Featured Faculty: Michael Kirsch

Distinguished Professor of the Year

Each year, Notre Dame Law School’s graduating class honors a member of the faculty with the Distinguished Professor of the Year Award. This year, the class chose Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Law Michael Kirsch, who also won the award in 2004.

Following tradition, Kirsch addressed the class during the Law School diploma ceremony on May 15. An excerpt of his remarks is below, and the complete speech can be found by visiting /features/featured-faculty/prof-kirsch-commencement-speach-2010

The large majority of people that you come into contact with over the course of your life will never have the opportunity to visit our campus. Whether it’s a client in your private law practice or legal aid clinic; students who you teach; members of the community who are affected by your volunteer work; or anyone else impacted by you, personally or professionally—they won’t have the opportunity to see our beautiful buildings.

Instead, in their eyes, you are Notre Dame. You will be the edifice of the Notre Dame Law School that the rest of the world will see as you disperse across the country and around the globe. And that has the potential to create a much larger impact than even the most impressive of buildings can make.

This spring, Notre Dame Law School graduated 172 J.D. students, 18 LL.M. students, and one J.S.D. student.