By Jessica N. Roberts
The co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the director of the Missouri Botanical Garden and the president of the American Law Institute are among the headliners in the spring lineup for the School of Law's continuing Public Interest Law Speakers Series.
Spring lectures in the fourth annual "Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers" series are held in Anheuser-Busch Hall unless otherwise noted. They are:
¥ Jan. 23, 11 a.m. -- Anthony Thompson, professor of clinical law at New York University (NYU), on "Community Justice Advocacy: Reimagining the Dream." Thompson is the faculty director of the Root-Tilden-Kern Public Interest Scholarship Program at NYU. He served as a deputy public defender for Contra Costa County, Calif., and is the author of "Stopping Usual Suspects: Race and the Fourth Amendment." Thompson is serving as the Black Law Student Association's Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Speaker.
¥ Jan. 29, 9 a.m. -- Michael Traynor, president of the American Law Institute, on "The Selfish Genome?" Traynor is a partner with the law firm of Cooley Godward LLP and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a former chair and president of the Sierra Club (now Earthjustice) Legal Defense Fund. The lecture is presented by the law school's Center for Interdisciplinary Studies as part of a yearlong program on "The Human Genome Project: Research, Medicine and Commerce."
¥ Feb. 6, 11 a.m., Graham Chapel -- Morris Dees, civil rights lawyer, activist and co-founder and chief trial counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center, on "A Passion for Justice." Dees is the recipient of the National Education Association Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award and author of "Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat," "A Season for Justice," and "Hate on Trial: The Case Against America's Most Dangerous Neo-Nazi." The law school and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work are co-sponsoring this lecture, which will be held as part of the Assembly Series.
¥ Feb. 15, 9 a.m. -- Richard D. Baron, chief executive officer of McCormack Baron & Associates Inc., on "Are Lawyers Relevant to the Struggle for Social Justice?" Baron is a former general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, a board member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and founder and board member of the Center of Contemporary Arts. This lecture is presented by the Webster Society as the keynote address for the clinical education conference on "Access to Equal Justice."
¥ Feb. 27, 11 a.m. -- Carrie Menkel-Meadow, professor of law at Georgetown University, on "ADR and Problem Solving in the Public Interest: What Else Besides Litigation Works?" Menkel-Meadow is the chair of the Georgetown-CPR Commission on Ethics and Standards in Alternative Dispute Resolution and author of "Mediation: Theory, Practice and Policy." She is a former director of the Center for the Study of Women at the University of California, Los Angeles.
¥ March 15, 10 a.m. -- Peter H. Raven, Ph.D., the Engelmann Professor of Botany in Arts & Sciences and director of the Missouri Botanical Garden, on "Biodiversity and the Human Prospect." Raven is the chairman of the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration and the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also is a recipient of the National Medal of Science.
University of Iowa law professor Adrien K. Wing's lecture on "Global Critical Race Feminism: Legal Reform for the 21st Century," originally scheduled for fall 2001, was held Jan. 9. The law school's Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies co-sponsored her lecture.
For more information, call 935-4958.