Dean Announces Grace Speights as Diploma Ceremony Speaker


April 11, 2017

Grace Speights

Dean Blake D. Morant announced that Grace E. Speights, the global leader of Morgan Lewis' Labor and Employment Law Practice and a graduate of GW Law's Class of 1982, will deliver the keynote address at the Law School Diploma Ceremony on Sunday, May 21, 2017

A leading trial lawyer and a member of the elite American College of Trial Lawyers, Ms. Speights is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of  Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where she focuses primarily on employment discrimination. She joined Morgan Lewis in 1984, after clerking for Chief Judge Aubrey Robinson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and became the firm's first female, African American partner in 1991. Ms. Speights handles high profile, high stakes issues for many clients and is often called upon to provide crisis management assistance. She also provides corporate diversity counseling and represents clients in systemic investigations and litigation brought by the Equal Opportunity Commission.

Among her manifold professional and public service achievements, Ms. Speights received the Washington Bar Association's George E.C. Hayes Memorial Award in 2016 and the NAACP’s Champion of Justice Award. She has also been recognized by The National Law JournalChambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for BusinessThe Legal 500Law 360Lawyers of Color, Washingtonian magazine, The Washington Post, and The Best Lawyers in America, to name a few.

Ms. Speights, who graduated from GW Law with the Order of the Coif, has remained involved with her alma mater through the years. In 2013, she was elected to the GW Board of Trustees and she recently endowed a scholarship at the law school.

"I am delighted that she will join us in celebrating the accomplishments of the Class of 2017. I look forward to seeing you at what certainly will be a magnificent Commencement," Dean Morant said.

 

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