Burns Chair
A leading practitioner, scholar, or activist joins the CUNY Law community around an annual theme.
Law in the service of human needs
Living the legacy
The W. Haywood Burns Program in Human and Civil Rights brings together legal practitioners, scholars, activists, and students who are working to develop innovative intellectual and political interventions in service of social, racial, and economic justice.
Our work
A program built for action
Inspired by Haywood Burns’ legacy, the Program is grounded in the belief that law can help build a more just and equal future. Each academic year connects an urgent theme, a prominent practitioner-scholar, public programs, student learning, and movement-focused opportunity.
HBP Initiatives
Programming
Seminars and programs explore law’s relationship to race, political economy, power, and movements.
Student Development
Fellowships, mentorship, research, and organizing education prepare students to become effective people’s lawyers.
Current Burns Chair · 2026–27
Janai Nelson
Janai Nelson is President and Director-Counsel of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization advancing racial justice and equality. Nelson has spent nearly three decades fighting for racial justice as a renowned litigator and prolific legal scholar with specific expertise in election law. In October 2025, Nelson argued Louisiana v. Callais before the United States Supreme Court, defending equitable congressional representation for Black voters in Louisiana and the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
A living legacy
“A people’s lawyer”
Explore Haywood Burns’ life, movement lawyering, leadership at CUNY Law, global work, and continuing influence.
“he had that openness, that generosity, that breadth, that didn’t make him tame, didn’t make him weak, didn’t make him non-combative, but somehow made him a little bit ahead and always capable of bringing people together-a great unifier.”— Justice Albie Sachs
What’s next
Upcoming events
To Be of Use: Honoring the Life & Legacy of W. Haywood Burns
As we mark the 30th anniversary of Haywood Burns’ passing, we will gather to recognize his life, legacy, and continuing relevance.
October 21,2026 | 6:00PM – 9:00PM | CUNY School of Law
Invest in the work
Support the Burns Program
Your support sustains visiting Chairs, student fellowships, public programming, and archival work.