William Lawrence "Larry" Church '63, who was widely acknowledged as a highly effective and original teacher focused on developing his students’ capacity for analysis and logical thought, passed away Nov. 24; he was 86.
Church was the Sherwood R. Volkman-Bascom Teaching Professor of Law at University of Wisconsin Law School. He taught more than 15 different courses for more than four decades starting in 1968, including comparative law, constitutional law, legal processes and property law.
The Milwaukee native spent only a few years of his career away from UW Law after graduation -- working as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia and practicing with Foley, Sammond & Lardner in Milwaukee.
"Our alumni often ask about him and share memories of his teaching and influence, a testament to his lasting impact," Dean Dan Tokaji said.
Church was the longtime adviser to the Wisconsin Law Review and named Classroom Teacher of the Year five times.
Some students may remember him co-teaching a Supreme Court seminar each spring with Fredericka Paff, his wife.
“I teach not so much the law itself,” he said in a 2013 State Bar of Wisconsin story. “That’s changing all the time, and it’s written down. You can look it up. I try to teach how to deal with the law, how to argue it, litigate it, give advice to clients, negotiate … how to think.”
He often wrote his own course materials and used what he calls a “semi-Socratic method.” In a 2008 Gargoyle profile, he said: “I try to make the students address the policy issues behind all cases by asking them to indicate what arguments they think are persuasive (on both sides), and why this is so. If they run out of possibilities, I add some suggestions of my own.”
Church's work extended well beyond our campus. He taught in more than 15 different countries and five continents. He was part of the founding group of UW Law professors (including Zig Zile, Chuck Irish, John Kidwell, and Ken Davis) who created and taught in the Law School’s summer U.S. Legal Institutions program for international lawyers.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Submitted by Law School News on November 26, 2024
This article appears in the categories: Features
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