The 2022 Honorable Clifford Scott Green Lectureship The Importance of Caring: Reaffirming Our Commitment to Judge Green’s Legacy
April 7, 2022
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Duane Morris LLP Moot Court Room
Temple University is currently hosting in-person events in compliance with regional and CDC guidelines. Masks strongly encouraged.
About the Event
Judge Clifford Scott Green was a legal giant, a trailblazer whose accomplishments continue to inspire us today. He was also a teacher and community leader who grounded his service in an ethic of care for those around him and those to come. Professor JoAnne A. Epps will discuss why we are now at a time when it is crucial that we honor Judge Green’s legacy by incorporating his ethic of care in our work today.
Watch Lecture Here
About the Speaker
JoAnne A. Epps
Senior Advisor to the President, Temple University
Professor of Law, Temple University Beasley School of Law
JoAnne A. Epps is a Professor of Law and Senior Advisor to the President of Temple University. From 2016 to 2021, she served as Provost and Executive Vice President. Prior to that, she served as Dean of Temple Law School, a position she held from July 2008 until July 2016. As Dean, Epps was an outspoken advocate for legal education that emphasized institutional responsiveness over a one-size-fits-all curricular model. National Jurist Magazine named her among the 25 most influential people in legal education for 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, citing her leadership in implementing this approach at Temple. Her commitment to curricular innovation and experiential legal education has garnered Temple significant praise, in particular for its innovative first-year experiential courses and nationally recognized clinical opportunities.
About the Lectureship
The Honorable Clifford Scott Green Lectureship was established in 2003 to perpetuate the civil rights legacy of Judge Clifford Scott Green LAW ’51 and to honor his distinguished service to Temple University.
Judge Green was described as “an inspiration, a mentor, a teacher, a role model, and a friend to innumerable minority and non-minority law clerks, interns and students.” Clifford Scott Green grew up in Philadelphia in a poor but close and supportive family. He fulfilled their aspirations for him by being the first in the family to finish high school, then college and law school. As a law student he distinguished himself with honors for the highest grades in constitutional law and conflicts of laws, and as an associate editor of the law review. In 1952, Judge Green joined the first African-American law firm in Pennsylvania, which later became Norris, Schmidt, Green, Harris, Higginbotham and Brown.
Judge Green received numerous awards for his community service, integrity and professional excellence, including the first Judge William Hastie Award from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 1985. In 2002, he was awarded the Spirit of Excellence Award from the American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity. He was appointed judge of the County Court of Philadelphia in 1964, and President Richard M. Nixon named him to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1971, where he assumed senior status in 1988.
During 36 years on the federal bench, Judge Green presided over a number of notable cases, and was regarded as one of the most popular judges in the district. Green was a long-time adjunct professor at the law school, teaching evidence, criminal law, and criminal procedure. In the early 1970s, he was instrumental in creating the Temple-LEAP mock trial competition for high school students. He was a founding member of the law school board of visitors and a member of the university’s board of trustees and, in 1997, he was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree by the university.