Morris Dees, co-founder and Chief Trial Counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center, will be the featured speaker at Wayne State University Law School’s 2015 Dean Robb Public Interest Lecture on April 13, 2015.
Mr. Dees will address the legacy of 60s activism and the civil and human rights challenges facing the U.S. today, and will also remember Viola Liuzzo, the Detroit civil rights activist shot to death by KKK members as she shuttled voting rights marchers following the historic march to the Alabama Capitol in 1965.
An Alabama native, Mr. Dees formed the Southern Poverty Law Center with Joseph Levin in 1971 to help cement the gains of the civil rights movement and stamp-out vestiges of Jim Crow segregation in the Deep South. Today, the SPLC is internationally known for tracking and exposing the activities of white supremacists and other hate groups as well as other civil rights areas such as immigrant justice, worker exploitation, LGBT rights and abuse of children in jails and prisons. Using litigation, education and other forms of advocacy, the SPLC works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality.
The program, sponsored in part by Sommers Schwartz, begins at 6:30pm, with refreshments at 5:30pm, and will take place in the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights/Spencer Partrich Atrium at 471 W. Palmer Street in Detroit. To register or for more information, please visit the Wayne State University Event Calendar.
Kevin J. Stoops
Kevin Stoops is an experienced trial attorney who appears frequently in Michigan state courts and federal courts across the United States, representing clients in complex business litigation. He has vast experience and a track record of successful outcomes high-dollar matters involving trade secret, business tort, intellectual property, executive employment, and class action claims.
