A wooden cross lies diagonally across the open pages of a book. On the left-hand page, there is a simple black graphic resembling a domed government building with rows of small figures beneath it. The book rests partly on top of an American flag, with the red-and-white stripes visible at the top of the image and blue fabric with white stars shown at the bottom right.

The Mitchell Lecture

Zoom image: Justice Robert H. Jackson delivering the first Mitchell Lecture in 1951.

An old black and white image of Justice Robert H. Jackson standing on a stage with several microphones, reading a lecture to a group of peope. All are wearing graduation regalia.

Justice Robert H. Jackson delivering the first Mitchell Lecture in 1951.

About the Mitchell Lecture

The Mitchell Lecture Series was endowed in 1950 by a gift from Lavinia A. Mitchell, in memory of her husband, James McCormick Mitchell. An 1897 graduate of the Buffalo Law School, Mitchell later served as chairman of the Council of the University of Buffalo, which was then a private university.

Justice Robert H. Jackson delivered the first Mitchell Lecture in 1951, titled "Wartime Security and Liberty Under Law." The lecture was published that year in the first issue of the Buffalo Law Review.

Mitchell Lecture programs have brought many distinguished speakers to the University at Buffalo School of Law, including Derrick Bell, Paul Freund, Lawrence Friedman, Carol Gilligan, Sheila Jasanoff, Duncan Kennedy, Karl Llewellyn, Stuart Macaulay, Catharine MacKinnon, and Richard Posner.