Louisville Law Examiner 
Budget
Increased
An additional $210,000 will be placed
in the Law School budget next year,
President James G. Miller announced on
April 29, to the UL faculty and staff. He
further stated that a request for $350,000
for the Law School has been submitted to
the state Council for Public Higher
Education (CPHE).
Mr. Miller told the group that the
$210,000 figure "represents the 'shot in
the arm' recommended in the Burke
Report," one which he considers "an
adequate minimum." Mr. Miller noted,
however, that the $210,000 amount
"falls short of the $350,000 figure
submitted to the CPHE as the sum
needed to cure the financial problem."
Last October, a panel of legal experts
headed by former Louisville Mayor,
Frank W. Burke, concluded that an
immediate $210,000 "shot in the arm"
was necessary to improve the school's
curriculum and facilities. The new funds
will increase the Law School's budget to
$1.1 million.
The Law School request is part of an
overall request by UL to the Council for
an additional $2.09 million to fatten the
University's tight budget in the coming
fiscal year.
Mr. Miller observed in his speech that
if the Council at its July meeting acts
favorably upon his Law School budgetary
request that the Law School will then be
the "only unit of the University in an
optimal funding situation."
" Tremendous University needs," he
said, "are yet to be met," referring to
such under-funded units as the School of
Business, the Kent School of Social Work,
Speed Scientific School, the School of
Education and the School of Police
Administration .
It was further announced that UL
faculty and staff members will receive
cost-of-living raises averaging 8.5 per cent
in the fiscal year starting July 1. Mr.
Miller explained that 3 per cent of the
average 8.5 per cent increases would be
used for across the board raises, while the
remaining 5.5 per cent would be left to
the discretion of budget directors in the
University's various units. No one will get
less than a 3 per cent raise, he
emphasized.
(Continued on page 4)
News-In-Brief
SerJiing Tile Law Scl!ool Community
Volume I Louisville, Kentucky; May 13, 1975 Number I
New Law Library Completed;
Alumni Plan May Dedication
By Alice P. L. Schwartz
The new law library wing of the Law
School will be dedicated on Wednesday,
May 21, at 5 p.m. Following the
dedication ceremony in the outside patio
area north of the new wing will be the
annual UL Law Alumni Banquet held this
year at the Ramada Inn on Hurstbourne
Lane.
Presiding at dedication ceremonies will
be Judge Marlin M. Volz, current
professor of law and former Law School
dean . University President James G.
Miller will also speak at the ceremony to
be followed by a reception and
student-guided tours of the facility.
A highlight of the dedication program
will be the unveiling of a plaque honoring
the 79 founders of the new library. The
plaque will hang on the left inside wall of
the library lobby.
The dinner following will start at 7:30
p.m. with a cocktail hour beginning at
6:45. Mr. Miller will be the dinner's
featured speaker.
Other speakers include: Law Alumni
Foundation President G. Wallace
Thacker; A. Wallace Grafton; Clement H.
Block; Raymond L. Shelton ; Ephraim K.
Lawrence Jr.; and Acting Law School
Dean Steven R. Smith.
Distinguished Alumni certificates will
be presented by Stuart E. Lampe to N.
Bruce Brennan ; L. Edmund Huber ; Paul
Keith Jr. ; and Richard I. Mcintosh.
Others receiving a wards will be Alvin L
Prichard; Oifton Bradley Raymer ; A.
Walter Redmon ; Charles R. Richardson;
Gene Sims; and Marvin J. Sternberg.
Al~ni Foundation members Morris Borowitz, G. WaUac:e Thacker, Joseph L.
Lenihan, Marlin M. Volz and Joseph Kaplan plan law library dedication cennony.
The Alumni will also honor the Class
of 1935 on its 40th anniversary. of
graduation and the Oass of 1950 on its
25th anniversary.
Distinguished members of the Class of
1935 include Jefferson Circuit Court
Judges Harry D. Hopson ; E. Skiles Jones;
and Raymond C. Stephenson ; U.S. Rep.
Carl D. Perkins ; Mr. Thacker; and Past
Kentucky Bar Association President
Seldon K. Trimble.
