George Barrett Social Justice Program

The George Barrett Social Justice Program aims to promote a dynamic atmosphere in which issues of equality, access, and service are openly and regularly explored by faculty and students inside and outside the classroom. Students can choose from a variety of courses and clinics that address a diversity of topics.

The program sponsors guest speakers, conferences, workshops, and a variety of activities for both students and faculty. It also works to help connect students to public interest practice opportunities during law school and beyond.

George "Citizen" Barrett '57

In 2015, the Social Justice Program received a substantial gift to establish an endowment to support initiatives that promote a dynamic atmosphere within which issues of equality, access, and service are openly and regularly explored by faculty and students inside and outside the classroom. The program actively supports students and graduates in their ambitions to practice public interest law, including through the post-graduate George Barrett Social Justice Fellowship, and forges bonds between students, scholars, and practitioners through annual short course offerings, a faculty workshop series, the Distinguish Practitioner in Residence program, and the George Barrett Social Justice Lecture.

The George Barrett Social Justice Program was named, endowed, and expanded in honor of George Barrett ’57. “Citizen Barrett,” as he was widely known, was a civil rights pioneer. He represented student protesters in the Nashville sit-in movement, labor unions working to protect workers’ rights, and shareholders and consumers wronged by corporate malfeasance. He was best known for leading a decades-long and ultimately successful legal battle to desegregate Tennessee’s public institutions of higher learning.

Read about George Barrett's Legacy

Program Offerings

Social Justice Reading Group

This innovative group provides a forum in which students and faculty can explore together topics related to public interest law and lawyering through legal scholarship and work from other disciplines.
Discussions focus on substantive areas of social justice practice—including civil rights, poverty law, and the rights of defendants and prisoners—as well as the challenges that lawyers encounter when representing vulnerable or marginalized clients and causes.
George Barrett Social Justice Lecture

This annual lecture features prominent social justice advocates discussing relevant issues of the day. The series honors George Barrett ‘57, a civil rights attorney who fought for desegregation in Tennessee’s higher education institutions.
Social Justice and the Legal Profession Panel

Organized in partnership with the Public Interest Office, this series exposes students to a diverse range of career paths that allow attorneys to put into practice their social justice and public service values. It also explores the special responsibility all attorneys have for the quality of our justice system.
George Barrett Social Justice Fellowship

George Barrett Social Justice Fellows carry out a one-year public interest project under the supervision of a partner non-profit organization or public defender office. The George Barrett Social Justice Fellowship, which was made possible by a generous donation to the law school in honor of renowned civil rights attorney George Barrett ‘57.

Justin Brooks '23

“Faculty here are experts in their fields, and I appreciated their enthusiasm to teach the law and their willingness to discuss its flaws and how law can be improved to make people’s lives better.”

Read Justin's Story

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