News Release

Sen. Arlen Specter to deliver luncheon keynote for right-to-counsel anniversary commemoration

Washington, DC (March 3, 2003) --

Symposium March 18 to focus on indigent defense shortcomings, solutions 

Who: National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Legal Aid and Defender Association
Arnold & Porter

What: Gideon at 40: Facing the Crisis, Fulfilling the Promise
A day-long symposium commemorating the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Gideon v. Wainwright (guaranteeing representation to the accused), addressing the role of defense counsel in a fair justice system, and highlighting the unfulfilled promise of the right to counsel. Featured speakers include:

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), luncheon keynote speaker
Former Watergate Counsel and NACDL Past President Prof. Sam Dash of GULC
Prof. Ellen Podgor of Georgia State University College of Law
Prof. Yale Kamisar of University of Michigan Law School
Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet
Prof. Abe Krash, GULC, who served as co-counsel for Clarence Gideon
NACDL Death Penalty Comm. Co-chair Stephen Bright of the Southern Center for Human Rights
Barry Scheck, NACDL First Vice-President and co-founder of the Innocence Project and numerous others

When: Tuesday, March 18, 2003. 9:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

Where: Georgetown University Law Center
600 New Jersey Ave., N. W.
Washington, D.C. 

For information and registration: www.nacdl.org/gideon.

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NACDL Communications Department

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal legal system.

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