Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, will present a lecture at Emory University School of Law in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The event will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 14, at the law school's Tull Auditorium, 1301 Clifton Road, Atlanta.

Ifill has had a distinguished career as a litigator, constitutional law scholar and public intellectual. A frequent commentator on Sunday morning talk shows, she has litigated landmark voting rights cases and written the critically acclaimed “On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 21st Century,” which discusses the continuing legacy of Jim Crow-era lynchings on communities today.

Her talk, to be held just days before the MLK holiday, and one of many events commemorating the day across campus, was organized by Dorothy Brown, professor of law at Emory and frequent commenter on the salience of race in America.

“Dr. Martin Luther King is often remembered for this quote: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice,'" says Brown. "The Legal Defense Fund has been at the forefront of ensuring that our legal system bends towards justice. What better time than now when some in our country are still debating whether all black lives matter, to hear from such a beacon of light in this multi-generational struggle?”

Ifill's lecture is free and open to the public. A reception in Hunter Atrium will immediately follow.