Judge William H. Webster, Homeland Security Advisory Council vice chair, will speak Monday, March 27, as part of West Virginia University’s Festival of Ideas.
His presentation,ForensicsGuardian or Threat to Our Civil Liberties,is also part of the West Virginia Law Review’s annual spring symposium and will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the WVU Mountainlair ballrooms. The public is invited to a pre-event reception at 6:30 p.m.
Webster has had a long and storied career since receiving his bachelor’s degree from Amherst College. He is currently a consulting partner in Milbank, Tweed, Hadley&McCloy’s Washington office.
Prior to joining Milbank, he served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he headed all the foreign intelligence agencies of the United States. He has also served as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit and judge of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
During his time on the bench, Webster was chairman of the Judiciary Conference Advisory Committee on the Criminal Rules and a member of the Ad Hoc Committee of Court Administration.
Webster has also served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, and he has been a member of the Missouri Board of Law Examiners.
He received his juris doctor from Washington University Law School. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Council of the American Law Institute and Order of the Coif. He is also a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
He has received numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the Freedoms Foundation National Service Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Security Medal.
He is a past chairman of the American Bar Association Business Law Section and past president of the Institute of Judicial Administration. A director of the American Arbitration Association and the CPR Center for Dispute Resolution, he is a trustee of Washington University in St. Louis.
Webster is the recipient of the 2001 Justice Award of the American Judicature Society and the 2002 ABA Medal, its highest honor. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and has also received NASA ’s Distinguished Public Service Medal, which notesFor your exceptional, dedicated and untiring public service in support of the families of the crew of Space Shuttle Columbia STS -107.
Seating is limited on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Festival of Ideas is produced by WVU Arts&Entertainment. Additional event information is available online atwww.events.wvu.eduor at 304-293-SHOW (7469).