2024
James Forman Jr.
J. Skelly Wright Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Faculty Director of the Yale Law and Racial Justice Center
Burns Chair archive
Prior Burns Chairs
For nearly three decades, the W. Haywood Burns Chair has brought leading lawyers, scholars, judges, and advocates into the CUNY Law community to advance civil and human rights and help prepare the next generation of people’s lawyers.
1997–2024
A Legacy of Leadership
2023
Vince Warren
Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights
2010
Celina Romany
Co-Founder and President, Legal Coalition for Puerto Rico
Co-Founder, Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic, CUNY School of Law
2009
Dean Spade
Wismer Professor of Gender and Diversity, Seattle University School of Law
2008
Margaret E. Montoya
Senior Advisor, Executive Vice President, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
Professor Emerita, University of New Mexico School of Law
2007
Richard L. Abel
Michael J. Connell Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus and Distinguished Research Professor, UCLA School of Law
2006
Ida L. Castro
President, IC Alliance Development Group
Former Commissioner, New Jersey Civil Service Commission, and former Chair, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
2003
Susan R. Jones
Professor of Clinical Law, George Washington University Law School
2002
Camilo Pérez Bustillo
Research Fellow of Law and Inaugural Executive Director, Human Rights Center, University of Dayton School of Law
2001
Eric K. Yamamoto
Fred T. Korematsu Professor of Law and Social Justice, William S. Richardson School of Law, University of Hawaiʻi
2000
The Hon. Robert L. Carter
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
Former Assistant Special Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and Co-Founder, National Conference of Black Lawyers
2000
Justice Albie Sachs
Founding Member, Constitutional Court of South Africa
1999
William L. Robinson
Professor of Law Emeritus, David A. Clarke School of Law, University of the District of Columbia
Former Executive Director, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
1998
Theodore M. Shaw
Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law and Director, University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights
Former Associate Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
1997
The Hon. Nathaniel R. Jones
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
Former General Counsel, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People