IRONS, SCHROEDER AND STRICKLAND
FEATURED
SPEAKERS AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE
Three speakers headline the program of the third National Conference of Pre-law Advisors. Professor Peter Irons will address the conference Friday, November 17. He will speak on the need for pre-law students to have a better understanding of U.S. political, economic and racial history and how best to meet that need. Professor Irons is professor of Political Science and director of the Earl Warren Bill of Rights Project at the University of California, San Diego. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a practicing civil liberties lawyer. He has authored several books on the U.S. Supreme Court, including A People's History of the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Irons is the editor of the popular "May It Please the Court" oral tapes series.
On Saturday, November 18, the Honorable Mary Murphy Shroeder will speak on "Judging with a Difference." Her focus will be on the impact women have on the discussion of ideas of justice and what, if any, difference the increasing presence of women is making on the administration of justice. Judge Shroeder is a United States Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Judge Shroeder received her J.D. from the University of Chicago and has been a visiting instructor at the Arizona State University Law school, where she received that law school's distinguished achievement award. She is an adjunct lecturer at Duke University. Judge Shroeder is active in several associations, including the National Association of Women Judges (President, 1998-9), the American Judicature Society and the National Association of Women Lawyers. Judge Shroeder currently is a member of the ABA Standing Committee on Federal Judicial Improvements.
Rennard Strickland, Dean and Philip H. Knight Professor of Law at the University of Oregon School of Law, and current chair of the Law School Admissions Council, will address the conference on Thursday, November 16. Dean Strickland will speak address the topic of "Diversity and Legal Education.". Dean Strickland received his J.D. from the University of Virginia, his M.A. from the University of Arkansas and his S.J.D. from the University of Virginia. Dean Strickland, a legal historian of Osage and Cherokee heritage, is one of the nation's leading authorities on Native American law. He has served as editor-in-chief of The Handbook of Federal Indian Law and is the author or editor of more than thirty books, including Tonto's Revenge. Dean Strickland is the recipient of several honors and awards, including the ABA "Spirit of Excellence Award" from the ABA Commission of Opportunities for Minorities in the Profession, and the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) Award. He is the first person to have headed both the Association of American Law Schools and the Law School Admissions Council.
The full conference program is on the PLANC webpage (www.PLANC.org) as well as the registration materials for the conference and the conference hotel. The conference dates are November 16-18 in San Diego, California. The conference program includes panels on various subjects of interest to pre-law advisors, as well as an interactive networking opportunity during a San Diego harbor cruise on the evening of November 17.