Editorial - Edward Settle Godfrey III

The old University of Maine College of Law, founded in 1898, was one of the better law schools in the United States in its time. Several very able and distinguished men served on the school's faculty. Many graduates became renowned as judges and lawyers and the students published a law review of considerable merit. In the final issue (1920) of the old Maine Law Review an editorial expressed grave shock and disappointment at the decision to close the College of Law. Throughout the editorial, nonetheless, ran a note of optimism, an expression of hope that the school might soon thereafter be reinstated in even a better condition than before. The hope of early reinstatement was not fulfilled. The school was not resurrected, as the new University of Maine School of Law, until 1961 and the task of turning a physical building into an institution was not undertaken in earnest until 1962. We are fortunate, however, that this task was entrusted to Edward Godfrey. Now, with Dean Godfrey's decision to resign his administrative duties and return to full-time teaching and research at the end of the school year, the first administration of the new school will come to an end. Looking at the achievements of this administration, it is clear that the hope for a better condition expressed by the 1920 editors has already been more than fulfilled.