John M. Harlan Louis D. Brandeis
Louisville Law Examiner Serving The University of Louisville Law School Community
Volume 3, Number 3 Louisville, Kentucky, October 18, 1977 Circulation 3700
Professional Liability Insurance ''Costs''
by Rookie Medaris
One of the most pressing problems
facing the legal profession today is the cost,
availability, and extent of coverage at­torneys
can obtain through professional
liability insurance. It is a problem that will
get worse before it gets better. This article
will attempt to explain the basic coverage
liability insurance policies offer and their
cost. We will also look at some of the
reasons costs of insurance policies are
soaring, effects of these rising costs, and
possible solutions to the problems.
The basic policy that is available in
Kentucky is known as the  100/300 policy.
This policy provides the attorney with
$100,000 of protection per claim, up to a
total of $300,000. The attorney is protected
for any act of omission committed in a
professional capacity. Such a policy
presently costs $437 a year (with no
deductible clause). Five years ago this
policy cost approximately $75 per year.
American Home Insurance Company, the
principal underwriter of lawyer's liability
insurance in Kentucky has petitioned the
Kentucky Insurance Commissioner to
increase this rate to $900 annually over the
next five years.
Recently a second insurance carrier has
offered a different type of policy to
Kentucky lawyers. The policy, un­derwritten
by American Bankers Insurance
Company, allows the attorney to choose an
amount of coverage from $100,000 to
$10,000,000. These limits apply for each
claim filed. The cost of the policy is
determined by the liability limit and the
deductible amount. A $100,000 policy with
a $1,000 deductible clause would cost $304.
A $1,000,000 policy with a $1,000
deductible clause costs $395. A minimum
deductible clause of $1000 is required
under a policy from this company.
Coverage provided under this policy in­cludes
any act, error or omission the
attorney is legally responsible for arising
out of professional work as a lawyer or a
notary public. Claims of libel, slander, and
false arrest arising from a lawyer's practice
are also covered unless malicious. The
policy also covers the attorney in certain
fiduciary roles.
These two policies do have some
common features. Each is cancellable at
any time by the insurance carriers. The
coverage in each is on a 'claims-made'
basis. That means the attorney must have
insurance at the time a claim is filed to be
covered. A policy in effect when the alleged
act, omission, or error occurred but not in
effect when the claim is filed does not in
protect the practitioner. Whether either of
the above mentioned policies would cover
an attorney sued for malicious prosecution
claim filed against him is a question that
has yet to be fully litigated.
The major reason the cost of a
U of L graduate, Stanley L. Preiser, demonstrates persuasiveness.
professional liability insurance policy has
escalated in recent years is the multitude of
suits filed against lawyers by disgruntled
clients. Between 1971 and 1975 the number
of lawyers practicing in the nation in­creased
by 34 percent. The number of
claims filed against attorneys in that period
rose by 90 percent. As a result of the in­creasing
number of claims one major in­surance
carrier reported a $9.5 million
dollar loss on professional liability
coverage of lawyers. Another major in­surer
providing professional liability in­surance
to attorneys claimed its losses on
this line have doubled each year since 1972.
The problem of rising costs and limited
coverage has drawn the attent;on of the
local, state, and national bar associations.
An American Bar Association National In­stitute
will examine the professional liabil­ity
of trial lawyers during a two-day session
in San Francisco October 27 and 28. This
institute is patterned after a similar in­stitute
held in New York in May.
The Kentucky Bar Association has
formed a committee to deal with rising
insurance rates in this state. The committee
recently successfully resisted a rate increase
request before the Commissioner of In­surance.
This committee has also drawn up
a questionnaire concerning liability in­surance
to be filled out by every lawyer
practicing at the Bar. Filling out this
questionnaire may soon be a court rule.
Alumnus Addresses Students
An Insurance Committee of the
Louisville Bar Association has been formed
to study problems concerning professional
liability insurance and to make recom­mendations
toward alleviating those
problems.
Two possible solutions to rising costs
and restricted coverage have been proposed
in California and Texas. The California
plan would establish a protection pool to
which each lawyer would contribute $300
per year for the first three years. After that
each member would be assessed for the
claims and costs paid by the fund the
previous year.
The State Bar of Texas has proposed a
self-insurance plan which would require all
members to prove their financial liability
and would establish a bar insurance
company in which insurance companies in
Texas would be required to participate on a
shared-risk basis.
Imposition of a statute of limitations on
the filing of claims and a limitation on
damages have also been proposed as
possible solutions to the problems of at­torneys
and their insurers.
Whatever the final solution to this
problem is, it is safe to say that every at­torney
in this state hopes that solution is
found before the legal profession finds
itself in the same position the medical
profession is in today with regard to
professional liability insurance.
Trial Tactics Discussed
Stanley E. Preiser is a man of contrasts.
His stocky build and bulldog features
contrast with his finely-tailored striped
suit and gold rings. His gravelly voice
contrasts with his ability to weave words
·like a Shakespearean actor. Mr. Preiser is a
1950 cum laude graduate of the U of L
School of Law who practices in West
Virginia. He is a tax expert but is primarily
a trial lawyer, who must know all fields of
law.
Mr. Preiser addressed a moderate sized
crowd of law students on the issue at the
heart of trial practice, the art of per­suasion.
He said that contrary to our
theories, jurors start a trial with the
presumption that the criminal defendant is
guilty or that a large verdict for a suc­cessful
civil plaintiff will run up their
insurance rates. These non-evidentiary
attitudes will have to be corrected by
applied psychology. The lawyer must even
overcome the profession's current bad
reputation. Mr. Preiser commented that
the Watergate miscreants weren't lawyers,
but merely men with law degrees. The
lawyer must win over the jury by being
himself an authority figure, like a minister
or judge. He must convince the jury that by
accepting his propositions that they will be
upholding the basic values of society.
The second step is to induce the jury to
recall in the jury room what they accepted
as a fact one to three days previously.
Studies have shown the highest percentage
of material is recalled when it is presented
in a combined audio and visual presen­tation.
So when a witness is being im­peached
show the jury a blackboard-sized
enlargement of the witness's prior in­consistent
written statement. Photos
should be presented as large as possible so
the whole jury may see them at once,
focusing on the attorney's explanation
rather than being distracted as the pictures
are passed from juror to juror.
Mr. Preiser's talk was a fine example of
his persuasive style, which he admits was
influenced by Billy Graham. The students
gave him a thunderou~ ovation as one
would expect juries are tempted to do after
his summations, an event that would be
devastating to the morale of the op­position,
to say the least.
_,_
. . . ~ ·. . ; . .
2 Louisville Law Examiner; October 18, 1977
itnui.&uillr 1Law 1Examintr Brandeis Brief
18
EDITORIAL BOARD
Kt>nnt>th W. Golliht>r. Editor-in-Chit>f
Christopht>r P. Rivt>rs. Mana~in!! Editor
Valt>ril' Salvt>n, Associatt> Editor
Jpannit> Bakt>r. Associatt> Editor
Alan Parsons. Busint>s~ Mana~l'r
Jud~e MARLI"' M. VOLZ. A~visor
46
STAFF
Sara Scott More, City Editor
Christopher Seaman, Projects Editor
Susan McBeath, Articles Editor
Stephen Wolford, Brandeis Brief Editor
Jerome Angelo Mirabito, Executive Editor
Susan Barnett
Kevin Callahan
Mark Little
Rookie Medaris
Sherry Wilt man
Greg Yopp
Professor ALBERT T. QUICK. Consultant
The Louisville Law Exami'ler is published nine times during the academic year in the interest
of the University of Louisville Law School community. Unsigned editorial opinions are those
representing a majority ·vote of the editorial board and do not necessarily express the views of
the School of Law or the University of Louisville.
Address all communications to the Louisville Law Exami'ler, School of Law, University of
Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40208. Phone 502-588-6399.
Editorial
Improvements Being Made
Criticism is a nice, lawyer-like pastime.
Sometimes we get so enthralled in listening
to ourselves enlighten others as to what
they should do that we lose the ability to
· see what they've done.
But, something has been done at this law
school and we've seen it.
