"He was a metaphor for equal justice for all and few peoplehave had such a lasting impact on lawyers,young and old. Accordingly, I came to the conclusionthat the room, which he loved so much, should bear his name as a permanent memorial to his greatness."
Attorney Robert L. Habush, June 4, 2002
(inscribed in Howard B. Eisenberg Memorial Hall)
The Comments of Professor Daniel D. Blinka
Delivered 29 August 2002
On behalf of the faculty, I thank Mr. Habush for his extraordinarily generous and compassionate gift. Speaking as a teacher, I'm humbled because it's my honor to reflect for a moment on three lessons that I think students will draw from this occasion.
First, we commemorate this beautiful room, which will provide our students with a place for study, inspiration, and reflection about what lawyers do. I say "inspiration" and "reflection" because there are lessons that can't be drawn from casebooks and lectures. This room is modeled closely after the English Inns of Courts, the fountainhead of many of the freedoms and liberties so dear to us and that both Howard B. Eisenberg, Dean and Professor of Law and Robert Habush have devoted their careers to defending and preserving.
And this brings us to the second lesson which transcends lawyer-like concerns over rights and due process. As students look about this room and reflect on the portraits, the plaques, and the physical space where we now are, they will undoubtedly reflect on Dean Eisenberg and his selfless devotion to the profession and the community, especially his abiding concern for those without representation. I used the word "selfless" to describe Howard's legacy of service because it literally means a giving over of one's self to others, a word that exactly fits Howard's life. And these are traits he shared with Robert Habush, whose reputation as one of the nation's preeminent trial lawyers has been forged in defense of many of those same rights and values.
Finally, we celebrate the lesson that Mr. Habush has taught all of us in his dedication of this room to Dean Eisenberg. This itself is an extraordinarily selfless act of kindness, compassion, and recognition of what Howard stood for. Our students will study law in this room, but the lessons taught by Dean Eisenberg and Robert Habush will ultimately prove far more valuable in making them good lawyers and, as important, good people.
On behalf of the faculty, I thank Mr. Habush for honoring Howard's memory and for teaching our students about values and human qualities that we cannot teach from course books
For more information contact:
Christine Wlczynski-Vogel
Marquette University Law School
christine.wv@marquette.edu
(414) 288-3167
PO Box 1881
Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881
USA