Law Professors as Bridges

One of the themes developing in the legal blogoshpere following the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to the Supreme Court concerns the role of the legal professoriate in elevating the debate. (For example.) That prompts me to toss out a link to a recent post by Dean Joseph Kearney on the Marquette Faculty Blog concerning that role more generally. In it, Dean Kearney discusses recent comments by Marquette alum and Brooklyn Law Professor Aaron Twerski and Marquette faculty member (and Prawfsblawg alum) Michael O’Hear regarding the relationship between law faculties, larger university communities, and the bench and bar. O’Hear made his remarks in connection with receiving the Judge Robert Warren Public Service Award from the Eastern District of Wisconsin Bar Association, and explores the many ways in which a law professor can serve as a bridge between many different communities. Twerski likewise spoke in connection with receiving an award – the Robert C. McKay Law Professor Award from the Torts and Insurance Section of the ABA – and advances the view that legal scholars should not fall into the trap of speaking only to one another. I have no grand thoughts of my own to add. Only the suggestion that these brief commentaries are worth a read and that the points they raise are, as always, things worth giving thought as we proceed on our scholarly journeys.