I previously expressed my hope that many will join us at the Law Alumni Awards ceremony, which will occur this Thursday, April 23, 5:30 p.m., at the Alumni Memorial Union. I write again so that I may add that there will be a unique opportunity, before the reception, for anyone interested to place his or her name on Eckstein Hall. That may seem a little odd, for Eckstein Hall is rising several blocks away from the AMU. But we will have available on April 23 outside the AMU the final steel beam that will be placed in Eckstein Hall some weeks from now—and plenty of permanent markers with which folks can sign it. So, whether you are coming to the awards ceremony or not, feel free this Thursday to write your name into the future of Marquette University Law School. The beam will be available under a tent in Parking Lot A (corner of 16th and Wells) from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Students, alumni, faculty, administrators, staff — indeed, all who in any way form part of the Marquette University Law School community — are warmly encouraged to attend the annual Law Alumni Awards Reception this coming Thursday, April 23, 5:30 p.m., in the Monaghan Ballroom at the Alumni Memorial Union. The Law Alumni Awards Reception, which is in the nature of a cocktail party with a program, is among my own favorite events of the year. Partly this is because of the specific individuals to whom we give awards: this year, these individuals are Robert J. Berdan, L’75 (Alumnus of the Year); Larry B. Brueggeman, L’69 (Lifetime Achievement Award); Robert E. Webb Jr., L’97 (Howard B. Eisenberg Service Award); and Kristi L. Schoepfer, L’01 (Charles W. Mentkowski Sports Law Alumna of the Year). Mostly, though, my enjoyment of the ceremony comes from opportunity to celebrate the ideal of the Marquette lawyer that the particular award-winners — and many other alumni — have realized over the years. Marquette lawyers have done important things during the past century-plus, and the nature of life is that many of these things will go unrecognized, unrewarded, and even unappreciated. How appropriate, then, to pause at the end of our academic year, as part of the University’s Alumni National Awards Weekend, in order to reflect on the specific but representative ways in which certain alumni, selected by the Law Alumni Association, have exemplified the Law School’s ideals and spirit since graduation — and perhaps, incidentally, to inspire those of our students who will graduate this May and join the ranks of their forbears as Marquette lawyers. We regard the event as sufficiently important that classes end for the semester late on Thursday afternoon, so that all who are interested may attend. And I hope that “all who are interested” are all of us. It is helpful if you r.s.v.p. here, but feel free to attend even if you haven’t done so. I hope to see you on Thursday.