ETHICS EVENT: Morris Dees

In 1971, Attorney Morris Dees, along with fellow attorney Joseph J. Levin Jr. and civil rights activist Julian Bond, co-founded the Southern Poverty Law Center. Based in Montgomery, the not-for-profit agency was formed to “combat hate, intolerance and discrimination through education and litigation.” While at the SPLC, Dees worked on a strategy of filing civil suits against hate groups, claiming damages for the violence incited by these groups. One high-profile case where he applied this strategy was the 1981 lynching of Michael Donald, a crime committed by three Klan members. With the assistance of Dees and the SPLC, Donald's mother was awarded a $7 million settlement from the United Klans of America, bankrupting the group.

 

Dees' has authored an autobiography,A Lawyer's Journey: The Morris Dees Story (retitled 2001); Hate on Trial: The Case Against America's Most Dangerous Neo-Nazi (1993); and Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat (1996). He was also the subject of a made-for-television movie, Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story (1991).

 

Over the years, Attorney Dees handled many sensitive cases, but that has not kept him from his investigative activity throughout the United States. In 2012, Dees was awarded the American Bar Association’s ABA Medal for his dedication to the pursuit of tolerance, justice and equality with accompanying threats.

 

For more information, please visit the lecture event page.