Distinguished members of the Class of
1950 include former U.S. Sen. Marlow W.
Cook; former Kentucky Gov. Louis B.
Nunn; U.S. Rep. M. Gene Snyder; and
William B. Stansbury, president of the
Louisville Board of Aldermen.
Others include: Fayette Circuit Court
Judge Lafe T. Grant; Jefferson Circuit
Court Judge Daniel P. Marshall; Edith
Stanley, the first woman Jefferson
County attorney; and John L. Knopf,
member of the UL Board of Governors.
Mankiewicz Addresses Graduates
The Law School awarded 15 5 students
juris doctor degrees at gradUii"tion cere­monies
held May 11 on the back lawn
of UL's Belknap Campus.
Frank Mankiewicz, a top aid in George
McGovern's presidential campaign and
former press secretary to Robert F.
Kennedy, addressed the convocation. Mr.
Mankiewicz, who ~ an attorney, was also
director of the Peace Corps' Latin
America division. He received an M.A. in
journalism from Columbia University and
an LLB. from the University of California
at Berkeley. Mr. Mankiewicz is the author
of two books, The LA~t Crisis and
Perfectly Qear, both concerning former
President Richard M. Nixon.
A reception or graduates, families and
friends followed the ceremonies.
The Law School gathering followed an
all-university convocation held in the
Quadrangle on the Belknap Campus. Dr.
Albert B. Sabin, discoverer of oral polio
vaccine spoke on the topic "Higher
Education - For What?".
PAD Initiates
The Fred M. Vinson Chapter of Phi
Alpha Delta Law Fraternity initiated
seven new members on Saturday, April 5,
in ceremonies in the courtroom of
Jefferson Circuit Court Judge George
Ryan. The initiates include: William B.
Bardenwerper; John A. Johnson ; Thomas
Karageorge ; L. Parvin Price Jr. ; Larry
Saunders; Allen E. Sears; and Philip B.
Swain.
Presiding over the initiation was R.
Ray Schindler, Justice of PAD.
A banquet in honor of graduating
seniors was held following the ceremonies
at the Marriott Inn in Oarksville, Ind.
Visiting guests included Judge and Mrs.
Marlin M. Volz and Acting Law School
Dean Steven R. Smith.
Seminar
A seminar on labor arbitration hosted
by the School of Law will be held from
1:50 to 5:45 p.m. on Friday, June 6, in
the Lincoln Room, University Center, on
UL's Belknap Campus.
Topics to be discussed include the
arbitrator 's role; application of
contractual seniority provJSlons in
promotions and layoffs; mediation; and
expedited arbitration.
The seminar, geared for attorneys,
corporate management and labor union
personnel, is being sponsored by the Law
School, UL's Center for Continuing
Education, the Federal Mediation and
Conciliation Service and the Louisville
Labor-Management Committee.
Congratulations
Congratulations to the Law
School Alumni Foundation from he
rest of the University of Louisville
alumni for a tremendous' success in
its library fund drive.
Office of Alumni Development
2 • Louisville Law Examiner, May 13, 1975
nuisuillt xamintr
DUDD
EH .l f1 EJ
WILLIAM BURR BARDENWERPER
Editor-1 n-Chief
DONALD W. PEARCY
Associate Editor
ALICE P. L. SCHWARTZ
Associate Editor
THOMASG.KARAGEORGE
Business Manager
MARLIN M. YO LZ
Advisor
LESLIE W. ABRAMSON
Advisor
Shared Commitment
This, our frrst issue of the Louisville
Law Examiner, marks what we hope
proves the beginning of a long and
continuous dialogue between and among
the various elements of the law School
community - the students, faculty,
alumni and members of the local bar.
Tradition has long been fatal to the
interests which the four groups might
hold in common, in that a continuing
sense of community and mutual reliance
has long, for the most part, been missing.
For many instructors, like most
students, participation in and contacts
with the law School cease once outside
the classroom, and for those students
who eventually become alumni, absent
any personal effort on their parts to
maintain the contact, the law School,
more often than not, remains a mere
memory to be recalled with distaste or
disaffection. And Hnally for those alumni
who move either downtown or
out-of-town to practice, they discover
little if anything to keep themselves
regularly abreast of the happenings and
offerings at UL
The key, of course, is "community",
which is what the Louisville Law
Examiner is all about. The uninformed
we wish to make aware. The misinformed
we plan to redirect. The informed we
hope to further enlighten. Through this
increased awareness, then, we expect will
follow a shared interest in a common
purpose - the betterment of our school
and the advancement of our chosen
profession.
