Not since Thomas Jefferson dined alone: for Geoff Hazard at eighty.

• Author: Burbank, Stephen B.
• Position: Testimonial

It has been my happy task to organize this collection of tributes honoring the extraordinary (and continuing!) career of a gifted scholar, teacher, and institutional leader. They paint a vivid picture of a lawyer of immense and various talents and interests, one as comfortable excavating the etiology of complex procedural doctrine as negotiating the drafting compromises necessary to achieve consensus on proposed court rules or legislation. They paint an affectionate picture of a colleague, mentor, and friend whose relationships, collaborations, and influence--both in topical and geographical span--have been as broad as those talents and interests. The abiding image they leave with me is of a supremely effective pragmatist who has preferred a life of active involvement to the leisure of the theory class, ever willing, as he would say, to "rise above principle" when something of consequence hangs in the balance.

It is a blessing that Geoff Hazard has been willing and able to participate in or lead the work of so many institutions dedicated to the advancement of knowledge and progress in and through law. Most mortals would rest content with a career as an eminent scholar, informed commentator, much sought-after lawyer, or creative institutional leader. Yet these have been merely some of the activities--often pursued at the same time--in Geoff's amazing career. Not often has a single lawyer achieved such distinction in so many roles, and not often has the administration of justice had such an incisive and knowledgeable champion working for its benefit in so many ways.

A reader of these tributes may pause over the image of a retiree moving on to serve as an active member of another faculty for fifteen years. It is not just the U.S. News and World Report rankings that have made so many law schools want to claim Geoff as their own (and at the same time). The schools bask in and benefit from his reflected glory. He has made each of them better, not just through his concrete contributions as a member of the faculty but also through the foundations he has laid, the standards he has set, and the example he has furnished.

To scholars, Geoff is a figure of immense influence in procedure and judicial administration, as well as in the legal profession. His books and articles have shaped the course of doctrine, and hence the administration of justice, in matters ranging from the structure of a lawsuit and the jurisdiction of the court to the law governing...