Dean Emeritus William M. Treanor Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Lawyer

The American Lawyer magazine honored Professor William M. Treanor, Dean Emeritus of Georgetown Law, with its Lifetime Achievement Award at a ceremony in New York City on November 13.

In his acceptance remarks, Treanor said he was “humbled and honored” to receive the award. He spoke of his longstanding commitment to the principle that public servants must uphold the nation’s laws, citing his early career work with the New York State Commission on Government Integrity and with the Office of the Independent Counsel for the Iran/Contra Affair.

“I tell our students and our graduates that their work is a vocation as well as a career. Working to define legal rules and to apply them is central to our democracy,” he said.

He also reflected on an incident that took place during his final months as dean, when the then-Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia sent him a letter calling on Georgetown Law to “eliminate all DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] from your curriculum.” Treanor’s response encompassed several points, including that the First Amendment protects a university’s right to “determine, on academic grounds, who may teach, what to teach, and how to teach it,” and that as a Catholic and Jesuit institution, Georgetown University holds that “serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical, and spiritual understanding.”

“The principle that government officials have to honor the law is under attack. The principle that universities determine what their mission is and how to advance it is under attack. Nothing is more important for us than to defend those principles. They are crucial to democracy,” said Treanor in concluding his remarks at the awards event.

Treanor, a Constitutional historian, is currently on sabbatical leave, completing work on his forthcoming book, Fathers of the Constitution: Triumph, Tragedy, and the Creation of the American Republic, to be published by W.W. Norton. He plans to return to the classroom after his sabbatical.

Dean Emeritus William M. Treanor, right, with his wife, Allison Treanor, at The American Lawyer’s awards ceremony.