About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

16 Int'l J. Legal Prof. 1 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/injlepro16 and id is 1 raw text is: INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THE LEGAL PROFESSION,                         Routledge
VOL. 16, NO. 1, MARCH 2009                                           1
Editorial: Special issue - the work
of Robert Stevens
WILLIAM TWINING
Loud ties, irreverence, a throaty chuckle - not quite what one expects of a prominent
university administrator. Robert Stevens has had at least three careers: as academic
lawyer, as legal practitioner in England and the United States, and as distinguished
head of several prominent university institutions. His curriculum vitae also lists
many other positions, awards and achievements. His progression as an academic
administrator could be sung to the tune of the Alleluia Chorus: Wonderful
President of Haverford, Mighty Chancellor of the University of California of Santa
Cruz, Ever-fund-raising Master of Pembroke College Oxford, a Prince of
Covington and Burling. These positions no doubt gave him a platform for many
witty after-dinner speeches, outspoken convocation addresses, and provocative op.
eds. What is truly remarkable is that Robert also managed to be a highly productive
scholar, not only when a full-time Professor of Law at Yale (1959-76), but also
when holding these responsible executive positions. He is the author of more than
10 books, over 50 articles, numerous public lectures, and at least 20 entries in the
New Dictionary of National Biography. His works include what are probably the first
three books in England that were co-authored by a lawyer and a social scientist:
two with Brian Abel-Smith a sociologist; one with Basil Yamey, an economist.
This symposium celebrates his scholarship with a series of short vignettes on his
most important books. Before introducing these, let me insert a short personal
memoir. Robert and I were exact contemporaries at Oxford, both reading law from
1952 to 1955; but we did not get to know each other then. He was at Keble, I was
at Brasenose. Neither of us attended many lectures. Despite Keble, he moved in
more fashionable circles than I did. I was dimly aware of him making waves as a
contributor to Isis, and as a prominent socialite, who engaged in sartorial
experiments. However, our first real encounter was in Dar es Salaam in 1961-62.
This was the very first year of University College Dar es Salaam, which consisted
only of a Law School, 14 students, and three academics - teaching in the party
political headquarters of TANU, the ruling party, in the year of Independence.
These were heady times. Later Robert may have looked back nostalgically on his
experience of a small institution for which he did not have any responsibility.
He came as a representative of Yale Law School to establish a link and to advise.
He and I were involved in a series of crises, which I only dimly remember through
ISSN 0969-5958 print/ISSN 1469-9257 online/09/010001-3  0 2009 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/09695950903354832

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most