Wayne State University Law School is pleased to announce that Andrea D. Lyon, a nationally recognized expert on the death penalty, will deliver the 22nd annual I. Goodman Cohen Lecture in Trial Advocacy on Thursday, March 30, 2006.

Ms. Lyon’s lecture, "The Death Penalty On Trial: The Politics of Capital Punishment” will begin at 3 p.m. in the Spencer M. Partrich Auditorium at the Wayne State University Law School, 471 W. Palmer St., Detroit, MI 48202.

Andrea Lyon is currently Clinical Associate Professor of Law; Director, Center for Justice in Capital Cases; and Supervisor, Death Penalty Legal Clinic at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago.

Ms. Lyon joined the Cook County, Illinois Public Defender’s Office in 1976; by the end of her service she was chief of the Homicide Task Force, a 22-lawyer unit representing those accused of homicide. She has tried over 130 homicide cases and has defended more than 30 potential capital cases; she took 19 of those cases through the penalty phase. She won all 19 cases.

Prof. Lyon founded the Illinois Capital Resource Center in 1990. She was awarded the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s Reginald Heber Smith Award for best advocate and she was given the Justice For All Award at the National Conference on Wrongful Conviction and the Death Penalty in 1998.

She received her J.D. from the Antioch School of Law and has taught at the University of Michigan Law School.

The I. Goodman Cohen Lecture in Trial Advocacy was established through the generosity of the family of the late I. Goodman Cohen, a prominent trial attorney who was active in the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association. Each year, a leading jurist is asked to visit the Law School to deliver a public lecture on an aspect of trial advocacy. In addition, the guest is invited to have informal meetings with students and faculty. The Lecture is intended to supplement the Law School’s training program in trial skills and to add to the variety of professional perspectives students receive during their time at Wayne State University Law School.

Professor Lyon’s lecture is free and open to the public. Parking is available in Structure #1 across from the Law School on Palmer Street (corner of Cass) for $3.50.