Bar Associations

Contempt of Court: A Lesson in Legal History Dec.9

By Philadelphia Bar Association

4 Total CLE credits (2 in ethics)

In 1906, the case of a young black man from Chattanooga, Tennessee, dramatically changed the state and federal court systems as we know them today. Indeed, it redefined the practice of law. The amazing story of Ed Johnson wrongfully accused and convicted of a crime he did not commit, and his two lawyers who took his case to the Supreme Court, and won a stay of execution (the first time such a stay was ever petitioned for and granted). The Chattanooga sheriff and local citizenry felt the Court had no business interfering in a state matter and tragically took the matter into their own hands. Ed Johnson was lynched. The Supreme Court was outraged. What happened next is an amazing series of events that established law and set precedents still followed today.

Listen to author Mark Curriden?s spellbinding presentation and then join a distinguished panel of lawyers judges and an historian for the discussion afterwards that will address the constitutional, ethical, and legal questions raised by the case and how it is very pertinent to us today including:

Fourteenth Amendment rights under the due process and equal protection clause
Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court: is there any limit?
Race, racism and the law- a historical perspective of Supreme Court cases
Access to legal representation
Civil Rights
The impact of lynching on the U.S. justice system
The lawyer?s ethical duty to a client
Difficult issues involved in representing politically unpopular clients and causes.
State v. Federal Jurisdiction.
Independence of the Judiciary

?Every lawyer, every judge, every law student and professor should read this book and hear Mark Curriden?s presentation.? Michael Tigar, former University of Texas law professor who defended Terry Nichols in the Oklahoma City bombing case

Philadelphia ? December 9, 2008
Pittsburgh ? December 10, 2008
Mechanicsburg ? December 11, 2008
9:00 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

To register or receive additional information, click here or PBI?s customer service department at (800) 932-4637.

Full post as published by Philadelphia Bar Association on November 26, 2008 (boomark / email).