Nick Drees, the federal public defender for both the Southern and Northern Districts of Iowa, will give the first address in the Drake Law School’s Public Service Speakers Series, which begins Wednesday, Sept. 29.
Drees will present a free, public lecture about his experiences in public service at 5 p.m. in room 123 of the Neal and Bea Smith Law Center, 2400 University Ave.
The monthly Public Service Speakers Series introduces students to a range of lawyers and judges who have made public service a central feature of their professional and/or personal lives. This low-key, informal dialogue provides students with a great opportunity to get know the human side of these lawyers, and understand the values that provide the foundation for their commitment to service.
A native of Manning, Iowa, Drees graduated from Harvard College in 1985 with a B.A., magna cum laude, in government. After graduating from the University of Chicago Law School in 1989, he served a two-year clerkship for the Honorable Donald E. O’Brien of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.
After the clerkship, Drees worked as an assistant public defender in the Polk County, Iowa, Public Defender’s Office. In 1994, when the Iowa Federal Defender’s Office opened, he became an assistant federal public defender. He has been the federal public defender in Iowa since 1999. He also is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is president of the board for the ACLU of Iowa.
The Public Service Speakers Series will continue on National Public Service Day — Thursday, Oct. 7 — with a free, public lecture by U.S. District Judge John Jarvey of the Southern District of Iowa.
Judge Jarvey, a 1981 graduate of Drake Law School, will discuss “Public Service: Honor and Opportunity” at 3 p.m. in room 213 of Cartwright Hall, 2621 Carpenter Ave. An informal question-and-answer session will follow in the Quiet Lounge.
His visit to Drake also will include a faculty luncheon focusing on the American jury trial. In addition, he will discuss search warrants as a guest speaker in professor David McCord’s class on criminal procedure.
A native of Minneapolis and the father of first-year Drake law student Matthew Jarvey, Judge Jarvey received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Akron. After graduating from Drake Law School, he was a law clerk for the Hon. Donald E. O’Brien, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, from 1981 to 1983. He then became a trial attorney in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1983 to 1987.
He served as a U.S. magistrate judge for the Northern District of Iowa from 1987 through 2007. On the recommendation of Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, Jarvey was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as a U.S. district judge. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on an unopposed 95-0-5 vote and received his commission on March 14, 2007
For more information about the Public Service Speakers Series, contact Russell Lovell at 515-271-1806 or russell.lovell@drake.edu.