Its ironic that students attending the
nation's fifth-oldest law school should
consider themselves to be attending an
emerging regional institution, but we do.
This law school has made some quantum
leaps in the last several months and neither
criticism nor praise will change a single
aspect of that progress.
There have been improvements in
facilities, in the organization of the library,
in the class offering procedure, in alumni
relations, in the placement program, in the
establishment of a legitimate writing
program for freshmen, in the level of
participation in student activities, and in
the general attitude of the student body.
We are convinced that the correlation
between the first seven areas and the last is
one to one. Students actually appreciate
these advances.
Recently two advances of great import to
the student body were made: I) The Law
School received an appropriation for a
security guard and the unqualified support
of the Central Administration in keeping
people out of the Law Library who don't
belong there. 2) Prof. Teitelbaum
requested that monies that come to the Law
School from the University include an
allocation for students helpers in the
library so scholarship funds won't have to
be used to pay the library help.
To those who read of these "great leaps"
without any background knowledge, we
apologize. They certainly do sound asinine.
However, we know that those who at­tended
this law school within the last few
years will rejoice with us. These are old
issues. They should have been resolved
long ago.
It is understood that neither issue has
been fully resolved. I) There is, as yet, no
security guard. 2) President Miller didn't
seem to know what Mr. Teitelbaum was
talking about when he said that he wanted
his own budget for the employment of
student help; some more explaining has to
be done by Law School administrators who
actually want to solve the problem. But,
progress was made.
Our point is that this law school is
coming out of its shell. There seems to be a
growing awareness and willingness on the
part of the administration to treat the
students as potential alumni rather than
"just" students. We appreciate it and hope
that it continues.
Indictments & Accolades
Accolade- To the administration for offering students some input into the classes
to be offered next semester.
* * *
Accolade - To the Louisville Law Forum for taking the initiative to alter a
floundering speakers program and give it a viable and worthwhile status.
* * *
Indictment- To everyone who thinks that the Law School's 160 square feet of
bulletin boards are inadequate to their task and fells compelled to paper its doors,
walls, and eventually its floors with all manner of visual pollution .
* * *
Accolade - To the administration and faculty for the establishment of a legal
writing class for first year students.
* * *
Accolade- To the Placement Office for putting up a bulletin board that actually
looks as if some students may be more than causually interested in finding a job.
Obscenity-Pornography Series
Social Evils of Obscenity
Dr. Christenson is professor of political science at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He
has testified as an expert witness for the prosecution in two federal obscenity cases.
Among the five books he has authored or co-authored is included Challenge and Decision:
Political Issues of Our Time. Articles Dr. Christenson has written on the subject of por­nography
have appeared in such diverse publications as the New York Times and the Cin­cinnati
Enquirer; "The Hustler Case: The Press at its Worst" appeared in the
Columbia Journalism Review, and "Censorship of Pornography: Yes," first printed in
The Progressive, was reprinted as "Exhibit A" to Charles Keating, Jr. 's dissenting report
to the Presidential Commission on Obscenity and Pornography.
Dr. Christenson has additionally appeared on NBC's "Not For Women Only" program
as a panelist dealing with the subject of pornography.
by REO M. CHRISTENSON
Anti-obscenity laws, in my opinion, are both constitutional and desirable.
They are constitutional because laws which reasonably restrict certain marginal
forms of expression have always been approved by the Supreme Court and the
American people as being compatible with the first amendment. We find no con­stitutional
difficulty with laws which forbid perjury, contempt of court, libel,
plagiarism, fraudulent advertising, incitement to violence, picketing in a context
of violence, anonymous threatening or obscene phone calls, the disclosure of
military secrets, etc. These are sensibly seen as permissible protections of the
public interest despite the sweeping language of the first amendment requiring
that Congress make no law abridging freedom of speech or press. Interestingly,
the first amendment itself restricts free speech, since the provision forbidding the
"establishment of religion" has the effect of banning religious instruction in the
public schools.
What the first amendment further proscribes are laws which forbid the ad­voc~
cy of any religious, social, political or philosophical idea, however
distasteful that idea may be to a contemporary majority. Here a categorical
denial of legislative repression is not only a constitutional necessity but is
demanded by the essence of the democratic faith.
Obscene material can not be properly banned unless a good case can be made
that •such action protects society from a social evil and that the serious advocacy
of h.eretical beliefs about sexual practices is not also outlawed. Since state and
federal anti-obscenity laws in fact do not forbid the latter, we can confine our
discussion to the former question: can a sufficiently plausible case be made that
pornography is a social evil to regard its suppression or control as a reasonable
limitation on a marginal form of expression? -----
First, what message does pornography subliminally give its viewers? (I say
subliminally because it does not present its message in a manner which merits be­ing
called serious discourse. The message is implicit, not reasoned-which may
make its emotional impact all the more powerful.) 1) Pornography tells its
viewers that sexual activity need not relate to love, morality or responsibility. For
people, as for animals, sex is designed to satisfy a purely physical desire. It has no
other significance. 2) Pornography portrays women as little more than sex ob­jects.
They are not intelligent, responsible, loving, whole persons but creatures
whose importance lie in their sex organs-which are fair ground for poachers.
Worst yet, women see themselves in this light. 3) Pornography denies that sexual
experience is essentially a private matter. Group sex is approvingly presented. Sex
as a public spectacle is implicitly affirmed as an acceptable social activity.
Voyeurism is dealt with as a harmless and gratifying sport. 4) Pornography tells
its customers that deviant sex is the most exciting and appealing form of sex. De­viant
sex is Marlboro country; come to where the action is! Hustler magazine,
among others, presents bestiality as an unrivalled form of sexual gratification. 5)
Above all, pornography suggests to its viewers that irresponsible sex has no
dangerous by-products. No venereal disease, no abortions, no unwanted
pregnancies, no premature marriages with their high divorce rates, no emotional
traumas. Have sex when, where, with whom or what you please and life is the
richer for it.
But does this mesage really do any harm? We may not like it but what evidence
do we have that it is injurious to individuals or to society? Didn't the President's
Commission on Pornography and Obscenity prove, through careful scientific in­quiry,
that no demonstrable damage can be attributed to pornography?'
The Pornography Commission report did indeed reassure those who believe
that the furor over pornography is a tempest in a teapot. It bore the superficial
earmarks of having utilized the best social science techniques and it concluded
that fears about pornographers' influence are based on hunch and suspicion
rather than empirically established evidence. But the report of the Commission
has been more thoroughly discredited by Oiher scholars than that of almost any
commission report in our history. It has been weighed and found wanting by
psychologists Leonard Berkowitz2 and Victor Cline3
, and by political scientists
James Q. Wilson', Harry Clor5 and Lane Sunderland6
• In the August 1977 issue
of Psychology Today it was subjected to a devastating attack by distinguished
writer Garry Wells7
• I do not know of one social scientist who has carefully re­examined
the study and found that it adhered to the canons of rigorous modern
social science. Instead, there is general agreement that the report was studded
with bias. The most prestigious social scientists, I should add, believe their craft
lacks sufficiently sophisticated tools to scientifically determine pornography's ef­fects
on society.
If social science cannot scientifically ascertain pornography's harmfulness or
harmlessness, we must consult our own best judgement (as we must inevitably do
on all questions which involve important moral considerations), while giving due
weight to relevant studies which shed light without S!Jpplying proof.
No one can doubt that pornography is inimical to the values which sustain the
family. Yet the healthy family is the most basic and indispensable unit to any
(Cnntinut>d on Pa~e 7)
--------------------~~-=------~~~-------oc-=-~------~~---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Louisville Law Examiner, October 18,1977 3
Marriage and Law School: Is it worth it?
by Susan McBeath
This is the first segment of a two-part
feature concerning the effects of law school
on marriage. This article explores the situa­tion
where one spouse is a law student.
For most wage-earners the five o'clock
whistle promises relaxation with home and
spouse after scrambling through the
municipal traffic maze. But the spouse of a
law student may get a hurried call instead:
"Sorry, honey ... working late at the
library tonight."
The learning process in law school is ad­mittedly
earmarked by pressure. For the
future professional, this pressure operates
as a subtle indoctrination to the world of
clients, tactics and deadlines. For the mar­ried
law student, the pressure becomes a
grotesque balancing act of priorities, those
of spouse and professional school.
