The History and Future of Capital Punishment in the United States

It is a great pleasure to be with you today to deliver the 2016 Nathaniel Nathanson Lecture. I am delighted to join the many distinguished jurists and scholars that have delivered this Lecture in prior years. Early in his career, Professor Nathanson clerked for Justice Louis Brandeis and served the Securities and Exchange Commission in its formative days. Professor Nathanson is deservedly viewed as one of the architects of modern administrative law. His work, Administrative Discretion in the Interpretation of Statutes,was monumental in the field of administrative law. Professor Nathanson was the first scholar to identify a “principle of limited judicial review” when reviewing agency interpretations of statutes...

In Pursuit of Excellence--A History of the University of Minnesota Law Scool--Part II: The Vance Years--A Time of Ascendancy

The first article in this series described the first two decades of the University of Minnesota Law School as a period marked by an accommodating and cautious regime.\u27 The next decade, in contrast, was marked by a demanding and ambitious administration whose reforms altered the face of the school at a pace that remains unparalleled in the history of the institution. The first dean, William S. Pattee, had provided a firm foundation for legal education at the University but had sometimes compromised the quality of his vision because of the exigencies of the moment

In Pursuit of Excellence--A History of the University of Minnesota Law School--Part III: The Frasedr Years--A Time of Excellence and Innovation

The first two articles in this series described the development of the University of MinnesotaLaw School under Deans William S. Pattee\u27 and William Reynolds Vance.2 Dean Pattee had provided thesteady andaccommodatingleadershipneeded to lay theground- work for the years of ascendancy under Dean Vance. During his eight-year tenure at Minnesota, the most important of the many improvements Dean Vance had made was in the quality of the fac- ulty. Withatalentforrecognizingtheearlymanifestationsofscho- lastic excellence, Vance had attracted to the law school professors who developed into some of the leading scholars of their day. The work of Vance and these professorsmade the stillyoung schoolinto one of the country\u27s finest, but it alsoattractedthe attention of other fine institutions.The subsequent loss of these men and of the Dean who had attractedthem in the faculty raids by Yale University in the late teens imperiled the advances that had been made and caused many to fear that the school was headed toward an early demise. Yet, surprisingly, the school\u27s reputation during the next several decades continued to advance. Vance\u27s resignationsignaled not the end of an era of success but simply another stage in the school\u27s continuingpursuitof excellence

The Future of the Legal Profession

It is a pleasure to be with you this evening and share some thoughts with you. Sandy and I are delighted to see so many wonderful friends here. I hope we have an opportunity to greet each of you before the evening is over. I include my wife, Sandy, in our network of friends because she has been my partner throughout my association with the Law School - during the time I was a student, then a faculty member, and eventually as Dean - and so many friends here tonight are friends of both of ours. I\u27d like to ask Sandy to stand and ask you all to join me in recognizing her and thanking her for being here with us this evening