Featured Fall 2005 Speakers
Janet Reno
Great Lives in the Law
September 26, 2005
Noon, Room 3041, Duke Law School
On September 26, 2005, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno will be interviewed by Douglas B. Maggs Professor of Law Walter Dellinger about her lengthy career in public service, as part of the Great Lives in the Law series. Ms. Reno was appointed by President Bill Clinton on March 11, 1993, becoming the first woman ever to serve as attorney general. Serving for the remainder of the Clinton presidency, Ms. Reno became the longest serving attorney general of the 20th century.
A native of Dade County, Florida, Ms. Reno is a 1963 graduate of Harvard Law School. After serving as staff director of the Judiciary Committee of the Florida House of Representatives, Ms. Reno became the first woman appointed as state attorney for Dade County in 1978. She was elected to the post in November 1978, re-elected for another four terms, and is credited with reforming Florida’s juvenile justice system, among other accomplishments.
The Great Lives in the Law lecture series invites lawyers and judges whose lives have been distinguished by substantial legal accomplishments to discuss some of the ways their careers have been intertwined with changes in the law or its institutions. Sponsored by the Duke Program in Public Law, these lectures provide an opportunity to reflect on the special perspective of individuals who have participated in or closely been involved in the developments in our legal institutions and laws. In keeping with the focus of the Duke Program in Public Law, emphasis in this series will be upon those whose careers have included significant public service. Since the Honorable William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States, delivered the inaugural lecture in April 2002, the Great Lives in the Law series has featured civil rights lawyer Julius Chambers, Associate Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Dennis Archer, President of the American Bar Association, The Honorable Richard Goldstone, John Hope Franklin, and The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Richard M. Buxbaum
Herbert L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in International and Comparative Law
September 27, 2005
Noon, Room 3041, Duke Law School
Richard M. Buxbaum, Jackson H. Ralston Professor of International Law at the School of Law at University of California, Berkeley will deliver the fourth annual Herbert L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in International and Comparative Law on September 27, 2005. His talk is entitled "Comparative Law as a Bridge Between the Nation State and the Global Economy."
Buxbaum is an expert in the fields of corporation law and comparative and international economic law, and since 1987 has been editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Comparative Law. On the UC Berkeley faculty since 1961, he founded and was the first chair of its Center for German and European Studies and the Center for Western European Studies, and was dean of international and area studies from 1993-1999. He was also the first director of the Earl Warren Legal Institute at Berkeley, serving from 1969 to 1974.
The Herbert L. Bernstein Memorial Lecture in International and Comparative Law honors the many contributions to Duke Law School and to the legal community made by the late Professor Bernstein, a faculty member for 17 years, and a noted specialist in contract, comparative, and private international law.
William Van Alstyne
Brainerd Currie Memorial Lecture
November 14, 2005
Time and Location TBD
Professor William Van Alstyne will deliver the Brainerd Currie Memorial Lecture on November 14. A renowned constitutional law scholar, Professor Van Alstyne is the Lee Professor at William & Mary Law School. He joined that faculty in 2004, after almost four decades on the Duke Law faculty, being awarded the William R. and Thomas S. Perkins chair in 1974.
An expert in constitutional law, constitutional history, and civil rights, Professor Van Alstyne’s many publications include The American First Amendment in the 21st Century: Cases and Materials, and Interpretations of the First Amendment. He is one of the most frequently cited legal scholars in the United States, and was twice selected in polls of federal judges, lawyers, and academics as one of the most qualified individuals for appointment to the Supreme Court.
The annual Brainerd Currie Memorial Lecture honors the late Duke Law scholar Brainerd Currie. Past lecturers include Robert Nagel, Sanford Levinson, Robert Post, Robert Litan, Martha Minow, Bob Ellickson, Sir Kenneth Keith, and Nancy J. King.