How do couples manage to survive the
duration of law school? How much time
can they afford to spend with each other?
Three couples were interviewed, each con­sisting
of a law student and a working
spouse, for individual solutions.
When asked about their different
schedules, Wynn Radford replied that he
hardly saw his wife Linda during the first
year. "We saw each other at supper, but
that was it. Then during the second year, it
improved. We saw each other on
weekends."
Ted Pappas describes it as an "occa­sional
problem. Nancy and I allot time to
ourselves. We won't be seeing people, we'll
be seeing each other, and we work our
schedules around it."
Pat and Stephanie Jaggers have also
taken the "adjustment route." "Pat com­pensates
by studying during the day, like a
9 to 5 job, so that we can have time during
the evening together," Stephanie said. "It
really aids in relieving the strain."
Another factor in the problem is the
allotment of leisure time. All the couples
respond that, while "leisure" is a slippery
beast, it also is a time to plan and look for­ward
to with increased enjoyment.
When both spouses have such large
demands on their time, who is in charge of
keeping house? The couples all admitted to
a . form of divisional duties, although
methods largely varied. Wynn and Linda
Radford use the "Weekend Catchall"
method. "We alternate," Wynn said, "and
somehow it manages to get done.''
Ted and Nancy Pappas share the
household duties on either the "Ability to
Do" or the "Frustration" basis. "Where
Nancy is better with shopping and
budgeting, I am better with scouring walls
Dean's Dicta
Dean Harold G. Wren
From time to time, it appears to be
appropriate to give the readers of the
Examiner an "update" of what we
have sought to accomplish in the law
school administration. This column
is to inform you of some of .these
developments.
Security The central ad-ministration
has recently approved a
new position of library clerk security
officer for the law school. The job
description indicates that the person
holding this position shall assist
users of the law library between the
hours of 11:00 P.M. and 7:00A.M.,
and act as security officer for the en­tire
law school facilities during this
period. He or she will report to the
Dean through the Associate Deans,
and will have close liaison with the
Department of Public Safety. The
security officer will work with the
Department in connection with the
installation of security nevices.
Accreditation - Eight of the nine
discrepancies for which the Universi­ty
of Louisville was cited by the
American Bar Association in 1976
have been removed. The only one re­maining
is the inadequacy of the
school's physical facilities, par­ticularly
classrooms. In its biennial
budget request for 1978-80, the
University has requested approval of
$3,000,000 capital expenditure for a
law school addition which will · be
devoted primarily to classrooms and
activity offices.
Faculty and Administration - Ef­fective
with the current academic
year, Professor Steven R. Smith was
promoted from Assistant to
Associate Dean, Associate Professor
David J. Leibson was promoted to
Professor and awarded tenure status,
Assistant Professors Robert L.
Stenger and Gene W. Teitelbaum
were promoted to Associate Pro­fessors.
Professor Jacqueline R.
Kanovitz and Associate Professor
William Bryan Martin were granted
sabatical leaves and Associate Pro­fessors
Leslie W. Abramson and
Kathleen F. Brickey were granted
leaves of absence. Assistant Pro­fessor
Ronald W. Eades joined the
law facility upon completion of his
graduate work at Harvard Law
School. Peter J. Seago, Visiting Pro­fessor
from the University of Leeds,
and James J. Ragan, III, Instructor
in Basic Legal Skills, joined our full­time
faculty for the current academic
year.
Curriculum - The principal cur­ricular
change commencing with
academic year 1977-78 was the in­troduction
of the first year course in
Basic Legal Skills. The Curriculum
Committee planned for the addition
of this course last year, when it
became apparent that it was essential
that the oral and written expression
skills of our students be improved.
The school employed Mr. Ragan, a
and cleaning the basement. Other chores,
like taking out garbage, are done when
either of us can't stand it any longer," Ted
said.
Another problem traditionally arises be­ween
spouses who earn wages at different
levels. More often than not the cliche re­sounds,
"Ph.T. - or Putting Hubby
Through." But the couples interviewed
take the mature approach to the problem,
if a "problem" indeed exists at all.
"Linda and I look at it as an investment
for the years to come," Wynn Radford
said. "She stays as busy as I do, so really
there's no time to think about it."
"We both work -Nancy writes for the
newspaper and I have a clerking job," Ted
Pappas responded. "We have no conflict
of egos, because at various times in the last
five years our salaries have been alternately
superior and inferior."
Stephanie Jaggers takes a philosophical
approach. "Pat and I support each other,
and that support doesn't have to be finan­cial
to be important. We realize that law
school does not continue forever.''
Rumors abound concerning the longevi­ty,
or lack thereof, in law school mar­riages.
The murmurs speak of isolation,
personal growth at different rates,
boredom and diminishing respect that in­evitably
lead to separation and divorce. But
candidate for the M.A. and Ph.D.
degrees in English at the University
of Louisville, and practicing attorney
with five years experience, to carry
out this experimental program. For
the current academic year, the com­mittee
is charged with the respon­sibility
of a thorough review of the
entire Jaw school curriculum. The
committee will make a report to the
full faculty in the near future.
Extracurricular Activities - Last
year, the law school participated in a
number of inter-law school competi­tions
(Client Counseling, Interna­tional
Law Moot Court, National
and Regional moot courts; Trial Ad~
vocacy, etc.). To the extent that stu­dent
demand for such competitions
continues, we will continue to give
them our full support. The Louisville
Law Forum brought a number of
speakers to our campus last year, all
of whom were well received. Mr.
George W. Crockett, Jr. and Mr.
Stanley Preiser have already
presented talks to our students and
we expect to have more throughout
the year. The publications sponsored
by the law school remain important
activities for those students who take
part in them, and we believe that the
quality of these publications con­tinues
to improve.
Continuing Legal Education - The
law school continues to sponsor an
extensive program of Continuing
Legal Education. Some of the recent
programs include seminars dealing
with Business Practice, the Tax
Reform Act of 1976, Liability of
Professionals, Uniform Commercial
Code, Appellate Court Practice,
Consumer Protection, No Fault
Automobile Insurance, Circuit
Court Practice, Domestic Relations,
and Will Drafting and Probate. In
the 1978-80 biennial budget request,
the law school has requested a new
position, viz. a full time Director of
Continuing Legal Education. Such a
position will be essential if the state
adopts a mandatory Continuing
Legal Education program.
the couples all spoke instead of greater
achievement in sharing, understanding and
appreciation of the other spouse. Their
answer lies in communication.
"Linda and I share our daily ex­periences,
although hers are more in­teresting
than mine," Wynn Radford ex­plained.
"As she teaches math at Southern
High School, our talents fall into totally
different fields. Rather than being com­petitive,
we enjoy our individuality.''
"We feel that the strength we derive
from cooperation will sustain us in the
future. If we can survive law school, we can
survive anything," Wyqn added.
Pat Jaggers echoes the sentiment. "I
have two separate entities: law school and
my life. Home affords comfort and relaxa­tion.
If we don't reserve time for each
other, then we might as well not be mar­ried.
You set your priorities; as frustrations
ease, greater understanding develops."
Nancy Pappas describes her relationship
with Ted as "very stable. He has no manic
personality changes between being a law
student and being himself, at home." Ted
added, "I'm content with my B-C student
status. My family first perceived my at­titude
as one of "giving up" or not achiev­ing
my best. But I have a life other than law
school that I don't want to give up.
Enrollment - A comparison of
enrollments between the fall of 1976
and the present indicates that we are
moving toward the several goals that
the school has either adopted or have
been required of it. These include the
reduction of total enrollment to an·­optimum
level of approximately 600,
the limitation of out-of-state enroll•
ment required by the Council of
Higher Education to be no greater
than 10 percent, and the increase in
the percentage of women and
minority students.
