Hate crimes attorney Dees to give lecture

By Barbara Rea

Celebrated civil rights lawyer Morris Dees will give a talk, "A Passion for Justice," at 11 a.m. Feb. 6 in Graham Chapel as the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Lecture for the Assembly Series.

Morris Dees

Throughout his career, Dees has been a defender of victims of hate crimes. As chief trial lawyer and co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Dees has specialized in lawsuits involving civil rights violations. He has won numerous landmark cases, many of which were multimillion-dollar settlements against groups including the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Aryan Nations and radical militia groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a nonprofit organization that maintains a pool of lawyers dealing with civil rights violations and hate crimes. In 1980, the center established "Klanwatch" in response to a resurgence in organized racist activity. The center also maintains an educational component to teach tolerance.

Among his legal victories is a $6.3 million settlement for a woman and her son who were shot at near an Aryan Nations compound; a $7 million judgment against the KKK in a lynching case; and a $37.8 million verdict against the Christian Knights of the KKK for the burning of the Macedonia Baptist Church in South Carolina -- the largest award ever won for damages in a civil case.

Dees is the author of two books: Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat and Hate on Trial: The Case Against America's Most Dangerous Neo-Nazi, as well as an autobiography,A Season for Justice . An updated version of his autobiography, A Lawyer's Journey: The Morris Dees Story, has just been published.

Assembly Series Who: Morris Dees What: Benjamin E. Youngdahl Lecture Where: Graham Chapel When: 11 a.m. Feb. 6 Sponsors: School of Law and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work

He has been the subject of a television movie, Line of Fire, which aired on NBC in 1991, and also was portrayed in the 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi.

A graduate of the University of Alabama Law School, Dees has received numerous awards, including "Trial Lawyer of the Year" by the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice and the National Education Association's Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Award.

Dees' lecture is co-sponsored by the School of Law and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.

All Assembly Series lectures are free and open to the public; however, at Dees' request, the University is implementing measures to ensure his security. Call 935-0014 for information on admission to Dees' talk.

For more information on Assembly Series lectures, call 935-5285 or visit the Assembly Series Web site, wupa.wustl.edu/assembly.