Joan Fitzpatrick: In Memoriam

Joan Fitzpatrick graduated from Harvard Law School in 1975. Women were then beginning to enter the legal profession in increasing numbers, but role models were still important in encouraging women to become equal partners in our profession. Joan was an especially effective role model for our students. I think she realized that. It was one of the things that drove her to excel in everything she did. Joan told me—more than once in fact—that she earned every penny she made. It was a point of pride to her. She was a hard worker whose work yielded very important results. And she was the kind of teacher who would make students think: If Professor Fitzpatrick can do that, then I can also do great and important things. Joan joined our faculty in 1984. In her eighteen years with us, she became an internationally known and respected authority on human rights. She was a primary author or editor of six books, the author or co-author of fourteen book chapters, and the author or co-author of about forty scholarly articles. Joan spoke on issues of international human rights throughout North America and Europe. In the words of one of her admirers, she was brilliant, eloquent, and internationally renowned