Professor and former Dean James A. Rahl has been an important part of Northwestern University School of Law for fifty years. It is a great pleasure to recount the admirable record of this dedicated person whose scholarship, good humor, and general leadership have presented a model for lawyers, law students, and law faculty for so many years

Ruder, David S.

English

Northwestern University Illinois, School of Law: Scholarly Commons

Northwestern Journal of International Law & BusinessVolume 10Issue 1 SpringSpring 1989Professor and Dean James A. RahlDavid S. RuderNorthwestern University School of LawFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njilbPart of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted forinclusion in Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business by an authorized administrator of Northwestern University School of Law ScholarlyCommons.Recommended CitationDavid S. Ruder, Professor and Dean James A. Rahl, 10 Nw. J. Int'l L. & Bus. 1 (1989-1990)SYMPOSIUM IN HONOR OFPROFESSOR JAMES A. RAHL: ANINTERNATIONAL ANTITRUSTCHALLENGEProfessor and Dean James A. RahlDavid S. Ruder*Professor and former Dean James A. Rahl has been an importantpart of Northwestern University School of Law for fifty years. It is agreat pleasure to recount the admirable record of this dedicated personwhose scholarship, good humor, and general leadership have presented amodel for lawyers, law students, and law faculty for so many years.I. INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARIn 1985, on the occasion of the meetings of the American Bar Asso-ciation in London, I had the pleasure of hearing Jim Rahl present a pa-per on European Community Antitrust Law to a group of internationallawyers and scholars. The introduction by Kingman Brewster in thatsetting was appropriately brief: "We all know Jim Rahl." What we knowabout Jim Rahl is that he has been the leading U.S. authority on Euro-pean Community antitrust law for many years. His brilliant publicationrecord in the international antitrust field includes Common Market and* Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law; Chairman, U.S. Securities andExchange Commission, 1987-89; Dean, Northwestern University School of Law, 1977-85.Northwestern Journal ofInternational Law & Business 10:1(1989)American Antitrust: Overlap and Conflict and a host of articles, includingInternational Application of Antitrust Laws: Issues and Proposals, pub-lished in this Journal.'Of course, Professor Rah's interest in European Community Anti-trust Law was preceded by his interest and his continuing expertise inU.S. antitrust law. As early as 1955, he was a participant in the Report ofthe Attorney General's National Committee to Study the Antitrust Laws,and his numerous articles, papers, and his unpublished case book demon-strate his excellent scholarship in the antitrust field.Discussion of Professor Rahl's scholarship would not be completewithout acknowledgement of his strong parallel interest in tort law.Cases on the Law of Torts (1957)(with L. Greene, W. Malone & W. Pe-drick) has long been known as the leading work in the relational interestsapproach to torts teaching, and provided impetus for several othercasebooks.2Of course, scholarship can be displayed in many ways, as genera-tions of Professor Rahl's students know. Not only has Jim demonstratedhis intellect and scholarship in the classroom, but he was a leader infounding this Journal. In addition to providing advice and guidance tothe Journal's first editors, he assumed important responsibility for theSymposia contained in the first issues of the Northwestern Journal of In-ternational Law & Business.His scholarship has also been repeatedly demonstrated on an indi-vidual basis to many Northwestern students both in the graduate pro-gram, through thesis supervision, and in the Senior Research program, inwhich he has been continually active since its inception. An illustrativeexample of his scholarly guidance is the success of Judge Ren6 Joliet,who pursued both an LL.M and an S.J.D. degree at Northwestern underProfessor Rahl's guidance, held the Chair of European Community Lawat the University of Liege, in Belgium, and is now a Judge at the Court ofJustice of the European Communities.1 2 Nw. J. INT'L L. & Bus. 336 (1980).2 Professor Rahl's other casebooks on torts include: L. GREEN, W. PEDRICK, E. THODE, C.HAWKINS & A. SMITH, CASES ON THE LAW OF TORTS (1968); L. GREEN, W. PEDRICK, E. THODE,C. HAWKINS & A. SMITH, CASES ON INJURIES TO RELATIONS (1968); L. GREEN, W. PEDRICK, E.THODE, C. HAWKINS, A. SMITH & J. TREECE, CASES ON THE LAW OF TORTS (2d ed. 1977); L.GREEN, W. PEDRICK, E. THODE, C. HAWKINS, A. SMITH & J. TREECE, ADVANCED TORTS: INJU-RIES TO BUSINESS, POLITICAL AND FAMILY INTERESTS (1977).3 See Special Symposium Commerating the 25th Anniversary of the Founding of the EuropeanEconomic Community, 3 Nw. J. INT'L L. & BUS. 287-661 (1981); Transnational Issues in AmericanAntitrust Law, 2 Nw. J. INT'L L. & Bus. 334-83 (1980).Professor Rahl10:1(1989)II. LAW TEACHERReference to Jim Rah's influence on students as thesis and SeniorResearch Supervisor naturally brings to mind his reputation as a lawteacher. The definition of a great teacher will vary among students andfaculty, but Jim Rahl surely is one of them. He stands out as the masterof the Socratic Method. Jim's ability to pose questions and direct an-swers has long intrigued and sometimes intimidated his students. Whatemerges is the picture of a teacher who is able to communicate a wealthof information while at the same time eliciting active studentparticipation.As part of his faith in the importance of the Socratic teaching pro-cess, Jim Rahl continues to insist on class preparation and attendance. Itis well known among the law school student body that enrollment in aRahl course requires effort from the student. Nevertheless, the bestNorthwestern students regularly choose the Rahl courses. Student en-thusiasm was well illustrated one year, well before the Law School'sChildres Award for Excellence in Teaching was created, when the stu-dent body acted spontaneously to declare Jim Rahl the best teacher inthe Law School.III. ACADEMIC ADMINISTRATIONAs Dean Rahl's successor and as his colleague for many years beforethat, I am uniquely aware of his contributions to the overall academicsuccess of Northwestern University School of Law. In the late 1960S,Jim served as Chairman of the Objectives and Curriculum Committee,and spearheaded preparation of a long-range planning document for theSchool. He foresaw a school with a faculty dedicated to research, highstandards for promotion and tenure, a student body receiving individualattention through law journal and senior research experience (Jim pro-posed and implemented the Senior Research Program), a significant andwell-supervised graduate program, an enlarged and active legal clinic,and a student body containing increased percentages of women aid mi-norities. All of these plans bore fruit during Jim's term as Dean, andprovided me with a strong plan for the continued pursuit of institutionalexcellence.In my view, the modern day improvement in Northwestern's LawSchool began with Jim Rahl's vision, was initiated by him when he wasDean, and has been continued by his successor Deans and colleagues.Credit Jim Rahl with the Law School's success.Northwestern Journal ofInternational Law & Business 10:1(1989)IV. PERSONALThe personal side of Jim Rahl is not easy to characterize. He isconstantly in pursuit of excellence in all things, and his attributes surelyinclude integrity, humor, dedication, and courage. In the latter category,I wonder how many of us would have continued as Dean after experienc-ing a heart attack during our first months in office. Jim called it a "mildinfarction." A few years ago I talked with the Dean of the MedicalSchool about Jim's then recently completed heart by-pass surgery. TheDean told me that Jim knew immediate surgery had been recommended,but that he had postponed the operation about six weeks so that he couldfinish his classes and grade his exams.On behalf of his many friends, colleagues, and former and currentstudents, I join in the enthusiastic dedication of this issue of the North-western Journal of International Law and Business to Professor James A.Rahl.

Professor and Dean James A. Rahl

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Professor and Dean James A. Rahl

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