Interested in learning how you can be a part of the food law industry? Join us on November 13, 2024, 7PM-8PM E.T. to discover how you can become a food lawyer in non-profit organizations and more!
Overview: Food law intersects with myriad areas of law and types of practice. At this event, legal professionals working in food law will share how their work intersects with food and agriculture law and how their career experiences led to their work in food law.
The event is TODAY (11/11) from 6pm-7pm ET over Zoom. We’ll also host a watch party in the CAFS conference room (with snacks!). We share this because it’s an interesting and pressing issue in the food law and policy arena AND it’s organized by none other than Julia Wickham and Nicole Renna!
Overview: This virtual panel will explore the challenges faced by rural grocers and the impact of consolidation on food security in their communities. By 2023, just four grocery chains control nearly 70% of the market, a sharp increase from 42% in 2000. At the same time, family grocery bills have risen by 25% since the pandemic. The rapid expansion of dollar stores in rural areas, has further strained independent grocers, who are 5% more likely to close when a dollar store opens nearby. With grocery price gouging spotlighted in Vice President Harris’ economic plan, the recent FTC trial to block the Kroger-Albertson’s merger, and reports from institutions like the University of Chicago highlighting disparities in food access, this is a timely and urgent discussion. Join us as we delve into the forces shaping food availability and affordability in rural America.
The National Food Law Student Network (FLSN) is a collaboration of law students from around the country dedicated to promoting the study and practice of food law and related fields. Motivated by a shared desire to improve the food system, FLSN raises law student voices in the national conversation about our food system. FLSN serves as a hub to exchange ideas, knowledge, and practical skills while building enduring connections among students and professionals to support the next generation of food law and policy advocates.
The FLSN Executive Board fulfills FLSN’s mission by
Hosting regional and national events;
Providing guidance and resources for students to promote food policy at their schools;
Connecting students to unique food law and policy projects through the Network and our partners;
Serving as a liaison between students and professionals in order to cultivate mentoring relationships; and
Curating a clearinghouse of funding, internship, and employment opportunities
Applications are open until Monday, May 23rd.
The new committee will be announced by Friday, May 27th, and committee transition calls will happen shortly thereafter.
We’re looking for the following positions: 2 Co-Presidents 1 Secretary 2 Communications Chairs 2 Career Chairs 2 Engagement Chairs 4 Regional Representatives
About the Executive Board positions:
President:
Oversees other FLSN Executive Board members and projects
Schedules and Runs regular FLSN Executive Board Meetings
Liaison Between Harvard Food Law & Policy Clinic and the Executive Board
Helps Plan Annual Food Law Student Leadership Summit OR Food Law Student Network Digital Event Series
Manages Voting/Yearly Review of FLSN Bylaws
Available to Fill in any of the Other Executive Board Positions as Necessary
Skills needed:
Leadership Skills: Ability to organize other board members working on outside projects; keeping on top of regular updates
Professional Communication Skills: Must be able to communicate effectively with professionals, describe updates in a brief format to ensure board members are on the same page, and promptly reply to all FLSN related email
Creativity: Must be open to exploring new projects the Food Law Student Network might take on to continue to grow and evolve
Secretary:
Schedules and Runs regular FLSN Executive Board Meetings
Collaborates with President(s) to create meeting agenda
Takes minutes of each meeting and promptly shares minutes with the board
Regularly checks and responds to messages on FLSN Gmail
Help facilitate communications between the Advisory Council and Executive Board
Skills needed:
Excellent organizational and time management
Good note taker and efficient communicator
Reliable schedule – MUST attend all e-board meetings
Communications Chairs:
Reach out to board members or other individuals interested in writing blog posts
Run FLSN’s social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Create content for social media platforms
Advertise blog and other events or projects as needed
Responsible for bi-weekly Food Law Student Network email through MailChimp
Skills needed:
Fluency with social media: communications chairs need to be relatively fluent in technology and social media platforms, as they are responsible for maintaining FLSN’s online presence. Experience with MailChimp preferred. Creativity: communications chairs create content for the FLSN website and blog, so those who have creative minds are encouraged to apply!
Careers Chairs:
Maintain a running list of food law career opportunities
Find and share professional opportunities with the network
Reach out to and network with food law professionals to find out more about both summer and full-time positions in the food law sphere.
Coordinate with Communications Co-Chairs regarding the newsletter.
Skills needed:
Professional Communication Skills: Must be able to communicate effectively with professionals/staff attorneys in outside organizations.
Outreach skills: Careers chairs interact with a lot of attorneys they may not have met before, so they should be comfortable with cold-emailing people
Engagement Chairs:
Coordinate FLSN events (with the support of the Presidents) and support other board members with their events as needed.