Our design is thus four-fold - to serve
the students, faculty, alumni and
members of the local bar. Although a
student publication, we anticipate
contributions from all segments of the
law School community. The Brandeis
Brief is one example of our commitment
to continuing legal education for the
practitioner and further education of the
student. The plan is to feature regular
installments highlighting varying aspects
of a general yearly topic, and it will be
written by authorities in their respective
fields.
Alumni briefs, notices of seminars and
local bar activities are also fe11tures
planned to supplement investigative
special projects, book reviews and regular
news items concerning student activities
and the like.
A professional, regularly published
newspaper is essential if we ever hope to
strengthen our common bonds, truly
prospering as we move into a more
demanding future . The student relies
upon the practitioner, just as the
practitioner must inevitably rely upon the
student and the facilities built around
him. The world you members of the bar
now inhabit will be shared by us students
one day. At the same time, the stacks and
classrooms we now frequent can continue
to be yours. Our profession demands of
us, as it requires of you, a thorough and
continuing legal education. By working
together, only, can we best serve the
public we have all chosen to represent.
To get started, though, we need your
help and support; without it, despite our
own devotion, we cannot survive. For a
common purpose - if indeed our
assessment is correct - necessitates a
shared commitment. For our part, we are
eager and ready to work towards an
enhancement of the goals we have laid
down. If we fail, it is not because we did
not try.
Promising Future
Congratulations as well as thanks are
in order for those planners, designers and
contributors who made construction and
completion of the new law School
library possible. Without their dedication
and commitment our distinguished past
and a promising future would doubtless
be in jeopardy. To them and to those
alumni who have yet to visit the now
finished facility, we welcome you back to
tour or use the library.
The four-level, 330 seat, 100,000
volume capacity facility is spacious and
quiet. In contrast to the old Attilla Cox
library, it is suitable for study or research
and with an expanded staff and budget
should provide most of the tools any
practitioner might require.
It is our hope now that the spirit in
which this project was begun and
accomplished will serve notice· to others
that our future is indeed bright and that
an extended and continued effort should
be made by all to make the most of the
attributes we possess and to further build
upon the solid foundation which has been
laid. There is much of which to be proud,
but our pride should lie as much in the
future we have thus promised as in the
present for which has been provided.
The Louisl'ille Law Exomi11er is published
in the interest of the Law School com­munity
by an independent group of
University of Louisville Law Students and
is mailed through the Office of Alumni
Development.
Page 1 photo and Library Exterior by
Public Information Office and John
Beckman. All othen by Don Pearcy.
Articles
Abramson Predicts
Attorney Surplus
By Alice P. L. Schwartz
Kentucky will have 50 per cent more
attorneys than it will need by the year
2000, according to Assistant Professor of
Law Leslie W. Abramson.
Mr. Abramson studied the state's
future need for attorneys in a project
sponsored by the Kentucky Council on
Public Higher Education last summer.
Results will be published this spring in
the Kentucky Law Journal.
According to the study, Kentucky will
have admitted over 12,000 lawyers to the
bar by the turn of the century. Mr.
Abramson estimates, however, that only
about 9,900 will be practicing. Mortality
tables compiled for the study indicate
that about 2,800 of the 12,000 will have
died or retired by 2000.
Based on a ratio of one attorney per
1,000 persons (and a lower ratio in
Kentucky's heavily populated areas),
Kentucky will need 6,300 attorneys by
2000. Kentucky now has over 4,100
lawyers.
Currently Kentucky has one lawyer
for every 820 persons. The national
average is one per 572 persons.
Mr. Abramson said that other factors
may influence a change in the projected
statistics. He speculates that an increased
number of paralegals and the institution
of no-fault insurance may reduce the
Renovation
need for lawyers, while the establishment
of public defender plans for the poor and
group legal services may create new
demands for attorneys.
