Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump to deliver Breonna Taylor lecture at UofL law school

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A civil rights lawyer will deliver a lecture at University of Louisville's law school April 6.

The University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law will host attorney Benjamin Crump to deliver the 2023 Breonna Taylor Lecture on Structural Inequality. It will be at 6 p.m. at the Speed Museum Cinema at 2035 S. 3rd St.

Crump has represented families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Keenan Anderson, Henrietta Lacks, Tyre Nichols, and Breonna Taylor. His firm also represented people impacted by the Flint, Michigan water crisis.

"The Brandeis School of Law is proud to host Attorney Crump for this year’s Breonna Taylor lecture," said Melanie B. Jacobs, dean of the law school. "The tragedy of Breonna Taylor’s death requires us to address injustice in all its forms and work harder to build a more equitable and just society."

The law school established The Breonna Taylor Lecture on Structural Inequality in 2022 as an annual lecture series and tribute to Taylor, a Louisville woman who was killed in a police shooting in 2020. Louisville attorney Lonita K. Baker will also be recognized at the lecture as the 2023 recipient of the Darryl T. Owens Community Service Award, along with law student recipients of the Breonna Taylor Legacy Fellowship.

Crump has been called Black America’s attorney general for his unwavering work on civil rights cases, especially those involving Black people killed by police.

Crump, 53, was born in Lumberton, North Carolina, one of nine siblings, but wound up attending high school in Plantation, Florida. From there it was Florida State University for college and law school and then a law firm with partner Daryl Parks in Tallahassee. They took on the Martin Lee Anderson case.

Now, Crump has his own firm that handles civil rights cases across the country.

Crump, who is seen almost everywhere a civil rights case emerges, still lives in Tallahassee with his wife Genae, who is assistant principal at a Leon County public school for at-risk kids, and their daughter, Brooklyn. He has won financial settlements in about 200 police brutality cases, including a $27 million settlement for George Floyd’s family in the infamous Minneapolis case.

For information on the lecture at the Brandeis Law School, click here.