The Counsel for the NAACP, the Chief Judge Emeritus and Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and experts on American Indian water rights, globalization, civil rights, women’s legal history, disability rights, death penalty, and economics are part of the spring lineup for the School of Law’s sixth annual Public Interest Law Speaker Series.
This popular series, titled “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers,” is designed to highlight the excellence of the law school’s Clinical Education Program; expose students to public interest advocates and practitioners; illuminate the pro bono and public interest responsibility of law students and lawyers; and engage the wider University community in an interdisciplinary discussion about social justice.
Karen Tokarz, J.D., professor of law and executive director of clinical education and ADR programs, and Susan Appleton, J.D., the Lemma Barkeloo & Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law, coordinate the series.
All of the spring lectures are held in Anheuser-Busch Hall and are free and open to the public. They are:
•11 a.m. Jan. 21 – Theodore M. Shaw, associate director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, on “From Brown to Grutter: The Legal Struggle for Racial Equality,” on Jan 21. Shaw, a former trial attorney for the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice, is the Black Law Students Association Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Speaker.
•11 a.m. Jan. 28 – Susan M. Williams, American Indian legal expert and an enrolled member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota Nation, on “Issues of Justice Relating to Indian Tribal Government.” Williams, the Webster Society Annual Speaker, argued the Big Horn water rights case, Wyoming v. United States, before the U. S. Supreme Court.
•11 a.m. Feb. 4 – Amy L. Chua, professor of law at Yale University and author of the best-selling book, World on Fire, on “How Exporting Free Markets and Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hated and Global Instability.” Chua’s lecture is part of the University Assembly Series and co-sponsored by the Student Union, the Asian American Law Student Association, the School of Law Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies, and the department of Political Science in Arts & Sciences.
•4 p.m. Feb. 18 – Hon. Harry T. Edwards, Chief Judge Emeritus and Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, presents “A Conversation with Judge Edwards.” Edwards, the Tyrell Williams Speaker, is the co-author of “Labor Relations Law in the Public Sector.”
•3 p.m. Feb. 26 – Martha L. Minow, the William Henry Bloomberg Professor of Law at Harvard University, on “After Brown: Surprising Legacies of the Civil Rights Landmark.” Minow is a nationally recognized author and expert on family law and civil rights, and consultant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
•9 a.m. Mar. 4 – Herma Hill Kay, the Barbara Nachtrieb Armstrong Professor of Law and Law School Dean Emerita at the University of California at Berkeley, on “Celebrating Early Women Law Professors.” Kay, the Women’s Law Caucus International Women’s Day Speaker, is the past president of the Association of American Law Schools.
•9 a.m. Mar. 19 – James W. Ellis, professor of law at the University of New Mexico, on “Mental Disability and the Death Penalty: The Implications of Atkins.” Ellis, the recipient of the 2002 Lawyer of the Year Award from the National Law Journal, is the keynote speaker for the “Justice, Ethics, and Interdisciplinary Teaching and Practice Conference,” co-sponsored by the School of Law Clinical Education Program and Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, the School of Social Work, the School of Medicine, and the department of Psychology in Arts & Sciences.
•11:30 a.m. Apr. 2 – Elizabeth Warren, the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard University, on “The Over-Consumption Myth and Other Tales of Economics, Law and Morality.” Warren is the Donald P. Gallop Keynote Speaker for the law school’s annual F. Hodge O’Neal Corporate and Securities Law Symposium.
The talks are open to the public. Individual lectures are eligible for one MCLE credit for attorneys and judges. For more information, call 935-4958.