employment Law Institute faculty will either update you on important recent developments in federal and state antidiscrimination law or give you the help you need to be as effective and successful as possible both in employment discrimination litigation and in practical, workplace-related issues.
Other sessions address new developments that affect our LGBTQ+ communities, nationwide. The Lavender Law Conference 2023 Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Survey Report focuses on recent developments across states and federal agencies relating to sexual orientation and gender identity in employment discrimination. It also surveys the current jurisprudence and offers suggestions for legislative improvement on this front.
The Lavender Law Conference is of particular interest to civil legal aid practitioners and non-profits, particularly those that serve the wide ranging civil legal needs of LGBTQ persons. The Lavender Law Conference 2023 program presents a multi-session LGBTQ Legal Services Institute that provides lawyers with an overview of issues specialist organizations face relating to direct representation and non-legal support services that effect their clients, including the provision of legal information, legal referrals, and other forms of legal support.
Lawyers and legal professionals who wish to focus on new technologies can choose among programs on e-discovery, predictive analytics, virtual law practice, and the many other tech tools that can be used to streamline practices, increase efficiencies, improve service delivery, and enhance communication. While attorneys seeking to enter or advance in the legal technology market can learn about new tools in practice areas, they can also gain insight from presentations on marketing, negotiating, and sales.
Finally, the Lavender Law Conference features programming where you can hear directly from expert attorneys about emerging technologies, new software, and other relevant topics that help you gain an edge in your practice and career and enhance your professional development.
Networking Possibilities
Considered one of the highlights of the Lavender Law Conference, the Networking Dinner on Thursday evening—an evening dedicated to coming together and community building—allows attendees to connect and stay in touch outside of the sessions that take place throughout the preceding three days. However, the Lavender Law Conference seeks to create opportunities for connection throughout the entire conference, and programming will provide attendees with chances to network everywhere they go.
Every day of the Lavender Law Conference features two networking breakfasts open to all attendees, and is designed for lawyers to meet and connect before attending a full day of legal education programming as well as YAHR (Yet Another Happy Hour Receptions) every evening. YAHR are open to all attendees , and serve as informal, low-key opportunities to connect and build relationships.
Lavender Law Conference sponsors also play a role in creating networking opportunities. Those sponsors hosting events benefit from coordination with the organizing committee and inclusion of sponsors’ events in the attendee program, including the website, conference app, and meeting handouts. Sponsorships can include exclusive and tailored sponsorship of receptions and luncheons, the Georgetown Law Breakfast, the Law Student Lounge, welcome bags, and the conference app, and can be expanded to include booth space and speaking slots.
Inclusion and Diversity Efforts
LGBTQ+ inclusion and diversity initiatives play an integral role at Lavender Law. Leading the charge on law firm change in legal representation, the challenge is to determine how the Lavender Law Conference can be most effective with our limited human resources (members and volunteers). To that end, since 2008, board members, shareholder partners, counsel, inclusion and diversity leaders, and law school deans and administrators have all worked to connect the dots of improving representation in our legal community, by advocating for LGBTQ+ firms and increasing the developers of the next generation of diverse law students and lawyers. We have begun to define firmer action-driven initiatives and have performed case studies of law firm practices, spotting the patterns in what works and what is most challenging to implement, and what firms are doing well, can be replicated by others. These efforts are part of the groundwork for long-term initiatives and direct action that this Association has begun to implement. Conference programming is also an important part of this initiative.
These actions include bolder professional development continuing education in skills-focused conferences and programs, which also include pipeline universities, LGBTQ+ job fairs, panels and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ themes by third-party suppliers to our professional community. 2019 has been a productive year with LEGAL, our newest organization member and pipeline partner, added to are the ALX and ZERO LGBTQ+ business directory firms targeting business law and transactional lawyers, respectively. BOLD – Black Women in the Legal Industry, will be launched at the 2019 conference, to highlight the need and importance of recruiting and retention of African American women in the legal field. In addition, OUT in Law, our first LGBTQ+ law firm diversity survey for law firms was launched in April of 2019, with more profiles and best practices to roll out at the Lavender Law Conference.
The new year is upon us and with it, new initiatives for the Lavender Law Conference. The LEAP Fellowship program, In-House Counsel Fellowships, general counsel, Diverse Partner Summit, inclusion and diversity programs continue to grow. A significant effort has gone towards efforts to broaden the CLE and networking offerings for legal professionals during the Lavender Law Conference, expanding sessions beyond LGBTQ-focused programs. At Lavender Law 2019, there were panels centered on practice management, family law and privacy issues related to artificial intelligence, among others. With an eye toward future growth, the Lavender Law Conference continues to be adaptable to trends within and outside the legal industry.
How to Get Involved and Attend
Legal professionals ready to participate in Lavender Law 2018 will need to register for the conference, where they will gain access to all panels, events, receptions and the career fair. At the same time, persons wishing to attend as spectators can register for the various activities for their professional interests, including the career fair. Conference registration opens in the spring before the conference and closes a week before the event takes place . As of January 2018, registration fees are $150 for students upcoming to $575 for private-law attorneys hiring at the highest levels. The cutoff dates for early registration are noted on the Lavender Law website. For those requiring assistance paying the conference registration fee, a limited number of scholarships and awards are available. However, participants should keep in mind that no scholarships are available for the conference award reception, which is open to ticketed guests only.