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Meeting them feels like stepping into a study where time moves to its own rhythm and sentences carry both weight and ease. Dean and former judge of the Constitutional Court Stanislav Balík (SB) radiates the calm of a master who knows every crease of legal history. Petra Hrubá Smržová (PS), once his student and now his vice-dean, brings a fresh breeze and the ability to see old matters with new eyes. As if tradition met temperament at the Faculty of Law of the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. And one feels like lingering in this quiet zone for a while.

You both place strong emphasis on legal history in your practice and teaching. So what can history tell us about today’s laws?

SB: I’d say that legal history is the most important field of legal studies because it helps preserve historical memory, and one could claim that many things, or almost everything, have happened before in some form. And that’s exactly where the best lessons lie.

PS: Yes, it’s true that people forget as life goes on, and often forget precisely what they shouldn’t. That’s why this field exists, a field that looks into the past. The past is a lesson, and that’s what connects us.

Do you see yourselves as architects of law? Or who, in your view, deserves that title?

PS: Being an architect of law is a kind of goal, but it’s not something one can declare about oneself. Others have to judge that.

SB: I see myself as a bodyguard of justice, and I must say I have a clear image of her. She is a mature, wise woman with beautiful eyes. And to fulfil that bodyguard role, I try to understand what Charles-Philippe de Montesquieu called the spirit of the laws.

Have you learned something from each other, not only about laws, but the world itself?

SB: In a healthy society, and in a healthy company or even at a faculty, a three-generation system must work. So I’d say I’m the veteran who’s expected to pass on historical memory. And the vice-dean is that active middle generation from whom I learn to remain at least a bit active myself, even though I’m already an old man.

PS: I personally recall sitting in class as a student in the 1990s, and whether it was the professor back then or today’s Dean, I was fascinated by their passion for the subject they taught. They were in that state of flow. And that is a great gift, seeing someone work with zeal and treat their profession as a calling. So what I admire in the Dean is his perspective and grace, which he keeps teaching me.

More generations of lawyers are intertwined in your story than just the two of you, as you suggest. Mr. Dean, your father also worked at the faculty, Mrs. Vice-Dean, he supervised your thesis. What did he pass on to both of you?

SB: My father was my informal teacher from childhood and a formal one at the Faculty of Law of Charles University. I must say he was a great role model, an excellent lecturer. He passed on to me a wise piece of advice once given to him by Professor Arnošt Wenig-Malovský: students must feel that the teacher likes them and that he also loves his subject.

PS: Both the Dean and his father, the professor, passed on to me a love for law, a constant desire to learn, but also to work on myself. And also how to be a good and decent person.

What qualities should a today's lawyer or advocate have? What should one generation pass on to the next, and what should rather fade away?

PS: Today’s fast-changing world is mainly about cooperation. People should work together because everyone is an original, bringing something unique with their character. And cooperation across generations is essential.

SB: I remind students of Quintilian’s saying that a lawyer should above all be a decent person. That’s why our faculty puts strong emphasis on teaching professional ethics, because law is the minimum of morality, and that’s not enough for a decent lawyer. They should know that they protect lasting values such as democracy, the rule of law, and human and civil rights. And that must be upheld regardless of whether a law has 125 amendments.

Besides Pilsen, you are also linked by Brno. Mrs. Vice-Dean, you were born there, Mr. Dean, you spent ten years there at the Constitutional Court. One could say: they finally met in Pilsen. Why Pilsen?

PS: My dream was to study law from the age of eleven, so already in middle school I steered myself toward a law faculty. It was a time when new opportunities were opening up. There were four law faculties in the Czech Republic. I applied to all four, and the acceptance letter came from Pilsen.

SB: I served at the Constitutional Court later, after I had already begun teaching in Pilsen. But I must say that I have partly Moravian roots from my father’s parents, and partly West Bohemian, because my grandmother came from Letiny and my grandfather from Chocenice. So I was very glad to get the chance to teach at the Faculty of Law in Pilsen.

The Faculty of Law at the University of West Bohemia is the youngest law faculty in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1993, it is 32 years old this year. So is it already an adult? Does it have tradition? And what would you wish for it?

SB: The faculty is an adult and is at a stage where today’s mid-career teachers are already its graduates. Our faculty has a huge advantage in that we try not only to educate but also to nurture, to be friendly. I’d say there is a very collegial team and a great group we can call an academic community.

PS: It’s approaching the age of Christ, so yes, we can say it’s an adult. I was among the first cohorts to graduate from the faculty, and over the years several thousand graduates have gone on to work in traditional legal professions, in public administration or in business.

How do you usually respond to the mean-spirited remarks that even today, 16 years later, claim that in Pilsen you can finish you studies in three months?

PS: I tell them: mind your words. Do you really know all the facts? Come study at our faculty. You’ll go through several study checkpoints, you’ll have to pass all mandatory and elective courses, comprehensive exams. We have several state exams, you must write and defend a final thesis. And all of that within the time limit given.

SB: Those, et me not praise them with any polite label, who keep bringing up a 16-year-old episode are, for me today, pitiful fools.