September 24th, 2018
Faneuil Hall Meeting House, Boston MA
The Massachusetts Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates will hold its 11th Annual James Otis Lecture on September 24, 2018. As many of you know, this program is usually held on Constitution Day (September 17) and was designed in part to help schools to comply with the federal mandate that schools teach at least one class about the Constitution near Constitution Day. We bring leading scholars, authors, historians, judges and law professors to present a program on issues relating to the Constitution. We have a very exciting program planned for your students, so we hope your school will be represented at the lecture this year.
The topic for our 11th Annual Otis Lecture is “Oliver Wendell Holmes, the First Amendment and the Boundaries of Freedom of Speech.” We are very pleased to announce that the Hon. Ralph D. Gants, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and Professor Thomas Healy, Seton Hall Law Professor and author of The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind and Changed the History of Free Speech in America have agreed to join us to lead this discussion.
This year the Otis Lecture will be held at the Faneuil Hall Meeting House in Boston. The program runs from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and registration begins at noon. Following the lecture, there will be a question and answer session and the students will have an opportunity to meet and greet the faculty. The program is expected to conclude at around 3:30 p.m.
Registration for the Otis Lecture is now open. There is no limit to the number of students each school can bring, but we encourage you to register your students as early as possible since the program does fill up quickly. Please register your students at this link: James Otis Lecture Registration
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact Chris Duggan at 617-228-4444 or Hilda Landry at 617-228-4445.
We thank you for your interest in the James Otis Lecture and look forward to seeing you and your students in September.