Legendary civil rights leader, educator and activist Julius Chambers will deliver the School of Law's commencement address on May 27, 2005 in Matthew's Arena at 1 p.m.

Chambers became the first intern with the new NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (LDF) in 1963. In June 1964, he opened his own practice in Charlotte, which eventually became the first integrated law firm in North Carolina. Together with his founding partners, James E. Ferguson II and Adam Stein, this firm is credited with influencing more landmark state and federal legislation in school desegregation, employment and voting rights than any other in the United States. Together with lawyers of the LDF, they helped shape civil rights law by winning benchmark United States Supreme Court rulings such as the famous decision of Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (1971), which led to federally mandated busing, helping integrate public schools across the country. Chambers and his team also won in two of the Supreme Court's most monumental Title VII employment discrimination decisions, Griggs v. Duke Power Co. (1971) and Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody (1974).

In 1984, Chambers left his firm to become director-counsel of the LDF. Under Chambers' leadership, the organization fought for civil rights legislation and affirmative action programs that began in the 1970s and 1980s. Remaining devoted to education, however, he returned to his alma mater, North Carolina Central University, where he served as chancellor for eight years. Chambers has published numerous books, teaches at various law schools, and is a member of many boards and organizations.

In addition, an honorary Doctor of Laws will be presented to the Honorable Janet Bond Arterton '77, United States District Court Judge for the District of Connecticut. Judge Arterton was nominated to the bench by President Clinton and began her term in 1995.