The Life and Work of Attorney Fred D. Gray: Embedding Advocacy Histories in Legal Learning
Integrating Doctrine & Diversity Speaker Series presents The Life and Work of Attorney Fred D. Gray: Embedding Advocacy Histories in Legal Learning
The career of civil rights attorney Fred D. Gray is worth teaching about.
Attorney Gray is one of the most consequential civil rights attorneys in American legal history. From representing Claudette Colvin, Rosa Parks, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to litigating school desegregation and voting rights cases that reshaped constitutional doctrine, Attorney Gray’s work helped dismantle Jim Crow and transform the meaning of equal protection under law.
This free online session will examine ways in which we can teach about and celebrate the monumental career of Attorney Fred Gray across the curriculum. Panelists Prof. Jeffrey R. Baker, Prof. Jonathan Entin, and Prof. Ayesha Bell Hardaway will reflect on Gray’s strategic brilliance, professional courage, and long arc of constitutional advocacy. The conversation will explore what Gray's career reveals about the lawyer’s role in advancing structural change and give examples of ways in which to integrate Attorney Gray’s cases and ethos into our classrooms.
The panelists will be joined by Dr. David Fleer of the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights and Moderator Nicole P. Dyszlewski. The discussion will consider how centering the life and work of Attorney Fred Gray in our classrooms can deepen students’ understanding of doctrine, professional responsibility, and the lived realities behind appellate opinions.
This session is designed for legal educators who seek to ground doctrinal and experiential teaching in the historical and human dimensions of constitutional development while honoring the extraordinary contributions of one of the nation’s leading civil rights attorneys.
This event is co-sponsored by Roger Williams University School of Law, City University of New York School of Law, Berkeley Law, JURIST, and Antiracist Development Institute.
3:00 -4:00 pm EST
Register - Integrating Doctrine & Diversity Speaker Series - April 28
In 2021, RWU Law began sponsoring an ongoing Integrating Doctrine & Diversity Speaker Series in collaboration with CUNY School of Law and JURIST. Each previous installment has been attended by hundreds of legal education professionals from across the country.
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FEATURED SPEAKERS
Jeffrey R. Baker
Associate Dean of Experiential Learning and Clinical Professor of Law, The University of Alabama School of Law
Jeff Baker is the Law School’s first Associate Dean of Experiential Learning and Clinical Professor of Law. He directs the Law School’s seven clinics and helps lead other programs of experiential education across the curriculum. His scholarship focuses on issues of human rights and dignity, social justice, legal education, and ethics, at the intersections of law, theology, jurisprudence, and public policy.
From 2013 to 2025, Dean Baker served as the Associate Dean of Clinical Education and Global Programs at Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law in Los Angeles. There, he founded and directed the Community Justice Clinic and the Disaster Relief Clinic. He led the school’s programs in London, Washington, D.C., Germany, and Switzerland, and he taught, trained, and consulted with partners in India, Brazil, the Philippines, and the United Kingdom. While at Pepperdine, he received the 2025 Stephen J. Ellmann Memorial Clinical Scholarship Award from the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), the 2024 Belonging Award for Faculty, and the 2019 Citizen of the Year Dolphin Award from The Malibu Times, among other honors.
From 2006 to 2013, Dean Baker served as an Associate Professor of Law and the Director of Clinical Programs at Faulkner University Jones School of Law in Montgomery. There, he directed the Family Violence Clinic and founded the Elder Law Clinic. While at Faulkner Law, he received the Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Honors Award from The Montgomery Advertiser in 2009, was named an Honorary Member of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, and was named Professor of the Year in 2012.
Dean Baker holds degrees in political science and ministry from Harding University. After graduating from Vanderbilt University Law School in 2000, he returned to his home state of Mississippi where he had a diverse trial and appellate practice in complex litigation with Watkins & Eager in Jackson after a stint with Phelps Dunbar. He also taught as an adjunct at Belhaven University in Jackson.
Dean Baker speaks and writes regularly on legal education, professional formation, public interest lawyering, and social justice. He is a mediator and teaches strategic negotiation. He edits the Clinical Law Prof Blog and is actively involved with the Clinical Legal Education Association and the AALS Section on Clinical Legal Education. He has served as a director and counsel for several nonprofits devoted to human rights, social justice, and community development, and he is active in church service and leadership. He is a 2025 Fellow of the Fred D. Gray Institute for Civil and Human Rights.
Dean Baker is a member of the Alabama, California, and Mississippi bar associations.
Jonathan L. Entin, JD
David L. Brennan Professor Emeritus of Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
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Jonathan L. Entin is David L. Brennan Professor Emeritus of Law at Case Western Reserve University, where he taught Constitutional Law, Civil Rights, and Administrative Law for four decades. Among his many publications, he has written extensively about the work of legendary civil rights lawyer Fred Gray. Professor Entin also served twice as the law school’s associate dean for academic affairs, for many years held an appointment in the Department of Political Science, and was the university’s faculty mediator. Five graduating classes honored him at Teacher of the Year, two others selected him as Administrator of the Year, and the Federal Bar Association gave him its first national award for excellence in civics education.