Fall Fall
Semester Semester
1976-77 1977-78
Day 467 402
Evening 192 205
Total 659 607
Residents 549 548
Non-Residents 110 59
Total 659 607
Women 22.60Jo 25.5%
Minority 3.3 OJo 3.5%
Non-Residents 16.7% 9.7%
The number of students who com­pleted
the requirements for gradua­tion
during the academic year
1976-77 is as follows:
Requirements Completed In:
December, 1976 ........ . ..... 5'8
May, 1977 . .. .. .. . ......... 145
August, 1977 ......... . ...... 11
Total. . .. . .. . .......... 214
Placement - The law school has
improved its placement service but
much still remains to be done. In our
1978-80 biennial budget request, we
have sought a full-time Placement
Officer. In the meanwhile, we shall
continue to rely on the outstanding
service provided by Mrs. Susan
McBeath, our part-time Placement
Officer. This year, the Jaw school
will again publish its "Senior
Bulletin" containing pictures and
short resumes of students who will
graduate during the current
academic year.
Louisville Law Examiner, October 18, 1977
Louisville Offers Variety of Services to the Blind
by Ken Golliher
"Louisville has more research resources
for education and technology applicable to
the blind than any other locality in the
world," said Carson Nolan, Vice President
and General Manager for the American
Printing House for the Blind. That's an
admittedly broad statement, but it would
seem that its not beyond proving.
For the attorney who has a blind client or
who, through his position in the com­munity,
knows of blind persons who are in
need of assistance, this city has a wealth of
resources.
Kentucky's Bureau for the Blind, an
agency within the Education and the Arts
Cabinet, began operating in July of this
year. Its formation marks a step forward in
the Commonwealth's efforts to aid the
blind, but Kentucky has been in the
business for more than a century.
In 1842 Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe came
to Frankfort and then to Louisville,
bringing four of his pupils from a school
fpr the blind in Boston, Mass. The students
glive a demonstration of their abilities
before the Kentucky legislature and then
came to Louisville where they gave four
public exhibitions. In each demonstration,
the students showed their prowess in
reading the Bible, mathematics, music and
the reading and translating Latin and
Greek.
After each exhibition, the leaders ac­cepted
contributions and pledges from the
audience to supplement the $10,000 ap­propriated
by the legislature for an in­stitution
for the blind in the Com­monwealth,
the Kentucky School for the
Blind. ·
Since that time the school has established
a history as rich and proud as any other. At
one time the school's headquarters on
Broadway were destroyed by fire and
classes for the blind students were held at U
of L's School of Law. During the Civil War
their facility on Frankfort A venue was
commandeered by the Union army as a
hospital and the residents were only given
24 hours to evacuate.
· Fully accredited, the Kentucky School
for the Blind offers educational op­portunities
for blind children in Kentucky
between the ages of six and eighteen. Their
visual impairment must be within statutory
guidelines and they must be mentally and
emotionally able to benefit from such an
education.
While many are from the greater
Louisville area, the students come from
about 45 Kentucky counties. Residential
facilities are provided for those who wish
to live at the school.
The curriculum is similar to that of most
schools. Language arts, mathematics, ·
science, social studies, music, and physical
- "u'"'"""" Printing House
for the Blind, Mrs. Gloria Compton, repairs one
of the recording devices manufactured for use by
the blind.
education are offered. Extracurricular
sports, such as wrestling and track are also
available as are field trips and group
outings.
Practical skills courses such as home
economicS'; industrial arts and home
mechanics are available and students also
learn the use of many technical mechanical
aids such as braillewriters and recorded
materials.
The program is designed so each child
may develop the attitudes, skills and
abilities which will enable him to have a
full range of choices in his educational
planning, whether he completes his
elementary and secondary education at the
Kentucky School f01: the Blind or in a
hometown school.
Adjacent to the School for the Blind is
the American Printing House for the Blind.
Chartered by the Commonwealth in 1858,
this institution is the oldest national, non­profit
agency for the blind in the United
States. It is also the largest publishing
house for the blind in the world.
The catalogs for the materials available
from the printing house make a pile about
six inches thick. Among the items listed are
braille books, recording · and playing
devices, braille paper, heavy lined paper,
"talking books" and according to Mr.
Nolan, " ... a whole host of other
materials." Catalogs are available on
request.
Also available, free of charge to the
blind, are Readers Digest and Newsweek,
here published in tape form. The Printing
House uses professional readers, often
radio and TV personalities (such as
Livingston Gilbert and Milton Metz
locally) to transcribe the current
publications so they can be delivered to
their subscribers at the same time their
neighbors receive the printed edition.
A central catalog of volunteer produced
books, carrying about 88,000 titles, is also
located at the Printing House. Mr. Nolan
explained that many of these books have
been taped only once and that a particular
book might be difficult to locate without
the use of this service.
Another organization that specializes in
providing aids is Recording for the Blind,
Inc. This national organization has twenty­nine
recording studios across the United
States and provides free taped educational
books for blind and physically han­dicapped
students.
This organization only records books to
be used for educational and professional
purposes and utilizes a network of 4,500
carefully trained volunteers to make its
recordings. It has three offices in
Louisville, one of which is located in
Strickler Hall on the U of L campus. Some
of the readers at this office are members of
the Law School student body and faculty.
Volunteers are always welcome.
Since its inception in 1951 Recording for
the Blind has established a master tape
library of over 33,000 titles which are
circulated to over 12,000 users in the U.S.
The tapes are loaned free of charge. Mrs.
Betty Johnson, Chairman of the Kentucky
Unit, said, "We view our users in terms of
their potentialities rather than their
limitations. We offer tools-not crutches.
If we can give them the tools, we know they
can do the job."
Kentucky's Bureau for the Blind
(mentioned above) is the state agency
responsible for all rehabilitation services
for the blind and visually impaired. It
establishes and implements policies and
procedures for carrying out the Com­monwealth's
program of services to the
blind.
The Bureau provides staff services which
include fiscal management, staff
development and training, public in­formation,
and program development and
evaluation. Six separate divisions exist
within the Bureau for the Blind:
The Division of Field Services provides
intake and rehabilitation counseling ser­vices.
Ken Nevitt, a third-year student at the School of Law, monitors Prof. Judy Richardson in a sound­proof
booth as she reads for Recordings for the Blind Inc. Both parties volunteer about two hours a
week.
The Division of Technical Services
distributes or sells technical aids, talking
book machines, vocational rehabilitation
aids, and other aids for the blind. This
division also provides vocational
rehabilitation materials such as recorder
books, braille and large type text, and
other materials deemed necessary for the
vocational rehabilitation of the blind. In
addition, this division conducts research
into the development of new technical and
vocational rehabilitation aids for the blind.
The Division of Business Enterprise
includes the vending facilities program and
promotes the development of other small
businesses. In connection therewith, the
bureau is authorized to own, lease,
manage, supervise and operate vending
facilities and other business enterprises for
use or benefit of blind persons in federal,
state and private buildings.
The Division of Employment Services
promotes the employment of the blind in
the public and private sectors. This division
coordinates its activities with the divisions
of field services, Business Enterprises, and
Industries for the Blind.
The Division of Industries for the Blind
provides industrial evaluation, training,
employment and home industries. Em­phasis
is on placement in public em­ployment
and long-term sheltered em­ployment
at Industries for the Blind.
The Division of Rehabilitation Centers
for the Blind provides mobility training,
work evaluation, personal adjustment and
other services needed for the blind adult.
The Rehabilitation Center also serves blind
adults who have other disabilities.
The Kentucky Rehabilitation Center for
the Blind is located in Louisville. (Ann
Vick, who is a former Law School em­ployee,
is currently a student there). Fred
Gissoni, the Rehabilitation Center's
Director, said, "A blind person can do
anything that doesn't require vision." That
statement has a meaning to Mr. Gissoni
and the members of his staff that exceeds
the comprehension of the public in general.
As was mentioned in a prior article,
much of the Center's efforts are invested in
giving a blind adult the capacity to cope
with his everyday world without assistance.
However, the staff is interested in more
than just seeing that their students are able
to "get by."
Mr. Gissoni explained that, "When a
person has sight he has certain real or
subjective attitudes about blindness ... he
associates certain occupations such as
begging or selling pencils with blindness.
He also associates certain emotions, such
as pity, with blindness. When it suddenly
happens to him he thinks, My God, do
people feel that way about me? He is
suddenly a member of a club that he didn't
want to belong to."
