
The University of New Mexico
NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Laurie Mellas 277-5915
March 17, 2006
Author Shares Forgotten History Lesson
Landmark Supreme Court decision to be discussed at UNM
Attorney and author Mark Curriden will present a free talk, “Contempt of Court: A Lesson from Legal History,” Thursday, March 30, from 3 - 4:30 p.m. at UNM School of Law.
In his book “Contempt of Court: A Turn-of-the Century Lynching that Launched 100 Years of Federalism,” Curriden details an overlooked Supreme Court decision that changed how justice is carried out in the United States. He chronicles the story of a man falsely accused and sentenced to death and the lawyers who successfully freed him. Farar Straus & Giroux published this award-wining book in 2000.
Curriden is senior communications counsel for Vinson & Elkins, a large national law firm. He received his J.D. from Woodrow Wilson Law School in Atlanta and began his career in 1988 as a legal journalist for the Atlanta Constitution covering the Georgia Supreme Court and 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He was wrote for the Dallas Morning News. Curriden has authored two articles that proved instrumental in freeing wrongly convicted death row inmates.
Continuing legal education credit is available for $40. Visit the UNM School of Law Web site to register, http://lawschool.unm.edu/.
The talk is sponsored by the law school, UNM African American Studies and New Mexico Black Lawyers Association.
The University of New Mexico is the state's largest university, serving more than 32,000 students. UNM is home to the state's only schools of law, medicine, pharmacy and architecture and operates New Mexico's only academic health center. UNM is noted for comprehensive undergraduate programs and research that benefits the state and the nation.
www.unm.edu