On November 29, civil rights lawyer and scholar Sherrilyn Ifill, Steven and Maureen Klinsky Visiting Professor of Practice for Leadership and Progress at Harvard Law, delivered a lecture titled "Reimagining American Democracy: Becoming Founders & Framers," to mark the appointment.

From 2013-2022, Ifill served as the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), where her voice and analysis played a prominent role in shaping the national conversation about race and civil rights. In 2024, Ifill will become the inaugural Vernon L. Jordan Chair in Civil Rights at Howard Law School, where will become founding Director of the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy.

The Steven and Maureen Klinsky Professorship of Practice for Leadership and Progress was endowed in 2013 as the first endowed professorship of practice, designed to bring visiting leaders from a wide range of fields beyond law to campus to teach and bring inspiration and broad perspective to the school and, more generally, to Harvard University.