2022 Fairchild Lecture
Judge Nancy Gertner
"The Future of the U.S. Supreme Court"
4 p.m. Central Time, Monday, April 25, 2022
Register to attend.
Judge Nancy Gertner is a graduate of Barnard College and Yale Law School where she was an editor of The Yale Law Journal. She received her M.A. in Political Science at Yale University and has been an instructor at Yale Law School from 1999 to 2011, and again in 2020. She was appointed to the bench in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. She left the bench in 2011 to become Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School, where she teaches subjects including criminal law, criminal procedure, forensic science, and sentencing. She served as a Commissioner on President Biden's Commission on the Supreme Court. Judge Gertner has received several prestigious awards, including the Thurgood Marshall Award from the American Bar Association, Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, in 2008. She was only the second woman to receive this prestigious award – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the first. Other awards received by Judge Gertner include the Morton A. Brody Distinguished Judicial Service Award (2010), the Massachusetts Bar Association’s Hennessey award for judicial excellence (2011), an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Brandeis University (2011), the Arabella Babb Mansfield award from the National Association of Women Lawyers (2012), the Leila J. Robinson Award of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts (2012), and the Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement award from the American Bar Association Commission on the Status of Women in the Profession (2014). She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyer.She has been profiled in the Boston Globe, the ABA Journal, Boston Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal. She has written and spoken on various legal issues throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Her book, “The Law of Juries,” co-authored with attorney Judith Mizner, was published in 1997 and updated in 2010, and her autobiography, “In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate,” was released in 2011. Her book, "Representative Opinions and Dissents of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg" will be published in late April (Talbot Press). A judicial memoir, "Incomplete Sentences," about the men Judge Gertner sentenced during her judicial career, is forthcoming (Beacon Press).Judge Gertner has published articles and chapters on sentencing, discrimination, forensic evidence, women’s rights, and the jury system. She continues to write and speak about these issues in the United States and throughout the world.
You can support Judge Fairchild's legacy by making a gift to the Thomas E. Fairchild Lecture fund today.
About Judge Fairchild
Judge Thomas E. Fairchild, a 1937 UW Law School graduate, was Wisconsin Attorney General, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, circuit judge, justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and then later chief judge and ultimately senior circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit until his death on February 12, 2007. For 50 years, Judge Fairchild demonstrated both a scholarly regard for those principles of law that generations have molded into the American definition of justice and equality and a remarkable sensitivity to the ever-changing human conditions that make the search for justice and equality an ongoing one.
About the Fairchild Lecture
The Thomas E. Fairchild Lectureship was established in 1988 at University of Wisconsin Law School as a tribute to Judge Fairchild. Initiated by his former law clerks, the lectureship brings a distinguished member of the legal profession — from the bench, bar or academia — to speak at UW Law School on a topic of importance to the profession. Many distinguished guests have served as Fairchild lecturers, including Supreme Court Justices John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O'Connor.
View a complete list of Fairchild lectures
| 1988 | Justice John Paul Stevens, "A Judge's Use of History" |
|---|---|
| 1989 | David S. Ruder, "The Development of Legal Doctrine Through Amicus Participation: The SEC Experience" |
| 1990 | Judge Kenneth W. Starr: ”The Court of Appeals and the Future of the Federal Judiciary" |
| 1991 | Judge Harry T. Edwards, "The Judicial Function and the Elusive Goal of Principled Decision Making" |
| 1993 | Judge Mary Schroeder, "Appellate Justice: Fairness or Formulas" |
| 1994 | Chief Justice Shirley S. Abrahamson, “Refreshing Institutional Memories: Wisconsin and the American Law Institute" |
| 1995 | Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, "The Life of the Law: Principles of Logic and Experience from the United States" |
| 1996 | John P. Frank, "The Shelf Life of Justice Hugo L. Black" |
| 1997 | Sol M. Linowitz, "Moment of Truth for the Legal Profession" |
| 1998 | Judge Lawrence Walsh, "The Future of the Independent Counsel Statute" |
| 1999 | Professor Marc Galanter, "Old and in the Way: The Demographic Transformation of the Legal Profession and Its Implications for the Delivery of Legal Services" |
| 2000 | Stephen B. Bright, "Will the Death Penalty Remain Alive in the Twenty-First Century?" |
| 2001 | Professor Elizabeth Warren, "The Market for Data: The Changing Role of Social Sciences in Shaping the Law" |
| 2002 | Judge Patrick Lucey, Sen. Gaylord Nelson, Ellen Proxmire, and Alexander Shashko, "Revitalization of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin in the Mid-20th Century" |
| 2003 | Judge Reena Raggi, "The Role of District Courts" |
| 2004 | Michael Traynor, "Citizenship in a Time of Repression" |
| 2005 | Sen. Russ Feingold, "Upholding an Oath to the Constitution: A Legislator's Responsibilities" |
| 2006 | Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow, "Thomas E. Fairchild: A Judge's Legacy" |
| 2007 | Judge Diane Wood, "Snapshots from the Seventh Circuit: Continuity and Change, 1966 to 2007” |
| 2008 | U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, "Thoughts On How the Legal System Treats Jurors" |
| 2009 | Scott Turow, "It's Only Words: Thoughts of a Lawyer and a Novelist" |
| 2010 | John Skilton, "Abraham Lincoln, A Lawyer for the Ages" |
| 2011 | Judge William K. Sessions III, "Federal Sentencing Policy: A Path For The Future" |
| 2012 | Professor Michael J. Zimmer, "Inequality, Individualized Risk and Insecurity" |
| 2013 | Judge William J. Bauer, "The War on Drugs" |
| 2014 | Collins T. Fitzpatrick, " Protecting the Fourth Amendment So We Do Not Sacrifice Freedom for Security" |
| 2015 | R. Nils Olsen, Jr., "All in the Family: A Legacy of Public Service and Engagement—Edward and Thomas Fairchild” |
| 2016 | William C. Hubbard, "Our Justice System at an Inflection Point" |
| 2017 | Judge Lynn Adelman, "The Erosion of Civil Rights and What to Do About It" |
| 2018 | Judge Robert Katzmann, "Civic Education and the Federal Courts" |
| 2019 | Professor Geoffrey R. Stone, "The Warren Court: A Fifty Year Retrospective" |
| 2021 | David Maraniss, "The McCarthy Era and its Echoes: A Story of Family, Journalism and the Search for Truth" |
Digital Repository
Check out the UW Law School Digital Repository for more about past Fairchild Lectures »
