Stephen B. Bright joined the faculty at Georgia State University College Law and its Center for Access to Justice this spring. A longtime champion of indigent defense, Bright began practicing law in 1975 and has built a national reputation for representing people facing the death penalty at trial and on appeal and advocating for the right to counsel for poor people accused of crimes.
Bright worked with the Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) in Atlanta for 35 years, most recently serving as president and senior counsel. Through that experience, Bright interacted with many students and professors from Georgia State Law.
“I have long admired the law school and members of the faculty. Many Georgia State Law students interned at the SCHR, and I have been tremendously impressed by them and by their legal education,” Bright said.
“I have participated in many Georgia State Law programs over the years and am impressed by their quality and importance to the development of the law in Georgia and the nation. The law school is a dynamic, exciting center of learning with a great faculty and a great place from which to continue to be an active member of the Georgia and Atlanta legal communities.”
Bright also has taught at Harvard Law School, Yale Law School and Georgetown University Law Center. Lauren Sudeall Lucas, assistant professor of law, was his student at Harvard Law School. She serves on the board of the SCHR and worked with Bright as an attorney.
“I know first-hand what a phenomenal teacher he is and the impact he will have on our students,” Lucas said. “Steve’s addition to the faculty is an incredible asset to the law school, given his breadth of experience and knowledge of the law and his deep understanding of the history of criminal justice in the south. He has played an integral role in the formation of Georgia’s statewide public defender system, in which so many of our students go on to practice. It’s also a rare opportunity for students to interact with someone who has argued – and won – several times before the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Bright argued three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, Foster v. Chatman, 136 S.Ct. 1737, Snyder v. Louisiana, 552 U.S. 472 and Amadeo v. Zant, 486 U.S. 214. In each case, the Court found racial discrimination in the selection of the juries and reversed the convictions and death sentences. In 2017, he successfully argued McWilliams v. Dunn before the Court, which also reversed the death sentence.
A seasoned litigator, Bright never expected to teach, but after his first course at Yale Law School in 1993 he realized he enjoyed it. He’s continued teaching and his litigation since – a synergy he finds beneficial to his cases and students.
“My involvement in litigation has contributed to my teaching, and my students have been enormously helpful to me in my litigation. I am inspired by their interest and energy, their sense of outrage by what routinely goes on in criminal courts, and the commitment of many of them to become public defenders or public interest lawyers,” Bright said.
Having taught previously at University of Georgia School of Law and Emory University School of Law, Bright said it’s very important for him to teach students who are going to be lawyers in Georgia, specifically public defenders who will contribute to building the state’s program.
“Many of my students have dedicated their careers to defending people accused of crimes, including those facing the death penalty. They have saved lives and kept people from going to prison. And, they have been exceptional counselors in advising their clients and zealous advocates with regard to everything from bail to sentencing.”
Bright will teach a course this summer on the prosecution and defense of capital and other criminal cases. He’ll also collaborate with Lucas and fellow Center for Access to Justice faculty, advising on the center’s initiatives, programming and curricular development.
“One of the center’s goals is to offer support and guidance to students planning to pursue a career in the public interest,” Lucas said. “It is hard to think of a lawyer more dedicated to that cause or someone whose life better embodies the notion of service, than Stephen Bright.”