Understanding how bias, race, and identity shape fairness in law.
This powerful course explores the intersection of race, identity, and justice in the American legal system. Through compelling storytelling and personal insight, learners are introduced to the concept of Lady Justice—often portrayed as blindfolded, fair, and impartial—and challenged to reconsider whether this ideal reflects the realities of today's courts and legal institutions.
The course discusses implicit bias and its effects on judicial outcomes, including how race and ethnicity can influence everything from bail decisions to sentencing. Drawing from real-life experiences and referencing both historical context and contemporary issues, it examines the disparities and systemic barriers that people of color—especially Black and Indigenous communities—encounter within the justice system.
Whether you're a legal professional, policymaker, or simply interested in social justice, this course offers tools for self-reflection and actionable ideas for addressing bias in legal settings. Participants will be encouraged to consider what fairness really means, and how the justice system can evolve to truly uphold equity for all.
TalksOnLaw
Interviews with the Titans of Law At TalksOnLaw, we search the globe to find the leading experts on the most important and interesting legal issues of our day. We bring you leading professors from the top law schools, eminent judges, and some of the top practitioners in the game. TalksOnLaw courses are powerful, contemporary, and controversial. These are topics you may see in the news but with the in-depth treatment that allows you to truly know the issue. From privacy to technology, from sports to drugs to international warfare and AI – welcome to TalksOnLaw.
Lawyer, writer, journalist, and legal commentator
Dahlia Lithwick is a Canadian-American lawyer, writer, journalist, and legal commentator. Dahlia is currently a contributing editor at Newsweek and senior editor at Slate. She primarily writes about law and politics in the United States. Her published work has appeared in The New Republic, The American Prospect, Elle, The Ottawa Citizen, and The Washington Post. She is the host of the Slate podcast Amicus and the author of the book Lady Justice, Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America (Penguin Press, 2022).
