Peggy Cooper Davis to deliver 44th Miller Lecture March 26
February 26, 2009
ATLANTA--Peggy Cooper Davis, the John S.R. Shad Professor of Lawyering and Ethics at New York University School of Law, will deliver Georgia State University College of Law's 44th Henry J. Miller Distinguished Lecture at noon March 26 in the Student University Center State Ballroom. She will discuss "Intellectual Versatility in the Study and Practice of Law."
"I believe that law schools focus too narrowly on the skill of analyzing logically, and to some extent in terms of policy, the opinions of appellate courts," said Davis, who recently was named one of The Most Influential People in Legal Education by The National Jurist Magazine. "That is a crucial central skill, but I believe we neglect all the rest. To practice law with excellence a lawyer has to be psychologically intelligent, strategic and persuasive." 
When first-year law students finish NYU's Lawyering Program, which Davis has directed since 1999, they have already learned to execute legal strategies by drafting documents, interviewed witnesses and clients and engaged in negotiation, mediation and litigation, she said.
"One can't fully learn how to become a professional by sitting and debating in a classroom," Davis said. "That's why business schools have problem method classes and why medical schools have residencies and internships. I believe that something similar is appropriate in legal education."
Davis joined the NYU law faculty in 1983. Prior to this position, Davis served three years as a judge of the Family Court of the State of New York and ten years practicing law. Her scholarly work has been influential in the areas of child welfare, constitutional rights of family liberty, and interdisciplinary study of legal education.
"I have appreciated, written and spoken often about how the presence of women in large numbers in the legal profession makes it more likely that we will become intellectually versatile," Davis said. "I say the same thing with respect to other forms of diversity in the legal academy. I think diversity helps us to be more intellectually versatile and to be more comfortable with taking seriously the skills that were always thought of as hard skills like logic and mathematics, as well as the skills that some describe as soft skills, such as psychological intelligence or strategic intelligence."
This event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required by March 18 to Vickie Dye at vdye@gsu.edu. Business attire is required for this special event.
The Henry J. Miller Lecture Series is sponsored by the Charles Loridans Foundation.