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NATIONAL ADVOCATE FOR URBAN POOR DELIVERS SIBLEY LECTURE AT UGA SCHOOL OF LAW

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Thursday, October 7, 1999

WRITER: Kathy R. Pharr, (706) 542-5172, pharr@jd.lawsch.uga.edu

CONTACT: Assoc. Dean Paul M. Kurtz, (706) 542-7140

NATIONAL ADVOCATE FOR URBAN POOR DELIVERS SIBLEY LECTURE AT UGA SCHOOL OF LAW

ATHENS, Ga. -- What promise does the new millennium hold for economic justice for all? Danny Greenberg, president and attorney-in-chief/CEO of The Legal Aid Society of New York City - the nation's largest private public service law firm - will address the question in the University of Georgia School of Law's 90th Sibley Lecture Wednesday, October 20 at 3:30 p.m. in the law school auditorium. Greenberg's lecture, "Pursuing Economic Justice: Agendas for the New Millennium," and the reception which follows are open to the public without an admission charge.

"The talk will focus on how, even as we have made strides toward race and gender being scrutinized for equal protection purposes, poverty status - that is, class - has not been, nor is it realistically likely to be seen in the same way," said Greenberg. "What does this say about most legal services work, which has tended toward litigation as its major, if not sole, remedy? The title is deliberately plural, since I want to tie criminal, juvenile and civil advocacy together and also talk about partnerships with others, including the private bar and law schools in achieving some sorts of economic justice in these more conservative times." The Legal Aid Society's mission is to address the legal issues facing New York City's urban poor. Greenberg supervises a staff of more than 800 attorneys and 800 support personnel who handle more than 350,000 cases a year on an annual budget of more than $125 million. He has successfully litigated cases fighting the evictions of hundreds of homeless residents, protecting the rights of the mentally ill, and supporting the rights of families against the foster care system.

Greenberg directed Harvard Law School's clinical education programs from 1987-94, immediately prior to accepting The Legal Aid Society post. He served as managing attorney of MFY Legal Services, Inc. of New York City, the federally-funded neighborhood legal services office for the poverty population of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, from 1973-87, and was a staff attorney with the agency from 1971-73. Greenberg earned his law degree from Columbia University School of Law and his bachelor's degree from Brooklyn College.

"We are delighted to be able to present as a Sibley Lecturer someone with Danny Greenberg's background as an academic and as an advocate," said Paul Kurtz, associate dean of the UGA law school. "I am confident that his talk will present challenging and stimulating ideas to our students and faculty as we approach a new century."

The Sibley Lecture Series, established in 1964 by the Charles Loridans Foundation of Atlanta, is designed to attract outstanding legal scholars of national prominence to the law school. It honors the late John A. Sibley, a 1911 law school graduate who served for many years as chair of the board of the Trust Company of Georgia.

A photograph of Danny Greenberg is available electronically via UGA Communications' Photographic Services Web Site at http://photo.alumni.uga.edu/photohome.htm . You will need to search for Greenberg by name. When asked for a user name and password, leave the name slot blank and put "ugaphoto" in the password slot.

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