Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Appoints Howard Law Dean Co-Chair of Board of Directors

WASHINGTON- Howard University School of Law Dean Danielle R. Holley was appointed co-chairman of the board of directors of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Holley shares the seat with Joe West of Duane Morris LLP.

“I am honored to begin my term as Co-Chair of the Lawyers Council Committee for Civil Rights,” Holley said. “At this critical time, when we must fight for the right to vote, equity in education, the health of our democracy, environmental justice, reproductive health and freedom, and so many other important issues. , we need the work of the LCCRUL more than ever. ”

The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law was created at the request of President John F. Kennedy in the summer of 1963 following a meeting of 244 lawyers in the East Room of the White House. President Kennedy, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy spoke at the conference and urged lawyers to use their training and influence to push through the fight to protect rights civilians from the streets to the courts. The 244 attorneys in attendance came from across the United States and included state bar and ABA leaders and 50 African American attorneys. President Kennedy had held similar meetings with business, education, and clergy officials, but the decision to call a meeting with the attorneys and the timing of the meeting was born out of a sense of urgency about the absence of the organized bar in the area of ​​civil rights. movement.

In her new role on the Advocates Committee, Holley will be working with the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors on governance and oversight of the organization and supporting President and CEO Damon Hewitt in his efforts to advance the mission of the Advocates Committee.

“We are delighted to welcome Dean Holley as the new Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors,” said Hewitt. “His legal expertise, management experience and visionary leadership will be invaluable to our organization as we build for the future. In addition, her deep knowledge and scholarship on educational equity issues will provide critical perspective as we continue our work to advocate for truthful K-12 school curricula and diversity in education. higher education, including our involvement in ongoing Supreme Court affirmative action cases. I look forward to working alongside Dean Holley to strengthen the lawyers’ committee’s impact in defending – and expanding – these and other characteristics of our democracy.

Holley is an education and civil rights specialist and a diversity specialist in the legal profession and higher education. She holds a BA from Yale University and a JD from Harvard Law School, and she clerked for Judge Carl E. Stewart on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth circuit.

Dean Holley joined the Howard University School of Law in 2014 as Dean and Professor of Law. She teaches a wide variety of courses including Law and Regulation, Inequality and Education, Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, Federal Courts, and Leadership for Lawyers. Her fellowship focuses on public school governance, improving access to higher education, and diversity in the legal profession.

Holley has won numerous awards, including the first Impact Award from the Association of American Law Schools, the Montgomery Summer Research Diversity Fellowship Distinguished Alumni Award from the American Bar Foundation, the Lutie Lytle Conference Outstanding Scholar Award, the Heman Sweatt Award from the National Bar Association and the University of South Carolina Educational Foundation Distinguished Service Award. She has twice received the Outstanding Faculty Member Award during her tenure at the University of South Carolina Law School.

For a complete listing of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Board of Directors, click here.

About Howard University

Founded in 1867, Howard University is a private research university comprised of 14 schools and colleges. Students follow more than 140 study programs leading to undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. The University operates with a commitment to excellence in truth and service and has produced one Schwarzman Scholars, three Marshall Scholars, four Rhodes Scholars, 12 Truman Scholars, 25 Pickering Scholars, and more than 165 Fulbright recipients. Howard is also producing more African-American doctorates on campus. recipients than any other university in the United States. For more information on Howard University, visit www.howard.edu.

About the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, established in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents of change in the rights movement civics. Today, the Lawyers Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that black people and other people of color have the voice, the opportunity and the power to deliver on the promises of our democracy. For more information, please visit https://lawyerscommittee.org

Media contact: Raneeka Witty; [email protected]