The special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and the editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard are part of the fall lineup for the School of Law’s seventh annual Public Interest Law Speakers Series.
Titled “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers,” the series brings to the University outstanding academics and practitioners in areas such as international human rights, the economics of poverty, civil liberties, racial justice, capital punishment, clinical legal education, and government and private public service.
The goals of the series are to highlight the professional responsibilities of law students and lawyers to provide access to justice; to provide a forum for the law school and the wider University community to engage in a discussion of the legal, social and ethical issues that bear upon access to justice; and to promote scholarship in this area.
Coordinating the series are Karen L. Tokarz, J.D., professor of law and director of clinical education and alternative dispute resolution programs; Peter J. Wiedenbeck, J.D., associate dean of faculty and the Joseph H. Zumbalen Professor of the Law of Property; and Susan F. Appleton, J.D., the Lemma Barkeloo and Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law.
The fall presentations will be held in Anheuser-Busch Hall unless otherwise noted and are free and open to the public. They are:
• 3 p.m. Sept. 14 — Kenneth R. Feinberg, a nationally recognized attorney and mediator who served as the special master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, will discuss “Negotiating the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund: Mass Tort Resolution Without Litigation.”
Feinberg, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University School of Law, is the former special master of the Agent Orange Settlement, former chief of staff for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and former special counsel for the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee. His address is co-sponsored by the School of Law’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program.
• 11 a.m. Sept. 22 — Viet D. Dinh, professor of law and director of the Asian Law and Policy Studies Program at Georgetown University, will speak about “Liberty and the Rule of Law After September 11.” As the U.S. assistant attorney general for legal policy under John Ashcroft from 2001-03, Dinh worked on a number of initiatives, including the Patriot Act.
He previously served as associate special counsel for the U.S. Senate Whitewater Committee. His address is co-sponsored by the Assembly Series and Student Union.
• 11 a.m. Sept. 29 — David D. Cole, professor of law at Georgetown, author of numerous books on terrorism and civil liberties and cooperating attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, will discuss “John Ashcroft’s Paradigm of Prevention and the Future of Civil Liberties.”
Cole, a columnist for Legal Times and a commentator on National Public Radio, will present his view that the Patriot Act is not only unconstitutional, but also an ineffective method of fighting terrorism. His address is co-sponsored by the Assembly Series and Student Union.
• 11 a.m. Oct. 7 in Graham Chapel — William Kristol, the editor and publisher of The Weekly Standard and the former chief of staff for then-Vice President J. Danforth Quayle, will present “The 2004 Election: What’s at Stake,” on the day preceding the presidential debate at the University. Kristol, widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading conservative political analysts, appears frequently on public affairs television programs.
He recently co-authored The War Over Iraq: America’s Mission and Saddam’s Tyranny. His address is co-sponsored by the Assembly Series and Student Union. A question-and-answer session will be held after the lecture in Anheuser-Busch Hall.
• 11 a.m. Oct. 13 — David J. Luban, the Frederick J. Haas Professor of Law and Philosophy at Georgetown, will discuss “Abu Ghraib and the Unpleasant Question of Torture.” Luban, an internationally recognized expert on ethics, torture, terrorism and crimes against humanity, was the recipient of the American Bar Foundation 1998 Keck Foundation Lecturer Award in Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility.
His address is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Ethics and Human Values.
• 11 a.m. Oct. 27 — Harold Hongju Koh, dean and the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale University, will present “The Supreme Court Meets International Law.” Koh, the author of several books on international relations, law and human rights, sits on the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
He previously served as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor for the U.S. Department of State. His address is co-sponsored by the Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies.
• 4 p.m. Oct. 28 in Graham Chapel — Gerald Torres, the H.O. Head Centennial Professor in Real Property Law at the University of Texas and co-author with Lani Guinier of The Miner’s Canary: Enlisting Race, Resisting Power, Transforming Democracy, a treatise on race in America, will speak on “Knowledge, Power, and Democracy: Insights From the Civil Rights and Environmental Movements.”
Torres, president of the American Association of Law Schools, was counsel to the attorney general and deputy assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. His address is co-sponsored by the Assembly Series, the Association of Latin American Students and Student Union.
• 11 a.m. Nov. 3 — Cheryl Harris, professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles, and board member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California and the American Studies Association, will discuss “Race and Class Conundrums: The Cosby Factor.”
Harris is a former board member of the National Conference of Black Lawyers and a former senior attorney for the city of Chicago.
The Public Interest Law Speakers Series will continue in the spring with six lectures.
For more information, call 935-4958.