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Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel will speak on the topic, “Dismantling a Drug Cartel – The Daunting Legal Challenges,” at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law on October 6. Judge Curiel’s lecture is in commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month, and the event will take place in the Wynne Courtroom at Inlow Hall beginning at 5 p.m.

Judge Curiel has been a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of California since October 2012. He was nominated by then-President Barack Obama and was confirmed by the Senate in September 2012. Prior to his confirmation, Judge Curiel served as a San Diego Superior Court Judge from 2006 through 2012. From 1979 to 1989, he worked in private practice, and from 1989 to 2002, he worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in San Diego and Los Angeles. In the San Diego office, he served as the Chief and Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Enforcement Section. Judge Curiel is a graduate of the IU Maurer School of Law, where he is a Law Alumni Fellow and serves as a member of its Board of Visitors.

“Aside from Judge Curiel having roots in Indiana, and being an alumnus of Indiana University, we invited him to speak because of IU McKinney’s dedication to diversity in the legal profession,” said Hispanic Law Society (HLS) president Allan Griffey. “The law school has a goal for the legal profession to reflect the increasing diversity of our society. I hope attendees will be able to discern from Judge Curiel’s participation and contributions as an American with Hispanic heritage, that diversity in the legal profession is vital and indispensable in the United States.”

Mario Garcia, ’99, managing member of the Indianapolis law firm Brattain Minnix Garcia, will serve as the moderator for Judge Curiel’s talk.

The talk is sponsored by the Hispanic Law Society at IU McKinney, and the Indiana State Bar Association’s Latino Affairs Committee. The event, which is free and open to the public, carries with it 1.0 hour of Indiana Continuing Legal Education credit with a registration.