Stephen R. Volk '57 Lectures

This lecture series was established in 2004 by friends and colleagues honoring Stephen Volk, chairman of Credit Suisse First Boston and formerly from Shearman & Sterling.

Past Stephen R. Volk '57 Lecturers

May 2, 2023
"The Future of Affirmative Action: Consequences of the Supreme Court's Forthcoming Ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard"
Jeannie Suk Gersen
John H. Watson, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

May 2, 2022
"Courts, Myths, and the Foundation of Liberty: Exploring Misperceptions about Judging and the Threat to Our Independent Judiciary"
Judge Beth Robinson '86
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

April 29, 2021
"The Supreme Court and Its Impact on You"
Nina Totenberg
NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent

2019 - 2020 - Postponed due to Pandemic

May 2, 2019
"Hate Speech, Free Speech, and the First Amendment: A Conversation with Nadine Strossen"

Nadine Strossen
John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law, New York Law School; Immediate Past President, American Civil Liberties Union

May 3, 2018
"LawWithoutWalls: Enhancing Access to Justice and Lawyers' Skills with Innovation"
Michele DeStefano '91
Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law; Guest Faculty, Harvard Law School and IE Law School; Founder & Executive Director, LawWithoutWalls

May 4, 2017
 "The Fourth Amendment in Jeopardy? Privacy vs. Security in the Electronic Age"
Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer
U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut

May 5, 2016
"Rigged: When Race and Poverty Determine Outcomes in Death Penalty and Other Criminal Cases"
Stephen Bright
President and Senior Counsel, Southern Center for Human Rights; Lecturer, Yale Law School

April 30, 2015
"Dark Money and Shadow Parties: The Real Problem in Campaign Finance"
Heather Gerken
J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law, Yale Law School

May 1, 2014
"Can President Obama End the War on Terror?"
David Cole
Professor of Law, Georgetown Law

May 2, 2013
"Some Leaders Are Born Women!"
Sarah Weddington
Lawyer (successful litigator of Roe v. Wade before the Supreme Court), Professor, and Women's Rights Advocate

May 3, 2012
"The Separation of Powers and the Executive's Defense of Congressional Enactments"
Donald B. Verrilli, Jr.
Solicitor General of the United States, U.S. Department of Justice

March 2, 2011
"Whatever Happened to Freedom of Association?"
Michael McConnell
Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law
Director, Stanford Constitutional Law Center, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution Stanford University

April 29, 2010
"Hate Crime and Civil Rights Violations in the United States -- the Law Enforcement Response"
John Mott '81
Associate Judge, Superior Court of the District of Columbia

November 20, 2008
"Baby Markets: Faith, Class, and Race in Contemporary Adoptions"
Michelle B. Goodwin
Everett Fraser Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School

January 23, 2008
"Emancipation from Mental Slavery: Public Education & Social Change"
Mari Matsuda
Activist and Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
A Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Event and the Stephen R. Volk '57 Lecture.

October 30, 2006
"Should Religious Groups Ever Be Exempt from Civil Rights Laws?"
Martha Minow
Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

July 17, 2006
"Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights"
Kenji Yoshino
Deputy Dean for Intellectual Life and Professor of Law, Yale Law School

November 8, 2004
"Brown v. Board of Education Live in the 21st Century: Challenging Separate and Unequal Schools"
Gary Orfield
Professor of Education and Social Policy Making, Harvard University