Blair, Lawyer and Former British First Lady, to Give Lecture

Posted on Jan. 9, 2009

Cherie Blair, noted human rights lawyer and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, will give a free public lecture at UNC on Jan. 26.

The 5:30 p.m. talk at the Kenan-Flagler Business School‘s Koury Auditorium is the annual Weatherspoon Lecture and kicks off the spring season of the Dean’s Speaker Series. The lecture will be followed by a reception for all attendees, and free parking will be available in the business school parking deck.

Blair, who campaigns for women’s equality across the world, specializes in employment and human rights law. She is regularly asked to appear in courts abroad. Her autobiography, Speaking for Myself, was published in the United Kingdom in spring 2008 and was released in the U.S. in October. She also co-wrote The Goldfish Bowl, an account of life in No. 10 Downing Street from the perspective of the spouses and families of past prime ministers.

Blair also is associated with numerous charities, including the children’s charity Barnardo’s, the cerebral palsy organization Scope, Breast Cancer Care and the Loomba Trust, which helps widows and their children from across the world.

Blair met and married Tony Blair in 1980 when they were both lawyers. They have four children; the youngest, Leo, was the first child born to a serving prime minister in more than a century.

The Weatherspoon Lecture was created with a gift from longtime UNC and Kenan-Flagler supporters Van and Kay Weatherspoon. The series provides lectures by outstanding visiting scholars and world leaders from the fields of politics, education, business and government. Previous Weatherspoon Lecture speakers have included Steve Forbes, president and chief executive officer of Forbes Inc. and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine; Joe Klein, columnist at Time magazine and author of Primary Colors; and Bob Woodward, assistant managing editor of The Washington Post.

To reserve a seat for the lecture, call (919) 843-7787 or e-mail kfbsrsvp@unc.edu.

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Related coverage is available online:

• You can listen to all the the speakers in the Weatherspoon Lecture Series and the Dean’s Speaker Series at Kenan’s Flagler’s Web site in its “Speaker Videos” section.

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