Public Interest Law and Policy Speakers series begins Sept. 12

Sierra Leone prosecutor kicks off fall series

The School of Law’s 2016-17 “Access to Justice” Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers series at Washington University in St. Louis features an outstanding lineup of judges, lawyers, authors, and academics with domestic and international expertise in public interest law and policy.

The yearlong, interdisciplinary series brings to the university nationally and internationally prominent experts in such areas as civil rights, racial justice, international human rights, government public service, and pro bono private practice.

The series kicks off at noon Monday, Sept. 12, with Brenda Hollis, chief prosecutor at the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone and former senior trial attorney for the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia. Her talk, “International Criminal Law: A View from the Trenches-The Accidental Jurist,” is in Room 309 of Anheuser-Busch Hall.

The fall line-up also includes Dean Strang, defense attorney for Steven Avery, featured in “Making a Murderer” on Netflix, who will address “The Need for Criminal Justice Reform in America;” Eboo Patel, author of “Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America;” Arsalan Iftikhar, AB ’99, JD ’03, founder of TheMuslimGuy.com, who will discuss his new book, “Scapegoats: How Islamophobia Helps Our Enemies and Threatens Our Freedoms;” and author Tom Maier and “Masters of Sex” showrunner Michele Ashford, who will present “Sex in America: The Lasting Legacy of Masters and Johnson.”

Initiated by the law school Clinical Education Program in 1998 as part of the 25th anniversary of the program, the lecture series is now in its 19th year.

Each program is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Karen Tokarz at 314-935-6414 or tokarz@wulaw.wustl.edu. For a full listing of lectures, visit law.wustl.edu/pilss.