DETROIT - A standing-room-only crowd of more than 300 came to hear civil rights icon Morris Dees speak Monday, April 13, at Wayne State University Law School.

Dees, who is widely celebrated for his work with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which he co-founded, presented "With Justice for All in a Changing America." The evening lecture was the third installment of the annual Dean A. Robb Public Interest Lecture Series, which is presented by Wayne Law's Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights. Dees also gave a luncheon presentation for law students.

The lecture series honors Robb, Wayne Law class of 1949, a noted civil rights attorney and social activist. It is intended to inspire law students, attorneys, public-interest groups and everyday citizens to become more active in public service and public-interest law.

The series is made possible by the Royal Oak law firm of Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers PC and supported by the Public Justice Foundation. Michael Pitt, Wayne Law class of 1974, is managing partner of the firm. Other sponsors for this year's lecture were Dib and Fagan, Goodman & Hurwitz, Goodman & Kalahar, Law Offices of Deborah Gordon, Johnson Law, McKeen & Associates, Reiter & Walsh and Sommers Schwarz.

Using litigation, education and other forms of advocacy, the Southern Poverty Law Center works toward the day when the ideals of equal justice and equal opportunity will be a reality. Its lawsuits have toppled institutional racism in the South, bankrupted some of the nation's most violent white supremacist groups and won justice for exploited workers, abused prison inmates, disabled children and other victims of discrimination.

Photo:

Participants in the Dean A. Robb Public Interest Lecture Series event Monday, April 13, at Wayne State University Law School pose for a photo prior to the lecture. From left are alumnus Dean A. Robb, for whom the lecture series is named; Dean Jocelyn Benson; alumnus Michael Pitt, managing partner of Pitt McGehee Palmer & Rivers PC, which makes the series possible; speaker Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center; Professor Peter Hammer, director of the law school's Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights; and Savala Nolan Trepczynski, associate director of the Keith Center. For more photos, visit law.wayne.edu/dees2015.