Law Week 2015 and Northern Ireland Speakers

October 12, 2015 marks the beginning of Law Week at the University of Wyoming College of Law. Law Week is a forum that features speakers from a wide range of backgrounds in government, academia, public interest groups, and private practice. All presentations are arranged by student groups within the College of Law and the week is organized by the Potter Law Club. The week of presentations is always informative and at the forefront of pressing issues in modern legal discourse. In addition to hosting Oral Arguments by the Wyoming Supreme Court in the College of Law’s state-of-the-art courtroom, Law Week is also an opportunity to gain free Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits. For a full schedule of speakers and presentations, please visit the Law Week page on the College of Law website.

Featured Presentation: Building Community across Difference: Lessons from Northern Ireland

The Center for International Human Rights Law and Advocacy at the University of Wyoming College of Law, along with its UW partners, the Simpson Fund of the Political Science Department, Global and Area Studies and International Programs, announce a lecture Building Community Across Difference: Lessons from Northern Ireland. The talk will feature Dr. Tom Frawley and the Reverend John Dunlop, civil leaders in Northern Ireland who will share their stories and perspective.

Dr. Frawley and the Rev. Dunlop are colleagues of UW Trustee, Michelle Sullivan, who worked with them on a collaborative effort to host an international dialogue on the theme of accommodating differences and pursuing reconciliation.  The meeting took place in Dublin and Belfast in 2010.

Dr. Frawley and Rev. Dunlop’s dialogue will explore the challenges  associated with any community where there are differences of perspective, identity and power. Ultimately the presenters and moderator will explore what lessons can be drawn from a place like Northern Ireland that can be of tangible use to other community leaders and advocates in other settings.

Based in Belfast, Dr. Thomas Frawley is the Northern Ireland Assembly Ombudsman. Appointed in 2000, he is the longest serving Ombudsman since the office was created in 1969. Frawley is responsible for investigating complaints against public organizations in Northern Ireland, including Government Departments, their Agencies and Health Service providers.

Reverend John Dunlop is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.  He has been one of the most respected and vocal figures within Irish Presbyterianism, promoting cultural tolerance between Protestant and Roman Catholics in Ireland. In 1992-93, he served as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.

The Law Week presentation will take place Wednesday, October 14, 2015 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm in the College of Law Large Moot Court Room. The talk is free and open to the public.

An additional presentation has been arranged for the duo to speak in Jackson, Wyo. on October 16th. Following their lecture, attorney and mediator Bill Schwartz (J.D. ’83) will moderate a lively discussion with Dr. Frawley and Rev. Dunlop on bridge building across sectarian divisions. For more information, please click here.

More about the presenters:

Dr. Thomas Frawley

Reverend John Dunlop