2/22/02--Boston College Law School is pleased to announce that Ruth Deech, Principal of St. Anne's College, member of the Rhodes Trust and Chair of the UK Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, will be delivering the 2nd annual Libby Lecture at the Law School on March 14, 2002. Her presentation, "Controlling Cloning," will take place at 4 p.m. in the East Wing building, room 120.

"Mrs. Deech is the leading spokesperson not only in the United Kingdom but in Europe on matters dealing with human reproduction and the new technologies," said BC Law Libby Professor Sanford Katz. "At a time when our own leaders in politics, science, religion and ethics are debating important issues regarding genetic engineering and cloning, Mrs. Deech's reasoned voice will be welcomed. We are so fortunate, indeed honored, to have Mrs. Deech at Boston College Law School."

England’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) was established by legislation in 1991 to consider ethical questions arising from advances in reproductive medicine, and to regulate research and treatment of infertility. The HFEA ensures that all UK treatment clinics offering in vitro fertilization or donor insemination, or storing eggs, sperm or embryos, conform to high medical and professional standards and are inspected regularly. The HFEA also licenses and monitors all human embryo research, supervising controlled research for the benefit of humankind.

All of the HFEA's policy and licensing decisions are taken by the HFEA's 21 Members, who are appointed by UK Health Ministers. Members are selected not as representatives of any particular group or organization, but because of their personal knowledge and expertise. To enable a wide spectrum of interests and views to be heard, more than half of the HFEA's membership must come from disciplines other than medicine or human embryo research.

Ruth Deech has been a member of the Committee of Inquiry into Equal Opportunities on the Bar Vocational Course from 1993 to 1994. She has been an elected member of Hebdomadal Council from 1986, a Rhodes Trustee from 1996 and an Honorary Bencher of the Inner Temple. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Society of Family Law, a member of the Editorial Board of Child and Family Law Quarterly and an Honorary Fellow of the Society for Advanced Legal Studies.

The Darald and Juliet Libby Chair, the Law School’s first endowed chair, was established through a $1.5 million gift by Darald Libby, JD ‘55, and his wife Juliet, and honors the New Hampshire couple’s late friend and mentor Rev. Michael G. Pierce, S.J., of the Jesuit Mission Bureau in Boston. Internationally recognized family law expert Sanford Katz was appointed as the inaugural holder of the Darald and Juliet Libby Chair. He will give introductory remarks at the 2nd annual Libby Lecture on March 14.