Provide guidance on how to begin a food law society (FLS) at a new school and how to prepare for the struggles students may face in doing so (lack of attendance, etc.)
Provide feedback to students that share their initial FLS documents to better improve them.
Establish new ideas and activities to increase student involvement in cost-effective, innovative ways, and disperse those concepts to other FLS groups so that more groups can benefit.
Oversee FLSN initiatives, and seek out new opportunities for the FLSN membership
Skills needed:
Communication: Engagement chairs should be able to communicate well, especially through social media.
Outreach skills: Engagement chairs interact with a lot of students they may not have met before, so they should be comfortable with cold-emailing people.
Organization: Ability to organize students working on outside projects; keeping on top of regular updates as the liaison to outside organizations.
Professional Communication Skills: Must be able to communicate effectively with professionals/staff attorneys in outside organizations. Also, need to adequately describe projects in a brief format when sending opportunities to the listserv.
Regional Reps:
Each Representative (up to 4) is assigned a region of the United States and works alongside the Engagement Chairs in their regions to collect contact information from law schools and students as well as project opportunities from partner organizations and clinics.
Maintain updated contact with schools and clinics in their region
Stay informed and share with FLSN any projects, conferences, networking, or other professional opportunities
Serve as a bridge for bringing together regional communities of law students interested and/or active in food law.
Regional Representatives are not required but are welcome to join the monthly e-board meetings
Skills needed:
Communication: The Regional Representatives should be able to communicate well, especially through social media.
Outreach skills: The Regional Representatives interact with many students they may not have met before, so they should be comfortable with cold-emailing people.
Professional Communication Skills: Must be able to communicate effectively with professionals/staff attorneys in outside organizations. Also, need to be able to adequately describe projects in a brief format when sending opportunities to the listserv.
FLSN partnered with the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) on this super cool virtual panel event to discuss the legal issues surrounding the use of cannabis in foods and dietary supplements.
Speakers:
Kristi Wolff Partner, Kelley Drye & Warren Kristi is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Kelley Drye & Warren and chairs its Food and Drug Law and Cannabis Law practices.
Marshall Custer Partner, Husch Blackwell Marshall is a partner in the Denver, CO office of Husch Blackwell and co-chairs its Cannabis team
Moderator:
Sarah Chase Executive Director, Council for Federal Cannabis Regulation, Washington, D.C.
We are really excited about this event and hope you will join us! Register Here!
WHAT: Food Law Student Network Digital Event Series
WHERE: Zoom – see specific links!
WHEN: March 15-20th
Please join the Food Law Student Network for our week long digital event series! Below you will find registration links and information about each event, speakers and the time. We hope to see you there!
Jonathan Coppess, J.D., Assistant Professor, Director of the Gardner Agriculture Policy Program, University of Illinois, Dept. of Agriculture & Consumer Economics
Virtual Brunch! We may not be able to meet in person this year, but we can still connect and discuss all things food law!
Please help us celebrate a fabulous week of events with a virtual brunch filled with food, fun, and the opportunity to connect with fellow FLSN members! Like our virtual dinner parties last semester, there will be cooking, games, and vibrant conversation!
Thanks to Sarah for submitting her Pad See Ew recipe (linked below). It’s super delicious, packed full of veggies, and QUICK to cook. It doesn’t require many specialty ingredients, but you can totally take it to the next level if you have access to an Asian market. It is a complete vegetarian meal all in itself, and has an easy vegan version as well. A great wine pairing with this dish is Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling, which is widely available. We’ve tested the recipe and can give guidance on substitutions, technique, etc. throughout the night.
Like any dinner party, we won’t get right into eating – the first hour is a casual social hour while we prep ingredients, chat about our day and interests, and play some party games (we’ve got food trivia!) Feel free to come and go as you please, log on just for the end, or skip this entirely. Caitlion, our dinner party host and Regional Representative for the South, is looking forward to getting to know you all.
After social hour, we’ll get into cooking! Since our recipe cooks so quickly, you can watch Caitlion make the dish, then try it yourself after it’s finished – or be bold and follow along! While this dish is really good and pretty simple, no pressure if it’s not your style; we still want to hang out with you. Join us for the trivia and conversation!
We tried our best to pick a time that works for the most people, but don’t worry if you aren’t able to join. We’ll host another party in October at a later time for Pacific folks.
Please RSVP for the event here. Knowing how many people plan to join helps us plan the games and structure of the evening, and means we don’t have to spam the whole mailing list with party news (as much fun as it is going to be!) If you have any questions about the event, please email FLSNcookbook@gmail.com.
