Prominent Attorney Speaks to Law Majors

The Department of Law held its Salvatore Lecture Series, hosting Professor David Bruck, renowned defense attorney and death penalty expert. Professor Bruck has argued seven death penalty cases before the Supreme Court including Skipper v. South Carolina (1986) and Simmons v. South Carolina (1994), and over 70 capital appeals in state and lower federal courts. He has represented dozens of clients in death penalty cases, including Susan Smith, Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Charleston church shooting suspect Dylan Roof. Professor Bruck currently serves as a clinical professor of law and director of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse at Washington and Lee University School of Law. In his talk, he spoke on his view that the death penalty should be abolished and then engaged in a thoughtful discussion time with cadets about the death penalty.