By Emily Rivard
University professors are commonly recognized across campus as being the best in their professions, knowledgeable and all-around intelligent. Students generally feel that their professors are the best of the best and take pride in having them recognized on campus.
Recently though, University law professors have been recognized not only by their students and colleagues, but also by New York state as "Super Lawyers."
According to the Super Lawyers organization, Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
The process for selecting Super Lawyers is an involved and multi-step procedure. First, the Super Lawyers organization searches for recognized attorneys by searching articles, publications, databases and personal interviews. From this group, each individual is evaluated based on several criteria. This includes experience, honors, position within a firm, professional and community activity, lectures, writings and education/employment background. After this process, the remaining candidates are reviewed by the Super Lawyers panel. Finally, the Super Lawyers organization checks each candidate's background.
University Law Professor Leon Friedman, Esq. was one of the professors named to the Super Lawyers List. He was recognized for his work in intellectual property and civil rights/first amendment.
Friedman graduated from Harvard Law School and came to the University in 1974. "My son had just been born and I was looking for a new job that would give me more time to be with him," said Friedman. "Monroe Freedman, the then Dean of the law school, offered me a job and I took it."
While Friedman continues to teach at the Law School, he believes that it is important for any attorney or law professor to continue to practice law. "In the same way that medical professors continue to see real patients, I think it is important for law professors to keep some relation to actual practice so they see how the law affects real people," said Friedman.
Friedman also believes that while teaching is essential in understanding law, practicing law provides experience that cannot be found in books. "The big difference between teaching and practice is in dealing with real people with real problems and real judges and real juries who do not always behave the way the books tell you they will behave."
Because the process to be named to the Super Lawyers list is so competitive, Friedman was pleased to receive this honor. "I was delighted to be included on this list, along with my colleague, Alan Resnick."
Friedman was named to the Super Lawyers list along with University Law School professor Alan Resnick, who was acknowledged for his work in creditor/debtor rights in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Resnick graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and has been teaching for more than 30 years.