Morris Dees Biography

Morris Seligman Dees Jr. (born December 16, 1936) is an American attorney who is the co-founder and chief trial counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and a former market engineer for book publishing. Along with his law partner, Joseph J. Levin Jr., Dees founded the SPLC in 1971. Dees and his colleagues at the Southern Poverty Law Center have been "credited with devising innovative ways to cripple hate groups" such as the Ku Klux Klan.