The criminal justice system may be criminal and it may be a system, but it can hardly be called just. Race and income play a major negative role in every part of the system. This talk will address how lawyers can hope to bring about social change within the criminal justice system.

Bill Quigley is the legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a national legal and educational organization dedicated to advancing and defending constitutional and human rights. An active public interest lawyer since 1977, Quigley has served as counsel and litigated numerous cases with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., and with the ACLU of Louisiana, where he served as general counsel for more than 15 years.

Recently, Quigley submitted a brief to the Louisiana Supreme Court on behalf of CCR, which the Court relied on in ordering the release on recognizance of anyone arrested and detained for more than 48 hours without an adequate probable cause hearing. The brief was based on an empirical study that demonstrated that magistrates were regularly failing to read affidavits of probable cause and spent an average of only 1.66 minutes on each appearance, during which time they purportedly advised each arrestee of his or her rights and the charges he or she faced; set individualized bail; appointed counsel; made a probable cause determination; and set a preliminary hearing or other next court date.

Quigley received the 2006 Camille Gravel Civil Pro Bono Award from the Federal Bar Association New Orleans Chapter, the 2006 Stanford Law School National Public Service Award, and the 2006 National Lawyers Guild Ernie Goodman Award. Quigley is the author of Ending Poverty As We Know It: Guaranteeing A Right to A Job At A Living Wage (2003) and Storms Still Raging: Katrina, New Orleans and Social Justice (2008). In 2003, he was named the Pope Paul VI National Teacher of Peace by Pax Christi USA, and he also received the 2004 SALT Teaching Award presented by the Society of American Law Teachers.

Event starts at 12 p.m.

CLE Information: This course has been approved by the Pennsylvania Continuing Legal Edcation Board for one and one-half (1.5) hours of substantive credit. For CLE credit, a fee of $25 will be collected at the door.