Goldberg Lecture Series

Irving L. Goldberg Endowed Lecture Series

Established: 1988

History

The Irving L. Goldberg Lecture Series was established by his former law clerks to honor the life and work of Judge Irving L. Goldberg who died in 1995. Recent previous lecturers include: The Honorable Patricia Wald, The Honorable Richard S. Arnold, Solicitor General Drew Days, and The Honorable Diane Wood.

Judge Irving Loeb Goldberg was born in Port Arthur, Texas in 1906. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in 1926 and his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1929. During World War II, he served as an officer of the U.S. Navy and was assigned to the staff of then Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson. He returned to Dallas to practice law and was a founder with Richard A. Gump and Robert S. Strauss of the firm today known as Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.

In 1966, President Johnson appointed Goldberg to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. During his nearly 29 years as a federal appellate judge he ruled on significant cases involving civil liberties, school integration, school finance, reproductive freedom, and federal criminal procedure. He was renowned for the integrity of his legal scholarship, the lucidity of his opinions, and the skill with which he employed his wit to illuminate the point.

Lectures

2022

- The Honorable Sri Srinivasan, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- "A Conversation with the Honorable Sri Srinivasan"

2019

October 17, 2019
- The Honorable Don R. Willett, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
- "People, Not Parchment - Civic Illiteracy & Our American Republic"

2018

September 6, 2018
- James L. Forman, Jr., 2018 Pulitzer Prize Winner and Professor of Law
Yale Law School
- "Locking Up Our Own:  Crime and Punishment in Black America"

2016

February 23, 2016
- Martha Minnow, Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law
Harvard Law School
- "Privatization, State Action and Public Values”

2014

March 18, 2014
- Akhil Reed Amar - Sterling Professor of Law & Political Science - Yale University
- Author of "America's Unwritten Constitution:  The Precedents and Principles We Live By"

2009 

February 24, 2009
- Chief Judge Robert H. Henry – U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
- “ ‘A Decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind’ Sometimes Requires a Second Look:  Musings on Medellin, Federalism, and International Obligations”

2004 

- Judge Diana E. Murphy – U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; Chair of U.S. Sentencing Commission from - -- November 1999 – February 2004
-- Topic – Sentencing Judgments

2003 

September 4, 2003
- Honorable Patricia McGowan Wald – Former Judge for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and Former Chief Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
- “The Omarska Prison Camp Trial:  A War Crimes Tribunal Case Study from Bosnia”

2002 

October 1, 2002
- Honorable Richard S. Arnold – Judge and former Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
- “The Federal Courts:  Causes of Discontent”

2000 

November 16, 2000
- Drew Days, III, the Alfred M. Rankin Professor of Law, Yale Law School and former Solicitor General
- “In Search of Educational E/Quality 46 Years after Brown v. Board of Education”

1998 

- Mr. Roy Black – Black Srebnick & Kornspan, P.A. – Miami, FL
- “Criminal Justice:  Beyond 2000”

1997

- Judge Diane P. Wood – Circuit Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
- “Generalist Judges in a Specialized World”

1996

- Judge Henry A. Politz – Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit
- “Federalism – Alive and Well?”

1994

- Kathleen M. Sullivan – Professor of Law, Stanford Law School – Stanford, CA
- “Free Speech Wars,” 48 °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²ÊÔ¤²â Law Review 203 (1994)

1993

- James F. Simon – Dean Emeritus and Professor of Law, New York Law School – NY, NY
- “The Rehnquist Court:  Has the Conservative Judicial Revolution Failed?”

1991

- Professor Michael E. Tigar, Joseph D. Jamail Centennial Chair, University of Texas School of Law – Austin, TX
- “The Advocate and Social Change:  In the American South and in South Africa”

1990

- Justice Harry A. Blackmun, Supreme Court of the United States - Washington, DC
- "What I have Learned"

1989 

- Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., 11th Circuit Court of Appeals – Montgomery, AL
- “Civilization, Integrity, and Justice:  Some Observations on the Function of the Judiciary,” 43 Southwest Law Journal 645-656 (1989)