Father Pilarz: Promoting Marquette’s Responsibility for Milwaukee’s Well-Being

In a down-to-earth and sometimes self-deprecating way, Marquette University’s new president, the Rev. Scott Pilarz, S.J., offered a vision Monday of a university that simultaneously strengthens the quality of its academic programs and its research while becoming more involved with addressing Milwaukee’s needs.

Speaking during an “On the Issues” session with Mike Gousha, distinguished fellow in law and public policy, in the Law School’s Eckstein Hall, Pilarz described Marquette as one of the nation’s great universities. He said great universities successfully walk a tightrope in which student education and research are complementary, not competitive, interests.

Asked by Gousha what other universities he felt Marquette was competing with, he said, “I think we’re competing with Marquette to be the best Marquette we can be.” He said university leaders shouldn’t  spend a lot of time looking over their shoulders.  “We’re a major national university,” Pilarz said. The focus should simply be, “How do we improve Marquette?”

Pilarz took office as president on Aug. 1. Ceremonies to inaugurate him officially are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

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Farewell, Attorney Nathan A. Fishbach

Nathan FishbachThe Milwaukee legal community lost one of its most distinguished members yesterday with the untimely passing of Nathan A. Fishbach.  Nathan served in the United States Attorney’s Office for thirteen years, rising to the positions of Deputy U.S. Attorney and Interim U.S. Attorney.  He then moved to private practice in 1993, spending the balance of his career as a highly respected civil and white-collar litigator with Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek.  Nathan specialized in complex white-collar cases with overlapping civil, criminal, and regulatory dimensions.  Over the years, I had several conversations with Nathan about his practice, and I always left deeply impressed by his combination of heart-felt empathy for his clients and hard-nosed savvy about litigation tactics.

Nathan will be missed not only by his clients and coworkers, but also by the wider Milwaukee legal community, where he was known as a great leader and builder.  He was, for instance, the founding president of the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association.  Nathan loved to bring people together, and I think he was quite proud of all the things he did that helped to make the Milwaukee legal community more genuinely a “community.”  It is hard to imagine any more deserving winner of the Judge Myron L. Gordon Lifetime Achievement Award, which was bestowed on him by the EDWBA earlier this year.

Although Nathan was a graduate of Villanova Law School, we have long since claimed him as an honorary Marquette Lawyer.  

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Palestine’s U.N. Membership: Why Does It Matter?

Palestinian officials have announced that they will seek a Security Council vote to approve Palestine as a full member of the United Nations next Friday. Israel has strongly opposed the move, and the United States has announced that, if necessary, it will use its veto powers to preclude approval. Why does the membership vote matter?

Because full-member status would establish broad, formal international recognition of Palestinian statehood. For Palestine, statehood would bring a number of benefits, including diplomatic immunity for many of its officials, the ability to join treaties and vote in the U.N. General Assembly, and standing to litigate with other states—including Israel—before the International Court of Justice. Even more significantly, statehood would establish Palestine’s sovereign equality with Israel and rights to self-determination and territorial integrity.

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