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An appointment to an endowed chair is the highlight of an academic career, and these important positions help us attract and retain faculty who set Northwestern Law apart.  This year we will honor with a ceremony and reception the installation of Robert W. Bennett as the Nathaniel L. Nathanson Professor of Law,  Shari Seidman Diamond as the Howard J. Trienens Professor of Law, and Dorothy Roberts as the Kirkland & Ellis Professor of Law.

Alumni, faculty, students, and staff are invited to attend the ceremony, which will take place in Lincoln Hall during Reunion weekend on Friday, Oct. 29, at 12:15 p.m. 

Robert Bennett has been a member of the Northwestern Law faculty for nearly 30 years and was dean from 1985 - 1995. He helped cofound the Chicago Council of Lawyers, and has served on the Illinois Task Force on Crime and Correction and the Civil Justice Reform Act Advisory Committee of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Shari Seidman Diamond initiated a groundbreaking study of juries in Arizona that included recordings of jurors' conversations during breaks and deliberations. She hopes her research will help catalyze changes to the jury system that will optimize performance and take greater advantage of what lay people can offer to the justice system.

Dorothy Roberts recently completed a yearlong Fulbright fellowship at the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies. Her research in Trinidad focused on relationships among gender norms, sexuality, and HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean as well as the role of development discourse in reproductive health policy.

The Nathanson Chair was established in 1988 to honor the memory of Professor Nathaniel L. Nathanson, who was a member of the full-time faculty from 1936 to 1977 and Frederic P. Vose Professor of Law from 1966. Professor Nathanson died in 1983, leaving a legacy of seminal legal scholarship, exemplary public service, and leadership in the cause of civil liberties. The Nathanson Chair, established through gifts from alumni, friends, foundations, law firms, businesses, and organizations, was last held by Victor G. Rosenblum, professor of law and political science at Northwestern University, who joined the faculty in 1958. Professor Rosenblum continues to hold the chair as an emeritus.

In 1989 the Kirkland & Ellis Foundation in Chicago established the Kirkland & Ellis Chair and Research Fund at the suggestion of a number of Northwestern alumni who are partners of the Kirkland & Ellis law firm and J. Landis Martin (JD '73), a former Kirkland & Ellis partner and now chairman and chief executive officer of Timet, Inc. From 1990 to 1999, the chair was held by Daniel D. Polsby, a scholar in a number of areas, including constitutional, criminal, administrative, and employment law.

Partners of the law firm of Sidley & Austin established the Howard J. Trienens Chair and the Howard J. Trienens Visiting Judicial Scholar Program in 1989 to honor Mr. Trienens' service to the firm and to Northwestern. Mr. Trienens is a partner at Sidley & Austin and former chairman of its executive committee. He received his bachelor's and juris doctor degrees from Northwestern (JD '49), has served as a member of the University's board of trustees since 1967, and formerly chaired the University's board. From 1990 to 1997, the chair was held by Michael J. Perry, a constitutional law scholar.

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