Neal Katyal, a Professor at Georgetown University Law School, recently successfully argued Hamdan v. Rumsfeld in the United States Supreme Court, a case that challenged the policy of military trials at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba. In a 5-3 decision, the Supreme Court held that President Bush's tribunals violated the constitutional separation of powers, domestic military law, and international law. As former Solicitor General and Duke law professor Walter Dellinger put it "Hamdan is simply the most important decision on presidential power and the rule of law ever. Ever." An expert in matters of constitutional law, particularly the role of the President and Congress in time of war and theories of constitutional interpretation, Katyal has embraced his theoretical work as the platform for practical consequences in the federal courts.

Katyal previously served as National Security Adviser in the U.S. Justice Department and was commissioned by President Clinton to write a report on the need for more legal pro bono work. He also served as Vice President Al Gore's co-counsel in the Supreme Court election dispute of 2000, and represented the Deans of most major private law schools in the landmark University of Michigan affirmative-action case Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). Katyal clerked for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer as well as Judge Guido Calabresi of the U.S. Court of Appeals. He attended Dartmouth College and Yale Law School. His Articles have appeared in virtually every major law review and newspaper in America.

Katyal was named Lawyer of the Year in 2006 by Lawyers USA, Runner-Up for Lawyer of the Year 2006 by National Law Journal, one of the top 50 litigators nationwide 45 years old or younger by American Lawyer (2007), and one of 10 Non-Resident Indian Achievers Worldwide by Hindustan Times. He has also been awarded the Town of Salem, Massachusetts Prize (2007); the ACLU Foundation’s Roger Baldwin Award (2007), and the 2004 National Law Journal pro bono award for his work.

His primary academic interests are Constitutional Law (primarily war powers, separation of powers, constitutional legitimacy, presidential power, slavery and affirmative action), Criminal Law (particularly cybercrime, conspiracy, architectural solutions to crime and the role of deterrence), and Education Law.

Katyal has appeared on every major American nightly news program, as well as in other venues, such as the Colbert Report.

Dean Parker became the eighth Dean at Pacific McGeorge School of Law in 2002, after serving as general counsel for the 26-campus University of Wisconsin System. Her fields of expertise include national security and terrorism, international relations, public policy and trade, technology development and transfer, commerce, and civil rights and liberties litigation.

Dean Parker has served as general counsel of the National Security Agency (1984 – 1989), principal deputy legal adviser at the U.S. Department of State (1989 – 1990), and general counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency (1990 – 1995). She has also been counsel to several major law firms, including Bryan Care, LLP and Surrey & Morse.

During her tenure as Dean at Pacific McGeorge, Dean Parker has begun several grant-supported initiatives involving national security and high school-to-professional educational pipeline programs, designed to support and encourage at risk students in the preparation needed for success in college and law school.Dean Parker is a frequent speaker and lecturer and currently is a member of the Judicial Council of California's Access and Fairness Advisory Committee; a member of the U.S. Public Information Declassification Board, the Executive Committee of the American Society of International Law and the Council on Foreign Relations; she is also the chair of the Sacramento Chapter of the World Affairs Council. Her academic background includes teaching national security law as a visiting professor at Case Western Reserve Law School and Cleveland State School of Law.

Justice Michael Kirby is one of the seven judges of Australia's highest court, the High Court of Australia.  Under the Australian Constitution, he will be required to retire from judicial office early in 2009, before his visit to Suffolk University Law School.  As in the United States, the Australian Constitution was originally interpreted as providing life tenure to federal judges.  However, in 1976, the Australian Constitution was amended to require all federal judges to retire and, in the case of the High Court, at the age of 70.  Justice Kirby supports this provision because it makes openings for younger judges, thus accurately reflecting generational differences.

Justice Kirby is Australia's longest serving judge, having been first appointed in 1975.  He has served in the State and federal judiciary.  Before his appointment to the final court, he was President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal - the busiest appellate court in the nation.

In addition to his judicial posts, Justice Kirby has held a number of international positions.  These have included President of the International Commission of Jurists (Geneva), Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for Human Rights in Cambodia and Member of the UNESCO Bioethics Committee.

Justice Kirby's lecture will deal with the growing use of transnational legal authority in reasoning in courts of the common law tradition. In Australia, as in the United States, this use has been controversial. One judge, reflecting the views expressed in the US
Supreme Court by Justice Scalia, has declared that any such use of foreign materials is "heretical". Justice Kirby considers that such materials are bound to be used as judges enter into dialogue with colleagues in different countries; follow the Internet; read useful
material in the opinions of overseas judges; and generally engage themselves with the world of ideas in the international community. He regards such use as proper and sometimes helpful. Moreover, he sees it as inevitable and considers that it is better that judges be honest about the impact of external ideas whilst recognizing the limits
deriving from the democratic deficit that the use of foreign authority entails.

By reference to United States and Australian authority, Justice Kirby will illustrate the developments and suggest where they are leading.