Obama’s Law Professor at Harvard is Keynote Speaker at the 10th Annual Prime Minister’s New Year’s Gala

United States President Hon. Barak Obama (left) with Profesor Charles Ogletree

ST. KITTS, DECEMBER 28TH 2010 (CUOPM) – Charles Ogletree, the Harvard Law School Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and Vice Dean for the Clinical Programs is the Keynote Speaker at the 10th Annual Prime Minister’s New Year’s Gala hosted by the Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas at the Grand Ballroom of the St. Kitts Marriott Resort and Royal Beach Casino on Sunday 2nd January 2011.

Ogletree, who taught United States President, the Hon. Barak Obama and the First lady, Mrs. Michelle Obama, at law school is a prominent legal theorist who has made an international reputation by taking a hard look at complex issues of law and by working to secure the rights guaranteed by the Constitution for everyone equally under the law.

According to the Berkman Center, where Professor Ogletree is a Faculty Fellow Emeritus, he has examined these issues not only in the classroom, on the Internet and in the pages of prestigious law journals, but also in the everyday world of the public defender in the courtroom and in public television forums where these issues can be dramatically revealed. Armed with an arsenal of facts, Charles Ogletree presents and discusses the challenges that face our justice system and its attempt to deliver equal treatment to all our citizens. He furthers dialogue by insisting that the justice system protect rights guaranteed to those citizens by law.

In 1998, Professor Ogletree was awarded the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law chair at Harvard Law School. He holds honorary doctorates of law from North Carolina Central University, New England School of Law, Tougaloo College, Amherst College, Wilberforce University, and the University Of Miami School Of Law.

Professor Ogletree earned an M.A. and B.A. (with distinction) in Political Science from Stanford University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He also holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School where he served as Special Projects Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights – Civil Liberties Law Review.

Charles Ogletree began his illustrious career as a staff attorney in the District of Columbia Public Defender Service.

Guest Speakers at previous galas included prominent United States Congresswoman, the Hon. Maxine Waters; Actress Cicely Tyson; Nation of Islam Leader, the Hon. Louis Farrakhan; Emmy Award Winner and Broadcaster Del Walters; Founder and President of TransAfrica, Mr. Randall Robinson; African-American icon, musician and actor, His Excellency Ambassador Harry Belafonte, Publisher and founder of America’s Black Enterprise Magazine, Earl Gilbert Graves, Sr., the late Prime Minister of Barbados, the Hon. David Thompson and former Jamaica Prime Minister and Caribbean statesman, the Most Honourable Percival J. Patterson.