Dr. David Fleer
Director of Advancement,
Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights
David Fleer is a distinguished scholar, minister, and advocate whose life’s work brings together preaching, leadership, and a deep commitment to racial healing. Across four decades of service in universities and churches, he has consistently united intellectual rigor with pastoral wisdom and public engagement.
From 2007 to 2023, Fleer served as tenured Professor of Bible and Communication at Lipscomb University, where he was known for shaping generations of students in homiletics—the art and theology of preaching. He also served as Special Assistant to President Randy Lowry (2007–2021) and as Executive Director of the Thomas H. Olbricht Christian Scholars’ Conference (2005–2023), strengthening its role as a premier gathering for Christian scholars.
A defining chapter of Fleer’s vocation is his close work with legendary civil rights attorney Fred Gray. Gray, who represented figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and played a pivotal role in landmark civil rights cases, has long stood at the forefront of the struggle for justice in America. Fleer now serves as Director of Advancement for the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights, helping extend the power of Gray’s legacy for future generations.
This partnership is the natural outgrowth of Fleer’s sustained commitment to racial reconciliation. Since 2013, he has led 26 “Pilgrimage to Justice” journeys through key cities of the American South, immersing participants in the history of slavery, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement. These pilgrimages create transformative spaces for learning, lament, and hope—forming leaders who are better equipped to engage the moral challenges of our time. His work with Gray places him in direct continuity with the living history of the Civil Rights Movement and positions him to help steward its ongoing impact.
His academic credentials include ion, a B.A. from Washington State University in Education, an M.Div. from Abilene Christian University (1981), a D.Min. from Fuller Theological Seminary, an M.S. in Speech from Portland State University, and a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Washington (1995).
Through his scholarship, ministry, and especially his work alongside Fred Gray, Fleer continues to invest in a future shaped by a commitment to “doing justice” and “loving your neighbor as yourself.”
He and his wife, Mae, recently celebrated fifty years of marriage. They are parents of three sons—Josh, Luke, and Nate—and grandparents of six cherished grandchildren.
Ayesha Bell Hardaway, JD
Professor of Law, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Ayesha Bell Hardaway, JD, is a Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve University where she serves as Director of the Law School’s Social Justice Law Center and its Criminal Defense Clinic. Professor Hardaway also serves as Director of the University’s Social Justice Institute.
As Director of the Social Justice Law Center and of the University’s Social Justice Institute, Professor Hardaway serves students and the broader community in the exploration of pressing social justice issues through research, community partnerships and dialogue, engagement with local and national thought-leaders, and curricular offerings.
Professor Hardaway’s academic career also aligns with her strong commitment to serve the community. She has represented individuals who are unable to hire private counsel as a clinician in Case Law School’s Health Clinic, Civil Litigation Clinic, and Criminal Clinic. As Director of the Criminal Clinic, Professor Hardaway uses a client-centered pedagogical framework to instruct and supervise third-year law students.
Locally, she has been inducted into the Shaker Heights Schools for Foundation Hall of Fame and the Case Western Reserve University School of Law Society of Benchers. Professor Hardaway has also been recognized as the Black Law Students Sankofa Professor of the Year, Educator of the Year by 100 Black Men of Greater Cleveland, Inc., and as Outstanding Faculty Student Development by Case Western Reserve University. She also received the NAACP Cleveland Branch President’s Award and the Trailblazer Award from the Norman S. Minor Bar Association.
Professor Hardaway’s contributions and engagement extend beyond the Cleveland area. In 2024, Professor Hardaway was chosen to serve as a Gray Institute Fellow for the Fred D. Gray Institute for Human and Civil Rights. The following year, Professor Hardaway was selected to be a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Racial Justice at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Professor Hardaway’s research and scholarship interests include the intersection of race with constitutional law, criminal law, policing, and civil litigation. Her scholarship includes the publication of major articles in the Georgetown Law Journal, Boston University Law Review, and Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties. Professor Hardaway has written on many topics including reparations, labor law, the Thirteenth Amendment, and policing.
Her work on policing has also made her an influential voice in the field. Hardaway has made several appearances on CNN, including The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, and on ESPN’s The Undefeated, and was quoted in papers ranging from USA Today to Rolling Stone magazine. Professor Hardaway has also been asked to opine on other high-profile incidents in outlets such as The Associated Press, U.S. News and World Report, The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Boston Globe.
MEET THE MODERATOR
Nicole P. Dyszlewski is one of the editors of Integrating Doctrine and Diversity: Inclusion and Equity in the Law School Classroom. She currently serves as a Professor and the Director of Special Programs, Academic Affairs at Roger Williams University School of Law. She received a B.A. from Hofstra University, a J.D. from Boston University School of Law, and an M.L.I.S. from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Library and Information Studies. She is a member of the Massachusetts State Bar and the Rhode Island State Bar. Her areas of interest are mass incarceration, access to justice, and systems of race and gender inequality in law. Nicole was the 2020 recipient of the American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Volunteer Service Award and the 2015 recipient of the AALL Emerging Leader Award.
SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS
Persons who, because of a special need or condition, would like to request an accommodation for an event should contact Kara Dalessio, kdalessio@rwu.edu, as soon as possible, but no later than 72 hours before the event, so that appropriate arrangements can be made.