He also believes in maintaining ties to his clerks. Rosenn holds periodic weekend reunions for former clerks, who turn out to pay homage. Richard P. Schifter L’78 is among the clerks who speak to Rosenn every year, renewing a relationship that he has found rewarding.

“He cared about our happiness, rather than simply viewing us as temporary employees,” says Schifter, partner at Texas Pacific Group. “When I chat with him now, 25 years after the clerkship, he always asks about my wife and children in a way that demonstrates that he still cares.”

Rosenn, who graduated from Penn Law in 1932, forged a career in public service as well as private practice. He also served in the Army during World War II; he saw active duty in the South Pacific and was commissioned in the Judge Advocate’s Department. An Assistant District Attorney in Luzerne County and Pennsylvania Secretary of Public Welfare, Rosenn was also a founder of Rosenn, Jenkins & Greenwald in Wilkes-Barre, Penna., an area to which he has always been devoted. For example, when Northeast Pennsylvania literally went under after Hurricane Agnes’ torrential rains, Rosenn pitched in as Chair of a local task force to help rebuild the region. And he remains a revered figure there, with a federal courthouse named after him and an eponymous lecture series at Wilkes University, endowed by some of his former clerks, that draws big-time speakers and big audiences. Judge Rosen established his own scholarship fund at Penn Law.

“Judge Rosenn demonstrated to us that you could be an extremely successful professional and also lead a very full life and be involved in your community. This example has had an enormous effect on me,” Seiler says.