Owen Fiss: Heroism in the Law

Abstract

Owen Fiss has been my teacher, my colleague, and my friend for 25 years. There is probably no one in the profession to whom I feel closer. I don't think I am alone in this feeling of admiration, respect, and friendship. In part, this Fissian magnetism can be accounted for in very personal terms. Owen goes out of his way for others, expressing genuine affection and concern. But the respect that Owen draws is based on something bigger: He is a hero of the law. Owen always has represented the possibility of the ideal within the law, but we can distinguish three different stages of his battle to match the ideal and the real. The progression among those stages is unfortunately a story of the diminishing possibilities for justice within law. As the law has diminished, Owen's personal battle for justice has become all the more heroic.