Community Justice Week, to be held February 23-29, 2004, at the University of Wisconsin Law School, will feature several special events to highlight the diverse public interest law and service opportunities that are available to UW law students.

Keynote speaker for the week will be Judge Ann Claire Williams of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, who will speak on "Equal Access to Justice" on February 23 at 3 p.m. Judge Williams's talk will be in Godfrey & Kahn Hall, Room 2260 of the Law School. Judge Williams will discuss her long-standing commitment to public service and minority concerns.  Williams was the first African-American ever appointed to the Circuit and the third African-American woman to sit on any federal appeals court.  (More information about Judge Williams can be found at the end of this article.)

Judge Williams's keynote address is sponsored by the Appellate Practice Section of the Wisconsin State Bar and by the University of Wisconsin Lectures Committee. Admission is free, and refreshments will be served.

Community Justice Week will also include:

-- Public Interest Opportunities in the Professional Sphere, a panel discussion on Friday, February 27 at a brown-bag lunch in Room 2260 beginning at 12:15 p.m. Representatives from the Madison and Milwaukee legal communities will discuss the variety of ways that public interest law and public service can be incorporated into a legal career.  Participants will include; Mary Triggiano of legal Action of Wisconsin, Elizabeth Rich of the Wisconsin State Bar Association, Marsha Mansfield of the UW Law School and Dane County Bar Association, Joseph Cincotta of Schweitzer & Cincotta in Milwaukee, and Linda Roberson of Balisle & Roberson.

--Public Interest Law Information Fair in the Law School Atrium on Wednesday, February 25 from noon to 2 p.m.

-- Public service opportunities in the Madison community.

For additional information on upcoming Community Justice Week activities, please check the law school Events Calendar at http://www.law.wisc.edu/events .

Judge Ann Claire Williams is a 1975 graduate of Notre Dame Law School. Her legal career began as a law clerk with Judge Robert A. Sprecher of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago for nine years, trying major felony cases and appearing before the Seventh Circuit. She was promoted to deputy chief of a criminal division and ultimately became first Chief of the Organized Drug Enforcement Task Force, responsible for organizing federal investigation and prosecution activities for a five-state region.

From 1985 to 1999, she served on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. With her appointment by President Ronald Reagan, at the age of 35, Judge Williams became one of the youngest persons ever appointed to an Article III federal judgeship. At that time, she was the first African-American woman appointed to the district court in Illinois and in the Seventh Circuit.

In August 1999, Judge Williams was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit by President Clinton and was confirmed on November 10, 1999. She became the first African-American ever appointed to the Circuit and the third African-American woman to serve on any federal appeals court.

In December 2000, Williams received the Chicago Lawyer's 2000 Person of the Year award for her extraordinary contributions to the law and the legal community.

Williams has participated in many educational and training programs and taught case management skills to new federal judges at the Federal Judicial Center from 1990 to 1997. She continues to teach trial advocacy with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (NITA), the country's premier trial advocacy program, in law schools and other CLE courses. She has taught trial advocacy courses at Harvard, Northwestern and other Chicago area law schools.

For more information about Community Justice Week, contact Samantha Webb Kading by e-mail at samanthawebb@wisc.edu .

Submitted by on January 26, 2004

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