Chicago's Bright Lights Shine on BU Law Alumni Safeguarding ...

Richard Godfrey (’79)
Establishes the Robert B. Kent Chaired
Professorship in Civil Procedure at BU Law
Richard Godfrey (‘79), BU Law graduate and partner at Chicago’s Kirkland
& Ellis LLP, recently established the Robert B. Kent Professorship Fund,
a permanently endowed chair which will provide salary and research
support to a full-time BU Law faculty member. The chair, says Godfrey,
seeks to recognize the “strength of the law school, which is its faculty.”
Richard Godfrey ’79, President Robert A. Brown, Dean Maureen O’Rourke,
Robert B. Kent ’49 (sitting)
“We’re at a critical crossroads
for the School and Boston
University, with respect to the
change of leadership,” Godfrey
explains. “Boston University
has two terrific new leaders—
Dean Maureen O’Rourke and
President Robert Brown—who
deserve the support of faculty
and alumni.”
When deciding upon the chair’s
namesake, Godfrey says Professor
Kent (’49) was “the obvious
choice. He’s a wonderful
professor and a terrific lawyer.”
As a 1L, Godfrey took Civil
Procedure with Kent. “He
epitomizes what great professors
can offer their students. They
challenge, teach, educate and
in the end they become models
for how their students should
act within the profession. Kent
reflected the best the profession
had to offer,” Godfrey says.
“He was a teacher’s teacher.
We speak of lawyer’s lawyers—
they don’t seek publicity, they
get the job done and have a
deft skill set,” Godfrey explains.
“With Kent, I never sensed an
ego or a publicity hound but
rather someone interested in
becoming a master of his craft:
the teaching of law.”
Godfrey identifies Professor
Kent as one of many excellent
educators he encountered at
BU Law. “I had the experience
of terrific professors with very
different styles and approaches
and very different analytical skill
sets. I thought it was a strength
of the faculty that there was not
a set way of analyzing a legal
problem,” he says.
A recently elected member to
the Boston University Board
of Trustees, Godfrey has a
longstanding involvement
with the Boston University
community. “I think it is
important for alumni who have
had some degree of success
in their professional careers
to recognize the faculty who
contributed to and enabled
alumni to have such success,”
he says.
As a BU Law student, Godfrey
served on the BU Law Review
for two years, including 3L
work as a note editor. He joined
Kirkland & Ellis after graduation
and began his active alumni
involvement with the School
nearly two decades ago, in 1989,
when he helped organize BU
Law’s Board of Visitors. In 1998,
Godfrey received the prestigious
Silver Shingle Award. Then, in
2005, Godfrey was asked to chair
the Law Fund.
Godfrey attributes his
involvement to being raised
in a family of lawyers and
educators. “There was a
focus growing up on the
importance of education and
teachers,” he says. “Education
is the avenue toward a better
understanding of society and
the appropriate course you
take within society.” Alumni
involvement provides Godfrey
an opportunity to interact
with faculty and, through the
Law Fund, “attract and retain
faculty of the highest caliber,”
he says.
Godfrey hopes the Kent Chair
encourages other alumni to
endow chaired professorships
for the School. His own gift
was inspired by the chaired
professorship recently endowed
by Philip S. Beck (’76), who
recruited Godfrey to Kirkland &
Ellis in 1979. “[Endowed chairs]
are good for faculty, for the
school and for the relationship
between the profession and
professors,” Godfrey says.
12 | The Record | Fall 2007