A panel of esteemed legal educators, jurists and attorneys will speak on the career and lasting impact of Judge William L. Dwyer in celebration of the publication of Ipse Dixit: How the World Looks to a Federal Judge (University of Washington Press, 2007), at Town Hall Seattle on June 27 at 7:30 p.m. The event will be open to the public.
During Judge Dwyer’s 15-year tenure as a U.S. District Court judge, he presided over many complex and groundbreaking cases. In one of his most controversial rulings, he engaged environmentalists and the timber industry in a heavily publicized and emotionally fraught battle over the territory of the northern spotted owl, ultimately approving the bird for “threatened species” status and forcing the U.S. Forest Service to substantially reduce logging in owl-habitat areas.
As a trial lawyer, Judge Dwyer never avoided the most difficult cases. He?argued the libel suit of accused communist sympathizer John Goldmark; he represented newspaper employees in the contested proposal for a joint operating agreement between the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer; and he brought a suit against baseball’s American League that resulted in the return of Major League Baseball to Seattle. Judge Dwyer passed away in 2002, leaving the collection of speeches and writings that comprise Ipse Dixit.
Panelists will include Fredric C. Tausend of K&L Gates, and former dean of Seattle University School of Law, as moderator; Hon. Robert S. Lasnik, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington; Hon. Betty B. Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; Arthur W. Harrigan of Danielson, Harrigan, Leyh & Tollefson, a longtime friend and colleague of Judge Dwyer; Prof. Stewart Jay of the University of Washington School of Law and holder of the William L. Dwyer Chair in Law; Prof. William Rodgers of the University of Washington School of Law; and Judith H. Ramseyer of K&L Gates, a former law clerk to Judge Dwyer.
The event is presented by the Town Hall Center for Civic Life, with Elliott Bay Book Company and the University of Washington Press. Tickets are $5. For more information, visit www.townhallseattle.org or contact Rachael Mann at the University of Washington Press.
