DeKALB | A Justice of an African Supreme Court will speak at NIU’s law school at 2 p.m. today.

Modibo Ocran, a native of Ghana, will speak to NIU students about professionalism at the Francis X. Riley Courtroom in Swen Parson Hall. Justice Ocran will also serve as a Scholar-in-Residence and a guest lecturer at the College of Law through today.

This will be the 14th lecture in the annual program dedicated to Francis X. Riley, a deceased College of Law professor.

“[The lectures] started in 1994,” said Laurel Haskell, an assistant professor in the College of Law.

Ocran has taught law for 20 years in the United States and currently serves as a Supreme Court Justice in Ghana.

Faculty at NIU feel fortunate to have Ocran speak at the school.

“It’s an honor to have him,” said college of law professor Mark Cordes.

Professors agreed the arrival of Justice Ocran is very beneficial to the College of Law.

“It’s a privilege to have him and students need to take advantage of this,” said college of law professor Guadalupe Luna.

College of Law professor Jeffrey Brown, who organized the event, said this is the first time for NIU’s law school to have a Scholar-in-Residence.

The program brings professors from other universities to teach briefly at NIU.

“It’s like a short-term professor exchange program,” Brown said.

According to Brown, bringing Justice Ocran from Africa to NIU was not an easy task.

“It takes about six to eight months,” he said.

Since arrival, Justice Ocran has met with students at the College of Law and served on a panel discussion about genocide in Africa.