Southern Poverty Law Center Co-Founder to Speak at UA’s Law School Commencement on May 12

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Joseph J. Levin Jr., co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), will give the keynote address at The University of Alabama School of Law’s spring commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 12 at 5 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum.

Levin, a 1966 UA Law School graduate, is co-founder and president emeritus of the SPLC. The SPLC was founded in 1971 as a small civil rights law firm. Today, the center is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, for its legal victories against white supremacists and for tracking hate groups.

As the center’s legal director from 1971 until 1976, Levin worked on more than 50 major civil rights cases. He argued the landmark sex discrimination case, Frontiero vs. Richardson, in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal law giving preferences to men in the military. He also argued and won Gilmore vs. City of Montgomery, in which the Supreme Court prohibited the use of public recreational facilities by private academies seeking to avoid school desegregation. He left the center in 1976 to supervise President-elect Jimmy Carter’s Justice Department transition team and in 1979 he entered into private practice. In 2003, he returned to the center to serve as president emeritus.

The UA Law School will confer 155 degrees that will include the Juris Doctorate, the Master of Laws, and the joint Juris Doctorate/Master of Business Administration degrees.

The University of Alabama School of Law is ranked among the top 15 public law schools in nation. For more information, contact Nechelle Robinson at 205/348-5195 or via e-mail at nrobinson@law.ua.edu.