The Dean’s Speaker Series is the highest profile speaker series at the College of Law, bringing in a diverse group of legal thinkers to provide the MSU community with thought-provoking discussions about law and contemporary issues.
University Distinguished Professor of Law and Humanities
Northeastern University
“Race and Technology: For Better or Worse?”
Wednesday, September 29, 2021
12:15 - 1:15 p.m.
Join MSU Law for an in-depth conversation with Professor Patricia Williams, one of the most provocative intellectuals in American law and a pioneer of both the law and literature and critical race theory movements.
In her groundbreaking 1991 book The Alchemy of Race and Rights, the New York Times declared that Professor Williams “changed the voice of legal scholarship” with her masterful blend of personal stories and legal analysis. She is a 2000 recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, awarded in recognition of her compelling interdisciplinary legal scholarship.
Professor Williams continues to publish widely in the areas of race, gender, literature, and law, authoring hundreds of essays, book reviews and articles for leading journals, popular magazines, and newspapers. She has three books currently in progress: The Complete Mad Law Professor, The Talking Helix, and Gathering the Ghosts.
Professor and Co-Director of Real Estate, Housing and Community Development Program
Texas A&M University
“Race, Property, and Justice”
Monday, October 18, 2021
12:15 - 1:15 p.m.
Professor Mitchell’s research focuses on real property issues that impact poor and disadvantaged communities, both rural and urban, including how the ability (or inability) of individuals and communities to build and retain assets can impact inequality.
Professor Mitchell is a 2020 Fellow of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. This “genius” grant seeks to help him build upon his work reforming longstanding legal doctrines that deprive Black and other disadvantaged American families of their property and real estate wealth.
The Honorable Harry Pregerson Professor of Law
UCLA Law School
“Black Lives and The Constitution”
Monday, February 14, 2022
12:15 - 1:15 p.m.
A much-awarded teacher, recognized scholar, and administrator, Professor Carbado writes in the areas of employment discrimination, criminal procedure, implicit bias, constitutional law, and critical race theory. His scholarship appears in top law reviews, including UCLA, Berkeley, Harvard, Michigan, Cornell, and Yale. He is currently working on a series of articles on affirmative action and a book on race, law, and police violence.
Professor Cabrado is a past William H. Neukom Fellows Research Chair in Diversity and Law at the American Bar Foundation, one of the highest positions dedicated to the promotion of diversity and equality in the legal profession.
Professor of Law and Senior Scientist
Indiana University Maurer School of Law and Kinsey Institute
“Policing Bodies”
Wednesday, April 6, 2022
12:15 - 1:15 p.m.
Professor Thusi’s previous legal experience at organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and The Opportunity Agenda inform her scholarship. Her research examines racial and sexual hierarchies as they relate to policing, race, and gender, and has been published in law reviews at Harvard, NYU, Northwestern, Georgetown, and Cornell.
Among other honors in her career, Thusi was selected as a Fulbright U.S. Global Scholar for 2020-2023, and the American Bar Association recognized her as a Top 40 Rising Young Lawyer in 2019.