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Proclaiming April 5, 2012 as Penn Law Day to recognize the formal opening of Golkin Hall and to honor the contribution of Penn Law School to legal education, delivery of justice, and legal scholarship.
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WHEREAS, It is broadly recognized that law acts as one of the most important forces in building our society and in binding relationships between individuals and institutions fairly and justly; and
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia is the birthplace of the United States Constitution and millions across the globe are inspired by the decisions made here that laid the bedrock foundation for the modern American legal system; and
WHEREAS, Law schools and legal education serve as the key foundational element in preparing a nation's citizens to serve the people as lawyers and in generating innovative ideas and understanding about the role of law and its application; and
WHEREAS, The University of Pennsylvania has, since the first law lectures delivered at Penn by James Wilson in 1790 to President George Washington's cabinet, demonstrated an unwavering commitment to excellence in legal education and legal scholarship, while grounding its students in the notion of justice for all; and
WHEREAS, Penn Law's many distinguished graduates have made profound contributions to the law and to our nation, such as Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, Class of 1927, who was the school's first African-American woman graduate, the first African-American woman admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar; the first African-American woman in the country to earn a Ph.D.; the first African-American woman appointed as Assistant City Solicitor for the City of Philadelphia; the first woman to serve as secretary of the National Bar Association; appointed by President Truman to the Committee on Civil Rights in 1948 and by President Carter as chairman of his White House Conference on Aging in 1981; and the namesake of the wonderful Penn-Alexander School in West Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Penn Law's distinguished faculty is consistently recognized for its leadership across many fields and has included James Freedman, who later served as President of the University of Iowa and Dartmouth College; Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., who served on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals; Robert H. Mundheim, who was a lead negotiator during the Iran hostage crisis; and Judge Louis H. Pollak, of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, The students at Penn Law have demonstrated a deep and long-standing commitment to pro bono work, dating back to the founding of the Legal Aid Dispensary by a student club in 1893; Penn Law was the first top-ranked law school to establish a mandatory pro bono requirement and the first law school to win American Bar Association's Pro Bono Publico Award; and
WHEREAS, Each year Penn Law students contribute thousands of hours to public service work in practice areas including civil rights and constitutional law issues, environmental justice, family law, governmental practice, health law, international human rights law, labor law, women's issues, and youth law; and
WHEREAS, In 2010, Penn Law launched its Penn Law Global Initiative (PLGI) to integrate international issues across its curriculum and create innovative opportunities for students and faculty to engage globally and has since collaborated with the Mayor's Commission on African and Caribbean Immigrant Affairs on a variety of legal issues impacting immigrants and their families; and
WHEREAS, In addition to their local public service commitments, Penn Law professors and students are dedicated to the global environment, and collaborate with colleagues and researchers across China, India, South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe; and
WHEREAS, The opening of Golkin Hall transforms the Law School's physical campus and completes a vision for the Law School as a connected, collaborative space that encourages the integration of people and programs; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it declares April 5, 2012, Penn Law Day to recognize the formal opening of Golkin Hall and the contribution that Penn Law School has made to the education of lawyers; the delivery of justice in our City, our country, and around the globe; and the development of legal scholarship that is at the forefront of shaping the world in which we live.
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