In mid-August 2010 La Salle Academy President Brother Michael Mc Kenery received a letter from Trish McNicholas, Assistant Dean of Alumni Relations at the New York University School of Law in New York City.

The letter was sent to let Brother Michael know that John J. “Jack” Slain, La Salle Class of 1944, has been given the 2010 Legal Teaching Award by the New York University School of Law Alumni Association for scholarship and for extraordinary dedication to the education and training of law students.

Professor Slain graduated from the NYU School of Law in 1955 and began his legal career as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York.  He began his teaching career at the University of Indiana and from there taught at Ohio State University before returning to NYU in 1977.

The letter points out that “more new partners in major Wall Street law firms have come from the NYU School of Law than from any other law school in the nation.  No one has done more to cause this phenomenon than Professor John J. ‘Jack” Slain.”

The letter also says that professor Slain “ . . . remains one of the best and most popular teachers at the Law School, beloved for the rigor and clarity with which he teaches his subject and the fairness and concern that he brings to his relations with his students.”

Also mentioned is the letter is the fact that professor Slain, while having achieved Professor Emeritus status is actively teaching and had often “ . . . taught more hours and more students than any member of the faculty.”