Tuesday, December 14, 2021 | 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

This class will be hosted on ZOOM

Join the LA Law Library book discussion group via Zoom as we conclude our 2021 exploration of immigration issues with Boyle Heights: How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future of American Democracy, by George J. Sanchez.  Boyle Heights is an in-depth history of the Los Angeles neighborhood, showcasing the experiences of its residents from early contact between Spanish colonizers and native Californians to the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, the hunt for hidden Communists among the Jewish population, negotiating citizenship and belonging among Latino migrants and Mexican American residents, and beyond.  Through each period and every struggle, the residents of Boyle Heights have maintained remarkable solidarity across racial and ethnic lines, acting as a unified community.  Boyle Heights shows us a dynamic, multiracial community that has forged solidarity through a history of social and political upheaval and offers a vision for America’s cross-cultural future.

About the author:

• Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity and History at University of Southern California
• Director of Center for Diversity & Democracy (USC)
• President of Organization of American Historians, 2020-2021
• Author of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture & Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900 -1945 (1995)

Presented by: Katie O’Laughlin, Managing Librarian, Reference & Research

Registration fee: FREE.  This discussion will be hosted via Zoom.  Zoom information will be emailed to registrants prior to discussion.

LA Law Library does not provide legal advice:

LA Law Library does not provide legal advice.  LA Law Library provides legal resources and assistance with legal research as an educational service.  The information presented in this program is not legal advice and is provided solely as an educational service to our patrons.  For legal advice, you should consult an attorney.

Tuesday, February 22, 2022 | 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

This class will be hosted on ZOOM

Join the LA Law Library book discussion group via Zoom as we begin our 2022 exploration of income inequality in America.  Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel & Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America is a revelatory undercover investigation into life and survival in low-wage America, an increasingly urgent topic that continues to resonate 20 years after publication.  Ehrenreich wanted to demonstrate that the 1996 welfare reform bill’s goal of moving long term recipients off the rolls was premised on the mistaken belief that poverty wages were sufficient to sustain a family.  The book documents Ehrenreich’s own experiences working as a waitress in Florida, a housecleaner in Maine and a Walmart salesperson in Minnesota.  She proved her point that even amid a tight labor market, she couldn’t find a way to support herself.  Now 20 years later, have things changed?  The 20^th Anniversary edition includes a forward by Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted: Poverty & Profit in the American City.

About the author:

• LA Times Book Prize 2001 (Current Interest)
• Christopher Award 2002
• Book Sense Book of the Year 2002 (Adult Non Fiction)
• New York Times bestseller

Presented by: Katie O’Laughlin, Managing Librarian, Reference & Research

Registration fee: FREE.  This discussion will be hosted via Zoom.  Zoom information will be emailed to registrants prior to discussion.

LA Law Library does not provide legal advice:

LA Law Library does not provide legal advice.  LA Law Library provides legal resources and assistance with legal research as an educational service.  The information presented in this program is not legal advice and is provided solely as an educational service to our patrons.  For legal advice, you should consult an attorney.

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 | 6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (PST)

This class will be hosted on ZOOM

Join the LA Law Library book discussion group via Zoom as we continue to explore income inequality in America. The former U.S. Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich, argues in The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It that America’s political and economic system has “become tilted ever more in the direction of moneyed interests that have exerted disproportionate influence over it, while average workers have steadily lost bargaining leverage.” He urges thinking not in terms of left vs. right or Democrat vs. Republican, but instead the battle is Oligarchy vs. Democracy.  He offers a solution of a multiethnic, multiracial coalition recommitted to the work of citizenship and a more equitable reallocation of power. Do you agree with Reich’s critique of the system? Is his solution realistic or feasible? Read the book and share your thoughts!

About the Author:

• Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy
• S. Secretary of Labor in Clinton administration and also served in administrations of Presidents Ford, Carter and Obama
• Author of 18 books
• Founding editor of The American Prospect magazine and founder of Inequality Media, a nonprofit digital media company featuring topics relating to inequality and power

Presented by: Katie O’Laughlin, Managing Librarian Reference & Research

Registration fee: FREE.  This discussion will be hosted via Zoom. Zoom information will be emailed to registrants prior to discussion.

LA Law Library does not provide legal advice:

LA Law Library does not provide legal advice.  LA Law Library provides legal resources and assistance with legal research as an educational service.  The information presented in this program is not legal advice and is provided solely as an educational service to our patrons.  For legal advice, you should consult an attorney.

Friday, Apr. 29, 2022 | 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

This class will be hosted on ZOOM

---ZOOM INFORMATION WILL BE EMAILED TO REGISTRANTS PRIOR TO CLASS START TIME---

In this class, learn what to consider before filing a lawsuit for libel or slander (defamation). If someone makes untrue, damaging statements about you that may be grounds for a defamation lawsuit.  But these types of lawsuits are notoriously difficult to litigate successfully, are subject to many potential defenses, and often result in unintended blowback for a plaintiff. Learn from an experienced civil litigator who has brought and defended many significant cases involving defamation claims in federal and state courts. 

 Class covers:

• How to determine if you have a viable defamation claim
• Libel vs. slander: different types of defamation
• How to assess whether the possible benefits of bringing a defamation lawsuit outweigh the costs
• Common defenses to a defamation claim
• Where and how to file, and important deadlines and time limits
• Calculating damages in a defamation lawsuit

Presented by: Michael Dore, Litigation Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher

Registration fee: FREE

LA Law Library does not provide legal advice:
LA Law Library does not provide legal advice. LA Law Library provides legal resources and assistance with legal research as an educational service. The information presented in this program is not legal advice and is provided solely as an educational service to our patrons. For legal advice, you should consult an attorney.