Essay memorializing Professor Frank Flegal, who had taught courses involving federal courts, civil procedure, civil litigation and torts. He also had served as an associate dean of the law school from 1975 to 1979

Areen, Judith C.

English

Georgetown Law Scholarly Commons

Georgetown University Law Center Scholarship @ GEORGETOWN LAW 1993 In Memoriam: Professor Frank Flegal Judith C. Areen Georgetown University Law Center, areen@law.georgetown.edu   This paper can be downloaded free of charge from: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/1442  This open-access article is brought to you by the Georgetown Law Library. Posted with permission of the author. Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub IN MEMORIAM:PROFESSOR FRANK FLEGALJUDITH AREEN*Frank Flegal was so central to the life of Georgetown Law Center thatmost of us are still unable to imagine the future without him. Fortunately,and precisely because he was so fundamental to the community that wehave become, he will always be with us.When I think of Frank I think first of Fast Frank, Frank the fabulousteacher-the one chosen to be the model for all of us and captured on filmfor our faculty retreat as far back as 1973. Even this fall, when hisindomitable spirit kept him going despite the fatigue increasingly obviousaround his eyes, Frank was, if not fast, still the most extraordinary teacherof our generation. When I met with his students earlier this fall to explainthat he could not continue with the class, they were full of concern, ratherthan the complaints I feared, because they already cared so deeply. Asone said to me that day, "but what will we do? He is the best teacher wehave. He's the one that brings it all together." I was especially pleased tobe able to relay those words to Frank for nothing (except Linda and Katieof course) meant more to him than his students.It was always that way. I recently flew to a conference on the WestCoast with a woman who is now a law professor at a nearby school. Shewent out of her way to tell me that for her class almost twenty years ago,Frank had also been the one-the teacher they will always remember.Thoreau once observed that "my life has been the poem I would havewrit." For Frank, his teaching was a poem that will live on in the thoughtsand deeds of twenty-one years of students.But Frank shaped the Law Center by much more than his masterfulteaching. He served as an Associate Editor of The Georgetown LawJournal in his years as a student here. After joining the faculty in 1971, hewas promoted to full professor in a record four years. He then spent fouryears as Associate Dean. Beginning in the late 1970s, Frank became Chairof what I believe is the longest running committee of its kind in ourhistory, the New Building Committee. As Chair, Frank was the one whokept us headed in the right direction on the lengthy and often difficult pathto the completion in 1989 of the Edward Bennett Williams Law Library.*Executive Vice President for Law Center Affairs, Dean, and Professor, GeorgetownUniversity Law Center.1683THE GEORGETOWN LAW JOURNALMany hands contributed to the effort, of course, but it was Frank whosedetermination, vision, fairness, and wisdom got us past the early days whenthere seemed no way to pay for it all, through the middle days wheneveryone was demanding more space than the budget would permit, andeven beyond the final days of having to design around our inability to closeG Street. It was extraordinary that one man possessed the many differentskills that turned out to be crucial to the project. His passion for airlineschedules became the bedrock for shaping the intricate details of cash flowand construction. His ability to relate to everyone in the Law Centermediated the conflicts that inevitably arose within the committee or be-tween architects and those paying the bills.It is appropriate, therefore, that one of the ways we will honor Frank iswith a plaque in the Williams Library, so that future generations of faculty,students, and visitors will know about the extraordinary contribution hemade to all of us.Frank's institutional contributions went far beyond the library. Thosewho have only joined the Law Center since 1979 may not realize it, butevery time you go to class at 10:05 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 12:20 p.m., and so on,you are moving on Frank's schedule. He put it all together more thanfifteen years ago when he served as Associate Dean, and no one since hasdared to tinker with such a successful balancing of ABA rules and George-town size. He was similarly the architect of our summer school, which hasprovided a much needed opportunity for our evening division and gradu-ate students to spread some of their extraordinary burden into the summermonths.Many may not have known most of these things because Frank was soextraordinarily modest about his achievements. It was that inner strength,combined with his integrity and intelligence that made him so influentialwhen any issues arose. Frank would always weigh a matter with great care,making up his own mind rather than bowing to political pressures. For thisreason, when he spoke on a matter, his word carried enormous weight. Itwas an aspect of Frank's concern for all of us that he used his position ofrespect only rarely, and only when he believed he could contribute to abetter outcome.Frank was the first person in the history of the Law Center to marry afaculty colleague. We were all so delighted first by his marriage to Lindaand later by the birth of Katie that we adjusted to losing Linda from ourranks with the consolation that she would still be part of our community.And Frank, well Frank just beamed with the happiness he had found ashusband and then father. For the first time there was a serious rival to hisstudents in Frank's eyes-and that was his beloved Katie. But she wasn'treally a rival, of course, for in another sense Katie was his student-as1684 [Vol. 81:16831993] IN MEMORIAM: FRANK FLEGAL 1685indeed we all were. He taught us not only about teaching, but aboutcharacter, wisdom, and friendship. Norman Cousins once wrote that "ifsomething comes to life in others because of you, then you have made anapproach to immortality." Well Frank has not just handfuls, but scores offormer students as well as colleagues who know that he did bring some-thing to life in us. If his poem was his teaching, we can be sure that his is apoem that will never end.

In Memoriam: Professor Frank Flegal

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In Memoriam: Professor Frank Flegal

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