*Blog Content by Caitlion O’Neill, FLSN Regional Rep.
As we have been forced to narrow our social sphere and change our everyday practices, many of us have developed a new relationship with food. Maybe it has taken the form of developing new hobbies like baking, planting a garden, supporting local businesses through takeout, dealing with food shortages, or even a fear of working in or visiting a restaurant or grocery store. One thing is likely common with us all- it’s much harder to sit around the dinner table with our loved ones.
Since meeting and sharing a meal in person is currently impossible, we are hoping that our FLSN community will join us in a project- sharing meaningful recipes to compile into a community cookbook! We will then choose a few of the best recipes to center a few virtual community cooking parties in which FLSN members can all cook the same food, then join in a Zoom dinner party. Share your recipes to FLSNcookbook@gmail.com and see the below formatting tips and example recipe.
We especially want to see:
Recipes that preserve a unique foodway. Cuisine from your hometown, state, or country that is representative of that place and a culinary tradition.
Example- tender Southern biscuits, Southwestern green chile enchiladas, Midwestern hot dish, Goan fish curry
Recipes that you began to cook during quarantine.
Example- sourdough pretzels from a starter you made or were gifted
Recipes that you developed after growing, harvesting, or foraging the ingredients.
Example- salsa made with heirloom varieties of tomato and chile that you grew in your container garden
Recipes that were your favorite entertaining dishes pre-Covid
Example- a beautifully decorated layer cake or crowd-pleasing appetizer
Recipes that are too yummy not to share!
Have an amazing dish that you’ve just got to tell your FLSN friends about, but it doesn’t fit into the above categories? No problem! It’s a community cookbook, and we are happy to feature anything you would like to take the time to submit.
If these are your own recipes, family treasures, or a recipe that you have adapted heavily from the source over time, no credit is necessary. However, if you are using a recipe from a cookbook or online with minimal changes, you must credit the original in your submission. While pictures would be amazing, they are not required.
FLSN will compile these recipes into a PDF document that may also be available in physical form depending on community demand!
Be sure to mark your calendars for these Zoom dinner party dates:
September 25th (deadline to submit recipes for this party is September 15th!)
October 23rd (deadline to submit recipes for this party is October 10th!)
Stay tuned for more Dinner Party info shortly! Please email your recipes, stories, photos, and memories to FLSNcookbook@gmail.com. The deadline for the community cookbook will be in early Spring of 2021. If you are interested in becoming a part of this project, please email coneill@my.loyno.edu to get added to our Cookbook and Dinner Party team!
Formatting Tips
When submitting your recipe, please keep in mind these formatting tips for ease of compiling the cookbook.
If you have a family story or memory about the dish, we would love to hear it! We can always edit these down, so don’t hold back.
Please be specific when using terms like “1 cup of cherry tomatoes, diced” vs “1 cup of diced cherry tomatoes”. The first implies that you measure whole cherry tomatoes into a one cup measure to fill, then dice this amount. The second implies that you dice cherry tomatoes until you have enough to fill up a one cup measure, and these are very different amounts!
If you have separate wet and dry ingredients, or a spice blend, please label and separate these in the ingredient list.
For ease of editing, please submit in word processing format, not PDF.
Example recipe:
Banana Pancakes from Caitlion O’Neill , FLSN’s Regional Rep. for the South
Serves 2 as a main dish or 4 as a side
I always hated bananas but I wanted to like them because they always seemed so nice in smoothies and pancakes! It wasn’t until I tried the dwarf Thai variety bananas at the age of 25 that I realized I actually like bananas in general, just not the Cavendish banana. If you live in New Orleans or another region where banana trees grow, feel free to substitute in a local variety (Ice Cream bananas are delicious here). If you do like the Cavendish banana, eat up because it may not be around much longer- 99% of the worlds export crop of bananas are Cavendish clones, and a fungal disease is beginning to wipe out Cavendish plantations worldwide because none of these clones have resistance.
Dry Ingredients
.5 c whole wheat flour
.5 c White Lily self-raising flour (or white flour)
2 TBSP sugar
If using White Lily, add 1 TBSP baking powder. If not, add 1.5 TBSP baking powder.
Wet Ingredients
3 TBSP Just Scramble (the liquid) or one flax egg (1 TBSP ground flaxseed mixed with 3 TBSP water, let sit for 5 minutes)
.75-1 c oat milk. Start with .75 cup and use more if too dry.
1 TBSP oil
1 banana, mashed, preferably Thai
Sift together all dry ingredients. Mix all wet ingredients well, making sure no big chunks of banana remain. Add wet ingredients to dry and gently whisk just until no dry patches remain. The batter should be thick.
