The 18th Thomas E. Fairchild Lecture at the University of Wisconsin Law School was delivered Friday, April 21, 2006, by the Honorable Joan Humphrey Lefkow of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
Judge Lefkow, who was one of Judge Fairchild’s clerks, spoke in honor of her mentor, titling her talk, "Thomas E. Fairchild: A Judge’s Legacy." The talk took the form of a "walk down memory lane," in which Judge Lefkow shared her own memories of working with Judge Fairchild as well as the memories of her fellow clerks, who had sent their contributions to her in advance.
Judge Lefkow’s two current clerks, Jordan Russell and Jed Roher, stood with her as the three of them gave a dramatic presentation, taking the voices of Judge Fairchild and his clerks, many of whom were in the audience at the well-attended event. Roher, who read the lines of Judge Fairchild, is a third-year student at the UW Law School.
As the lecture was about to begin, Judge Fairchild himself entered the room to a standing ovation from the assembled alumni, students, faculty, and other friends of the Law School.
The Fairchild Lectureship was established at the Law School in 1988, as a tribute to Judge Fairchild, a 1937 UW Law School graduate, former Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, later Chief Judge and now Senior Circuit Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Initiated by Judge Fairchild's clerks, the lectureship brings a distinguished member of the legal profession -- from the bench, bar or academia -- to speak on a topic of importance to the profession.
Submitted by on April 24, 2006
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