Professor Stuntz, In Memoriam: “One-on-One”

Harvard Law Professor Bill Stuntz died last week of cancer at age 52. As a tribute, this week we are running personal reflections from people who knew him. An introduction to this series can be found here and the entire series is here.

As Jason mentioned, Professor Stuntz typically began each 1L Crim Law class in the spring of 2009 with a few “side points.” These “side points” would cover material related to the cases we were reading, but also touched on broad themes of the course, like the pathologies and politics of the criminal justice system, and occasionally seemingly unrelated topics, from Shakespeare to A-Rod. The “side points”—which would sometimes take up the majority of the class period—became something of an inside joke among Section 7ers that semester. But I took them very, very seriously. Through these side points, Professor Stuntz introduced to me a world of interdisciplinary, creative legal argument and lawyering.

This imaginative and expansive way of thinking about the law, coupled with a one-of-a-kind humility and generosity of time, made Professor Stuntz incredibly accessible. So, I, along with several of my peers, would stay after class to discuss topics big and small, related and unrelated to criminal law. And then early in the semester I began to frequent his office hours, sometimes to talk about something in class, sometimes just to talk about lives and families.

It was during those one-on-one talks that I learned the most from Professor Stuntz. We often talked about local politics, and how the culture of law schools was influencing the criminal justice field. We shared concern, for example, over how many Harvard Law Students aspired to be U.S. Attorneys, but few were interested in state government—where a lot of the action in criminal law takes place. We talked about carving one’s own path, and resisting falling into patterns at an institution that often tracks students based on a set standard of success. It was through his encouragement that I felt more confident in the choices I was making as a public interest law student. I will be forever grateful for that gift.

Almost a year ago scholars from around the country gathered to celebrate Professor Stuntz’s career. There was so much love and respect for him in that room—for his work and contributions to the legal field, but, more importantly, for his character and person. In his brief remarks during the event he, of course, in Stuntzian fashion, said that he did not merit the attention. Everyone in the room, except for him, knew it wasn’t true.

The Harvard Law School community has lost a true gem. He not only taught students how to engage with criminal law in creative ways, and develop strong legal arguments, but, by example, taught us how to do that work and analysis with humility and grace. We will miss him, and he will be hard to ever replace. Baruch Dayan HaEmet.

Rachel Lauter is currently a 3L at Harvard Law, and can be reached at rachel.lauter@gmail.com.