Rule of Law Lectures

Minister Dias Toffoli and Judge Sérgio Moro to Speak at the Wilson Center in July

Building on the “Brazil-United States Judicial Dialogue” of 2011 and the Wilson Center’s Rule of Law Initiative launched earlier this year, the Brazil Institute and the Washington College of Law at American University are pleased to announce a new jointly sponsored lectures series.

The series will be launched by Justice José Antonio Dias Toffoli of the Brazilian Supreme Federal Tribunal on July 6th. He will speak on “The Evolving Role of the Brazilian Supreme Court”. A former Solicitor General, Dias Toffoli was appointed to the Court by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He led the country’s Superior Electoral Tribunal, which supervises elections at all levels, and is scheduled to become President of the Supreme Court in September 2018, under a two year rotation of the post among its eleven members.

On July 14th, the Wilson Center will welcome Federal Judge Sérgio Fernando Moro, from the Thirteenth Federal Criminal Court in Curitiba, in the state of Paraná. Judge Moro leads the Petrobras scandal corruption investigation since it began in March 2014. He will speak on “Corruption in Brazil.”

The new Brazil Institute-Washington College of Law lecture series will feature analysis by prominent Brazilian judges and legal experts on topics of relevance for policy makers, scholars, students and business executives. The lectures will analyze the implications of the unprecedented anti-corruption effort that has dominated headlines over the past decade and has revealed a new attitude in Brazilian society in support of criminal accountability.

The anti-graft offensive has had a significant impact on the nation’s economic and political landscape. Brazilian federal prosecutors, regulators and legal experts talk now about “a new culture of compliance” taking root in the nation’s business community.

Investigations conducted by federal prosecutors have exposed massive schemes of corruption involving political parties and leaders, major companies, business executives and operatives. “Crime will not prevail over justice,” said Supreme Court Vice-President, Minister Cármen Lúcia Antunes Rocha, in November 2015, expressing the public’s sentiment at a pivotal moment of the investigations on the Petrobras case. Attorney General Rodrigo Janot has described the Petrobras corruption now being pursued as an assault by “a criminal organization” acting within the government.

Minister Cármen Lúcia has accepted our invitation to speak on rule of law in Brazil in times turmoil after she ascends to position of President of the Court in September.

RSVPS to follow for the respective event 

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Images courtesy of Agencia Brasil