Emory School of Law (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

Gun violence and related policies and politics will be the topic for prosecutors, defense attorneys and professors at the 2019 Randolph Thrower Symposium at Emory University School of Law's Tull Auditorium from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. on Feb. 7.

The keynote discussion will be titled, “The Second Amendment in an Era of Mass Shootings.” Robert Cottrol, the Harold Paul Green research professor of law at George Washington University School of Law, is scheduled to speak, along with UCLA constitutional law professor Adam Winkler.

Emory law professor Morgan Cloud will moderate a panel on state and national considerations related to gun-related crime and law enforcement. The expected panelists include:

• Sally Yates, a partner at King & Spalding in Atlanta and a former deputy U.S. attorney general;
• Paul Howard Jr., Fulton County district attorney;
• David Patton, executive director and attorney-in-chief of the Federal Defenders of New York; and
• Don Samuel of criminal defense firm Garland, Samuel & Loeb.

Yates served as interim attorney general until President Donald Trump dismissed her after she refused to enforce the administration's travel ban on immigrants from predominantly Muslim countries.

Yates has something in common with the symposium namesake. Thrower was an Atlanta tax lawyer who served as head of the IRS under President Richard Nixon until he resigned over his refusal to carry out a White House order: Thrower was under pressure to investigate Nixon's enemies. Instead, he left and returned to his Atlanta firm, Sutherland. He practiced until he was 90 and lived to be 100 years old.

Emory law Professor Sarah Shalf will moderate a panel on the statistics and realities of the impact of gun violence on mental health. The expected panelists include:

• Annie Deets, Emory law adjunct professor and managing attorney of the DeKalb County Law Office of the Public Defender, Mental Health Division;
• Dr. Mark Rosenberg, director of the Task Force for Global Health;
• Dr. Jeffrey Swanson, professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University School of Medicine; and
• Frederick Vars, University of Alabama law professor.

Deborah Dinner, Emory law professor, is to moderate a panel about political pressure on gun policy. Her expected panelists include:

• Kristin Goss of Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy;
• David S. Meyer, UC Irvine School of Social Sciences public policy professor;
•  Jaclyn Schildkraut of SUNY Oswego; and
• Frank Vandall, Emory law professor.

The Thrower Symposium is free and open to the public. For State Bar of Georgia members, five hours of general CLE credits are available for $70 in advance or $80 at the door. The registration fee is waived for judges and clerks. Online registration is available in advance on the Emory Law website.