Charles J. Ogletree, Jr.

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Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School professor and prominent legal theorist, has made a reputation by taking a hard look at complex institutional issues of law and by working to secure the rights guaranteed by the Constitution for everyone equally under the law. Ogletree has examined these issues not only in the classroom and in the pages of prestigious law journals, but also in the everyday world of the public defender in the courtroom and in forums where these issues can be dramatically revealed. Professor Olgetree, armed with an arsenal of facts, presents and discusses the challenges that face our justice system: its attempt to believe equal treatment to all our citizens. He furthers dialogue by insisting that the justice system protect rights guaranteed to those citizens by law.

Charles Ogletree served as the moderator of four of producer Fred Friendly's ten-part series "Ethics in America" which aired on PBS in 1989 and also in the PBS productions Hard Drugs, Hard Choices in 1990. Since 1990 he has moderated dozens of similar programs, the most recent of which was Liberty & Limits: Whose Law, Whose Order? which aired on PBS in April of 1997.

Professor Ogletree has also appeared as a guest commentator on Nightline, This Week with David Brinkley, McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, Crossfire, The Today Show, Good Morning America, Larry King Live, and Meet the Press as well as other national and local television and radio programs. Professor Ogletree also served as served as legal commentator for NBC on the O.J. Simpson case.

Charles Ogletree was formerly a partner in the Washington, D.C. firm of Jessamy, Fort & Ogletree and is now "Of Counsel" to Jessamy, Fort & Botts. Beginning as a staff attorney in the District of Columbia Public Defender Service, he served as Training Director, Trial Chief, and Deputy Director of the Service before entering private practice in 1985.

In 1991, Professor Ogletree served as Legal Counsel to Professor Anita Hill during the Senate Confirmation hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas. He was profiled in an article in The American Lawyer, (December, 1991) entitled, "Tree Time." More recently, Professor Ogletree was prominently featured in award winning author Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot's compelling book, I've Known Rivers, and in the April 23, 1995 Boston Globe magazine article entitled "Faith in the System."

Professor Ogletree has been married to his fellow Stanford graduate, Pamela Barnes, since 1975 and they are the proud parents of two children, one attending Florida A&M, the other at Columbia University.

Professor Ogletree is the co-author of the recently published book Beyond the Rodney King Story, and he frequently contributes to the Harvard Law Review, among other publications. He was written chapters in six books, including If You Buy the Hat, He Will Come, Faith of Our Fathers: African American Men Reflect on Fatherhood. Professor Ogletree's most recent chapter, The Tireless Warrior for Racial Justice, appears in Reason & Passion: Justice Brennan's Enduring Influence (Rosenkranz and Schwartz, eds.) (forthcoming, 1997).

Charles Ogletree holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School where he served as Special Project Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights - Civil Liberties Law Review. He earned an M.A. and B.A. (with distinction) in Political Science from Stanford University, where he was Phi Beta Kappa.