Racism

New York Lawyer Organizes Virtual Black Legal Wellness Forum

This event is for the black community to better understand the ways in which systemic racism is impacting many aspects of their lives.

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(Image via Getty)

Miriam Lacroix is the owner of Lacroix Law, PC, an immigration law firm in White Plains, New York. Her passion for serving the immigration community is deeply personal. Her father is a Haitian immigrant who fell in love with a woman from the Bronx. Her parents refused to allow borders to keep them apart, and 30-plus years later, they are glad they didn’t. Lacroix’s work focuses on uniting and reuniting families and has a particular emphasis on helping survivors of domestic violence. 

She is also the creator of the first-ever Black Legal Wellness Forum. This event is for the black community to better understand the ways in which systemic racism is impacting many aspects of their lives, including criminal law, estate planning, employment law, real estate, copyright/trademark law, and immigration. The panelists at the forum will explain how these systems are not serving the black community, their rights under different areas of law, and ways that they can better protect and advocate for themselves when interacting with the law.

I could tell you all about why she decided to create the Black Legal Wellness Forum, but I think I’ll just let her tell you herself: 

“At a time when so many people in this country are taking action and speaking out against the systemic racism that has led to many deaths of black and brown people, I thought about what I could do myself, as a lawyer, to effect change. I realize that police brutality is just one factor of systemic racism. Racism is a power dynamic that affects many aspects of our lives including, but not limited to, how we interact with the law. As lawyers, our job is to protect our clients from the pitfalls that the complexities of the legal system cause them to fall into. 

I have decided to put on a forum that addresses this and invites the community for a free discussion about how the black community can better navigate legal issues across a variety of areas of law. This forum is for the black community to better understand the ways in which these systems are not serving them, their rights under different areas of law, and the ways that they can better protect and advocate for themselves when interacting with the law.”

Lacroix is the host, moderator, and immigration expert of the Forum. Other panelists include Gilbert Bayonne (criminal law), Michelle N. Robinson (trusts and estates law), Faith Mitton (real estate law), Wendy Dolce (employment law), and Jordan B. Franklin (copyright and trademark law). 

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The Black Legal Wellness Forum is taking place on June 25 at 7 p.m. EST (virtually, of course) and you can register here. 

This promises to be a great event and, hopefully, just the first of many. I hope you will consider joining, and sharing this event with your professional networks.

Kerriann Stout is a millennial law school professor and founder of Vinco (a bar exam coaching company) who is generationally trapped between her students and colleagues. Kerriann has helped hundreds of students survive law school and the bar exam with less stress and more confidence. She lives, works, and writes in the northeast. You can reach her by email at info@vincoprep.com.

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