Media Advisory: NAACP Legal Defense Fund President to Give UB Law School Mitchell Lecture

John A. Payton, one of the nation's most passionate and determined voices for justice, will give this year's University at Buffalo Law School's Mitchell Lecture at 2 p.m. today (Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009) in John Lord O'Brian Hall on UB's North (Amherst) Campus.

Payton, who was appointed president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund in 2008, will speak on "Race, Law and Politics in America: Have We Become a Post-racial Society?"

"John Payton is one of the most effective civil rights lawyers of our age," said UB Law School Dean Makau W. Mutua. "He follows in the hallowed footsteps of iconic civil rights leaders such as Thurgood Marshall and Jack Greenberg. His commitment to equal justice and democracy makes him a role model for law students and law faculties."

The Mitchell Lecture is free and open to the public. It will be held in Room 106 of O'Brian Hall.

Press arrangements: Charles Anzalone in UB's Office of Communications at (716) 645-4500 or (716) 440-8824 onsite.