It is this problem of self-perception that
the center tries to deal with fist, but Mr.
Gissoni added, "If you go blind on
Tuesday your problems will not be solved
by Thursday."
Staff members at the Center use a
generous mixture of understanding and
20th century technology to assist their
residents. A device called an Opticon
(which costs about as much as an
automobile) translates the printed word to
the finger tip. A hand-held sensor passing
over the page transmits a physical im­pession
to the end of a forefinger inserted
in the machine's read-out mechanism. The
vibrations trace the shape of the letter on
the finger and the blind can read the
printed word.
Another device, the talking calculator,
enables students to do even complex
calculation while the hand-held box
"speaks" in its electrical monotone, telling
them of their equation and its result.
Each student gets a different prescription
of the Center's facilities; each program is
tailored to the student as an individual. Mr.
Gissoni noted that the Center had had
students from almost every level of the
education spectrum, from people with no
education to those with " ... many, many
credits beyond the masters level."
Mr. Gissoni is well pleased with the
Division's progress. He said that a study
was recently conducted to see how many
students had established themselves as
rehabilitations since July. He noted that a
homemaker is defintely a legitimate
rehabilitation, but in this case he just
wanted to know how many had "gotten on
the payroll" someplace as a result of the
Division's efforts. He felt that eight or
nine would have been a satisfactory
number, but was surprised to learn that 28
graduates had gone to work in this period.
Although not located in Kentucky, there
is another organization which may be of
help to the attorney in dealing with the
problems of the blind. The National Center
for Law and the Handicapped (NCLH) in
South Bend, Indiana was established in
1972 to protect and insure equal protection
under the law for all handicapped in­dividuals
through the provision of legal
assistance, legal and social science research
ac<ivities and programs and processes of
education and professional awareness.
Assistance for disabled individuals is
provided through direct legal intervention
in selected cases and indirectly through
consultation with attorneys, organizations,
and individuals considering or involved in
litigation. NCLH has been admitted to
serve in court cases in the capacity of
counsel and co-counsel, but primarily
serves in an amicus curiae role.
The NCLH legal and social science staff
also provides assistance to attorneys,
legislators and various organizations
working in areas involving the disabled
through consultation legal research, and
drafting of model pleadings and briefs.
Research activities of the NCLH legal
(Continued on next page)
Louisville Law Examiner, October 18, 1977 5
Law Office Economics Course
AHA-Chicago
The American Bar Association will hold
the Eighth National Conference on Law
Office Economics and Management in
Miami's new Omni International Hotel
March 10-12, 1978.
Sponsored by the ABA's Section on the
Economics of Law Practice, the conference
will emphasize personnel, described by
Conference Chairman Richard C. Reed,
Seattle, as " the single most important
factor in the delivering of legal services
efficiently and at a reasonable cost."
"Our program emphasizes how law
offices of every kind-private, govern­mental,
corporate, public service-can
work as a team to serve their clients bet-ter,"
said Program Chairman Francis H.
Musselman, New York City, "We put
together an American and Canadian roster
of experts on how to organize; how to
train, communicate and delegate; how to
evaluate, compensate and motivate; and
how to help people adjust to the continuing
changes of the information age."
The conference will feature one of the
largest equipment and law office services
exhibitions ever held for the legal
profession.
For further detailed information please
contact Donna Spilis, American Bar
Association, 1155 East 60th Street,
Chicago, Illinois, 60637, 312/ 947-3911.
Bar Referral Services Open
It didn't take long for the press to attach
a pseudonym to Kentucky's referral ser­vice;
Dial-a-Lawyer seems to be the natural
handle for such a pursuit.
The Kentucky Bar Association's (KBA)
lawyer referral service was instituted in Ju­ly
of this year. According to Gabe Vargo,
program director for the KBA, the service
has been quite successful.
As the result of an advertising campaign
using courthouse notices a(}d newspaper
ads as well as spots on radio and television,
the program received 276 callers in July
and 286 in August. The lawyers that receiv­ed
these referrals came from the service's
list of 325 participating attorneys.
According to Mr. Vargo, all members of
the KBA received an application to par­ticipate
in the service. The $25 annual fee
entitles the lawyer to list all the areas of law
in which he wishes to accept clients and to
have those callers from his geographic area
referred to him by the service on a rotating
basis.
(While the KBA has about 6,500
members, about 800 of those reside out of
state and another I ,000 are no longer in ac­tive
practice so the 325 participants come
from a pool of about 4,700 lawyers.)
The service works something like this.
When someone calls, they give their name,
the county that they live in and the nature
of their legal problem. Then a member of
the referral service staff goes down the list
of lawyers until he finds one dealing in that
area of law, moving the attorney's name to
the bottom of the list after the referral is
made.
The referral service follows up each call
and has found that about half of the
original referral visits have resulted in addi­tional
casework for the attorney involved.
The initial visit costs the client $10 for a
half hour conference.
Louisville has a separate referral service
which serves only Jefferson County. (The
KBA service covers the rest of the state.)
The Louisville Bar Association's (LBA)
Lawyer Referral Service Chairman, Clif­ford
Duncan, said the program was begun
several years ago, " .. . as a service to the
public so they wouldn't have to play 'dart
board' with the yellow pages and so they
could get a lawyer who was at least
knowledgeable and practicing in their area
of concern." An additional reason was,
"Indirectly, to help attorneys build up their
practices." Mr. Duncan noted that several
lawyers had received valuable case work by
participating in the program.
Approximately 1,350 of Jefferson Coun­ty's
2,000 lawyers participate in the LBA
program.
Participants pay a $15 fee for each legal
category in which they wish to receive
referrals. For example: an attorney who
wants to handle only cases in domestic rela­tions
would pay $15 annually. If the same
attorney wants to receive referrals in other
areas as well he would pay an additional
$15 for each category. Registration for
every category offered would cost about
$400 a year according to Ann Price, LBA
employee.
Cases are rotated among the lawyers in
the different categories; after a case is
referred to a lawyer his name will be placed
at the bottom of the list in that specialty.
The referral service only accepts lawyers
who have been a member of the bar for
more than nine months.
Ms. Price said that the number of calls at
the service fluctuates greatly, usually
averaging three or four a day, but
sometimes exceeding ten. She also said that
while many of the service's participants are
young attorneys, there are also several
firms and well-known practitioners who
use the service.
The number for the LBA's referral ser­vice,
located in the Jefferson Hall of
Justice, is 583-1801. The KBA service has a
toll-free number in Frankfort,
1-800-372-2999.
Services to the Blind
(Continued from page 4)
and social science staff are broad-based
and multi-disciplinary in nature. They have
been designed to facilitate legal reform and
to allow a fuller realization of the rights of
the handicapped.
The Center has been jointly funded by
the Bureau of Education for the Han­dicapped,
Office of Education, and project
of national significance by the Develop­mental
Disabilities Office, Office of
Human Development, of the U.S.
Department of Health Education and
Welfare.
The Center has, since its inception,
maintained an active clinical intern ­program
with the University of Notre
Dame/ Notre Dame Law School in order to
assist in the training of advocates in the
newly emerging field of law and the
handicapped .
ADDRESSES
Kentucky School for the Blind
1867 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, Ky. 40206
American Printing House for the
Blind, Inc. r
1839 Frankfort Avenue
Louisville, Ky. 40206
Rehabilitation Center for the Blind
1900 Brownsboro Road
Louisville, Ky. 40206
Recording for the Blind, Inc.
205 Strickler Hall
University of Louisville
Louisville, Ky. 40208
Bureau for the Blind
State Office Building Annex
Frankfort, Ky. 40601
National Center for Law and the
Handicapped
1235 North Eddy Street
South Bend, Indiana 46617
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Oct. 28-29 Mineral Law, University of Kentucky Legal Education Program,
Lexington.
Nov.4-S Representing the Injured Worker, University of Louisville Continuing
Legal Education, Louisville.
Nov. 18-19 Agricultural Law, University of Kentucky Continuing Legal Education
Program, Lexington.
Nov. 24-27 Thanksgiving Holiday
Dec. 2 (p.m.) Practice in the Kentucky District Courts, Middleton Auditorium,
Strickler Hall, University of Louisville.
