On 13 November 2009 at 5:30 pm for 6:00 pm the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) will present the 2009 Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture titled, The Transformative Role of Judicial Independence: The View from Massachusetts. The lecture will be delivered by Margaret Marshall, the 23rd Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

The lecture will take place at GIBS, 26 Melville Road, Illovo, in the Old Building Auditorium. It is free to the public but seating is limited therefore registration is compulsory. For more information please email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The lecture is generously supported by GIBS.

At the first Bram Fischer Memorial Lecture in 1995 Former President Nelson Mandela, who gave the lecture, said that he was ‘...confident that there will be Bram Fischer Memorial Lectures for as long as South Africans yearn for freedom in a non-racial democratic society.'

Janet Love, the National Director of the LRC says: "The lectures are to celebrate the memory of a selfless individual who dedicated his life to the realisation of human rights and democracy in South Africa. They also strive to advance Bram's political and intellectual legacy. Although he did not live to celebrate the freedom he worked so hard to see in our country, his spirit and love of justice for all will live on."

About Justice Marshall

Justice Marshall was born in KwaZulu-Natal and attended the University of Witwatersrand, where she led the National Union of South African Students. As a judge in Massachusetts, Justice Marshall's famous ruling in 2003 concluded that the Massachusetts Constitution does not permit the state to deny citizens of the same sex to marry.

Bram Fisher

Bram Fischer was born in 1908 into a powerful Afrikaner family. In 1964, following the Rivonia Trial, where he led the defense team of Nelson Mandela, Bram was arrested. He was then released on bail to attend a case in London. In 1966, Bram was sentenced to life imprisonment after a nine month nationwide manhunt. He was convicted of violating the Suppression of Communism Act. In 2003, the High Court posthumously reinstated him to the roll of advocate.