Fresh from covering the O.J. Simpson trial, Associated Press special correspondent Linda Deutsch will speak at UNLV on Dec. 12 as part of the Barbara Greenspun Lecture Series.

"The American Justice System and the Media After the Simpson Trial" will be the topic of her 7:30 p.m. talk in Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall.

The event is free, but tickets are required and must be picked up in advance. Tickets will be available at the Performing Arts Center box office at Ham Concert Hall beginning Dec. 2.

Deutsch, AP's premier court reporter, covered the Simpson trial from beginning to end, receiving AP's Oliver Gramling Award for distinguished reporting for her efforts. Her book about the Simpson trial, titled "Verdict: A Chronicle of the O.J. Simpson Trial," is scheduled to be published later this month.

Earlier this month, Deutsch conducted one of the few interviews with Simpson since his Oct. 3 acquittal on charges of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Simpson initiated the interview, telephoning Deutsch twice while she was on vacation in New Jersey.

During the trial, Deutsch became a familiar face to television viewers as she served as a pool reporter during key points in the trial, including jury selection, and was often interviewed by other reporters afterwards.

AP named Deutsch a special correspondent in 1992 in recognition of her long and distinguished career with the wire service. The designation of special correspondent is one she shares with only seven other active AP writers and one that has been bestowed on just 18 AP reporters in the history of the news service.

She has covered many of the best known trials of the past 25 years, including those of Sirhan Sirhan, Charles Manson, Patty Hearst, Angela Davis, Daniel Ellsberg, John Z. DeLorean, Exxon Valdez skipper Joseph Hazelwood, William Kennedy Smith, and the four Los Angeles police officers accused in the beating of motorist Rodney King.

She also has covered two U.S. presidents, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, at their Western White Houses and covered two assassination attempts on a third president, Gerald Ford. From Guam, she helped cover the evacuation of Vietnam after the fall of Saigon.

Her recent awards include the University of Missouri School of Journalism's Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism and the Society of Professional Journalist's First Amendment Award for her work in the cause of freedom of information.

Deutsch graduated from Monmouth College in her native New Jersey with a bachelor's degree in English. Before going to work for AP in Los Angeles, she was a reporter for the Perth Amboy News and the Asbury Park Press, both in New Jersey.

The Barbara Greenspun Lecture Series is sponsored by UNLV's Greenspun School of Communication in honor of Las Vegas Sun publisher Barbara Greenspun. The school is named in honor of her late husband, Sun founder Hank Greenspun.

For additional information on Deutsch's presentation at UNLV, call 895-3801.