Speeches

Lewis Katz Building Dedication

Welcome and thank you for joining us for the dedication of the Lewis Katz Building.

This magnificent building is not only iconic in image, but groundbreaking in its capabilities. It was designed to fully support the scope of Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, which is unprecedented in contemporary legal education and on the leading edge of the future direction of law schools.

            The Lewis Katz Building has the capacity to advance law education through research, practice, and a true interdisciplinary exchange of ideas. It is a credit to everyone involved, and I especially want to thank Dean McConnaughay for his outstanding leadership. His guidance and good humor have been indispensable for the realization of this project, the renovation at the Carlisle campus, and the new dual-campus program.

            There is much to appreciate in this extraordinary building--the broad sweep of the glass wall, the dramatic curve of the building, the abundance of natural light, the state-of-the-art technological capabilities, and the beauty of the materials. I also want to call your attention to the details.

In the H. Laddie Montague Jr. Law Library, you’ll see a series of words, names and phrases carved into the bookshelves along the ramp. These words were chosen by our School of Law faculty and staff for their personal and professional meaning.

For example, you’ll see 1834--the year the law school was founded--and John Reed, a distinguished judge and founder of the law school. Almost 20 percent of the phrases are in Latin--we’ll be having a quiz on the translations a little later. There are three Supreme Court justices--Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O’Connor--and world civil rights leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. 

In addition, there are words and phrases including justice, civil society, human rights, and the William Pitt quote, “Where Law Ends, Tyranny Begins.” I think these choices embody the values and integrity of the law profession and education at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law. I am proud to be part of this noble endeavor.

The Lewis Katz Building would not have been possible without the support of Governor Ed Rendell, legislators, Penn State faculty, alumni, and private donors. Many of our advocates are here today and I thank you all. The Governor could not be here, but I want to welcome his wife, Judge Marjorie Rendell. Thank you for joining us today.

            I also want to recognize two people in particular.

 H. Laddie Montague, Jr. is a 1963 graduate of The Dickinson School of Law and a principal of the law firm Berger and Montague in Philadelphia. He has served as the chairman of the Board of Governors of the Law School, and has been an enthusiastic supporter of this ambitious project. We are very grateful for his $4 million gift to support law education, and in recognition of his generosity, the unified law library at University Park and Carlisle bears his name.

Another alumnus who provided extraordinary leadership is Lewis Katz, a 1966 graduate of The Dickinson School of Law, an Alumni Fellow and a Distinguished Alumnus of Penn State. He is the former owner and managing partner of the New Jersey Nets basketball franchise and founder of the law firm Katz, Ettin, Levine, and Weber. In giving $15 million to the Law School, Mr. Katz has made one of the largest gifts in Penn State history.

On behalf of Penn State, I want to again thank everyone here today for their extraordinary generosity and outstanding commitment to legal education.