The Milwaukee Bar Association recognized our own Dean Joseph D. Kearney as “Lawyer of the Year” at its annual meeting earlier today.  In presenting the award, MBA President Michael J. Cohen particularly cited Kearney’s ambitious vision for Eckstein Hall and his leadership in bringing that vision to life.  Cohen noted that our new facility will serve as a valuable resource for many years to come, not only for our students, but also for the wider legal community.

In accepting the award, Kearney connected the Law School’s activities in Eckstein Hall to the ideal of the lawyer as a public citizen:

The greatness of the legal profession lies not only in its practitioners’ primary activities—doing deals, righting wrongs, protecting freedoms—but also in their other pursuits. The lawyer is, frequently at least, a public citizen, keeping his or her eye on the public good.

The effort of and in Eckstein Hall concerns all aspects of the profession, including an attention to the public good even beyond the development of future lawyers.  

This is not a place to catalogue all the ways that we do this, but whether it is through our Marquette Lawyer magazine, our faculty blog, or our website more generally, I hope that we give you a sense of what we do. Moreover, I hope that you will join us in our efforts and our programs. So many have: it occurs to me that the three other individuals receiving awards today—all of whom I want to congratulate—all have had occasion in the past 15 months, whether in the waning days of Sensenbrenner Hall or the first year of Eckstein Hall, to be involved in panels or programming at the Law School.

Yet we are only scratching the surface. Greater accomplishment will require greater collaboration with many of you and with groups such as the Milwaukee Bar Association. For bar associations, such as this august one, are also illustrative of the dual phenomenon that I described concerning law schools: they seek to enhance the professional status, skill, and income potential of lawyers, yes, but they also tend to the larger public interest, welfare, and good.

I think I can speak on behalf of the entire faculty in wishing congratulations to Dean Kearney for this well-deserved recognition — we are grateful for his tireless service to Marquette Law School and to the legal profession.

Also receiving awards at the MBA luncheon were Richard S. Gallagher of Foley & Lardner LLP (Distinguished Service Award), Chief Judge Jeffrey A. Kremers of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court (E. Michael McCann Distinguished Public Service Award), and Nathan A. Fishbach of Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek S.C. (Lifetime Achievement Award).  Congratulations, one and all!