November 4, 2009 — Author Patricia J. Williams, professor of law at Columbia University and renowned expert on issues of social justice, will describe the paradox of racial inequities at this year’s William H. Leary Lecture. On Thursday, Nov. 12 at 6:00 p.m., the lecture titled, “The Paradox of Race: Reflections on the Not-So-Level Playing Field” will be held at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, 332 S. 1400 E. in the college’s Sutherland Moot Courtroom. It will be preceded by a reception at 5:30 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.
Williams is the James L. Dohr professor of law at the Columbia University School of Law. As a law professor, she has testified before Congress, acted as a consultant and coordinator for a variety of public interest lawsuits, and served as a past member of the boards of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Society of American Law Teachers, and the National Organization for Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund.
A prolific writer, Williams has published widely in various publications, including USA Today, Harvard Law Review, Tikkun, the New York Times Book Review, The Nation, Ms. Magazine, and the Village Voice. In the monthly “Diary of a Mad Law Professor” for the Nation magazine, she covers a broad range of issues of social justice, including the rhetoric of the war on terror, race, ethnicity, gender, civil rights law, forensic uses of DNA, and comparative issues of class and culture in the U.S., France, and Britain.
Williams’s book, “The Alchemy of Race and Rights,” was named one of the 25 best books of 1991 by the Voice Literary Supplement and one of the “feminist classics of the last twenty years” that “literally changed women’s lives,” by Ms. Magazine’s 20th Anniversary Edition. Her newest book-a personal collection of stories, essays, anecdotes, and biography-is titled, “Open House: Of Family, Friends, Food, Piano Lessons, and a Search for a Room of My Own”.
The Leary Lecture is offered for students as one hour of free CLE credit (approval pending). For more information, call or email Barry Scholl, director of external relations, 801-581-4640; barry.scholl@law.utah.edu
Located at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, the S. J. Quinney College of Law is a dynamic institution that emphasizes leadership, interdisciplinary, and global legal education and is committed to advancing solutions on the critical issues of the day, from the environment to global justice, from health to family law, and from innovation to economic development.