The School of Law’s 12th annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 30, with nationally prominent speaker Matthew Coles, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project in New York.
The yearlong series Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers brings to WUSTL prominent experts in such areas as racial justice, civil rights, international human rights, the economics of poverty, clinical legal education, public service and pro bono legal practice. The law school’s Clinical Education Program sponsors the series.
Karen L. Tokarz, J.D., the Charles Nagel Professor of Public Interest Law & Public Service and director of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, coordinates the series in conjunction with Pauline Kim, J.D., associate dean for research and faculty development and professor of law, and Annette Appell, J.D., associate dean of clinical affairs and professor of law.
All lectures will be in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall and are free and open to the public.
The schedule:
• 4 p.m. Sept. 30. Coles, a leader in the lesbian and gay civil rights movement, will speak on “The State of the LGBT Movement.” He has assisted on many campaigns to pass gay rights laws, such as the nation’s first domestic partnership law and the first domestic partnership law to allow couples to register their relationships.
He is the author of “Try This At Home!” It is a practical guide on how to pass nondiscrimination and domestic partnership laws.
Coles’ lecture is co-sponsored by the Assembly Series, the Office of Student Activities, Pride Alliance, OUTLAW, American Constitution Society and ACLU-Eastern Missouri Student Chapter. A reception will follow.
• 4 p.m. Oct. 8. Kevin Johnson, J.D., dean of the University of California, Davis, School of Law and the Mabie-Apalla Public Interest Law Chair, will present “Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws.”
Johnson is one of the country’s top experts on immigration, race and civil rights law. He is the author of “Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink Its Borders and Immigration Laws” and “How Did You Get to Be Mexican? A White/Brown Man’s Search for Identity,” nominated for the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award in 2000.
Johnson’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Immigration Law Society and the Latin American Law Students Association. A book signing will precede the lecture.
• Noon Nov. 11. Jeff Giddings, professor at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, will speak about “Advancing Justice in Australia through Alternative Dispute Resolution: From Indigenous Culture to Modern-Day Court Ordered Process.”
Giddings also holds the title of convenor of the graduate program in dispute resolution at Griffith. He is an internationally recognized expert on conflict resolution and clinical education. This lecture is co-sponsored by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute and the International Law Students Association.
The series will continue in the spring with seven more lectures.
For more information, call Shelly Ford at 935-8598.