Wednesday, April 3, 2019


The doctoral dissertation of a Dutch law student circa 1820 is bound in three copies in three different decorated paper wrappers. Typically such dissertations were printed in a very small number, destined only for friends, family, and associates of the author. The Law Library may hold the only surviving example of each of the three types of decorated paper.

Today is a wonderful time to be blessed with legal training and to be able to go out and take on the enormous challenges of a difficult world — with an aspiration to lead tempered by humility at the complexity, difficulty, discipline, and self-sacrifice inherent in the task.”


Ben W. Heineman, Jr.

Class of 1971