KU sent out the following press release today:John G. Roberts Jr., chief justice of the (United States) … will deliver the 2008 Vickers Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the University of Kansas School of Business. He will be the first sitting chief justice to speak at the university.The public lecture, which will take place April 30 at the Lied Center, will be part of a two-day trip to KU for Roberts, during which he will meet with business and law students and faculty. Both the School of Business and the School of Law played a significant role in bringing Roberts to campus.”The School of Business is tremendously excited about Chief Justice Roberts’ upcoming lecture,” said Dean William Fuerst. “It will be a great event not only for our students but the entire university and surrounding community as well.”The schools of business and law worked collaboratively to invite Roberts and to develop a schedule for him that will maximize his time at KU. Fuerst and Gail Agrawal, dean of the law school, agreed that student exposure to the chief justice was paramount.”The opportunity to meet the chief justice of the United States is especially meaningful for law students,” Agrawal said. “We anticipate that Chief Justice Roberts will speak to students in our constitutional law classes during his time on campus. I expect we will open those class sessions to as many students and faculty members as possible. The entire law school community is looking forward to his visit.”Roberts’ illustrious career began after graduating from Harvard Law School in 1979. Upon graduation, he was a law clerk for Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Throughout the 1980 term, he served in the same capacity for Supreme Court Justice William H. Rehnquist.In 1982, Roberts was appointed associate counsel to President Ronald Reagan, a position he held until 1986, at which point he practiced law in Washington, D.C.After a 10-year stretch in private practice, Roberts was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 2003 to 2005, which led to his appointment by President George W. Bush as chief justice on Sept. 29, 2005.Steven McAllister, professor of law, was pivotal in coordinating with Roberts’ office on the invitation to KU. Because of his experience as a clerk for Supreme Court justices Byron White and Clarence Thomas, McAllister facilitated the communication between Roberts’ office and the schools of business and law.The Vickers lecture is named for J.A. Vickers, KU alumnus and founder of Vickers Petroleum Co., and his son, Robert. The lecture series began in 1969 and has brought to KU such distinguished speakers as George H.W. Bush, Yitzhak Rabin, Donald Rumsfeld, Supreme Court associate justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Kenneth Starr.Tickets to the lecture will be free but will not be available until 2008.