The Honorable Carlton Reeves of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi served as our inaugural “Inspiring Voices of Social Justice” speaker. This speaker series was announced earlier this year to showcase diverse members of the legal profession who can inspire the next generation of lawyers to engage in public service through their careers. Judge Reeves visited Stanford January 28-30, 2019.

Judge Reeves met with a small group of Black Law Students Association members for dinner shortly after arriving on Monday evening. Ethan Amaker, JD ’20; Jyra Bickham, JD ’20; Monique Candiff, JD ’21; Dante Chambers, JD ’21; Sarah Harris, JD ’21; Erika Inwald, JD ’21; Biola Macaulay, JD ’19; Lincoln Mitchell, JD ’19; Christopher Middleton, JD ’21; Hyatt Mustefa, JD ’19; Britany Riley, JD ’19; Makeba Rutahindurwa, JD ’19; and Joel Simwinga, JD ’21 attended the dinner.

Rutahindurwa shared, “It’s rare in law school to meet someone so accomplished and so down to earth at the same time. Judge Reeves was genuinely excited to meet with students, share his life story, and provide thoughtful insights into the legal field. He managed to make everyone in the room feel heard and appreciated. I was inspired by the way Judge Reeves uses his position to advance equal rights for all people, particularly those most harmed by our legal system. I hope to emulate his passion for justice and compassion for people throughout my life and career.”

The next morning, Judge Reeves began holding office hours to meet with students. Every appointment was booked, with some students coming in pairs. He met with 24 students over the course of his brief visit.

Judge Reeves and Professor David Sklansky spoke about criminal sentencing in the federal court system at a lunchtime event on Tuesday. This talk was co-sponsored with the Stanford Criminal Justice Center. Sklansky commented, “It was wonderful having Judge Reeves visit SLS and share his insights. I learned a lot from him, and I am sure our students did as well. His remarks on sentencing in federal court were perceptive and enlightening. It was great to hear how a smart, thoughtful judge wrestles with the hard task of sentencing criminal defendants, and how he thinks about and works with the federal sentencing guidelines. It was great, too, to hear his thoughts on our system of plea bargaining, and how it can make it harder to keep prosecutors accountable and guard against miscarriages of justice.”

Sophia Villarreal, JD ’20, said, “Judge Reeves was incredibly open and generous with his time. I attended his lunch talk and then met with him one-on-one in office hours. There, we mainly discussed how he started his firm, and he had plenty of detailed and practical advice. What I most appreciated, however, was that Judge Reeves encouraged me to think strategically while also centering my personal values. It was a pleasure to have him on campus, and a privilege to meet him.”

A small group of faculty, students, and staff had dinner with Judge Reeves on Tuesday evening in the Neukom Faculty Lounge. Professors Jenny Martinez, Phil Malone, Ron Tyler, Jeannie Merino, and David Sklansky were joined by 15 students. Katherine Giordano, JD ’21, attended the dinner and stated, “Judge Reeves swept through campus with his warmth and sincerity. Whether meeting with students in office hours or over dinner, he candidly shared experiences and advice. It was refreshing to meet someone so honest, deeply kind, and committed to sharing his work. His love for Yazoo City, Mississippi reminded me of my love for my hometown. He is inspiring, and spending even a moment with him makes you want to head home and bring about change.”

On Wednesday, Judge Reeves continued to hold office hours and then had lunch with our graduating 3L Public Interest Fellows and Public Interest Associates who intend to pursue careers in public service. David Huang, JD ’19, shared, “Judge Reeves is an inspiration to every aspiring public interest lawyer. He was selfless with his time and generous with his advice. He brought an excitement and optimism that was much needed for those of us who are concerned about the world and profession we are entering.”

That evening, Judge Reeves gave his lecture about the importance of diversity in the legal profession. Biola Macaulay, JD ’19, observed, “I attended a number of the events with Judge Reeves during the week that he visited Stanford, and I left every one of them feeling inspired. I really appreciated his message that despite not having the same advantages as our peers, students of color and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds can be just as successful as law clerks and members of the judiciary. I know a number of students in BLSA who are now considering applying for clerkships after our dinner with him. Furthermore, hearing the Judge’s stories about the obstacles that he faced in his career was a great reminder that as difficult as things are now, the United States has gone through worse and we will weather this storm as well. I am grateful for Judge Reeves’ candor and encouragement and the Levin Center’s initiative in bringing him to campus.”

Judge Reeves remarked, “I enjoyed every second with the students and faculty at the law school. You all were so gracious. The students are deeply thoughtful, caring and inspiring. I have no doubt that each of them will go on to do great things. Interacting with and talking to them assures me that our profession and our country will be better because of their involvement. I just hope many of them take me up on my suggestion to make a clerkship a part of their journey so that other judges can be inspired as I have been by the three law clerks from SLS who have decided to spend some time in Mississippi with me.”

Diane Chin, Associate Dean for Public Service and Public Interest Law, concluded, “Judge Reeves was the perfect individual to launch our inspiring voices speaker series. Due to his own life but also his thoughtful approach to legal practice and serving on the bench, he illuminated for our students, faculty, and staff, the importance of having diverse practitioners and judges that reflect the communities that frequently need legal institutions and interventions.”

Diane Chin, Associate Dean for Public Service and Public Interest Law, will be tackling a special assignment to develop and launch SLS’ new Diversity Pipeline Project, which aims to increase the number of law school applicants from historically underrepresented minority groups as well as low-income and first-generation students while engaging in a first-of-its-kind evaluation to evaluate the interventions that can make a difference. This work will implement one of the recommendations made by the Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion that is strongly supported by students.

As Dean Liz Magill stated in her recent email to the SLS community, “After searching for, but failing to find, the ideal person to launch this program, we had the good fortune to learn that our own Diane Chin has a keen interest in helping to launch this critical initiative. Diane has the background, skills, and commitment that are required to make this program a success, and she has enthusiastically agreed to take on this new effort.”

Chin shares, “I have been very committed to civil rights throughout my career and to the work undertaken to address diversity and inclusion issues at the law school. I volunteered for this new assignment and am very excited to take on this new work at the law school.”

Magill added in that same email, “This does mean that Diane will be stepping back from some of her public interest program work and teaching for the next year and a half. The law school will be hiring an additional public interest career advisor as soon as possible to help fill the gap created by Diane’s shift in duties.”

Chin will continue to think about and work on the institutional issues that support and impact public interest students and alumni of the law school, and will continue to manage and support the Levin Center staff, but will primarily be focused on this new initiative starting this spring and throughout next year. Members of the Levin Center staff will assume some of her regular duties as she will not provide career advising to students or alumni. The Levin Center will also be hiring a new full-time career counselor to help fill the gap. That job announcement is available here. We hope to hire someone to start by this summer. Chin will likely return to her regular duties with the Levin Center at the end of 2020.