U.S. Appeals Court Judge Jeffrey Sutton to Deliver Powell Lecture
The Hon. Jeffrey S. Sutton, Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, will deliver the eleventh annual Lewis F. Powell, Jr. Distinguished Lecture. His public lecture, titled “Lewis F. Powell, Jr., and the Practice of Law,” will take place on Feb. 26 at 5:00 pm in the Millhiser Moot Court Room, Sydney Lewis Hall.
Prior to his appointment to the bench in 2003, Judge Sutton was a partner with Jones Day Reavis & Pogue, where he practiced appellate law and constitutional and commercial litigation. From 1995-98, he served as State Solicitor of Ohio, where he oversaw appellate litigation on behalf of the Ohio Attorney General and participated in complex litigation at the trial level. Judge Sutton has argued 12 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, filed over 50 merits and amicus curiae briefs at the U.S. Supreme Court, and argued 15 cases in state Supreme Courts.
As an adjunct professor at Harvard Law School, Vanderbilt Law School, and the Ohio State University College of Law, Judge Sutton has taught courses in constitutional law, state constitutional law, U.S. Supreme Court practice, and effective legal writing in the real world. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. appointed him chair of the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure in October 2012.
A graduate of Williams College, Judge Sutton earned his law degree at the Ohio State University, where he graduated first in his class. Following law school, he clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Lewis F. Powell Jr. and Antonin Scalia and for Judge Thomas J. Meskill, Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
The students at Washington and Lee University School of Law founded the Lewis Powell, Jr. Distinguished Lecture Series in 2002 in honor of Justice Powell ’29A, ’31L, who was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972. Justice Powell’s judicial legacy was defined by a respect for both sides in a dispute and a desire to craft judicial opinions that struck a middle ground. Chaired this year by Penn Clarke and Michael DiSiena, this student-run lecture series features nationally prominent speakers who embody Powell’s spirit in their life and work.
For more information, please contact Penn Clarke at Clarke.L@law.wlu.edu or visit the Powell Lecture website.
