Keynote Address
2008
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Stephen Breyer was appointed by President Clinton in 1994 as the culmination to a distinguished legal career. From 1980 to 1994, he had served on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, becoming chief judge 1990. Previously, in addition to teaching for many years at Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government, Breyer was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, an antitrust lawyer in the Justice Department, an assistant prosecutor and aide to Archibald Cox during the Watergate prosecutions, and legal counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. His writings include administrative law, economic regulation, and the Constitution. Breyer is a graduate of Stanford University, Oxford University, and Harvard Law School, where he was editor of the law review.
Past keynote speakers have included:
2007
The Honorable Nonnie S. Burnes, Commisioner, Massachusetts Division of Insurance
2006
The Hon. Chief Justice Pius Nkonzo Langa, chief justice of the Republic of South Africa
2005
Julius L. Chambers, veteran civil rights lawyer, activist and former Chancellor of North Carolina Central University
2004
Stephen B. Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights
2003
Margaret Marshall, chief justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
2002
Deval Patrick, former U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights
2001
Nathaniel Jones, judge, U.S. Court of Appeals
2000
Sister Helen Prejean, author and anti-death penalty activist
1999
Nancy Gertner, judge, Federal District Court
1998
Edward Kennedy, U.S. senator, Massachusetts
1997
Patricia Williams, professor, Columbia University Law School
1996
A. Leon Higginbotham, chief judge emeritus, U.S. Court of Appeals
1995
Nat Hentoff, columnist, Village Voice