DNA evidence expert to speak
Monday, 20 October 2008
The University of Tulsa College of Law welcomes Brandon L. Garrett, nationally respected DNA evidence expert, to present the Ninth Annual Buck Colbert Franklin Memorial Civil Rights Lecture Tuesday, October 21 at 7:30 pm in John Rogers Hall.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Garrett, an associate professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law, is at the forefront of efforts to use DNA evidence to battle wrongful convictions and to understand how innocent people were wrongfully convicted. His research has shed light on dire problems within the legal system and helped establish programs of review that have exonerated dozens of innocent people.
Garrett joined the faculty of the University of Virginia School of Law in 2005 as an associate professor of law. His areas of research and publication include criminal procedure, wrongful convictions, habeas corpus, corporate crime, civil rights and civil procedure. He received a B.A. from Yale University in 1997 and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law in 2001. He worked as an associate at Cochran, Neufeld & Scheck LLP in New York City from 2002-2004, litigating wrongful conviction cases.
The Buck Colbert Franklin Memorial Civil Rights Lecture honors one of the first black attorneys in Tulsa and in Oklahoma. In the aftermath of the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot, Franklin served his community and his profession by assisting victims of the riot. Working in a tent (his office and home were destroyed during the riot), he represented clients, filed briefs and fought back against the injustice of the riot and the city’s assault on the Tulsa black community. He won a critical court decision striking down a city ordinance designed to prevent blacks from rebuilding their homes in Tulsa.
The TU College of Law provides an academically rigorous, yet congenial atmosphere with opportunities for scholarship, leadership and faculty mentoring. Students develop practical skills through participation with student-driven legal journals, award-winning moot court teams, two on-campus clinics and a new pro bono program. Joint interdisciplinary degrees include a JD/MBA and JD/MTAX and unique specialties include energy and environmental law and Native American law. The Mabee Legal Information Center is recognized as one of the nation’s top university law libraries. The TU College of Law is one of the four colleges of The University of Tulsa, which is ranked among U.S. News and World Report’s Top 100 Universities. To find out more visit: http://www.law.utulsa.edu/.
Last Updated ( Monday, 20 October 2008 )