Prominent civil rights attorney Connie Rice, best known for fighting police misconduct, will speak about the Los Angeles Police Department Rampart scandal at USC Law on Tuesday, Nov. 7. Her talk will be held in Room 7 at 12:20 p.m.
Rice is co-director and co-founder of The Advancement Project, a legal and public policy action group that works with community organizations to advance justice, promote multiracial consensus and broaden democratic participation. Following the Rampart scandal – which involved LAPD officers who stole and sold drugs, planted evidence and beat up suspects – Rice was selected in 2003 to head a review panel that conducted the fifth investigation into the events.
As an attorney who has filed police misconduct cases, been an ethics adviser to the LAPD officers union and sued the City of Los Angeles over unfair policies, Rice is an exceptional example of how varied the practice of criminal law can be, says 2L Kyle Kinkead.
“The Rampart scandal shows us that criminal law is not just criminal trials,” said Kinkead, president of the Criminal Law Society, which is sponsoring Rice’s talk. “It’s important for students to see that it’s not just proving someone guilty or not guilty.”
Members of CLS heard Rice speaking on National Public Radio and were hugely impressed by her expertise and wide-ranging resume, Kinkead said. A graduate of Harvard College and New York University School of Law, Rice clerked for Damon J. Keith, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit. She worked at Morrison & Foerster before joining the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1991, becoming co-director of the L.A. office in 1996.
Rice has led multiracial coalitions of lawyers and clients to win more than $4 billion worth of injunctive relief and damages in civil rights cases redressing police misconduct, race and sex discrimination, and unfair policy in transportation, probation and public housing.
Rice’s presentation also is sponsored by the Public Interest Law Foundation, the Black Law Students Association and the Women’s Law Association. In-N-Out Burger will be served.
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