Upcoming UC Law symposium to explore diversity, race, and business

The Corporate Law Center at the University of Cincinnati College of Law will host the 33rd annual symposium “Moving Beyond ‘Diversity’ in Race and Business Law”, Friday, Mar. 25, 9:00am - 3:00pm. This event, which will be held virtually, is free. CLE: Application submitted to Ohio for 4.75 CLE hours; Application Approved for 4.75 CLE hours in Kentucky.

About the symposium

The symposium confronts how the discourse around race and business law can move beyond diversity. It will bring scholars, practitioners, and business leaders together to discuss impediments and pathways to racial equity in business law. This event marks the first collaboration between the Corporate Law Center and the newly endowed Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice.

The symposium panels, which include academic leaders from across the country and minority business owners from the tristate, will include topics such as  

  • BIPOC-Owned Enterprises
  • Immigrants and Entrepreneurship and
  • Business and Racial Hierarchy.

About the keynote address

Professor Cheryl Wade

Professor Cheryl Wade

The keynote address, “Moving Beyond the Rhetoric of Diversity and Antiracism to Examine Privilege and Exploitation in Big Business” will be given by Cheryl L. Wade, Dean F. McNiece Professor of Law, St. John’s University School of Law. Professor Wade will discuss how race has always been an implicit but integral part of business law and that discourse in this context has been about one race primarily – white men (and sometimes women). Professor Wade will suggest reasons why this is so and what are the implications for non-white people. Having just worked on a book chapter about the race of U.S. corporations, she will focus on that while exploring why a corporation’s racial identity is relevant in contexts like predatory lending. 

About the Corporate Law Center

Cincinnati Law’s annual symposium provides an opportunity for scholars, regulators, practitioners, and law students from across the country to exchange ideas, debate issues and discuss ongoing research and scholarship on current topics in this field.

First held in 1988, the symposium is co-sponsored by the University of Cincinnati Law Review. We bring leading experts to campus to discuss topics that present both intellectual and practical challenges to lawyers and businesspeople.

Related Stories

1

What is the 'cicada' COVID variant?

April 6, 2026

A formerly rare strain of COVID, BA.3.2, now is showing up in Ohio and 24 other states. Experts say so far it hasn't caused illness any more severe than other strains, but it might be somewhat more resistant to vaccines, as 91.7 WVXU News recently reported. Scientists have nicknamed the variant "cicada" due to its former low profile and current resurgence.

2

UC opens zebrafish research facility to study infertility

April 6, 2026

The University of Cincinnati is launching a state-of-the-art zebrafish research facility that scientists say could help explain how environmental toxins affect fertility, as WKRC-TV/Local 12 and WLWT-TV/Ch. 5 recently reported.

3

UC launches new Center for Public Health

April 6, 2026

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine recently announced Suzanne Judd, PhD, as the inaugural director of its new Center for Public Health. The hire follows a national search launched in August 2025, as the Cincinnati Business Courier reported.