About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

148 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1357 (1999-2000)
A. Leo Levin: A Fond Tribute to the Master of the Classroom

handle is hein.journals/pnlr148 and id is 1379 raw text is: A. LEO LEVIN: A FOND TRIBUTE TO THE MASTER OF THE CLASSROOM MICHAEL D. GREENt How to do justice to Leo Levin as teacher? Can his enthusiasm, zeal, vitality, deftness, and love for his students be captured on paper? I doubt it. Those who know him must understand my skepticism about capturing with the written word this whirling dervish, who mesmerizes with rapid-fire questions about cases and ever-unraveling hypos. The perpetually smiling man who inspires us to think for ourselves, makes us laugh with him, and leads us to cry at injustice. For those who do not know his teaching, you have missed something precious, something life influencing, and something so memorable that episodes in a class that I took twenty-eight years ago still endure to this day. Forgive the lack of organization of this self-indulgent, but enormously fond tribute and reminiscence. Whatever its flaws, this essay is about a remarkable and wonderful teacher, one who contin- ues to influence many generations of law students, long after they have passed beyond his caring gaze. In 1990, I had the great pleasure to have Leo Levin as my col- league, when he and his wonderful wife, Doris, returned to their teaching roots at the University of Iowa.' I could not resist returning to his class, and he graciously agreed to let me sit in. He possessed the same brilliance that I recalled from my days as a first-year law student. Levin played the class like a Stradivarius, inquiring whether this or that student could help with one of the perplexing hypotheticals he is so fond of spinning out (do those of you who took Civil Procedure with him recall the problem of service on the malevolent defendant who lobbed cherry bombs from NewJersey across the Delaware River t Professor of Law, University of Iowa College of Law. B.S. 1972, Tufts University; J.D. 1975, University of Pennsylvania. I thank and acknowledge the kind assistance of Arlene Fickler, L '74, who has been a student, admirer, and friend of Leo Levin longer than I and who had the good fortune to work for him at the Commission on the Revi- sion of the Federal Court Appellate System, for contributing the material about Levin's seminar teaching; and Andrew Morton, L '00, another admiring former student of Levin's, whose contribution to this tribute goes well beyond that of a Law Review editor. ' Professor Levin's first academic appointment was at the University of Iowa Col- lege of Law in 1947. From 1947-1949, Levin taught as an Assistant Professor at Iowa before joining the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. (1357)

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.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most