The study also covers the need for
attorneys in various geographical areas of
Kentucky. The study clusters the state's
120 counties into 15 Area Development
Districts (ADDT. The study indicates that
Western Kentucky is the only region
which presently needs lawyers.
The Jefferson ADD, which includes
Bullitt, Henry, Jefferson, Oldham,
Shelby, Spencer and Trimble .counties,
has 24.8 per cent of its attorneys.
"There appears to be a surplus in the
Jefferson ADD," said Mr. Abramson.
"The surplus, however, may be illusory
since this area is a business and
government center." He noted that
attorneys who work for federal agencies
and those who use their legal training as
business executives do not have private
practices. "These people don't compete
in the same job market as do most of
louisville's attorneys," said Abramson.
The study's attorney-population
figures are based on membership records
of the Kentucky Bar Association as of
June 1974. Population Projections were
compiled by Spindletop Research, Inc.
Other statistics were drawn from research
by various departments of Kentucky state
government.
Change Needed
Renovation of the main Law School
building will begin soon , according to the
Facilities Management Office and Acting
Law School Dean Steven R. Smith. Work
cannot begin until plans are completed
and the administrative offices are
temporarily relocated in the basement of
the new library which now houses the
offices of President James G. Miller. But
Mr. Smith affirmed that the renovation
"will absolutely begin by fall."
The bulk of the renovation, which will
include restoration of. the Brandeis Room
and the addition of ·a large seminar room
to house the papers of Supreme Court
Justice John Marshall Harlan, will be
completed with $384,000 in state funds.
Private monies of an unspecified amount
will add to the renovation fund total.
Included in the current design are
plans for administrative offices in the
upstairs east wing and in part of the old
Attilla Cox library. The Harlan Room will
occupy the other half of the now vacant
f:~cility.
The upstairs west wing will be the site
of two additional meeting and seminar
rooms plus four offices, while the current
administrative complex downstairs will be
remodeled for further faculty offices. The
Senior Oassroom and the West Basement
Classro-om will remain substantially
unchanged with an additional classroom
replacing the dust and empty shelving of
the east basement. A student canteen will
also be added to the basement area.
Central air-conditioning will be
installed in the entire building as will new
lighting fixtures. Room partitions may
also be removed or shifted. The Allen
Courtroom will remain as is except for
improvement in its heating capabilities.
Because of a critical space shortage at
the Law School, the Brandeis Room has
been forced to serve in recent years as the
site of the Student Records Office. But
with completion of the renovation
project, the Law School's highly valued
Brandeis and Harlan collections will be
awarded more suitable accommodations.
Louisville Law Examiner, May 13, 1975 3
New Library Is Spacious And Quiet. Library Entrance Faces Quadrangle.
Law Alumni and Friends Furid
Impressive Library Addition
By Bill Bardenwerper
"The true University of these days is a
collection of books," wrote Thomas
Carlyle. Many schools and scholars took
those words and similar thoughts to
heart, and today many stand at the very
pinnacle of academic excellence offering
to aspiring achievers of varying disciplines
the unbounded chance to grow
intellectually and excel in their chosen
fields. For some areas of study like the
law, books presented the sole method to
learn and the only way to practice.
The Law School at the University of
Louisville through much of Carlyle's
lifetime and until recently, however,
seemed to suffer an unfortunate and
paralyzing ailment - money (or lack
thereof). Its alumni, faculty and
benefactors "wanted to be learned," as
the saying goes, "but no one was willing
to pay the price." Only".now, some 100
years since Carlyle spoke, through recent
completion of the four level, 330 seat,
100,000 volume capacity library and an
expansion of its staff and budget, has
such a commitment at last been made to
those who have come here to learn.
Through talking with people like
Librarian Gene Teitelbaum, who quickly
explains he "may have been spoiled"
from the likes of Rutgers and Duke where
he worked prior to arriving this winter in
Louisville, one comes to · understand
early, though, that UL still has some way
to go toward aehieving any goal of
excellence. "THe potential is here,"
claims Mr. Teitelbaum. "The money will
Numerous Volumes Must Yet Be Unpacked.
co me at some point in time," he
confidently continues emphasizing that
the University has demonstrated its
commitment through the very
construction of the library facility.
