College is full of classes where professors let students spout off about whatever they think. Not David Paletz's classes. He pushed all of his students to think critically, defend their opinions, and reason coherently in expressing themselves. David's classes helped me hone my analytical abilities like no other classes I took. Today, thanks in no small part to David's pedagogy and mentorship, I'm the legal director of the ACLU of the District of Columbia and a teaching fellow at Harvard Law School.