Dec. 3-17 Examination Period
Dec. 9 (p.m.) Practice in the New Kentucky District Courts, Barkley Lodge, Lake
Barkley (co-sponsor: Murray State University).
Dec. 15-16
Dec. 16-17
Annual Federal Tax Institute, Louisville.
Commercial Law, University of Kentucky, Continuing Legal Education
Program, Lexington.
Land Use Study Available
AU-AHA-Philadelphia
A course of Study on Land Use
Litigation: Critical Issues for Attorneys,
Developers, and Public Officials will be
offered October 20-22, at the Crown
Center Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri . The
course is cosponsored by the American
Law Institute-American Bar Association
Committee on continuing Professional
Education (ALI-ABA) and The Urban
Land Institute.
The purpose of this program is to
provide practitioners with an update of the
major areas of court involvement in land
development and its regulation. Litigation
strategies and techniques will be discussed
from the points of view of attorneys
representing developers, consumers, and
various government agencies concerned
with land use planning. Procedures at the
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local level, vested rights, wetland,
shorelands, environmental impact
statements, growth management, ex­clusionary
zoning, use of the com­prehensive
plan, down-zoning, population
capping, moratoria, and other topics will
be analyzed from the point of view of a
litigator preparing to argue their merits
before administrative and judicial
tribunals . Anyone planning to attend
should have some experience with these
subjects.
The registration fee for the course is $265
and includes a reception, three luncheoRs,
and a set of specially-prepared study
materials.
For further information or to register for
the course, please contact the Registrar,
ALI-ABA, 4025 Chestnut Street,
Philadelphis, PA 19104; or telephone (215)
387-3000.
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6 Louisville Law Examiner, October 18, 1977
Group Organizes
Recent Law Graduates
An organization comprised of persons
who have graduated from the Law School
in the last five years is currently being
formed. Doug Farnsley, a 1976 graduate
and former SBA president, said that the
group is currently operating under the
heading of Recent Law Graduates and is in
the midst of a membership drive.
Mr. Farnsley stated that the group's
purpose is to allow Law School graduates
of recent years a chance to get involved
with alumni activities even though they
might not be able to make any financial
contribution at present.
Operating with the support of the Law
Alumni Association, the group is interested
in findi!l.B alumni who are willing to .
contribute their time and ideas to a
"hands-on" effort to assist in Law School
activities.
About twenty graduates attended the
group's first informal meeting a few weeks
ago. Those present joined different
"sections" of the organization in order to
devote their efforts to their own special
areas of interest.
Among the sections established are:
continuing legal education, faculty
evaluation, library, practical skills,
clerking, membership and a student leader
liaison program. Through the student
leader liaison program, the graduates hope
to aid the student office-holders by main­taining
continuity for programs and serving
as a sort of oral record of how problems
were solved in previous years.
Much of the group discussion was aimed
at helping to provide law students with
practical experience prior to graduation.
, ~l'hose recent graduates who have an
in'terest in participating in this type of
.organization are encouraged to contact Mr.
Farnsley at 502-589-6240 or 502-228-2987.
Correspondence should be sent to Douglass
C. Farnsley, 602 Louisville Trust Building,
Louisville, Ky. 40202.
SBA Election Returns
Recently a referendum was held which
asked U of L law students if they favored
a recommendation to the central admin­istration
that non-law students be provided
with a 24 hour study facility.
The referendum was attached to a run­.
off ballot for a Student Bar Association
(SBA) election. Voting was much lighter in
the run-off than in the regular election, but
136 students voted for the recommendation
while five voted against.
SBA President Scott Preston made the
formal recommendation to University
President Dr. James Miller at a Law
School faculty meeting a week later.
President Miller . told Mr. Preston that
the Law School had his full support in its
efforts to reserve the library for the use of
those doing legal research. However, he
cautioned that the rule should be enforced
carefully so that undergraduates and
members of the public who wished to use
the library's materials would not be dis­couarged
from doing so.
John A. Dillon, U of L's Vice President
for Academic Affairs, said that the
University was currently considering' the
establishment of a 24 hour study area
someplace on the Belknap campus.
While the Law Library has always been
posted as being closed to persons who were
not using legal research materials, the rule
has never be~n consistently enforced. The
presence of non-law students in the library
has been a source of continuous student
complaints, due to limited facilities and
recent problems with security.
Also, the American Bar Association
(ABA) had cited the Law School for its
failure to prohibit the library's use as a
study hall for non-law students and U of L
promised the ABA that the situation would
be corrected over a year ago.
The election to which the referendum
was attached was for the selection of SBA
class representatives. Those elected were:
Senior (Day Division) - Paula Johnson
and Jackie Ponder.
Junior (Day Division) - Mark Sullivan
and Lee Hoefling.
Freshman (Day Division) Dave
McKenna and Kevin Horne.
Fourth Year (Evening Division) - Jerry
Shugart
Third Year (Evening Division) - Harry L.
Sylces
Second Year (Evening Division) - John
Andris
First Year (Evening Division) - Matt
Livingood
Current SBA officers are Scott Preston,
president, Robert Russell, day vice­president;
Tom Mercer, night vice­president;
Jeff Kirk, treasurer; and Ginny
Hamm, Secretary. SBA officers are elected
in the spring semester.
Detroit Reeorder's Court Judge George Crockett spoke reeently at the Law School on his travels in
the People's Republic of China, observing its legal system.
Supreme Court Role Changing?
ADA-Chicago
The U.S. Supreme Court has evolved
into a new institution whose primary
function is legislative instead of judicial, a
law professor writes in the American Bar
Association Journal September issue.
Cornell Law School Prof. William Ray
Forrester writes that the Supreme Court "is
a government body in the sense that it
makes basic policy decisions of the nation,
selects among the competing values of our
society, and administers and executes the
directions it chooses in political, social and
ethical matters.
"It has become the major societal agency
for reform." Describing the high tribunal
as a "legiscourt," Mr. Forrester said many
of the important Supreme Court decisions
are not based on written law but depend on
a justice's subjective determination on
what the law should be.
As ·examples, the professor cited the
court's action in the areas of segregation,
voting, criminal justice, religion, por­nography,
legislative investigations, libel,
confidentiality, welfare, abortion, political
patronage and campaign financing.
The professor said the court filled a
vacuum "caused by the nonfeasance of the
President, Congress and the states.''
Mr. Forrester pointed out, however, that
Supreme Court justices with lifetime tenure
do not have to consider the political rami­fications
of their actions.
Describing the current court as probably
a unique institution in the history of
government, Mr. Forrester said it is suc­cessfully
combining legislative, judicial and
executive powers in contradiction to the
"basic warnings of the doctrine of
separation of powers, and the ap­prehensions
against concentrated power
expressed by the framers of our Con­stitution.''
Mr. Forrester said the nation should
candidly face the fact that the Supreme
Court has become a legislative body "and
let the justices decide the issues on policy
rather than strained constitutional
grounds."
Law Forum and Delta Theta Phi Sponsor Candidates' Speeches at School of Law
RepubHcan candidate
for Jefferson County Judge,
Mitch McConneU
Democratic candidate,
incumbent County Judge
Todd HoUenbacb
Democratic candidate
for mayor of Louisville,
Bill Stansbury
Republican candidate
for mayor,
Russ Maple
Louisville Law Examiner, October 18, 1977 7
Obscenity v. the Family Unit
(Continued from Page 2)
healthy society. It best provides emotional security and stability to the growing
young. It furnishes the best pre-school learning environment, as we have learned
again and again in recent years. It is also the most effective institution for
transmitting the best of our ethical and moral values to the young. Having the
greatest potential for conferring these benefits, the family's protection and nur­ture
is surely society's primary responsibility. But the family cannot endure unless
a firm sense of sexual responsibility exists. A sound family environment requires
respect for the sexual rights and sensitivities of each spouse. And pornography is
unquestionably subversive of these attitudes. If having fun is all that counts, why
not have sex with whomever you wish rather than respect the rights of your
pouse?
When writers and speakers wish to attack the family and its underlying values
by offering reasoned arguments against them, they deserve constitutional protec­tion.