Heat a cast iron or non-stick skillet on medium heat. Add vegan butter or other solid fat (coconut oil is good) to pan and let melt. Add batter and make pancakes! They will brown quickly because of the banana and sugar but they are not burning, promise.
As we transition from summer internships to fall courses, Matt and Bridget, this year’s FLSN Engagement Chairs, want to welcome you back to school and to our FLSN community.
We also would like to share a few changes to the Network. Last year, the FLSN board voted to change the structure of our leadership: combining the Student Organizations Chair positions with the Projects Chairs into new Engagement Chair roles. We also created four Regional Representative positions, with the goal of having the Network facilitate more community-based relationships among law students interested in food & agriculture.
We’re excited about the changes and are looking forward to getting to know our food law community better this year. Along those lines, we wanted to introduce ourselves, the new positions and our goals for the upcoming year.
Engagement Chairs
As Engagement Chairs, Matt and Bridget are focused on creating connections between students, professors and professionals interested in food law, while inspiring law students to get involved in the larger food community. We’ll be planning a variety of ways to engage with the Network–from virtual lectures and conversations to programs and ongoing initiatives that you can volunteer to be a part of. We hope that through these events, we can continue to grow the food law community and elevate law students’ voices in national food law and policy conversations.
Matt Watson
Matt is currently a 3L at Pace University, where he is a member of the Pace Food and Beverage Law Clinic. Prior to law school, Matt worked as a digital marketer for food & food-tech start-up businesses in Boston, MA. During that time, he spent a year helping one of the world’s largest vertical farming companies develop its branding, which got him interested in the regulatory state that cutting-edge food businesses must navigate. This ultimately led him to pursue a legal education to engage with food law and policy matters. As one of FLSN’s Engagement Co-Chairs, Matt wants to expand opportunities for law students to get involved with substantive, actionable projects and dialogue within the national food law landscape. This focus will build on the Network’s ability to offer valuable support to leading food-policy organizations and university programs, as well as further legitimize the Network’s own platform in this space.
Bridget Eklund
Prior to law school, Bridget served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia, working with smallholder farmers to diversify crops, increase climate resiliency and improve food security. Bridget also volunteered at community gardens while working in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her passion for international development and sustainable agriculture led her to law school, where she is focusing on legal aspects of sustainable food systems, equitable management of land, and climate change. At Duke, Bridget is the founder and president of the Food Law Society. She also conducts research concerning policies and funding mechanisms to promote regenerative grazing practices in North Carolina. Bridget aspires to use her law degree to advance systemic change in agricultural systems and develop resilient communities, both domestically and abroad. As a FLSN board member, Bridget hopes to provide opportunities for students to connect with professionals, faculty, and other students interested in food and agriculture law.
Regional Representatives
Our four regional representatives will be supporting us to facilitate those goals and connect with law students on a more interpersonal level. Each representative is the liaison for a specific region. They’ll be helping us with outreach and connecting students to food law opportunities.
Caitlion O’Neill
Caitlion is the FLSN Regional Representative for the South. They are currently a 2L at Loyola New Orleans College of Law. Caitlion worked in food and hospitality for 10 years before law school (rising from dishwasher to chef to restaurant consultant), eventually starting Louisiana’s first vegan cheese company V I R I D I A (which just began online sales! Their curated plant-based charcuterie ships nationally). They volunteered as a worker on small, family-owned organic farms in Japan and Europe through the WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) program and hosted WWOOFers from around the world here in New Orleans. After seeing that their own personal advocacy had a limited spread, Caitlion decided to attend law school to amplify unheard voices and have access to policy decision making. In law school, Caitlion is the president of the Environmental Law Society and is active with the National Lawyers Guild, Lambda (LGBTQ+ Law Society), and the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Caitlion enjoys working to make the law a vehicle of social change and is grateful that their law school has a focus on social justice. Their summer internship with the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy has them producing several podcasts on climate justice and the Green New Deal for the South. As a future attorney, Caitlion is deeply committed to honoring the people and places of their home, the Gulf Coast. As the Southern rep for FLSN, Caitlion hopes to use their passion and experiences in food and farming to bring a pragmatic voice to the food law/policy discussion. Pre-pandemic, Caitlion enjoyed hosting friends for dinner parties, yoga classes, New Orleans’ neighborhood bar scene, and international travel. Nowadays, they’re reading back issues of Mother Earth News, looking for land in the Cajun Country, and spending time with their partner and rescue cat, Snorlene.
