National Jurist - February 2009 - (Page 24)

Vice President Joseph Biden only recently said goodbye to teaching at Widener University School of Law. In February 2008, Biden invited his students to visit him in Washington, D.C., for the day. Some collegues and their children also made the trip. our story on Biden in the October 2008 issue of The National Jurist online at www.NationalJurist.com.) Having two former law professors in high office means that they will be “particularly thoughtful about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” said Margaret Barry, co-president of the Society of American Law Teachers and associate professor at Catholic University School of Law in Washington, D.C. “They will consider what is just for all people and be less likely to be influenced by expediencies,” she added. Both Obama and Biden seem to have many fans among former students. Another of Obama’s students, Dan Johnson-Weinberger, now has his own lobbying firm for better government called Progressive Public Affairs in Chicago. He was in Obama’s class on voting rights in 1998. “It was a small group class on ‘Law of Democracy,’ on campaign finance reform, equal protection and voting rights,” Johnson-Weinberger said. “Of course, he was amazingly intelligent. But he also brought a level of practicality to the classroom.” Every year students held a fund-raiser and professors offered various items to auction off. “Obama sold a Shadow a State Senator Day. A couple of us bid on it and won,” Johnson-Weinberger said. “We went with him to the state senate and sat in on a session and went to his office.” Johnson-Weinberger remembers that Obama was holding three jobs at the time. “He was definitely of our generation,” he said, recalling his time as Obama’s student. “He was out of school for only a decade and he was still struggling to make ends meet.” Richard Epstein, a law professor at Chicago who knew Obama, said Obama was a fine teacher, but was not an academic. “He was not close-minded or dogmatic, and he was very good at hearing people out,” said Epstein, who writes an online column for Forbes.com. “He taught some large and some small classes and got very high student ratings. Nothing about his teaching record said he’d become president some day, but he definitely knew what he wanted to do. He wanted a career in politics.” At Widener, Rose Passarella, a student in the four-year evening program at the law school, took Biden’s constitutional law seminar on separation of powers with 13 or 14 other students. “The general message of the class was 24 THE NATIONAL JURIST February 2009 that we need to keep watch that we maintain the separation of powers,” she said. “It’s easy in difficult times to overrun that division due to problems with terrorists and the economy, for example.” Biden’s course was “by far the best I had in school,” said Kyle Dickmann, a Widener student graduating this May. “It was a very unique perspective to have a discussion with a professor who was actually involved in creating the course material that we were discussing.” Biden routinely reworked his schedule so that he could teach the class as much as possible. Once he took a redeye flight back from overseas just so he could teach his Saturday morning class, Dickmann said. And what impact will it have on the nation’s future to have law instructors in highest office? “It will be refreshing to have an intellectual as president,” said JohnsonWeinberger. “I think judging from his class, that he will value democratic participation more than other chief executives have. He will pursue reformation of electoral systems more aggressively than in the past.” Michelle Weyenberg, associate managing editor of The National Jurist, also contributed to this story. http://www.NationalJurist.com http://www.Forbes.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of National Jurist - February 2009

National Jurist - February 2009 Contents Entertainment: Get Organized! The Firm Report: The Part-Time Lawyer News: Keeping Ethics Intact, New Law Deans, Latest Survey Findings Seattle Law Students Secure Asylum for East African Women Laptops in the Classroom Attorneys Dissect Health Law Law Students Contribute to 2008 Election Process Remembering Professors Obama and Biden Bar Exam Diaries How Well Balanced are Law Students? How to Choose a Summer Program Career Hotline Linguistic Gymnastics Disturbing the Peace

National Jurist - February 2009

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