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Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank Williams to Present Jackson Lecture Oct. 22

9/14/2007

Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank J. Williams will present The National Judicial College’s (NJC) Jackson Lecture on Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. in the NJC’s Tom C. Clark auditorium. The lecture is titled "Abraham Lincoln and Leadership" and is free and open to the public.

Chief Justice Williams has served on the Rhode Island Supreme Court since Feb. 26, 2001. Previously, he worked as an attorney in private practice for 25 years. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston University, his master’s degree in taxation from Bryant College and his Juris Doctor degree from the Boston University School of Law. Chief Justice Williams is the chair of the Lincoln Forum and president of the Ulysses S. Grant Association. He is a former and current member and officer of numerous other local and national legal and judicial organizations. Chief Justice Williams serves as an adjunct professor for the U.S. Naval War College and Roger Williams University School of Law. He is an alumnus of the NJC and joined the faculty this year. He has lectured at several other educational institutions including the Massachusetts School of Law and Johnson and Wales University. He is the author of hundreds of books and articles on judicial and government issues.

The NJC’s Jackson Lectures are held in honor of Justice Robert H. Jackson, a 1940s Supreme Court Justice best remembered for his role as chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg War Trials. The NJC presents these lectures three times a year at the end of each two-week General Jurisdiction course for the course participants as well as community residents.

Justice Jackson was born in Spring Creek, Penn., on Feb. 13, 1892. He never went to college, but attended Albany Law School for a year. He obtained most of his legal education under the old apprenticeship system as a law clerk and did not get his law degree until after he was named as a justice to the Supreme Court of the United States, when he was awarded an honorary degree by Albany Law School.

Justice Jackson was invited by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to serve in the New Deal government, first as General Counsel to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and later as solicitor general and attorney general. He took his seat as a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on Oct. 6, 1941, and served until his death in 1954. Justice Jackson is best remembered for his vigorous decision and wisdom.

The decision to honor Justice Jackson with this lecture series was made by his friend and Supreme Court colleague, Justice Tom C. Clark, chairman of the Joint Committee for the Effective Administration of Justice and one of NJC’s founders, for whom NJC’s auditorium is named.

Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank J. Williams will present The National Judicial College’s (NJC) Jackson Lecture on Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. in the NJC’s Tom C. Clark auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.