More than 50 leading litigators and legal experts were set to gather at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington on Wednesday to address the legal challenges of defending Jewish students and employees amid the historic surge in antisemitism following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks and the ensuing war in Gaza. 

Hosted by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, which has filed numerous cases on behalf of Jewish students since the Oct. 7 attacks, the National Legal Strategy Summit features speakers including Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights; Jeffrey Morrison, the deputy assistant U.S. attorney general; U.S. District Judge Roy Altman; and Noah Pollak, a senior advisor at the Department of Education. 

The conference comes one day after the Trump administration announced that the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights, which handles Title VI discrimination cases, would be housed in the Justice Department, part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the Education Department.

“We’re looking forward to getting the Justice Department perspective because coordination between the government and private organizations are so important,” Ken Marcus, founder and chairman of the Brandeis Center, told Jewish Insider. On Tuesday, Marcus called the OCR move “a significant and promising step forward for civil rights enforcement.” 

Critics have argued that the transfer would weaken civil rights protections because the DOJ focuses on litigation rather than improving systemic issues in schools.  

“OCR has long served as the federal government’s primary guardian of students’ civil rights. At the same time, the Justice Department possesses powerful investigative and litigation tools that can strengthen enforcement when institutions fail to comply with the law. A more integrated approach could bring additional resources, greater consistency, and stronger accountability to civil rights enforcement,” said Marcus. 

Panels will focus on legal strategies to address antisemitism on college campuses, in K-12 classrooms and in the workplace. The summit will also address concerns that have intensified over the past year, such as the growing influence of foreign funding in American education.   

“This is an opportunity to bring together many of the leading litigators in our space. We are now in a place where there are several law firms and legal organizations that have seen the importance of using litigation as one of the central tools for addressing the surge of antisemitism we’ve seen over the last couple of years,” Marcus told JI. “Many of them started with the campus antisemitism lawsuits, but have also expanded to dealing with an array of other issues from elementary and secondary schools to labor unions in the workplace to healthcare.”  

In November 2025, the Brandeis Center hosted its first legal summit in Manhattan for attorneys and heads of Jewish legal organizations. Marcus said the group plans to make the convenings a regular occurrence “in order to avoid problems of discoordination and to make sure everybody is getting the value of the experience and best practices of others.”