Guest Speaker Program

Launched Sept. 1, 2009, the Guest Speaker series brings a diverse lineup of prominent legal professionals to UCI Law every week.

"My basic goal was to expose the students to a wide array of intelligent and hopefully inspiring people in various aspects of the legal world," says Prof. Henry Weinstein, who organized the program.

Generally held on Tuesday and/or Thursday at noon, the programs typically run just over an hour, although riveted students stayed for a full two hours
on Oct. 22, listening to a wrongfully convicted man who was recently freed after 26 years in prison.

Upcoming Speakers

Please go to our UCI Law Events page for updated details about future Guest Speaker presentations.

Past Speakers

  • Sept. 1: Gregory Townsend, a war crimes prosecutor who has worked on cases involving Rwanda and Bosnia.
  • Sept. 8: UCI’s own Elizabeth Loftus, talking about faulty eyewitness identifications.
  • Sept. 15: Richard F. Neely, former Chief Justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court and author of several books on the law, including "How Courts Govern America."
  • Sept. 22: Miriam Aroni Krinsky, a former federal prosecutor who became a leading advocate for children in dependency courts.
  • Sept. 29: UCI Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, who gave students a preview of this year's Supreme Court term.
  • Oct. 13: Todd Schneider, a San Francisco attorney presenting a trial version of the argument he will present in the Supreme Court in November on a key jurisdiction case, Hertz v. Friend. UCI Law professors Catherine Fisk, Stephen Lee and Ann Southworth comprised the panel of mooting justices.
  • Oct. 20: Stewart Kwoh and Tammy Peng of the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, the nation largest legal organization serving the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
  • Oct. 22: Bruce Lisker, recently freed after serving 26 years on a wrongful murder conviction, with his appellate attorney William Genego and L.A. Times reporter Matt Lait, part of the reporting team that broke the story.
  • Oct. 27: Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the nation’s leading non-profit Latino legal organization.
  • Oct. 29: Tony Rackauckas, the Orange County District Attorney.
  • Nov. 3: John Hueston, the lead Justice Department lawyer in the prosecutions of former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay and Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling, now a partner at Irell & Manella in Newport Beach.
Oct. 13 Guest Speaker

Oct. 13: Prof. Weinstein introduces Guest Speaker Todd Schneider.

Oct. 13 Guest Speaker

Attorney Todd Schneider presents his argument to professors Stephen Lee, Catherine Fisk and Ann Southworth.

Todd Schneider