Frederick M. Lawrence is an American legal scholar and the President of Brandeis University

Brandeis University

Brandeis University is an American private research university with a liberal arts focus. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, Massachusetts, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. In 2011, it...

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He is the third and youngest child of Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College

Brooklyn College is a senior college of the City University of New York, located in Brooklyn, New York, United States.Established in 1930 by the New York City Board of Higher Education, the College had its beginnings as the Downtown Brooklyn branches of Hunter College and the City College of New...

 sweethearts Joseph and Bea Lawrence (both deceased). His father was a chemical engineer and his mother an educator. Lawrence attended Flower Hill Elementary School, Carrie Palmer Weber Junior High School and Paul D. Schreiber High School, all in Port Washington, New York

Port Washington, New York

Port Washington is a hamlet and census-designated place in Nassau County, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2010 Census, the community population was 15,846....

. He was Valedictorian

Valedictorian

Valedictorian is an academic title conferred upon the student who delivers the closing or farewell statement at a graduation ceremony. Usually, the valedictorian is the highest ranked student among those graduating from an educational institution...

 of his 1973 high school class.

Lawrence holds the B.A. from Williams College

Williams College

Williams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams. Originally a men's college, Williams became co-educational in 1970. Fraternities were also phased out during this...

 and the J.D. from Yale University

Yale Law School

Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...

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He began his legal career in 1980 as clerk to Judge Amalya Lyle Kearse

Amalya Lyle Kearse

Amalya Lyle Kearse is a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and a world-class bridge player.-Legal career:...

 of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Later, Lawrence served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...

, where he became chief of the Civil Rights Unit.

In 1988, he joined the faculty of the Boston University School of Law

Boston University School of Law

Boston University School of Law is the law school affiliated with Boston University, and is ranked #22 among American law schools by US News and World Report magazine. It is the second-oldest law school in Massachusetts and one of the first law schools in the country to admit students regardless...

 where he taught courses on civil rights enforcement, criminal law, and civil procedure.

From 2005 through 2010, Lawrence was Dean and Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School.

On July 8, 2010 he was named President of Brandeis University. He took office at Brandeis on Jan. 1, 2011.

Lawrence is a highly regarded expert on civil rights.