The 2015 Law Review Symposium on Friday, Oct. 16 will focus on “Justice in the Deep South: Learning from History, Charting our Future.” This year's symposium features representatives from academia, the Judiciary and public interest groups. Stephen Bright, president and senior counsel of the Southern Center for Human Rights and professor at Yale Law School, will give the keynote address from 10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. The symposium will take place in the first-floor moot courtroom of Mercer Law School from 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
The day begins with a welcome from Dean Daisy Hurst Floyd at 9 a.m. with additional speakers James Banter, lead articles editor of the
Mercer Law Review, and Professor Sarah Gerwig-Moore.
The first session of the symposium, from 9:15 a.m. – 10:30 a.m., is titled “Learning from Southern History and Culture.” The speakers for this session will include, Timothy Floyd, Tommy Malone Distinguished Chair in Trial Advocacy and Director of Experiential Education at Mercer University School of Law; Sia Sanneh, senior attorney for the Equal Justice Initiative; and David Davis, associate professor of English and director of fellowships and scholarships at Mercer University's College of Liberal Arts.
Bright will deliver the keynote address from 10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. following the first session.
Following a lunch break, the second session, from 1 p.m. – 2:15 p.m., will discuss “Learning from Struggles.” The speakers for this session are Sherod Thaxton, assistant professor at UCLA School of Law; Teri McMurtry-Chubb, associate professor of Law at Mercer University School of Law; Russell Gabriel, director of the Criminal Defense Clinic at University of Georgia School of Law; and Judge Daniel Craig, LAW '79, of the Superior Court of Richmond County.
During the third session, from 2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., the panel topic is “Learning from Innovators.” Speakers for this session include Angela Allen Bell, associate professor of legal analysis and writing at Southern University Law Center, and Teddy Reese, director of community operations and affairs at the Georgia Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
The closing panel discussion of the symposium will take place from 3:45 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. and will include all panelists from the symposium.
Six Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits are available at a cost of $75. Registration for CLE credit begins at 8:00 a.m. in the Law School lobby, and lunch will be provided.
About Stephen B. Bright:
Stephen B. Bright is president and senior counsel of SCHR and teaches at Yale Law School. He served as director of SCHR from 1982-2005, and has been in his present position since the start of 2006. He has taught at Yale since 1993. Subjects of his litigation, teaching and writing include capital punishment, legal representation for poor people accused of crimes, conditions and practices in prisons and jails, racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, judicial independence, and sentencing. He has tried cases, including capital cases, before juries and argued cases before state and federal appellate courts.