The best way to appreciate the new
library, one supposes, is to look at the
old. "This is a vast improvement," Mr.
Teitelbaum proclaims in obvious relief,
adding that past graduates "really did a
yeoman's job to study and get a degree
here."
In striking contrast to the old Attilla
Cox library, the new facility is spacious
and comfortable. Tables are interspersed
with stacks, while the chairs are
cushioned. If your business is pleasure,
even lounge chairs can be found, though
most are recurrently occupied by napping
students. The first floor is carpeted which
contributes to the unlikely quiet which
Mr. Teitelbaum insists is a pleasant
change from the bothersome noise of the
libraries at Rutgers and Duke.
Currently, the library is limited to but
three of its four floors, since the
basement has served in the past and will
continue to serve for one more year as
the home of the displaced administrative
offices. When it is finally emptied, seating
capacity will jump from the present 260
to 330 with the assembly of 70 extra
carrels. More shelving will be provided for
books and a smoking lounge added.
Typing quarters now upstairs will also
move to the basement leaving more room
for xeroxing equipment and a microfilm
viewer.
In the meantime, Mr. Teitelbaum,
heading up a full-time library staff of five
plus a flock of part-time students, will
continue to process long-neglected
volumes yet stored on dusty shelves and
in water-soaked boxes beneath the Allen
Courtroom, 11long basement walls and in
the window-shattered, weather-beaten
Reynolds warehouse building. Mr.
Teitelbaum and his staff will also be
committed to rearranging collections,
determining gaps and purchasing missing
volumes with the resources of the
expanded library budget.
Though he's dealing with far more
than his predecessor, Librarian
Teitelbaum believes he would need about
$400,000 to "bring the library up to
what a top-notch library would be.
Obviously we're not going to get the
French codes," he explains, but with
72,000 volumes he observes that U L has
about one-third the collection of Duke.
The $63,000 in the Law Alumni
Foundation library fund will definitely
help.
For the present, the library is certainly
adequate, though in but three years, by
1978, the library will be without
sufficient space to further grow. With the
not infrequent addition of books through
gifts such as the L & N Railroad donation
and essential future purchases of
duplicate sets such as the national
reporter system~ back-dated issues of the
state bar journals. and the listings in he
Index To Legal Periodicals not previously
received, the space shortage will soon
again be critical. About half the state bar
journals are complete sets with the rest
dating back only to 1960. Those
periodicals heretofore missing ·but
recently ordered will also have to be
updated.
The library also has a complete
collection of all law reviews and
subscribes to so me 40 loose-leaf services.
Most of the official state reports are
complete up to a certain date when the
Law School ceased subst.:rihing. Mr.
Teitelbaum hopes to update them, too.
As far as Tax and Labor Reports go,
"we have over-killed," Mr. Teitelbaum
jokingly admits. But the Law School
further sports an impressive collection of
form books including Am. Jur. Legal
Forms; Am. Jur. Practice and Pleading
Forms; Am. Jur. Proof of Facts; Am. Jur.
Trials; Fletcher's Corporation Forms
(Continued on page 4)
One of the newest additions to
the new law library is its librarian,
Gene Teitelbaum, a native of New
York City where he received his
B.A. from City University and M.A.
as legal librarian from Pratt
Institute. Mr. Teitelbaum later
graduated from Rutgers where he
received his J.D.
After five years of practice in
New York City where he spent two
years with the Legal Aid Society,
Mr. Teitelbaum moved to Durham,
N.C., where he began working as
assistant law librarian at Duke
University. This past winter Mr.
Teitelbaum left Duke for Louisville
and his present position here at the
Law School.
Mr. Teitelbaum succeeds the late
Pearl VonAllmen.
I
--·
• l
4 Louisville Law Examiner, May 13, 1975
Library Facility
(Continued from page 3)
Annotated; Rapkin and Johnson 's
CU"ent J.exal Forms With Tax Analysis;
and Bender's Federal Practice Forms, all
in current editions.
