Pepperdine Caruso School of Law welcomed legal scholars, jurists, and practitioners from around the world to the Fourth Annual Nootbaar Fellows Conference and the inaugural State of Religious Freedom Conference, held June 10–13 at the University’s Château d’Hauteville campus in Switzerland.

The event was jointly organized by the Ken Starr Institute for Faith, Law, and Public Service and the Herbert and Elinor Nootbaar Institute on Law, Religion, and Ethics—cornerstone initiatives at Pepperdine Caruso Law focused on the intersection of religious liberty, legal scholarship, and public service. This event served as the first in a forthcoming series of international conferences on religious liberty to be organized by the Ken Starr Institute.

Together, the conferences served as a platform for exploring a central question: How can we and should we protect religious liberty? Participants engaged in thoughtful, comparative discussions on the legal, cultural, and societal dimensions of religious freedom across transatlantic contexts.

“I can think of no better institution than the Caruso School of Law—with its Ken Starr Institute and its Nootbaar Institute—to host such a momentous conference on religious liberty,” said Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean Paul Caron. “This is the work of a preeminent global Christian university.”

The conferences highlighted Pepperdine Caruso Law’s longstanding commitment to religious freedom through the combined efforts of the Ken Starr Institute and the Nootbaar Institute. These initiatives offer students unique opportunities to engage in rigorous legal scholarship and faith-based advocacy grounded in public service.

Fourth Annual Nootbaar Fellows Conference (June 11)

Nootbaar Institute Fellows who participated in the conference: 

• Netta Barak-Corren (Hebrew University; Google Scholar)
• Stephanie Barclay (Georgetown; Google Scholar)
• Alan Brownstein (UC-Davis)
• Rick Garnett (Notre Dame)
• Frederick Gedicks (BYU; Google Scholar) 
• Jessie Hill (Case Western; Google Scholar)
• Christopher Lund (Wayne State; Google Scholar)
• Nicholas Miller (Washington Adventist University)
• Victor Muniz-Fraticelli (McGill University; Google Scholar) 
• Jim Oleske (Lewis & Clark) 
• Brandon Paradise (Rutgers) 
• Laura Portuondo (Houston; Google Scholar) 
• Zalman Rothschild (Stanford) 
• Faraz Sanei (American) 
• Audra Savage (Wake Forest; Google Scholar) 
• Chagai Schlesinger (NYU; Google Scholar) 
• Amy Sepinwall (Penn; Google Scholar) 
• Elizabeth Sepper (Texas; Google Scholar) 
• Mark Storslee (Emory; Google Scholar) 
• Lael Weinberger (George Mason) 

Inaugural State of Religious Freedom Conference (June 12-13)

June 12 

9:45 AM (Plenary): What Are the Contemporary Issues in Religious Freedom? 

• Douglas Laycock (University of Virginia, United States; Google Scholar) 
• Andrea Simoncini (University of Florence, Italy; Google Scholar) 
• Eric Rassbach (Pepperdine University, United States) (moderator)

11:15 AM (Plenary): Judging Religious Freedom Cases

• Patrick Bumatay (Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, United States)
• Ann Power (Court of Appeal, Ireland)
• Grzegorz Blicharz (Jagiellonian University, Poland; Google Scholar) (moderator)

12:30 PM (Plenary): Keynote 

• Sam Brownback (Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, United States (2018-2021)) 

2:00 PM (Concurrent): Protecting and Regulating Religious Institutions

• Stephanie Barclay (Georgetown University, United States; Google Scholar)
• Frederick Gedicks (Brigham Young University, United States; Google Scholar) 
• Mark Hill (FTB Chambers, England)
• Sophie van Bijsterveld (Radboud University, Netherlands)
• Trey Childress (Pepperdine; Google Scholar) (moderator) 

2:00 PM (Concurrent): Religious Accommodations in the Workplace

• James Dingemans (Lord Justice of Appeal, England & Wales)
• Chris Lund (Wayne State University, United States) 
• Elizabeth Sepper (University of Texas, United States; Google Scholar) 
• Javier Martinez Torron (Universidad Complutense, Spain; Google Scholar) 
• Michael Helfand (Pepperdine University, United States; Google Scholar) (moderator) 

3:30 PM (Plenary): Trends in Religious Liberty Litigation

• Noel Francisco (Solicitor General, United States (2017-2020))
• Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque (European Court of Human Rights (2011-2020)) 
• Trey Childress (Pepperdine; Google Scholar) (moderator) 

June 13 

9:30 AM (Plenary): Antisemitism and Higher Education: Concerns and Challenges

• Netta Barak Corren (Hebrew University, Israel; Google Scholar) 
• Alan Brownstein (UC-Davis, United States) 
• Paul Clement (Solicitor General, United States (2005-2008)) 
• Vincent de Gaetano (European Court of Human Rights (2010-2019)) 
• Michael Helfand (Pepperdine University, United States; Google Scholar) (moderator) 

11:00 AM (Concurrent): Religious Establishments and Church-State Separation

• Louis-Léon Christians (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium; Google Scholar) 
• Jessie Hill (Case Western University, United States; Google Scholar) 
• Jonatas Machado (University of Coimbra, Portugal; Google Scholar) 
• Mark Storslee (Emory University, United States; Google Scholar) 
• Eric Rassbach (Pepperdine University, United States) (moderator) 

11:00 AM (Concurrent): Religious Freedom and Free Speech

• Rick Garnett (University of Notre Dame, United States) 
• Ruth Nordström (Scandinavian Human Rights Lawyers) 
• Balázs Schanda (Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Portugal)
• Amy Sepinwall (University of Pennsylvania, United States; Google Scholar) 
• Grzegorz Blicharz (Jagiellonian University, Poland; Google Scholar) (moderator)

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