Charles Evans Hughes Lecture Series

Since 1950, Hughes Hubbard has sponsored a lecture in conjunction with the New York County Lawyers Association on the ideals of public service and the education of lawyers and the public. This year, Trevor W. Morrison, the Eric M. and Laurie B. Roth Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at New York University School of Law will deliver the 57th Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Lecture on May 3.

Trevor Morrison served as dean of NYU School of Law from 2013 to 2022, and was previously on the faculties of Cornell Law School and Columbia Law School.

Morrison also served as Associate Counsel to President Barack Obama in 2009 and was a law clerk to Judge Betty B. Fletcher of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the US Supreme Court. Before that, he was was a Bristow Fellow in the U.S. Justice Department's Office of the Solicitor General, an attorney-advisor in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel and an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (now WilmerHale). From 2016-2020, Morrison served on the Public Interest Declassification Board and in 2021, President Biden appointed him to the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Morrison’s research and teaching interests are in constitutional law and federal courts and has developed specific expertise in constitutional law as practiced in the executive branch.

Morrison graduated with a BA from the University of British Columbia in 1994 and a JD from Columbia Law School in 1998. While at Columbia, he was a Richard Hofstadter Fellow in History at Columbia University. He is currently a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations.

On Nov. 8, 1948, the Board of Directors of the New York Country Lawyers' Association (NYCLA) established the Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Lecture. Hughes Hubbard assumed sponsorship of the lecture series in 2007.

The Series was instituted by NYCLA to honor Justice Hughes for his "devotion to the betterment of the law and the maintenance of its supremacy," and "for his service as President of our Association where he endeared himself to us by his fine qualities of mind and heart, and as an inspiration to the members of our profession whose high ideals and noble traditions he upheld and strengthened throughout his long and distinguished career."

Few lawyers in the first half of the 20th century had a more distinguished career or a greater impact on the evolution of law and public policy. Charles Evans Hughes's service as Governor of New York State, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, presidential candidate, Secretary of State, Judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice and Chief Justice of the United States reflected a lifelong dedication to the legal profession. Justice Hughes served as NYCLA's eighth president from 1919-1921, leaving to serve as United States Secretary of State upon his appointment by President Warren G. Harding. In 1930, Justice Hughes received his appointment as Chief Justice from President Herbert Hoover.

Chief Justice Hughes was reluctantly unable to attend the dedication ceremonies on May 26, 1930 because the Supreme Court was in session, but sent a message that President William Nelson Cromwell read to the gathering.

In that message the Chief Justice illuminated the highest aspirations of the organized bar and the legal profession:

For more than half a century, the men and women who have delivered the Charles Evans Hughes Lecture have embodied those aspirations. 

The series has had speakers from the highest levels of the profession including U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
2023 - Trevor Morrison
2021 - Matthew Diller
2019 - Henry M. Greenberg
2018 - Dean A. Gail Prudenti
2017 - Hon. Robert A. Katzmann
2015 - Hon. Jonathan Lippman
2014 - Loretta E. Lynch
2013 - James R. Silkenat
2012 - Hon. Judith S. Kaye
2011 - Hon. Denny Chin
2010 - Preet Bharara
2008 - Hon. José A. Cabranes
2007 - Kenneth C. Frazier
2005 - Robert MacCrate
2003 - Hon. John S. Martin
2000 - Hon. Seth Waxman
1999 - Dean Kristin Booth Glen
1998 - Hon. Joseph M. McLaughlin
1997 - Dean David W. Leebron
1996 - Dean Rudolph C. Hasl
1995 - Dean Joan G. Wexler
1994 - Hon. Jack B. Weinstein
1993 - Dean Harry H. Wellington
1992 - Dean Lance Liebman
1991 - Prof. Curtis Berger
1990 - Dean John D. Feerick
1989 - Dean John E. Sexton
1988 - Dean Monroe E. Price
1987 - Hon. Andrew J. Maloney
1986 - Hon. Frederick A.O.Schwarz Jr.
1985 - Dean Norman Redlich
1984 - Dean Patrick J. Rohan
1983 - Prof. Benno C. Schmidt Jr.
1982 - Dean Albert J. Rosenthal
1981 - Hon. Lawrence H. Cooke
1979 - Dean Harry H. Wellington
1977 - Dean Monrad G. Paulsen
1975 - Dean Joseph M. McLaughlin
1974 - Dean Michael I. Sovern
1973 - William T. Gossett
1972 - Dean Robert B. McKay
1971 - Hon. Shirley M. Hufstedler
1970 - Whitney North Seymour
1969 - Hon. Sheldon S. Cohen
1968 - Hon. J. Edward Lumbard
1967 - Hon. Charles S. Desmond
1965 - Dr. Russell D. Niles
1964 - Prof. Leon Lipson
1963 - Hon. Henry J. Friendly
1961 - Prof. Paul A. Freund
1960 - Hon. John Clark Knox
1958 - The Right Hon. Lord Nathan, T.D.
1956 - Hon. Harold Medina
1954 - Hon. Arthur T. Vanderbilt
1952 - Hon. John T. Loughran
1951 - Hon. Bernard Shientag
1950 - Dean Roscoe Pound