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Date: Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020
Time: Noon-1:30 p.m. MDT
Location: Virtual

The annual John Paul Stevens Lecture brings a distinguished jurist to Colorado Law to discuss judging and the state of the judiciary. Former United States Associate Justice John Paul Stevens delivered the inaugural lecture in September 2011. Since then, the lecture has been given by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan (2019); Judge Carlos F. Lucero, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit (2018); former Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, New York Court of Appeals (2017); Justice Sonia Sotomayor (2016); Justice Antonin Scalia (2014); Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (2013), and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (2012). The signature fireside chat format of the lecture presents an opportunity for law students, lawyers, and community members to hear about the jurists’ approach to the bench, career, legal philosophy, and law school advice. The lecture often attracts over 2,000 people to CU Boulder’s Macky Auditorium, and is streamed for a national audience.  

This is a virtual event - you can register . The event is free - open to students, faculty, staff and community members.

Zak Yacoob, a former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa from 1998 until 2013 and former anti-apartheid activist, will deliver the ninth annual John Paul Stevens Lecture virtually at 12:00 p.m. MT on Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020. Justice Yacoob is the first international justice to present the Stevens Lecture, which is free and open to the public. Justice Yacoob will share his thoughts on the role of the courts, social justice, and racial equality. His remarks and virtual fireside chat with Professor and Director of the White Center Professor Suzette Malveaux will be followed by a Q&A with Colorado Law students and the broader community.

Justice Yacoob, who has been blind from infancy, studied at the Arthur Blaxall School for the Blind in Durban, South Africa. He completed a law degree at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. While at the university and during his law practice, Justice Yacoob was a member of the African National Congress underground; participated in community organizations involved in anti-apartheid and community activities, including the United Democratic Front and the Detainees Parents’ Support Group; and engaged in activities aimed at protecting the rights of people with disabilities.

From 1973 until 1991, Justice Yacoob ran a significant and diverse commercial and general legal practice, while also engaging in community activities that included defending political prisoners charged for defying unjust apartheid laws, and challenging, on behalf of victims, detentions without trial, house arrest, and other restrictive decrees. He took silk in 1991, an honor in South Africa conferred by the president to advocates for exceptional skill, integrity, and leadership, and practiced as senior counsel until his appointment by Nelson Mandela to the Constitutional Court of South Africa in 1998.

Yacoob is well-known nationally and internationally for his contributions to the socioeconomic rights and jurisprudence of South Africa.