But when pornographers seek to exploit sexual barbarities for purely com­mercial
purpose, undermining healthy values by indirection and by implication,
that i another matter. If some civil libertarians cannot see the difference, or­dinary
citizens with ordinary common sense have no difficulty making the
di tin tion.
There i an even more compelling consideration. Only the most doctrinaire civil
libertarians believe that the 1st Amendment forbids Washington or the states to
protect children from obscene materials. Yet there is no way that obscene
magazines can freely circulate to adults without millions of copies falling into the
hands of juveniles. o way whatever. Can responsible people seriously argue that
society ha no right to protect its youth from material urging experiences with
bestiality and e ery conceivable form of irresponsible sex?
In the hort run, such material may not do much harm to young people from
good home but millions upon millions of homes provide the youth with
omething less than good moral examples and instruction. For these youth, what
they learn from the media will be highly significant in shaping their sexual
outlook. Do we want pornography to be their mentors?
But perhaps all of this represents an ill-concealed conservative view of sex
which is ratified by no more than tradition. Perhap a society in which sexual in­hibitions
large!} evaporate will be a healthier ociety after all?
Let s loo at what tho e have to a who ha e gi en the greatest historical and
cro -<:ultural attention to questions of sexual beha ior and societal well being.
Many decades ago Sigmund Freud set forth the view that much of the progress of
civilization came because man had placed restrictions on sexual appetites and that
the sublimation of sexual energy into creative activities of many kinds had led to
great cultural advances•. Displeased with Freud's conclusion, Cambridge scholar
J. D. "'"';n rec;olved to pro e him wrong by studying the connections between
ua1 r tram~ 10 o"er i 11 i nt, medie al, contemporary and
primitive) and the degree of social and individual progress in those cultures.' (He
identified progress with mental development, individualism, social energy, ex­p~
oration and colonization, and cultural creativity.) To his admitted chagrin, he
discovered unvarying tendencies for societies with declining sexual standards to
experience declining cultural progress. Primitive societies which came closest to
confining sex to the material condition invariably had made greater progress than
had those with looser sexual codes; indeed, the more permissive the code, the less
advanced the society. These findings carry special weight not only because Pro­fessor
Unwin was a frrst-rate (though currently neglected) scholar but because his
findings were the opposite of what he hoped to discover. While correlations do
not constitute causal proofs, a relationship so consistent can hardly be charged to
chance. Sexual practices and morals are so central both to survival and to the
moral codes of every society that they can logically be expected to have extra­ordinary
importance for societal health and progress.
Former Harvard sociologist Pitirim Sorokin's independent investigations con­firmed
Unwin's conclusions. 10 The study of 90 tribes by anthropologist William
Stephens led him to note that tribes with the largest degree of sexual freedom had
made the least cultural advances. 11
Arnold Toynbee, whose monumental study of the rise and fall of civilizations
has never been matched, is also on record as stating that cultures which postpone
sexual experience in the young are more likely to maximize progress. 12 And Will
and Ariel _Durant, the breadth of whose studies of world history rival Toynbee's,
observed m The Lessons of History that sex in the young is "a river of fire that
must be banked and cooled by a hundred restraints if it is not to consume in chaos
both the individual and the group. " 13
If these scholars were selectively chosen, with those of opposite opinions con­veniently
overlooked, that would be one thing. But if persons of comparable
stature and breadth of research have come to other conclusions, they are
unknown to me.
A few footnotes should be added to this essay. Reports that Denmark had
declining rates of sex crimes, following its near-abolition of anti-pornography
laws, have been widely cited by those who oppose such laws. But Australian
psychologist John Court, recently re-examining the results of the Danish ex­perience,
contends that these reports are dead wrong. 14 Rape and attempted rape,
rose sharply in Denmark after the relaxation of anti-obscenity laws. Court
discovered a similar increase in rape following more permissive pornography laws
in the U.S., Great Britain, France, New Zealand and Australia, while rape re­mained
constant or fell in countries which retained rather strict laws. Court wise­ly
refrains from claiming a proved causal relationship but his study does correct
the erroneous correlation so widely circulated about the Danish experience.
Next, it is often charged that anti-obscenity laws impose the moral standards of
a majority and that this is improper. The charge cannot be sustained. Most laws
reflect a moral judgment concerning the rightness or wrongness of certain ac­tivities.
Criminal laws, pollution laws, fair trade laws, equal protection laws, etc.,
etc., reflect a majority opinion that this or that is morally objectionable. And a
minority opposes virtually every law, including those which forbid incest,
bigamy, polygamy, indecent exposure, etc. Furthermore, even those with the
most permissive attitudes rarely believe it is wrong for society to protect children
~~--------~~------------------------------~--- - - -
from irll.moral influences. Few of them, moreover, would argue that live
theatrical entertainment featuring persons having relations with animals was
?eyond the re~ch of ~he law. Almost everyone believes in some censorship; we
JUSt draw the hne at different points. Is
Finally, it is said that violent entertainment does more harm than pornography
but few are recommending censorship laws to deal with the problem. Undoubted­ly
excessive violence on TV and in the movies is a public danger which we have
not yet squarely faced. But there is a highly significant difference between most
dramas involving violent entertainment and pornography. In the former, crime is
presented as an evil to be punished; in pornography, irresponsible sex is presented
as a good to be encouraged. The difference is crucial.
If society, then, chooses to regard pornography as a social threat to be dealt
with by law, while protecting the right of dissenters to attack any and all or­thodoxies
through an appeal .to reason, it is following an eminently reasonable
course. It is a course compatible with not only the best scholarship of our age but
with the judgment of a solid majority of the American people.
Those who enforce such laws, moreover, are performing a public service and
deserve our gratitude, while those who oppose such enforcement are in an
unt~nable position. The latter have every right, of course, to seek the repeal of
anti-pornography laws but they have not right to undermine the enforcement of
laws which a clear majority of the people want enforced. The prolonged effort of
many newspapers and writers to subvert the enforcement of anti- pornography
laws which they dislike is not a pretty spectacle. If one law should not be enforced
because a vocal minority opposes it, then this must be equally true of all laws
which a minority finds distasteful. If we accept this premise, the courts would
shortly close up shop.
FOOTNOTES
I. The Report of the Commission on Pornography and Obscenity, Toronto, Bantam Books, 1970.
2. Leonard Berkowitz, "Sex and Violence: We Can't Have It Both Ways," Psychology Today,
December, 1971.
3. Victor B. Cline, Where Do You Draw The Line? Provo, Utah, Bringham Young University
Press, 1974, pp. 203-246.
4. James Q. Wilson, "Violence, Pornography and Social Science," The Public Interest, Winter,
1971 , p. 61.
5. Harry Clor, in Cline, Where Do You Draw The Line? op. cit., pp. 339-340.
6. Lane Sunderland, Obscenity, Washington, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy
Research, 1975, Ch. 3.
7. Garry Wills, "Measuring the Impact of Erotica," Psychology Today, August, 1977.
8. Discussed in Vance Packard, The Sexual Wilderness, New York, David McKay, 1968, p. 424. ,
9. J. D. Unwin, Sexual Regulations and Cultural Behavior, London, Oxford University Pres~,
1935.
10. Pitirim Sorokin, The American Sex Revolution, Boston, Porter Sargent, 1956, pp. 106-107, 113.
II. William Stephens, "A Cross-Cultural Study of Modesty and Obscenity,'' Technical Report of
the Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, 1970, vol. 9, pp. 406-426.
12. Arnold Toynbee, "Why 1 Dislike Western Civilization,'' New York Times Magazine, May 10,
1964, p. 15.
13. Will and Ariel Durant, The Lessons of History, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1968, pp.
34-36.
14. David Cohen, "Deep Threat," Human Behavior, February, 1977, p, 55.
15. Those who contend that pornography laws are necessarily too imprecise to meet the
requirements of due process of law should carefully read Miller v. California (1973), which pro­vides
quite explicit criteria for states wishing to enact constitutional anti-pornography laws.
They should also be reminded that we have hundreds of laws with vague provisions which must
be interpreted under a "rule of reason" which is necessarily imprecise. (Anti pollution laws and
rc:st:~int ?f trade ~ws are good examples.) The critics are quite content with rather vague pro­hibitions
1f the law IS one, the substance of which, they approve.
