LOUISVILLE, Ky. – International war crime tribunal judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald will be the keynote speaker at the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law’s annual Harlan Lecture and Alumni Banquet Monday, Oct. 21, at the Seelbach Hotel.
The banquet will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the program at 6:30 p.m.
An expert on human rights, McDonald is currently one of three American judges with the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal in The Hague in the Netherlands. She also was one of the original judges with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, presiding over the tribunal’s first trial in 1993 and preliminary hearings in subsequent cases before the court. She was elected president of the tribunal in 1997. During her term as president, she presided over appeals for the international criminal courts of Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Also at the event, the law school will present awards to several individuals for their distinguished contributions to the law school and the profession. Recipients are: Owsley Brown Frazier, life member of the U of L Board of Overseers and retired vice chairman of Brown- Forman Corp.; Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph E. Lambert; Walter J. Swyers Jr., attorney; Janet P. Jakubowicz, attorney with Greenebaum Doll and McDonald; law school professor Leslie Abramson; Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Patricia Walker FitzGerald; state Rep. Robert L. Heleringer; and Beaumont, Texas, Mayor Evelyn Lord.
The Harlan Lecture was named for Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan, who was a Louisville native. Harlan is best known for his dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson, in which he rejected the “separate but equal” doctrine.
The lecture and banquet are open to the public, but reservations must be made in advance. The cost is $40 per person. To make a reservation or for more information, call Simone Beach at the law school at (502) 852-6366 by Oct. 14.