The Blackwell Award honors the life of Thomas F. Blackwell, who was tragically murdered in 2002. At the time of his death, Ralph Brill posted the below eulogy honoring his memory.
THOMAS F. BLACKWELL, REMEMBERED
Tom Blackwell was tragically murdered on January 16th by a student at Appalachian Law School, ironically one whom Tom had befriended and tried to save from academic dismissal.
A 1986 graduate of Duke University School of Law, Tom practiced law in his home state of Texas for eleven years. He taught Legal Writing as an adjunct at Texas Wesleyan. In 1997, he joined the faculty at Chicago-Kent as a Visiting Assistant Professor, teaching Legal Writing and Law Office Technology, a course in which he developed many of his innovative ideas for the uses of computer technology in legal education.
In 1999, he passed up opportunities for more prestigious jobs to join the faculty of Appalachian School of Law. He and his wife, Lisa, were excited about the challenge of helping to build a law school with the laudable mission of providing opportunity for the largely poor population of Appalachia and beyond to realize their dreams of practicing law and bettering their communities, through a curriculum centered on public service. Tom instantly became a key member of the faculty, and played an important role in helping the School attain provisional ABA accreditation. He also ran in local marathons and played a trumpet in a community band.
Tom immediately became a leading figure in the Legal Writing field. He was elected to the Board of Directors of ALWD, gave a well-received presentation at the Legal Writing Institute bi-annual meeting, and set up and maintained ALWD’s excellent webpage. He also was chosen to be a member of the Board of Directors of CALI.
Following his death, condolences poured in to several legal education listservs. They came from students Tom had taught, from his former teaching assistants, from colleagues with whom he had taught, from legal writing teachers and directors throughout the country who had met him at conferences, from teachers and directors who had benefited from his work and ideas in online discussions, from his law school teachers and classmates, from some high school classmates, from friends and neighbors of Tom and his family, and from many others who did not know Tom but simply were touched by the tragic circumstances of his death.
The comments from those who knew Tom were amazingly uniform in their descriptions of him. All agreed, in effect, that if there were an encyclopedia describing the qualities necessary to be an excellent law school teacher, especially one specializing in the field of Legal Writing, a picture of Thomas F. Blackwell would accompany the article. The condolence messages described Tom as: caring about students as people; nurturing; witty; demanding but fair; selfless; hard-working; innovative in developing teaching techniques; possessed of a passion for excellence; enthusiastically generous in sharing his ideas and assistance to other teachers; a man who never hesitated to volunteer for what he regarded as a useful project. Many emphasized his great love for his wife and children, which unobtrusively showed through in his teaching. Others stressed his strong religious core.
Melissa Mooney, a former student of his, declared, “His enthusiasm for the subject and teaching was apparent and really made a difference. I can attest that he made a significant, positive impact on his students.” Referring to their conversations at legal writing conferences, Nancy Soonpaa, Texas Tech, related, “The strongest underlying theme to those conversations was one of passionate professionalism. . . . [H]e not only gave freely of himself, but encouraged everyone to seek out those nascent qualities in themselves and nurture their development in others.” Jan Levine, Temple, emphasized Tom’s love for his family, “His eyes shone even more brightly whenever he would talk about his wife and children. Anyone who did not know Tom will never have the chance to meet a wonderful man who was a brilliant, selfless, caring, and committed teacher and colleague.” And finally, Kent Streseman, (then at Baylor and now at Chicago Kent), wrote, “What put me in awe of Tom was the way he had so gracefully figured out the balance between contentment and striving,-- had keenly discerned the difference between blessings and burdens.”
These comments accurately describe the man I knew so well in the two years he spent at Chicago-Kent. He was a great teacher and a wonderful colleague.
Lisa, their three children, the students and faculty at Appalachian Law School, the legal writing profession, his many friends and admirers, and the world in general have suffered a devastating loss. We all shall miss him, in ways we cannot begin to appreciate. Rest In Peace, dear friend.
--Ralph Brill