VOTE
FOR
OLGA PEERS
JUDGE
16th DIVISION
JEFFERSON DISTRICT COURT
* University of louisville law Alumni Foundation
Trustee and Vice President
* law library Foullcler 1972-1974
* Trial Commissioner louisville Police Court
Paid For By: CAMPAIGN FOR OLGA S. PEERS,
. H. PAUL HAYNES, TREASURER
307 Central Avenue, Lou., Ky. 40208
I
"
8 Louisville Law Examiner, October 18, 1977
Kentucky Crime Victim Fund Goes Into Effect
This is the first of a two-part article on
Kentucky's statute which provides com­pensation
to crime victims. Part one will
explain the statute and appropriate ad­ministrative
regulations. Part two will
discuss how the program is working.
Innocent victims of muggings, rapes and
other violent crimes may now be reim­bursed
by the state. Crimes occurring after
June 18, 1976 that cost the victim over
$100.00 in out-of-pocket medical expenses
or two continuous weeks of lost earnings or
support will be considered by the Kentucky
Crime Victim Compensation Fund, ac­cording
to KRS Chapter 346.
The purpose of the newly enacted statute
is to indemnify those needy residents of
Kentucky who are innocent victims of
criminal acts and who suffer bodily injury
or death as a consequence thereof. Such
persons or their dependents may thereby
suffer disability, incur financial hardships
and become dependent upon public
assistance. To that end, it is .the legislative
intent that aid, care, and ·support be
provided by the state, as a matter of grace,
for such victims of crime.
Basically, to be eligible, a person must:
- Be a victim of a crime on or after June
19,1976;
- Be physically injured or killed;
- Suffer a loss that involves medical cost
or other necessary expenses such as loss of
earnings or loss of support that exceeds
$100.00;
- Be a resident of Kentucky and not
related to the criminal involved;
- In no way be responsible for the crime,
and cooperate with the law officers;
- Not be able to recover the loss from
other sources such as health insurance;
- Show that the loss will cause serious
hardship;
- File a report no later than 90 days
after the occurrence of the criminally in­jurious
conduct. This time period may be
extended to one year by a showing of good
cause.
In addition, grants cannot be made for
property damage or loss and the grants
may not exceed the victim's actual loss or a
maximum of$15,000.
To apply, a claim must be filed by the
victim, or, if such person is a minor, by his
parent or guardian. 107 KAR provides that
a claimant may supply in writing, in any
Ethics Course Requirement Added
by Susan Barnett
Professional Responsibility, a two-hour
course presently titled Legal Ethics, has
been implemented as a curriculum require­ment.
affecting the 1977-78 freshman class.
The course, which uses as its basis the
American Bar Association (ABA) Code of
Professional Responsibility, has been
approved as a requirement for several
reasons, according to Prof. David Leib on,
chairman of the Curriculum Committee.
The 1977 ABA Standards for the Ap­proval
of Law Schools, section 302(a)
states, "The law school shall provide and
require for all tudent candidates for a
professional degree, instruction in the
duties and responsibilities of the legal
profession. Such required instruction need
not be limited to any pedagogical method
as long as the history, goals, structure and
responsibilities of the legal profession and
its members, including the ABA Code of
Professional Responsibility, are all
covered."
Additionally, at least five states, in­cluding
Indiana, require legal ethics before
taking the bar.
Although the ABA requires only that the
subject matter be covered in some manner,
and does not specify a course in ethics as
such, Mr. Leibson says the committee and
the faculty think it is best handled as a
separate course, "It's a good idea. All of us
should try to incorporate ethics in our own
courses. I'm not sure all professors do
because of the time element. But, it's
crucial that students formulate ideas on
legal ethics prior to graduation.
At the suggestion of Prof. William
Warner, who presently teaches Legal
Ethics, the course name will be changed to
Profes ional Respon ibility in order to
reflect more accurately the substance of the
cour e. The expanded scope of the cour e
includes areas and responsibilities not
specifically reflected in the Code. It deals
with what Mr. Warner call "practice
pointers" which attempt to "instill in the
lawyer built-in radar to be able to detect
problems and give him the equipment to
handle them. This goes beyond the 'Thou
shalt nots' of the Code, showing the lawyer
how to stay away from potential problems,
or to deal with them when they arise."
any young lawyer who has made
it through law school and passed
the bar deserves the best
There are no fmer law books than West books. They are edited and ·
printed for the practicing lawyer. They meet practical needs; answer
practical problems, and they always offer maximum ease of movement
from one publication to another through the Key Number System,
citations and h"brary references. If you're a student soon to practice law
or already a aeuoned practitiQD.er, be sure you give yourself the advantage
·of the best tools an attorney can haYe ••. West law books.
IEIE PFLUIHAUPT
B.S. Northwestern University
LL.B. Southern Methodist University
WEST
PUBLISHII& COIPAIY
584-5058
form he or she desires, sufficient in­formation
to show that he or she qualifies .
To make this process more efficient, a
simple "claim form" may be obtained
from the Crime Victim's Compensation
Board, 113 East Third Street, Frankfort,
Kentucky 40601.
The Crime Compensation Board consists
of five members appointed by the
governor. Once a claim . is accepted for
filing, the chairman of the board will
assign this claim to himself or to another
member.
This member will examine the papers
filed in addition to the investigation report.
The individual board member will make a
decision either granting or denying the
award. A claimant, if unsatisfied with the
decision, may commence a proceeding for
judicial review in the Franklin Circuit
Court.
If undue hardship may result to the
claimant, an immediate payment may be
made, but this shall not exceed $500.
However, most claims will take a least two
months to be processed. Once granted, the
award may be paid in a lump sum or in
periodic payments but no award shall
exceed $15,000.
Career
Night
On Wednesday, October 26, 1977,
the Law School will hold the annual
Career Night presentation for all day
and evening students. Held every
year since 1961, Career Night pro­vides
each student with an op­portunity
to discuss aspects of legal
employment with representatives
from the fields of private and cor­porate
practice, judicial clerkships,
and all levels of government service.
Each representative will be assigned
to a separate room in the law school
where for about an hour any
students interested in the particular
field or opportunity may visit him or
her. All students, are encouraged to
attend.
If the claimant is represented by an
attorney and the attorney so requests, the
Board may, as part of an award, allow a
reasonable attorney's fee for the filing of a
claim and any subsequent proceedings.
Such fee may not exceed 15 per cent of the
amount of the award, and will be paid out
of and not in addition to the award. No
attorney representing a claimant may
contract for or receive as a fee any sum
larger than the 15 per cent limit.
All payments of benefits to a victim
under this statute create a debt due and
owing to the state by the person found to
have committed such criminal acts. The
court or parole board, before placing this
criminal on probation or conditional
discharge, may set as a condition the
payment of. this debt to the state.
Kentucky's Victim Compensation fund
may be partially funded by a federal bill
which was passed by the House on Sep­tember
30, 1977, and now awaits Senate
approvaL
The bill, sponsored by Representative
Peter W. Rodino, D-N.J., could com­pensate
victims up to 25 per cent of the
injury cost. The bill authorizes an average
of $30 million a year in federal monies for
the next three years.
Court of Appeals
To Visit U of L
by Mark Little
On November 15, the Kentucky Court of
Appeals will hold a three day session at the
University of Louisville School of Law in
the Allen Court Room. The sessions will be
open to the students and faculty on all
three days.
According to Dean Wren, the Court of
Appeals is in the process of moving from
F.rankfort to its new home here in
Louisville and ''things are kind of a m
Dean Wren was able to get the Court of
Appeals to sit in the law school "simply by
asking.''
The three judges who will be here on
November 15, 16, and 17 have not yet been
chosen from the group of nine who make
up the Court of Appeals. According to a
court clerk, they probably will not be
selected until about a week prior to the
session. Likewise, the docket will not be
finalized until shortly before the session.
Efforts will be made to secure the docket as
soon as possible and make it available to
the law schooL
1J.lnuisuillt
Louisville Law Examiner
School of Law
University of Louisville
Lo~e,Kentucky 40208
Address Correction Requested