PUBLIC INTEREST LAW SUMMIT: Taking the Offensive MARCH 23 – 24, 2001

Media Advisory

Contacts: Sheila Fox, Millennium III Marketing 619.298.0495 [email protected]

USD Center for Public Interest Law www.cpil.org Robert C. Fellmeth, Executive Director 619.260.4806 [email protected] Julie D’Angelo Fellmeth, Administrative Director 619.260.4806 [email protected]

Public Interest Advocates Plan to Take the Offensive Against Profit Interests

Ralph Nader to deliver keynote address

Who: University of San Diego Center for Public Interest Law

What: Public Interest Law Summit: Taking the Offensive

When: Friday/Saturday, March 23/24, 2001

Purpose: This unprecedented gathering of public interest advocates will formulate a plan to take the offensive against organized profit interests that have kept the public interest movement on the defensive for the past 25 years.

Location: University of San Diego campus 5998 Alcalá Park San Diego, CA 92110

Friday, March 23, 2001: Noon – 2:00pm Opening Luncheon, , Keynote Speaker 2:30 – 4:15pm Session - Campaign Finance Reform 4:45 – 6:30pm Session - Legislative Reform 7:00 – 9:00pm CPIL 20th Anniversary Banquet Saturday, March 24, 2001: 9:00 – 11:45am Session - Court Strategy 1:15 – 4:00pm Session - Agency Reform 4:00pm Adjournment

Speakers: Session - Campaign Finance Reform: L. Scott Harshbarger, President and Chief Executive Officer Common Cause Frank Clemente, Director, Congress Watch Charles Lewis, Executive Director, Center for Public Integrity Nick Nyhart, Executive Director, Public Campaign E. Joshua Rosenkranz, Executive Director, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law

Session - Legislative Reform: , Executive Director, U.S. Public Interest Research Group Gene Kimmelman, Co-Director, Washington D.C. Office of Consumers Union Charles R. Halpern, Chairman of the Board, Dēmos: A Network for Ideas and Action , Executive Director, Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights

Session - Court Strategy: Robert C. Fellmeth, Price Professor in Public Interest Law, University of San Diego School of Law Executive Director, Center for Public Interest Law Alan B. Morrison, Director Emeritus, Public Citizen Litigation Group Nadine Strossen, President, American Civil Liberties Union Professor of Law, New York Law School Patricia Sturdevant, Executive Director and General Counsel, National Association of Consumer Advocates Theodore M. Shaw, Associate Director/Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund

Session - Agency Reform: , President, Public Citizen David G. Hawkins, Director of Air and Energy Program, National Resources Defense Council; Patricia M. Sullivan, Environmental Chair Jim Hightower, Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner, radio journalist and consumer advocate David A. Swankin, President and CEO, Citizen Advocacy Center Sidney M. Wolfe, M.D., Director, Public Citizen Health Research Group