30th Annual Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Lecture
30th Annual Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Lecturer: Congressman Jamie Raskin
Registration Is Closed.
About the Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Lecture
The annual Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Lecture series serves as a dedicated forum at UDC Law in which leading members of the bench or bar speak directly to the people of the District and the law school community on issues of vital importance to the practice of law in the public interest.
Established in 1993 in honor of the late civil liberties attorney and founding member of the law school Board of Governors Joe Rauh, some of the nation’s most respected civil rights and public interest figures – including then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor and many others – have delivered the Rauh Lecture.
The Rauh Lecture, which is open to the public and free of charge, includes a catered reception at the conclusion of the event courtesy of the D.C. School of Law Foundation
Joe Rauh (standing, fifth from left) (National Archives, Washington, D.C.)
Joe Rauh
About Joe Rauh
Joe Rauh envisioned a law school that would function as a training ground for public interest lawyers: a school where law students could learn basic skills and represent the underrepresented at the same time, a school that made dedication to public service a criterion for admission and commitment to public service a life-long responsibility. The University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law is Joe Rauh’s dream come true. A founding member of the Law School’s Board of Governors, Rauh remained one of its staunchest supporters until his last hours with us.
Past Rauh Lecturers
Maya Wiley
2023
Karl Racine
2021
Richard L. Trumka
2019
Vanita Gupta
2018
Stephen Bright
2017
Sen. Cory Booker
2016
Bryan Stevenson
2015
Tom Perez
2014
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
2013
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor
2012
Harold Koh
2011
| 2010 | Eric Holder |
| 2009 | Sen. Patrick Leahy |
| 2008 | Vernon Jordan |
| 2007 | Nina Totenberg interviewed by Wade Henderson |
| 2006 | Theodore M. Shaw |
| 2005 | Congressman Barney Frank |
| 2004 | Congressman John Lewis |
| 2003 | Marian Wright Edelman |
| 2002 | Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ralph Neas and Wade Henderson on “Civil Rights in the 21st Century” |
| 2001 | Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg |
| 2000 | Charles Ruff |
| 1999 | The Sleep Room (an award-winning film about Joe Rauh’s last case) |
| 1998 | Jack Greenberg |
| 1997 | Elaine Jones |
| 1996 | Father Robert Drinan |
| 1995 | Rick Seymour |
| 1994 | Judith Lichtman & Roger Wilkins |
| 1993 | William Taylor |
Information about Past Rauh Lectures
The District of Columbia School of Law Foundation has named…
Maya Wiley, president, and chief executive officer of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund, has been named the 2023-2024 Joseph L. Rauh,…
Karl Racine delivers 28th Annual Rauh Lecture
Attorney General for the District of Columbia Karl A. Racine delivered the 2021 Joseph L. Rauh Jr. Lecture in March, in which he focused on the office’s efforts in affordable housing, worker…
Debo Adegbile named Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Chair of Civil…
The UDC David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC Law) is excited to announce that Debo Adegbile will serve as the 2019-2020 Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Chair of Civil Rights.…
Richard L. Trumka talks history, future of unions and labor…
On Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019, AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka delivered the 27th Annual Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Lecture, linking the history and future of labor rights and reminding the…
“Despair is the Luxury of the Privileged:” 26th Annual Rauh…
On Tuesday, Nov. 27, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Vanita Gupta delivered the twenty-sixth annual Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Lecture to a rapt…
Stephen Bright talks death penalty, debtors’ prisons, mass incarceration at…
On Nov. 29, Stephen B. Bright delivered the 25th Annual Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Lecture, titled “Race & Poverty in the Criminal Courts: The Death Penalty, Debtors’ Prisons, Mass Incarceration…
Sen. Cory Booker Delivers Energetic 24th Annual Rauh Lecture
On Nov. 16, barely a week after the 2016 Presidential Election that left many reeling, Sen. Cory Booker visited the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of…
Bryan Stevenson Delivers Captivating, Inspiring Rauh Lecture
Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, delivered a motivating and inspiring speech to a crowded auditorium at the University of the District of Columbia for…
Tom Perez delivers 22nd Annual Rauh Lecture
The 22nd Annual Joseph L. Rauh Jr. Lecture was delivered on April 4, 2014, by U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez. After a welcome from DC School of Law Foundation…
Senator Elizabeth Warren: 21st Rauh Lecturer
On October 2, 2013, in the UDC Theater of the Arts, United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) delivered 21st Annual Joseph L. Rauh Jr. Lecture to a crowd of over…
19th Rauh Lecture with Harold Koh, Legal Adviser of the…
On November 22nd, UDC David A. Clarke School of Law held its 19th annual Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Lecture. This year’s featured speaker was Harold Hongju Koh, the 22nd Legal…
Justice Sonia Sotomayor at the 20th Annual Rauh Lecture
On April 2, the Honorable Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States, delivered the 20th Annual Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Lecture, A Conversation with Justice Sotomayor.
Senator Patrick Leahy Delivers Rauh Lecture
On Tuesday, June 16th, after a breakfast reception, United States Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) delivered the 17th annual Joseph L. Rauh Jr. Lecture to a standing room only crowd of…
16th Rauh Lecture: Vernon Jordan on The 2008 Election
Vernon Jordan gave the 16th Annual Joseph L. Rauh, Jr., Lecture on April 14, 2008, before more than 250 honored guests in standing room only capacity in the Window Lounge.