George Barrett Social Justice Program

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.

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.

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 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.