Redford will address the rise of corporate power and legal rights of corporations in the United States and globally; corporate immunities for human rights and environmental abuses; and "what lawyers can and must do to take back our courts, our democracy, and make law work for real human beings, real people, not corporate persons."
EarthRights International works in defense of human rights and the environment, which it defines as "earth rights."
"We are pleased to welcome Katie Redford of EarthRights International to Vermont Law School," said VLS President and Dean Marc Mihaly. "The VLS mission is clearly aligned with EarthRights' mission 'to provide real solutions for real people, and to promote and protect human rights and the environment in the communities where we work.' We are now, more than ever, a global community, and we hope our local community joins us as we learn more about the life-changing work of EarthRights."
Redford is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law, where she received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Human Rights and Public Service. She is a member of the Massachusetts State Bar and served as counsel to plaintiffs in EarthRights International's landmark case, Doe v. Unocal. In 1995 she received an Echoing Green Fellowship to establish EarthRights International.
The Sterry R. Waterman Lecture is named in honor of the late senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a former president of the Vermont Law School Board of Trustees. For more information about the lecture and other VLS events, visit www.vermontlaw.edu/news-and-events.