Commentaries on the Laws of England by William Blacksto

A Note from Dame Lynne Brindley- Master

Dear PCFNA friends,

We are still glowing here in Pembroke from the wonderful Blackstone lecture given by Lord Neuberger, the President of the Supreme Court on Saturday last, in the Pichette theatre.  The whole event was a great success, with attendance from some of the most distinguished lawyers, mostly with Pembroke credentials, along with our enthusiastic law students, all of whom Lord Neuberger found the time to speak with.  Thank you all so much for your support for enabling the valuable collection of Blackstone material to get to College and you will be pleased to know that it a selection of the material was wonderfully displayed for all to see on Saturday.  My short introduction to the lecture and event recognised this and the relevant part is pasted in below for you to see. I very much hope that we will be able to welcome Alan May and his wife to Pembroke on some future occasion.

“I am delighted to report that a very valuable collection of Blackstone’s works was gifted to our Pembroke North America Foundation earlier this year by Alan May and his wife. Alan is a senior Michigan lawyer at the firm of Kemp Klein, one of whose friends and Partners, Don Gillis, happens to be a Pembrokian. Tom Herman, another Pembroke lawyer and President of our North America Foundation, agreed with Alan and Don that this treasure should be used enrich the College’s Library. The collection has recently arrived safely in our library after shipment from the US thanks to the warm generosity of a number of our American supporters. If you would like to view a sampling of this great treasure, our College Librarian, Laura Cracknell, will be putting some of it on display in the Forte Room – opposite the Hall – after lunch. Mr. and Mrs May could not be with us today, alas, but we hope to welcome them to the College next year and our thanks go out to them and those who helped to bring about this valuable addition to our rare book collection.”.

You would certainly have been proud of Pembroke on Saturday!

With warm best wishes to you all,

Lynne