Lecture Series
Minnesota Law has a long history of welcoming global, state, and local leaders to speak to the Law School community and the public. Many of these events have been video recorded and are available for viewing (see links below).
Robert A. Stein ’61 Lecture
Professor Robert A. Stein ’61, dean of the Law School for 15 years and former executive director and chief operating officer of the American Bar Association, generously endowed this lecture series to enrich the Law School community by inviting leaders of the bench and bar and of the governments of the U.S. and other nations to deliver an annual lecture on a topic of national or international interest.
John Dewey Lecture in the Philosophy of Law
This lecture honors John Dewey, American philosopher, educator, and scholar. A proponent of legal realism, Dewey’s philosophy of pragmatism related his conception of a moral life to a variety of contemporary social, economic, and political issues. Dewey lived from 1859 to 1952 and spent one year as a professor of philosophy at the University of Minnesota. The John Dewey Lecture in the Philosophy of Law is funded by a grant from the John Dewey Foundation and is sponsored by the University of Minnesota Law School to provide a forum for significant scholarly contributions to the development of jurisprudence.
Horatio Ellsworth Kellar Distinguished Visitor Lecture
The late Curtis B. Kellar ’40, established the Horatio Ellsworth Kellar Distinguished Visitors Program in memory of his father in 1996. This interdisciplinary lecture series at the Law School connects emerging issues in the law with other disciplines. Mr. Curtis Kellar served on the Board of Directors of the Law Alumni Association and the Board of Visitors of the Law School, retiring in 1981 as an Associate General Counsel of Mobil Oil Corp.
Matheson Lecture in Corporate Governance
This lecture series was created with a gift from Dean ’08 and Diana Matheson to honor Dean’s father and Minnesota Law professor John Matheson and to highlight the valuable work being done within the Corporate Institute. Learn more about the Corporate Institute.
MLK Convocation in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 2016, the University of Minnesota Law School and the Law School's Diversity and Belonging Committee launched our Annual MLK Convocation in an effort to bring all members of the Law School community together to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy and reflect on the continued relevance of his work in our legal community.
William B. Lockhart Lecture
This lecture honors William B. Lockhart, dean of the University of Minnesota Law School from 1956-72. Instrumental in enriching the Law School curriculum and attracting highly qualified faculty and students, Dean Lockhart shared his gifts of teaching excellence and scholarly leadership with students and faculty. After 28 years as a professor at the Law School (1946-74), Dean Lockhart taught on the faculty of the University of California, Hastings College of Law (1974-94). He died in December 1995.