U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff will deliver the University of Puget Sound’s fall 2019 Susan Resneck Pierce Lecture in Public Affairs and the Arts on Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. Rakoff’s address is titled “Big Problems with Our Criminal Justice System—and How To Fix Them.”
“Judge Rakoff has influenced the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement policies and is an expert on the challenges of eye-witness testimony,” said Puget Sound President Isiaah Crawford. “His lecture will encourage the Puget Sound community to think deeply and critically about a number of timely and potentially historic ethical and legal issues.”
Rakoff is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Since joining the court in 1996, Rakoff has authored more than 1,500 judicial opinions, and has served on the 2nd, 3rd, and 9th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals. He has co-authored five books, written nearly 150 published articles, delivered more than 600 speeches, and is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books.
Prior to his judicial service, Rakoff spent more than 20 years as an attorney in the public and private sector, including seven years as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Rakoff has been an adjunct professor at Columbia Law School since 1988. He currently serves on the National Commission on Forensic Science and the executive committee of the New York City Bar Association, and is a judicial fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He is also member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Law Institute.
Established in 2002 in honor of President Emeritus Susan Resneck Pierce, the Susan Resneck Pierce Lectures in Public Affairs and the Arts lecture series brings public intellectuals, writers, and artists of high recognition in public affairs and the arts to campus for timely discussions on current affairs, creativity, and expression.
Susan Resneck Pierce Lecture with U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff
“Big Problems With Our Criminal Justice System—and How To Fix Them”
Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, at 7:30 p.m.
Schneebeck Concert Hall
Tickets are available at the Wheelock Student Center Information Center, online at tickets.pugetsound.edu, and by calling 253.879.3419.