<img src="/site/files/oldnewsfiles/2015JuristinResidence235px.jpg" width="235" height="200" class="FloatRight" alt="2015JuristinResidence235px">Commonwealth Court Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt will give her second lecture at Widener Law’s Harrisburg campus since becoming the jurist in residence a year ago.<br><br>Leavitt will give the talk “Civil Forfeiture Redux: An Update and Focus on Constitutional Issues,” to the law school community Thursday, Jan. 22 at 4:30 p.m. in room A180 of the administration building at 3737 Vartan Way, Harrisburg. <br><br>The event is open to the public. Pennsylvania and Delaware attorneys who attend will be eligible for one free substantive continuing legal education credit. <br><br>Registration is not required but the law school asks those who plan to attend to RSVP with Sandra Graeff at 717.541.3965 or <a href="mailto:slgraeff@widener.edu">slgraeff@widener.edu</a>.<br><br>As jurist in residence, Leavitt teaches a colloquium on special problems in government litigation, gives public lectures on important legal issues in Pennsylvania and is available for consultation and exchanges with faculty and law students. Her position is hosted by the school’s <a href="/Academics/Institutes/LawandGovernmentInstitute.aspx">Law &amp; Government Institute</a>. The institute is a dynamic resource for students, government officials, legislators, judges, attorneys and the public that focuses on legislation, the intersection of law and policy, and administrative agencies. For students, the institute provides knowledge and insights about how government works, the skills lawyers use when representing clients before the government and skills lawyers use when representing the government itself.<br><br>Leavitt joined the Commonwealth Court in January 2002. Prior to that, she was a shareholder at Buchanan Ingersoll, where she was a member of the firm’s litigation section and chair of the Insurance Regulatory Law Group. Her private practice focused on administrative law, appellate practice and insurance regulatory law. That legal specialty began with her appointment as an assistant attorney general in 1978 and her assignment to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department. She worked at the department nearly 10 years, ending her service there as chief counsel, appointed by Gov. Dick Thornburgh. She holds a law degree from Dickinson School of Law.