Sherrilyn Ifill knew since she was a young child that she wanted to become, in her words, “someone who makes a difference.” Today, she is one of the most renowned and accomplished civil rights lawyers in the country, having spent her career advocating for voting rights, racial justice, and the fight for democracy.
Ifill was honored for her trailblazing work as the recipient of the Fordham-Stein Prize in early November. The award is presented annually by Fordham Law School to a member of the legal profession whose work exemplifies outstanding professional conduct and promotes the advancement of justice.
“Sherrilyn Ifill has dedicated her life to public service and to the fight for equal justice. And she has been a steadfast advocate compellingly making the case on behalf of the most marginalized in our society,” said Dean Matthew Diller in presenting the award. “In addition to being a renowned litigator and strategist, she is a writer, teacher, speaker, and public intellectual who is constantly reminding us that the strength of our democracy is rooted in the rights of our most vulnerable citizens.”
Ifill spent the day at Fordham Law, interacting with students, faculty, and staff prior to the presentation of the award and a fireside chat with Dean Diller.
Ifill spoke with Dean Diller about her experience as president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund (LDF), the history of racial justice in America, and the challenges that remain in order to ensure equity in the legal system.
“I think what the last 10 or so years have taught us is that democracy is work … It requires constant vigilance,” said Ifill. “We are being called to a higher level of citizenship than we have been engaged in in the past. I think there are periods of time when that is true. And so we have to begin to think about what we’ve been doing—and then how do we take it to the next level?”
In 2018, Ifill was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws from Fordham and gave the commencement address at the Law School’s diploma ceremony.
Ifill was recently appointed as the inaugural Vernon E. Jordan, Jr., Esq. Endowed Chair in Civil Rights at Howard University, where she will lead the creation of The 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy. She is also currently working on a forthcoming book about democracy.
The Fordham-Stein Prize was created by Louis Stein ’26 during the height of the Watergate investigation as a way to celebrate the greatest exemplars of integrity and ethics in the legal profession. Since 1976, the award has been given to outstanding legal and judicial luminaries, including seven Supreme Court justices and three former U.S. Secretaries of State.
Ifill also spoke about being inspired as a young person after seeing Congresswoman Barbara Jordan of Texas—the first Black woman elected to Congress from the Deep South—speak during the Watergate trial. Jordan gave a speech during a committee hearing that left a mark on Ifill, talking about her duty to uphold the Constitution,
“Here was a Black woman in the South, declaring her refusal to be moved from the Constitution. And if that meant bringing down a president, she would stand there as a lawyer, as a leader, as a member of Congress,” Ifill said. “I think what we can teach young people is that all of your power is not in rejecting, some of your power is in embracing and saying that’s mine.”