The lihrary also contains an impressive
and eclectic assemblage of dated textbooks
such as an 1822 edition of Hspinasse on
Evidence, Drake on Attachments, and
many editions of the Blackstone's
Commentaries. English statutory material
from the Magna Carto to date arc on hand
as is the English Reprint Series of best
cases of the past 400 years. Found in the
basement are also some of the current
English reporters and the Dominion /.ow
Reports of fedcrdl cases in Canada.
Comrrising one of the Law School's
most pri:t.cd collections and occurying
nearly onC-lJUartcr of the attic shelf space
arc the hound briefs and transcrirts of
the .S. Supreme Court beginning in
1924 which lJL is only one of I I law
schools in the country to receive.
llarvard , Yale, Chicago , Columbia,
Cornell, Berkeley , Texas, M inncsota,
Washington University in ·st. Louis and
the University of Washington are the
others which periodically receive the
original hricfs free of charge. All other
universities must purchase them on
microfilm , and then most so purchase
exclusive of the "certiorari{ sj denied."
The briefs arc of particular value to the
practicing attorney who when preparing a
similar case might find most of his
research already completed for him.
Of course of special pride arc the Law
School's Hrandeis and llarlan collections.
The papers of former Supreme Court
Justice John Marshall llarlan are few and
mostly letters to him, not by him, Mr.
Teitclhaum explains. "But we have a
lion's share of Mr. Justice Brandeis'
papers," he ohserves. The two collections
will he shelved in special seminar rooms
bearing their names once the main
building renovation is complete.
The expressions of C'..arlylc as well as
the dreams and aspirations of many
students, faculty and alumni are now
being realized through this significant
commitment of the University's friends.
The seed for future growth has wisely and
commendably been planted.
Lounge Chairs Provide Comfortable Relief From Study.
The following is a list of persons who made substantial contn"butions to the law library.
Their names will appear on a plaque which will hand in the library lobby.
Charles M. Allen
American Air Filter Company
Bank of Louisville
Williun David Bcc.:ker
l'hil Alkl n Bcr tram
Willilm 1':. Bi!:!!-~
llcrbert F. Boehl
[}Jvid Borowitz
Morris B. Borowitz
Raymond F. Bossmcyer
N. Brm:e Brennan
James Gr;ll~am Brown Foundation, Inc.
Brown. Todd & llc.:yburn
Brown & Williunson Tobacco Corporation
W. L. Lyons Brown Foundation
Thon~as W. Bullitt
James T. Carey
L. Stanley Cl~auvin. Jr.
Citizens's Fidelity Bank & Trust Company
Commonwealth Life Insurance Company
The Courier-Journal & Louisville Times
Foundation. 1m·.
llarland W. Downard
Charles E. Duncan
Ewen, MacKenzie & Peden
James E. Fahey
First Kentucky Trust Company and
First Nat Dna! Bank of Louisville
Frank A. Garlove
General Electric Company
Grafton, Ferguson. Fleischer & Harper
Katherine H. Grauman .
Greenebaum, Doll, Matthews & Boone
Frank E. Haddad, Jr.
James D. Heiple
Carl K. Helman
Charles W. Hoodenpyl, Jr.
Arthur W. Howard
Grayson Jolmson
Norvie L. Lay
Charles Morris Lcibson
Joseph L. Lenihan
Liberty National Bank
Nathan S. Lmd
Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company
Louisville Title Insurance Company
Louisville Trust Company
TI1e MacLean Foundation, Inc.
Charles E. Mal-Grcgor
Bruce Mar ke I. Jr.
11-uc.:e Markel, Ill
Durw.ud W. Maynard
James R. Merritt
Walter F. and Maria C. Meuter
Middleton, Seelbach, Wolford ,
Willis & Cocharn
National Industries, Inc.
Neville Miller
Olga Peers
Burlyn Pike
Helen Viney Porter
Charles H. Reynolds
Rubin & Trautwein
James S. Sandidge
Raymond J. Savignae
Edwin E. Schottenstein
Earl P. Searcy
James S. Secrest, Jr.
Ralston W. Steenrod
Marvin J. Sternberg
Stites, McElwain & Fowler
Henry D. Stratton
G. Wallace Thacker
Owen Voigt
Marlin M. Volz
Pearl W. Von Alhnen
Dorothy C. Walton
Carl A. Warns, Jr.
