At 4:00 in the afternoon on October 15th, in the Jack Morton Auditorium, the George Washington Law Review's fall symposium will begin with a keynote address by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The return of the annual symposium will bring distinguished law faculty from around the country to participate in a series of panel discussions on this year's topic, "Judicial Review: Historical Debate, Modern Perspectives, and Comparative Approaches." The final schedule has yet to be announced, but the panels will run throughout the day on Friday, October 16th, concluding with a reception in the afternoon. All panels are open to students, but Justice Kennedy's keynote address will be a ticketed event, with tickets allotted via lottery. However, organizers are working on adding an element of online participation to this fall's symposium, potentially expanding the audience. More information on all elements of the symposium will be forthcoming in the next few weeks, on both the Law School portal and also the Review's website, which is currently undergoing a redesign.

According to Review Editor-in-Chief Mark Taticchi, the symposium is "a good opportunity to bring together the best and brightest for a dialogue in person." And that dialogue goes on after the symposium closes, as panel participants will often develop their comments into articles, which the Review then publishes. GW students have the opportunity to join in, thanks to receptions and meet-and-greets where audience members can interact directly with the panelists. "It's a great opportunity to learn and meet them and make some contacts," said Taticchi. "The people we have coming are terrific," he added.

The process of bringing in outstanding participants begins far in advance of the actual event. This year, organizers began working on the symposium in March. As Rebecca Bianchi, Senior Projects Editor for the Review, and the person largely responsible for handling and organizing the event, said, "Planning a symposium is [a] ton of work. There are a lot of moving pieces in terms of lining up panelists and setting up the logistics."

Among the biggest of those pieces is the year's topic. The Review's senior editorial board solicited topic ideas from faculty members and then, in concert with the faculty, made a decision from among those suggestions. The right topic can serve as a means of enticing individual scholars to participate in the event.

This year's focus on judicial review was partly inspired by recent books published by two of the participants, Philip Hamburger of Columbia and Barry Friedman, professor and vice dean at NYU. Their books, Law and Judicial Duty and The Will of the People, respectively, serve as the center of discussion for two of the Friday panels, after which each professor will offer an "Author Reply." GW Law Professor Renée Lerner, who was closely involved with organizing the symposium, said that, with the appearance of these books "and great interest in judicial review by comparative scholars, it seemed a good time to hold a symposium on the topic."

The conjunction of their scholarship with the symposium topic made it easy to attract Hamburger and Friedman early in the process. Because of their close engagement with the topic at hand, they then helped to find panel participants with similar interests, according to Taticchi.

A significant attraction for many attendees will be Justice Kennedy's keynote address. 3L Mike Wagner, who attended last year's symposium and is planning on attending again, said, "It's certainly exciting that Justice Kennedy will be coming. If his presence creates more interest in the symposium in general, then that's certainly a good thing."

Bianchi commented on the process of bringing in a Supreme Court Justice. "Kennedy has previously expressed an interest in visiting GW, but this will be his first time here. It is going to be a great event!"  Bianchi credited Professor Lerner with convincing Kennedy to participate.

"I spoke with him for some time about the symposium at GW," said Lerner. "He immediately and enthusiastically agreed to speak. He noted that he has three former clerks at GW Law, Associate Dean Gregory Maggs, Professor Orin Kerr, and me, and that he wanted to 'pay us a visit.'" Lerner felt that Kennedy's appearance would be particularly appropriate, considering the topic of the symposium, given that he has played a key role in a number of decisions evaluating the constitutionality of statues.

She added, "He also said that he had been hearing excellent things about GW Law, that we had top-notch teaching and scholarship. In keeping with his concern for legal education, he emphasized that he wanted to speak mainly to GW law students."

Dean of the Law School Frederick Lawrence said that GW is "honored" to host Justice Kennedy. His speech "takes its place in a deep and long-standing relationship that we have with the Court," said Dean Lawrence, citing a series of Supreme Court Justices who have served as faculty or participated in competitions and conferences at the Law School. He added, "Our close connection with the Court and our ability to bring Justices here on a regular basis is a great enhancement to the vitality of our school and our community and demonstrates the importance of our presence in Washington, DC. There is simply no better place to go to law school."