Kastenmeier Lectures
Kastenmeier Lectures
These lectures are supported by the fund established to honor Robert W. Kastenmeier, an outstanding graduate of University of Wisconsin Law School, who served with great distinction in the United States Congress from 1958 to 1990. During his tenure, Congressman Kastenmeier made special contributions to the improvement of the judiciary and to the field of intellectual property law. He drafted the rules for the House Committee on the Judiciary that were used for the impeachment of President Richard M. Nixon, as well as the articles of impeachment against Judge Harry Claiborne. In 1985, Congressman Kastenmeier received the Warren E. Burger Award, presented by the Institute for Court Management, and the Service Award of the National Center for State Courts. In 1988, American Judicature Society honored him with its Justice Award for his contributions to improving the administration of justice.
The Kastenmeier Fund was created to recognize these contributions by fostering important legal scholarship in the fields of intellectual property, corrections, administration of justice, and civil liberties. It is a fitting tribute to the leadership of Robert W. Kastenmeier in these areas.
For more information on upcoming Kastenmeier lectures, please click here.
For a list of past lectures, please see below. Video and law review article linked when available.
- 2025-Justifications for Fair Uses by Pamela Samuelson
- 2024- American Democracy and the Rule of Law in Peril by Judge J. Michael Luttig
- 2022- A Conversation with Larry Krasner by Judge Larry Krasner
- 2021- Patents and the Public Interest in Pandemic Vaccine Policy by Daniel P. Dinapoli, Andrei Iancu, Lisa Larrimore Ouelette, moderated by BJ Ard
- 2019- The Federal Government and Local Policing by Vanita Gupta
- 2018- A Conversation with Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson by Shirley Abrahamson
- 2017- I am the Captain Now: Resisting Piracy and Contortion in the Copyright Market by Maria A. Pallante (Law review article)
- 2016- A Discussion with Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court of the United States by Sonia Sotomayor
- 2015- Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner by Jim Sensenbrenner
- 2014- Just Mercy: Confronting Mass Incarceration and Excessive Punishment in America by Bryan Stevenson
- 2013- Crossing the Line: Watergate, the Criminal Law, and Ethics by John Dean
- 2012- Software Patents and the Return of Functional Claiming by Mark A. Lemley (Law review article)
- 2011- Bridging the Divide Between Congress and the Courts by Barbara Crabb (Law review article)
- 2010- Afghanistan: What Are We Fighting For? by Bob Herbert
- 2009- Re-imagining Criminal Justice by Walter Dickey, Cecelia Klingele, and Michael Scott (Law review article)
- 2008- Economic Injustice by David Obey
- 2007- The National Security Constitution in a Time of Terror by Harold Hongju Koh, Tom Petri, and Russ Feingold
- 2006- The Law in Action: What the Bayh-Dole Act Means to the University of Wisconsin and the State of Wisconsin and and Effective National Science Policy by Carl Gulbrandsen (with remarks from Birch Bayh) (Law review article)
- 2005- The Iraq War: Lessons from the Past by George McGovern
- 2004- Civil Rights Act of 1964: Hopes and Promises; Bob Kastenmeier and 1960s Civil Rights Legislation: Leadership Through Commitment and Foresight by Frank Tuerkheimer; Roger Wilkins (Law review article)
- 2003- The Balance of Robert Kastenmeier by Lawrence Lessig (Law review article)
- 2002- Civil Liberties in a Time of Terror by Anthony Lewis (Law review article)
- 2001- Sentencing Criminals: After a Quarter Century of Reform, Where Are We? by Douglas Berman, Michael Smith, John Steer, and moderator Thomas W. Hutchinson
- 2000- From the Bill of Rights to the Internet: Protecting Privacy Rights and Interests in the New Millennium by Martin Abrams, Deirdre Mulligan, Paul Schwartz, and moderator Robert Gellman (Law review article)
- 1999- From Watergate to the Present: Impeachment, Presidential Accountability, and the Separation of Powers by Robert Drinan, Michael Gerhardt, Stanley Kutler, Frank Tuerkheimer, and moderator David Broder
- 1997- The Transformation of American Copyright Law by Paul Goldstein (Law review article)
- 1996- Political Extremism: Is It New, Is It Worse, Is It Curable? by Abner J. Mikva
- 1995- Symposium: Is Effective Crime Policy Possible?
- 1993- Symposium: Computer Software Protection: Reinventing Intellectual Property
- 1992- Seen in a Glass Darkly: The Future of the Federal Court by William H. Rehnquist (Law review article)