Pope & John Lecture Series on Professionalism

In 1991 the Chicago firm of Pope & John Ltd. established a lecture series at Northwestern Law. Each year the Pope & John Lecture on Professionalism focuses on the many dimensions of a lawyer's professional responsibility, including legal ethics, public service, professional civility, pro bono representation, and standards of conduct. The series is part of the Law School's Bartlit Center for Trial Advocacy, directed by professor Steven Lubet.

The inaugural lecture was given in 1992 by Hon. Harry A. Blackmun, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Speakers and lectures include, among others:

2023 Judge Amy J. St. Eve, United States Circuit Court Judge for the Seventh Circuit | Event details 

2022 Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice | Event details 

2021 Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., 82nd Attorney General of the United States (2009-2015), Partner, Covington & Burling LLP | Event details

2020 John R. Lausch, Jr. (JD '96), United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, "The Professional Prosecutor - Doing Justice with Humility, Integrity, and Passion"

2019 Chief Judge Ruben Castillo (JD '79), United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Reflections on a Four-Decade Legal Career

2017 H. Carol Berstein (JD '85), Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel, Cabot Microelectronics Corporation; Timothy Bryant (JD ’89), General Counsel, Adams Street Partners, LLC; Kathleen Cronin (JD ’89), Managing Director and General Counsel, CME Group; and Andrew Polovin (JD ’01) General Counsel, Uptake; "Perspectives from General Counsel"

2016 Newton N. Minow (JD '50), Walter Annenberg Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University and Senior Counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, "A Conversation with Newton Minow"

2015 Stephen Patton, Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago, "Chicago’s Legal Risk: Managing the City’s Toughest Issues from Stop-and-Frisk to Homelessness

2014 Hon. Nancy Gertner, former judge for the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, "Decisions I Would Have Written"

2013 Patrick Fitzgerald, former United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and Partner, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, "The Perils of Prosecutors Facing Ticking Time Bombs"

2011 Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General, "Legal Issues Facing State Attorneys General"

2010 Hon. Judge Alexander Sanders, Former Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals, "Real Life Case Studies in Political Correctness or Are Real Lawyers Sensitive"

2009 John Kroger, Attorney General of Oregon, "Prosecutorial Ethics: Challenges From the Front Lines"

2008 David Boies, Chairman, Boies, Schiller and Flexner LLP, "A Trial Lawyer Looks at the Rule of Law"

2007 Richard Marcus, Horace O. Coil Chair in Litigation, University of California Hastings College of the Law, "The Impact of Computers on the Legal Profession: Evolution or Revolution?"

2006 Honorable Abner Mikva (LLM '91), Senior Director and Visiting Professor at the Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic of the University of Chicago, "Legal: A coincidence, a command, or an oxymoron"

2005 (Fall) Ken Feinberg, Special Master for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and partner in the Feinberg Group, LLP, "The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund: Private Pain and Public Compensation"

2005 (Spring) Robert A. DuPuy, President and Chief Operating Officer, Major League Baseball, "Good Sports Make Bad Law"

2004 David Wilkins, Kirkland and Ellis Professor of Law and Director of the Program on the Legal Profession, Harvard University, "Black Chicago Lawyers: The Social Structure of the Black Corporate Bar"

2003 Milton Regan, Professor of Law, Georgetown University, "Bankrupt in Milwaukee: The Story of a Wall Street Lawyer's Fall"

2002 Hon. Charles T. Wells, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Florida, "The 2000 Presidential Election: November 8 to December 12 - Inside the Florida Supreme Court"

2001 Philip S. Beck, Founding Partner, Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott, "A Trial Lawyer's Perspective on Professionalism"

2000 Christine Lagarde, Chairman, Baker & McKenzie, "The Multidisciplinary Lawyer: European Perspective"

1998 Hon. Albert Louis Sachs, Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, "From Racist State to Constitutional Democracy; the South African Experience"

1996 Mary Brigid Kenney, Assistant Public Guardian, Office of the Cook County Public Guardian, "What Do You Mean, 'Do the Right Thing?'"

1994 Deborah L. Rhode, Professor, Stanford Law School, "Professionalism in a 'Different Voice'? Gender and Lawyers' Roles"