Washer, Kaplan, Rothschild & Aberson
George F. Williamson, Jr.
Wyatt, Grafton & Sloss
Zirkle, Raine. Francis & Highfield
Brandeis Brief
By Bill Bardenwerper
Probably the greatest
contribution made by Louis
Dembitz Brandeis both to legal and
social life did not come during his
term on the bench. Rather it came
while he was yet a practicing
attorney, and it had to do with an
Oregon statute establishing a
ten-hour workday for women.
Mr. Brandeis had long believed
in the necessity for a harmony
between legal principles and social
needs, insisting that courts be
presented with the facts of life as
well as the rules of Jaw. The lawyer
who did not study sociology and
economics, warned Mr. Brandeis,
"is very apt to become a public
enemy." Lawyers should more than
Jearn legal formulas, he thought,
but also "their purposes and effect
when applied to the affairs of
man."
It was with this conviction, then,
that Mr. Brandeis chose to
r~present the State of Oregon in
court against the Jaissez-faire
philosophy which demanded that
the state had no right to interfere
with the "liberty to contract" no
matter how oppressive an extreme
that right was being extended to.
In 1905, The Supreme Court
had invalidated a New York law
similar to Oregon's, striking down a
ten-hour day for bakers. But Mr.
Brandeis believed he could get
around the Lochner decision by
establishing a factual connection
between the Ia wand the conditions
of life which brought the law
about, rather than concentrating on
legal rules which, interpreted
strictly, favored a contrary point of
view.
What in effect the Oregon
statute did, was hold that where
parties to a contract were unequal
in bargaining strength, the state
through its police power could limit
the right to contract in order to
safeguard its citizens. A single
factory worker simply was unable
to truly bargain with an industrial
giant such as U.S. Steel. Hence,
"liberty to contract" was really a
misnomer, and someone had to do
something to protect the worker
against this otherwise unfair
advantage.
What attorney Brandeis
produced was a work of genius, a
brilliant and convincing brief with
two pages of legal citations and
over I 00 pages of Ia bor statistics. In
Muller v. Oregon, Mr. Brandeis tried
to show why the Oregon law was
passed, and in so doing he lectured
the court on matters essential to
any real understanding of the case.
"Long before Muller," writes
Melvin I. Urofsky in his book, A
Mind of One Piece, "Brandeis had
written, 'A judge is presumed to
know the elements of law, but
there is no presumption that he
knows the facts.' After Muller,"
continues Mr. Urofsky, "lawyers
could never again evade the
responsibility of instructing and
advising the courts of the relevant
facts."
This, then, was the real
significance of the Brandeis Brief as
it later came to be called - that Jaw
and society are one, and that the
very purpose of the law is
frustrated if it lives only in
textbooks apart from reason and
necessity.
In this column, a permanent and
regularly appearing feature of the
Louisville Law Examiner, it is our
hope that Mr. Justice Brandeis'
example can serve as an inspiration
for others who feel that Jaws must
conform to and reflect societal
needs, and that through an
understanding of the "facts of life"
Ia ws can better serve their essential
purpose which is to best serve the
people for whom they are written.
Each year a different general
topic will be chosen with each issue
focusing on a more specific facet of
that general concern. Contributors
will be selected on the basis of their
interest or expertise in the featured
area.
(See general, Urofsky, Melvin 1.,
A Mind of One Piece, Scribners and
Sons, New York, 1971, pp. 38-42.)
I ~
Miller Promises Increase
(Continued from page 1)
Mr. Miller said that part of the money
for the salary increases will come from
approximately $700,000 in an
enrollment-growth pool that UL is
scheduled to receive from the state next
year. He explained that additional funds
have been made available to UL as a
result of recent appropriations from the
Office of Alumni Development
University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky 40208
Address Co"ection Requested
city and as a result of "efforts made by
the University itself or friends working on
our behalf."
Acting Dean Steven R. Smith noted
that the $210,000 "shot in the arm" will
"get us off the critical list and means we
will be able to operate a respectable
program." He added, however, that "It
certainly won't allow us to do anything
fancy.''
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