became a professor at the Boston College Law School, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Soifer engaged in a study of paternalism, identifying "three significant varieties of parernalism: providing, deciding, and protecting". Noting that people tend to consider paternalism to be offensive, Soifer found that it was an inevitable function of society, and its application could be identified in Supreme Court decisions. In 1982, Soifer concurred with Lawrence G. Sager that the Supreme Court was appearing to become less functional, stating that it was "losing its institutional clout and credibility" through its unusual number of fractured decisions and narrowly decided cases. In 1987, Soifer derided as a "purge" the firing of four New England School of Law professors who allegedly believed the legal system to be racially biased; Soifer joined other area law professors in signing a letter of support. Deanships From 1993 to 1998, Soifer was dean of the Boston College Law School. His resignation as dean of the law school was reported as being "unexpected", given his popularity among students and staff. Following his ouster as dean, Soifer arranged visiting professorships at BCLS for two other recently ousted law school deans, jokingly referring to it as his "special program for deposed deans". He remained as a professor at BCLS until he accepted the deanship at Hawaii in 2003. Soifer is the author of many articles and book chapters, most recently in the areas of religious freedom, rights of the disabled, constitutional history, and judging/judgment. He has also authored a book, Law and the Company We Keep (Harvard University Press, 1995), which received several professional awards, and was noted for having "used works by William Faulkner to explore law's relation to racial violence".Choice: Publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries (1995), p. 1427. The William S. Richardson School of Law, in extending the deanship to Soifer, doubled the salary previously paid to the holder of that position. Soifer had previously spent a year in Hawaii, from 1999 to 2000, as a visiting professor during the pendency of the case of Rice v. Cayetano'', which was being appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States. In 2019, Mark E. Recktenwald, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Hawaii, issued a proclamation in Soifer's honor. Selected bibliography Pdf. Personal life In August 1969, Soifer married Marlene Joan Booth. References External links Deans of law schools in