Courtney Gately
Courtney is the FLSN Regional Representative for the West. She is currently attending Texas A&M University School of Law. Before law school, she received a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Kansas State University and a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University. She spent the majority of her short career in nonprofit management working with organizations whose missions focused on education, economic self-sufficiency, and supporting post 9/11 combat wounded service members. At law school, Courtney is a research assistant with work focusing on water quantity, water infrastructure, and freshwater alternatives. Her personal research interests include the relationship between agricultural and environmental issues. Additionally, She is the president of the ENRG student organization which has a broad focus on environmental, energy, and natural resources law. In addition to her passion for the intersection between food, agricultural, and environmental law, Courtney hopes to bring her experience in community-based organizations and board service to help increase engagement and awareness of FLSN.
Sabrina Bey
Sabrina is the FLSN Regional Representative for the East. She currently attends the Howard University School of Law. Her interest in food law began after witnessing first-hand the dangers of unsafe food. As a child, Sabrina had an unfortunate incident eating at a fast-food restaurant and then spending a week in the hospital with E.coli. Sabrina often wonders what could have been done to prevent other children, like herself, from contracting dangerous foodborne illnesses. While in law school, Sabrina had the opportunity to work in the food law group at a big law firm. Her areas of interest in food law grew as she learned more about food safety, labeling issues, and FDA regulations. As a regional representative, Sabrina hopes to build a bigger network with other food law interests and get more students interested in the food law practice.
Hammons Hepner
Hammons is the FLSN Regional Representative for the Midwest. He is a student at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. Hammons grew up as the fifth-generation of a family farm in Freedom, Oklahoma. He graduated from Oklahoma State University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture in agricultural economics and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in finance, along with a leadership minor. Prior to law school, Hammons worked in government affairs with a lobbying principal, where he advocated for agriculture, energy, water, and non-profit interests during the 2018 Regular Session in Oklahoma. Hammons has clerked for Gungoll, Jackson, Box & Devoll P.C. in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General. Hammons currently interns with Sharp Law LLP of Prairie Village, Kansas and is a Research Fellow for the National Agricultural Law Center. Hammons is a co-founder, and current president, of OU Law’s Agricultural Law Association, and is an active member of the American Agricultural Law Association, the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association, and the Sirloin Club of Oklahoma.
We encourage any interested students to reach out to us throughout the year! We’d love to be a resource for anyone who’d like to get more involved in the food law community. As the fall semester begins, we’ll be holding virtual “Get to Know Your Regional Rep” events for each respective region. Stay tuned for more details. In the meantime, feel free to contact Bridget, Matt or any of the Regional Reps for more details, ways to get involved, or just to chat about all things food-related!
The Food Law Student Network supports the Black community and the Black Lives Matter movement. We are heartbroken for the families of Rayshard Brooks, Tony McDade, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Dreasjon “Sean” Reed, and the too many other Black lives we have lost. What is happening to Black people at the hands of rogue police officers and individuals is unacceptable. Although most of these deaths were the result of police brutality, they force us to consider how racism plays a role in every aspect of our society. In doing so, we realize how pervasive racial discrimination is throughout every segment of our food and agricultural systems.
It is impossible to discuss the roots of systemic racism in this country without acknowledging that it all began with slave labor in agriculture. Directly, and indirectly, racist policies have had a significant impact on racial health disparities as well as access to land, loans, and resources for maintaining a farm. These policies have helped suppress Black farmers so much so that by 2017 only 1.3 percent of all farmers in the U.S. were Black.[1]
The food and agricultural sector has a great deal of work to do to untangle complex systems of oppression. Food lawyers play a crucial role in moving that forward. It is our duty as a community of future attorneys to educate ourselves and participate in the productive growth of our industry. The Black Lives Matter movement requires us to continue challenging the norms of our food system and amplifying voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in our community. We must actively embrace diversity as the avenue to remove racial disparities in our food system. Doing so is not only the right thing to do but will make for a better, more resilient food system.
We know that many of our members share our sadness, frustration, and outrage. To all of our members hurting right now – we see you. We hear you. We are standing with you, hand in hand. As future attorneys, it is our responsibility to be anti-racist. That starts with educating ourselves and participating in productive self-growth and community-growth as a united society. It continues with holding each other accountable to ensure our work eliminates racial disparities in agriculture, health, and the environment.
Below are resources for ways to get involved and support the Black community and educate yourself and others on the racial disparities within the food and agriculture industry. As an organization committed to constant growth and learning, we encourage you to share any additional resources with us so that we can continue to work in accompliceship with the Black community, as well as the Indigenous community and all other People of Color, and do our part to ensure justice, peace, and equity throughout our entire food system.
Black Lives Matter
Yours In Solidarity,
FLSN Executive Board 2020-2021
