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NAACP legal counsel to visit Penn State on Feb. 12


Kim M. Keenan, general counsel of the NAACP will visit Penn State on Feb. 12. The public is welcome to Keenan’s presentation, “Civil Rights Then and Now: The Evolution of Legal Strategies for Achieving Civil Rights for All,” at 5 p.m. in the Greg Sutliff Auditorium of the Lewis Katz Building in University Park. The program will be simulcast to the Legislative Hearing Room in Lewis Katz Hall in Carlisle, Pa. A reception will follow.

"Keenan has worked diligently to pursue equal rights for all Americans," said Carla Pratt, associate dean of academic affairs at Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, a scholar of race and the law and the sometimes precarious “pipeline” to the legal profession.

Keenan is a graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and the University of Virginia School of Law. She clerked for Judge John Garrett Penn in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and went on to litigation practices in two nationally recognized law firms for more than 18 years. She then became principal of Keenan Law Firm in Washington, D.C., where she focused on complex medical malpractice litigation, mediation, arbitration, litigation counseling and public speaking. In May 2007, the Women’s Bar Association named her Woman Lawyer of the Year for her contributions to the profession. She is a past president of the District of Columbia Bar, the second largest jurisdictional bar in the country.

Keenan was the 62nd president of the National Bar Association (NBA), the oldest and largest bar association of lawyers of color in the world with a network of more than 50,000 lawyers, judges and law students. During her tenure as president, the NBA deployed thousands of lawyers throughout the nation to educate voters regarding new voting laws. The Maryland Bar Foundation awarded her their Professional Legal Excellence Award for her national effort to provide nonpartisan voter education. She is also a past president of the Washington Bar Association, one of the oldest and largest affiliates of the NBA, which was founded in the same year of the NBA.

High school and college students invited to learn more about law school

Keenan’s visit is part of Discover Law, a series of events sponsored by the Law School Admissions Council to give high school and early college students of underrepresented groups more information about the legal profession. High school and college students who are interested in learning more about the legal profession are welcome to join a panel of Penn State Law students at 3 p.m. Feb. 12 in the Lewis Katz Building. Law students will be prepared to provide information on their experiences in applying to and succeeding in law school.

High school students and college freshman and sophomores can register here to attend this Discover Law event. View the student agenda for additional information.

Both events are sponsored by Penn State's Dickinson School of Law, the Penn State School of International Affairs, the African Studies Department and Penn State's Office of Educational Equity, and hosted by the Black Law Students’ Association.

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