On Great Teachers

• Date: 01 January 2015
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jlse.12026
• Published date: 01 January 2015
• Author: Tonia Hap Murphy

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 32, Issue 1, 223–227, Winter 2015

On Great Teachers

Tonia Hap Murphy∗

[A] great teacher is a tough guy who cares deeply

about something that is hard to understand.

—Professor Norman Maclean1

Professor Maclean was a renowned professor of English at the University

of Chicago, teaching there from 1928 to 1973.2Forty years have passed since

he so encapsulated the essence of great teaching. It still sounds about right to

me. How do the elements of Professor Maclean’s statement apply to teaching

legal studies courses?

First, in my view, the “greatness” of a professor is measured by whether

he or she leaves students with valuable lessons they will remember throughout

their careers. I hope my former students recognize that filing a lawsuit usually

should be their last resort. That they need to take contractual obligations

seriously. That the law may not compel “fair” wages, but market forces and

ethical obligations provide motivation to pay employees well. I trust that these

and other practical lessons of law persist long after students have forgotten

particulars of personal jurisdiction, the mailbox rule, and the “battle of the

forms” under U.C.C. Section 2–207.

The “great” professor will foster broader lessons as well. Winston

Churchill was right in 1929 when he observed that a citizenry unfamiliar

with the past lives in “the most thoughtless of ages. Every day headlines and

∗Teaching Professor, Mendoza College of Business, University of Notre Dame

1Norman Maclean, “This Quarter I Am Taking McKeon”: A Few Remarks on the Art of Teaching, in

The Norman Maclean Reader 72 (O. Alan Weltzien ed., 2008). This essay was first published

at 66 Univ. Chi. Mag. 8 (Jan./Feb. 1974).

2Id. at 69.

C2015 The Author

Journal of Legal Studies Education C2015 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

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