Reena Raggi, circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, will deliver the 2017 William P. Murphy Distinguished Lecture at UNC School of Law on Thurs., March 30 at noon in the rotunda. Raggi’s lecture will cover “Free Speech and Offensive Expression on University Campuses.”
Prior to
Raggi’s appointment in 2002, she was a U.S. district judge for the Eastern
District of New York. She earned her bachelor’s degree in
1973 from Wellesley College and her J.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Law
School in 1976.
She was law clerk to Judge Thomas E. Fairchild of the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the Seventh Circuit from 1976 to 1977. From 1977 to 1979 she was in private law
practice as an associate with the New York law firm of Cahill, Gordon &
Reindel. She served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of
New York from 1979 to 1986, including assignments as chief of the Narcotics
Division (1982 to 1984), and chief of the Special Prosecutions Division (1984
to 1986). Also in 1986, she served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of
New York under an interim court appointment. Later that year, she resumed the
private practice of law as a partner in the New York firm of Windels, Marx,
Davies & Ives. She remained there until her appointment in 1987 as a U.S. district
judge for the Eastern District of New York.
Raggi was the first woman to serve on the 14-member bench in the Eastern District of New York and, at 35 years old, one of the youngest Federal judges in the nation.
"We are honored to have Judge Raggi deliver the Murphy Lecture this year," says UNC School of Law Dean Martin H. Brinkley '92. “Her experience and insights into free speech will be a topic particularly of interest to our students. We are also honored to have Chancellor Carol L. Folt attend and offer welcoming remarks.”
There are personal connections between UNC School of Law and Raggi. Two faculty members, John F. Coyle and Andrew Hessick, served as her clerks.
The Murphy Lecture Series was established by the UNC School of Law Class of 1990 to celebrate former faculty member Professor William P. Murphy's teaching and his work in constitutional law, labor law and civil rights. This lecture series is responsible for bringing noted lawyers, political figures and public advocates to the campus.
-March 23, 2017