Foreword Symeon C. Symeonides: A Tribute

AuthorArthur T. von Mehren
PositionJoseph Story Professor of Law, Emeritus, Harvard University
Pages1035-1036

Joseph Story Professor of Law, Emeritus, Harvard University.

This issue of the Louisiana Law Review honors Symeon C. Symeonides. Born in April 1949 in Cyprus, he received an LL.B. in Private Law in 1972 and an LL.B. in Public Law and Political Science in 1973, both summa cum laude, from the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki Law School (Greece).

I first met Symeon in 1973 at Harvard University Law School from which he was to receive an LL.M. in 1974 and a S.J.D. in 1980 and supervised his theses for both degrees. His S.J.D. thesis-An Outsider's View of the American Approach to Choice of Law: Comparative Observations on Current American and Continental Conflicts Doctrine-is an outstanding work that demonstrated a remarkable grasp of the subject and perceptive use of the comparative method.

In 1976, after three years at Harvard, Symeonides returned to Thessaloniki as Assistant Professor of Law. In 1978 he was called to Louisiana State University; there he remained until July 1999 when he was named Dean and Professor of Law at Willamette University College of Law.

In the quarter century since his student days ended, Symeonides has had a remarkably varied and productive career. By nature, he is above all a teacher and a scholar. But he is also a gifted administrator and an imaginative and skilled law giver. Louisiana State University will remember him not only for his superb courses and writings dealing with such diverse subjects as Conflict of Laws, Comparative Law, International Litigation, Civil Law Property, and Introduction to Civil Law, but also for his administrative skill and devotion as Vice Chancellor (Administration, 1991, Administration and Academic Affairs, 1991-1994, and Academic Affairs, 1994-1997). He discharged his heavy administrative responsibilities with skill, objectivity, good judgment, and dispatch while continuing to attend to his duties as full-time teacher and writer.

Despite his myriad and demanding academic and administrative responsibilities, he has been active in law reform and a prolific writer. As Rapporteur and Chairman for the Louisiana State Law Institute's Codification of Louisiana Conflicts Law, he displayed not only great scholarly and technical ability but also the political skills required to carry an ambitious and difficult task to a successful conclusion. I had the privilege of working with Symeonides from 1987 to 1991 as co-rapporteur on a Projet for the Codification of Puerto Rican Private...

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