Supreme Court Justice and President of the Supreme Tribunal of Brazil

to Offer Insight on Independence and Accountability in the Courts

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Honorable Sandra Day
 O'Connor and President Ellen Gracie Northfleet will speak on Thursday,
 January 3, 2008, from 12:30-2:00 p.m. Their addresses will occur during the
 luncheon of the joint Association of American Law Schools (AALS) and
 Conference of Chief Justices Workshop on the Courts, which is part of the
 AALS Annual Meeting -- a week-long conference in New York City drawing over
 3,500 law faculty.
 
 
 
     Justice Sandra Day O'Connor served as the first female Associate
 Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice O'Connor was
 nominated to the Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and served for
 over twenty-four years. From 1958-1960, Justice O'Connor practiced law in
 Maryvale, Arizona, and served as Assistant Attorney General of Arizona from
 1965-1969. She was appointed to the Arizona State Senate in 1969 and was
 subsequently reelected for two two-year terms. In 1975 she was elected
 Judge of the Maricopa County Superior Court and served until 1979, when she
 was appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals. Justice O'Connor retired
 from the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006 and is currently the Chancellor
 of the College of William and Mary.
 
 
 
     President Ellen Gracie Northfleet is the first female to be appointed
 to the Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal and is also its first female
 president. Her public career began in 1971, clerking for the Rio Grande do
 Sul State General Counsel. On November 7, 1973, she joined the Ministerio
 Publico Federal, where she remained in the capacity of Federal Attorney
 until 1989. President Northfleet was appointed to the Supreme Federal
 Tribunal on November 23, 2000, the first woman to be named to the tribunal.
 On March 15, 2006 she was chosen to head this court by a vote of its
 justices.
 
 
 
     The entire AALS 2008 Annual Meeting program can be found on the
 Association's Web site at www.aals.org/am2008/. Members of the press are
 invited to attend free of charge. Those interested in attending are asked
 to notify Deborah Quick from January 2-6, 2007 at (202) 745-2116. Press
 also may register on-site at the AALS office located in the Gibson Suite on
 the Second Floor of the Hilton New York beginning Wednesday after 6:00 p.m.
 January 2, 2008, and continuing through Sunday, January 6, 2008.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SOURCE Association of American Law Schools