The New York Law School Law Review and The Employee Rights Advocacy Institute For Law & Policy present Trial by Jury or Trial by Motion? Summary Judgment, Iqbal, and Employment Discrimination.

Federal judges, practitioners, and legal scholars will examine the high failure rates of plaintiffs on pre- and post-trial motions in employment discrimination cases. The increasing prevalence of pre- and post-trial dispositive motions in litigation has had a demonstrably unique effect in cases alleging violations of employment discrimination laws. A substantial and growing body of evidence, both empirical and anecdotal, shows that cases alleging employment discrimination are disproportionately susceptible to dismissal before trial as well as to unfavorable JNOV motions after trial.

Encouraging this movement towards pre-trial adjudication of employment discrimination cases are the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, through which the Supreme Court appeared to raise the quantum of facts that a plaintiff must plead to avoid successfully a motion to dismiss. As summary judgment is a primary mechanism for evaluating a case, these rulings raise questions as to whether the Court has blurred the line between motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment. The program will explore potential strategies to reverse this growing trend.

When
Monday, April 23, 2012
8:30 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Wine and cheese reception at 5 p.m.
Sponsored by the New York Law School Labor and Employment Law Society

Where
New York Law School, 2nd Floor Event Center
185 West Broadway
New York, New York 10013

Keynote Speaker
The Honorable Denny Chin, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

RSVP
Registration with a $25 fee is required at www.nylslawreview.com/trialbymotion
(No charge for New York Law School students, faculty, staff, and alumni)

CLE Credits
9.5 transitional CLE credits in Professional Practice will be available for $50
(No charge for New York Law School faculty, staff and alumni)

More Information
The full program and speaker information is available at www.nylslawreview.com/trialbymotion
Contact law_review@nyls.edu or (212) 431-2109.