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Justice Kennedy Dedicates
USF's Koret Law Center
dBN San Fran
Feb. 6, 2004

San Francisco - Sounding themes of freedom and the principled pursuit of the law, the USF School of Law dedicated its refurbished Koret Law Center.

“Your law school is poised to continue its tradition of making such a rich contribution to the rule of law,” said United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the featured speaker at the dedication’s formal event in St. Ignatius Church. Noting that “law and architecture each seek ways to express their interior selves,” Kennedy spoke to a packed audience of law school donors, students, faculty, and alumni who after the ceremony attended a reception in the refurbished Kendrick Hall. The Koret Law Center, named for the project’s principle donor, the Koret Foundation, is the new name of the law school’s Fulton street location, including Kendrick Hall and the Dorraine Zief Law Library.

Approximately 18 California judges who graduated from USF, the USF Board of Trustees, and Justice Kennedy were included in a ceremonial procession at the beginning of the dedication. Observing that the School of Law opened its doors in 1912 with just 29 students, Dean Jeffrey Brand said, “Nearly a century later we mark another solemn moment in the history of the USF School of Law.”

The year-long, $12 million renovation added state-of-the-art classrooms, new faculty offices, a new three-story glass atrium connecting Kendrick with the Zief Law Library, expanded clinic space, and a new moot courtroom.

As part of his visit, Justice Kennedy also taught a Constitutional law class Jan. 28 and participated in a question-and-answer session with students Jan. 29. Prior to his appointment to the Supreme Court by former President Ronald Reagan, Kennedy practiced law in San Francisco from 1961-63.

“Law is not practiced or studied or taught for the benefit of the (law) guild,” Kennedy remarked during his extemporaneous talk in the church. “It’s taught because it’s intrinsic to a free and functioning civil society.”