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Widener Law Commonwealth's annual spring law review symposium recently brought together legal scholars, practitioners, and students to discuss legal barriers surrounding gender-based violence. The event, which featured panels on sexual violence, domestic violence, and human trafficking, highlighted the need for continued reform and deeper legal understanding to address these issues.

The event featured presentations from leading experts and included contributions from other distinguished attorney panelists, including:

• Lauren Marvel of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office
• Rachel Haynes Pinsker of the Domestic Violence Legal Clinic
• Heather Castellino of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.

The symposium's featured speaker was Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, who shared insights on prosecuting high-profile sex crimes. His address focused on the complexities legal professionals face when handling such sensitive cases.

Among the distinguished presenters was Widener Law Commonwealth Associate Professor Michal Buchhandler-Raphael. She spoke about the urgent need for reforms in homicide law as it relates to gender-based violence, particularly advocating for more lenient treatment of victimized offenders—those who have been abused and, in turn, commit violent acts, including homicide, often in self-defense or in response to ongoing domestic abuse.

“Such reform could be accomplished through legislative amendments or, as I suggest in my article ‘Compassionate Undercharging,’ by bringing lesser charges instead of murder charges against individuals who killed their abusers or third parties while influenced by domestic abuse,” she said.

Buchhandler-Raphael also emphasized how law schools can better prepare students to navigate complexities of gender-based violence cases. 

“In both my scholarship and my teaching, I try to highlight the reality that the criminal justice system’s purported dichotomy between ‘victims’ and ‘offenders’ is false,” she explained. “Many offenders are themselves victims of prior abuse, including domestic abuse.”

Jessica Poley, a third-year law student who coordinated the event, shared her motivation behind focusing on gender-based violence for this year’s symposium.

“Gender-based violence is a topic that I am very passionate about. It is the area of law that I have always wanted to work in," she said

In discussing the symposium's impact, Poley said, “I hoped that the symposium would open many people’s eyes to the problems that gender-based violence poses to the legal field. Change cannot occur unless we discuss it. Legally, I wanted current and future lawyers to take note of these obstacles and think about how they can be addressed in our practice of law. Personally, I wanted the audience to think about this topic that they might not have before.”

For students like Poley, the symposium was not only a reflection of her passion but also a moment of personal growth. “I think events like this shape the broader law school experience and community engagement because it can bring about important discussions among the students,” she said. “We try to engage the community at Widener with these events as much as we can because greater exposure offers a chance for valuable input and more support for these ideas.”

Poley’s experience with the law review, and her coordination of the symposium, reinforced her belief in student-driven advocacy. “My experience on law review has taught me that we can be a vehicle for change, even as students,” she noted. “We have the chance to address emerging issues and be at the forefront of these important conversations. As students, we are seeing new issues emerge all the time and are thinking of ways to solve them once we are in practice. But as part of law review, we can start on that work now.”

The symposium’s impact resonated with students, including second-year law student and newly appointed Law Review Editor in Chief Kiera Flannery. Flannery spoke about the importance of hosting such events, noting how it has shaped her vision for her future career.

“I am so honored to have been selected as editor in chief of the law review for next year, and the symposium is one of the events I am most proud of that the law review has a chance to put together,” Flannery said. “Engaging in legal scholarship and facilitating these difficult but important conversations is one of the most meaningful things I have done in law school thus far, and law review helps to make that possible.”

Flannery added that events like the symposium provide invaluable opportunities for students to engage with the broader legal community and address issues that may eventually lead to positive legal changes.

“I think the event as a whole resonated with me and shaped my perspective as a future legal professional,” she said. “Many doctrines and laws we take for granted today began as someone's idea that may have been published in a law review. The opportunity to bring in legal scholars and professionals to facilitate these discussions that may one day gain traction and promote change is truly an honor.”

The symposium’s discussions helped de-stigmatize the critical topic of gender-based violence, which Flannery highlighted as essential for driving meaningful reform.

“Unfortunately, gender-based violence permeates our society, and I think society tends to shy away from topics that make us uncomfortable,” Flannery said. “If we are to pursue remedial measures, we need to first talk about it.”Buchhandler-Raphael’s reflections on the symposium highlight the importance of legal education in addressing these societal issues.

“Talking about sexual crimes and domestic violence is not easy and raises many controversial topics. It is critically important for me to participate in a law review symposium that is devoted exclusively to ways to address these issues. It gives me hope that these topics are tackled head-on today and become such an important part of legal conversations,” she said.

Watch the recording on WLC's YouTube Channel View Selected Symposium Materials