Waterstone spoke about how he has relied on Korobkin’s counsel to navigate the terrain as a new member and leader of the UCLA Law community. He also remarked that Korobkin “is a mensch” who “serves without ego” and brightens the lives and minds of his colleagues and students. Of particular note, Waterstone said, is the fact that Korobkin has been the driving force of the law school’s expansion in graduate education, including the “overwhelmingly successful” five-year-old M.L.S. program and burgeoning executive education program, as well as his widely praised service as interim dean.

“Few people have had more of an impact on the current shape of our student body and the lives and the education and people from all the different professional backgrounds that come here to study than Russell,” Waterstone said. “He has really planted these magnificent seeds in this garden that will keep growing for years to come. All of this just gets to one part of [his] excellence as an administrator, but I think it’s clear to all of us that that work has been driven by someone who cares deeply about his students as a teacher, in educating our students and connecting with them and sending him out in the world to do great things.”

In his remarks, Korobkin – who joined the UCLA Law faculty in 2000 – placed his teaching award and the importance that he applies to educating law students in a broader context of his own experience as a law student and member of the UCLA Law faculty, which is known to value teaching. He offered amusing vignettes on the inspiration that he took from his teachers when he was a student at Stanford Law School, and he traced his growth as an outstanding instructor whose students consistently recognize his clarity, insight, care and “lively and engaging” classes.

“One of the things that I think really makes UCLA Law stand out is the overall quality of our teaching, it’s incredibly high,” he said, in accepting the Rutter Award. “Teaching matters here, in promotion and tenure decisions – and it doesn’t at every top school to the same extent. And as a result of that, I think we don’t tend to attract the professors that only care about research and are not interested, really, in teaching. And the faculty culture then reinforces this institutional dedication not just to adequate teaching but to really have excellent teachers.”

He also spoke about how he aims to “go beyond the nuts and bolts” in every class, “to try to help students get a little bit of a deeper appreciation of the law’s internal structure or external impact.” He said, “I feel a lot of pressure in this regard, actually, to be honest, and it does create a fair bit of stress for me, to try to feel like I have to say something insightful about each topic. But I feel like the time and money that our students invest in our classes really entitles them to be able to walk away from each class session believing they’ve learned something more.”

In something of an impromptu conclusion, Korobkin’s daughter, Jessica, a student at Stanford University, stood up to share a few words about what she has learned from her father.

“I have to say, it is not probably the easiest thing in the world to grow up with a negotiation professor as a father,” she said, drawing a roar of laughter. She focused on how he notably taught her how to be a strong writer, which puts her at an advantage now in school – and, apparently, as a public speaker. “Thank you for that,” she said. “His teaching is not just in the classroom with law students. It also was very much for me.”

Watch the TED talk on the power of empathy in negotiation that Korobkin recently delivered.