Louisville Law Examiner
Serving The University of Louisville School of Law Community
Volume 6, Number 8 Louisville, Kentucky, April 13, 1980 Circulation 4200
Wren Abruptly Resigns Amidst Decanal Review
by Tom Schulz
For most it was unexpected.
Silence, puzzlement and an odd sense
of excitement competed to define the
moment. Dean Harold G. Wren exited
quickly after announcing his
resignation shortly before 5 p.m.
Monday, April 6 to a somewhat surprised
meeting of the faculty.
The announcement came as the
anomalous denouement to a routine
meeting in which such topics as setting
the opening date for the fall
semester and the amount of credit for
legal aid internships were relegated to
the mundane. Wren's remarks were
short and offered no explanatfon.
Reading quickly from a prepared
"memorandum," Wren said that his
five years as Dean of the University
of Louisville School of' Law were
"the most rewarding and exciting" of
his career. He outlined his accomplishments:
all deficiencies cited
by the American Bar Association Accreditation
Committee have been rectified,
the current building program
will when completed result in one of
the finest law school facilities in the
region, and the overall quality of the
school has shown a marked improvement
over the last five years. "'There
is no question that the law school is in
better shape than it has ever been,"
Wren concluded.
For these accomplishments, Wren
thanked the faculty, staff and
students for their cooperation and efforts
without which none of these
goals could have been achieved. "It's
been my privilege to serve here,"
Wren stated as he indicated that his
resignation would become effective
August 31, 1981, the date his current
five-year contract is set to expire.
In reference to the expiration of the
Dean's contract, a Decanal Review
Committee had been preparing a
recommendation on whether to renew
the contract. Immediately after the
Dean's announcement, Professor
William B. Martin, Chairman of the
Review Committee, apparently with
prior knowledge of the Dean's decision,
announced that the resignation
precludes the committee from making
a report. The committee, formed of
faculty members Martin, Les Abramson,
Albert Quick, Robert Stenger,
David Leibson and William Read,
student Lucy Helm, staff member Pat
Treadway and alumni representative
Larry Franklin, had been meeting
since February 26, 1981. Martin said
the committee "understands and
respects Dean Wren's decision to
resign." Martin concluded his
remarks by saying that Wren would
have the option of stayina on as a
Pltoto by Seoll f•rld•
These 11 students earned the right to compete in most court finals next fall:
L-R, Bob Thieman, Joan Carter, Karen Holt, Cindy Stone, Jessica Ervin,
Gary Padgett, Charlotte Scott, Bob Steinmetz, John Cramer, John Hutchins
and John White. (See related story, page 6, Col. 3).
full-time member of the faculty either
next fall or after a sabbatical.
The room emptied quickly and
relatively quietly. Remarks of surprise
could be overheard; personal
reaction to the news by one faculty
member was likened to the reaction
experienced when President Lyndon
Johnson announced his decision not
to seek a second term. People hurried
to their offices evidently to discuss
the event. The news spread quickly
throughout the law. school community.
Before becoming Dean of the U of
L law school, Wren served four years
as dean of the T.C. Williams School
of Law at the University of Richmond.
He received bachelor of arts
and bachelor of laws degrees from
Columbia University and a doctorate
of law from Yale University's law
school.
He has served as associate professor
of law at the University of
Mississippi and a professor of law at
the University of Oklahoma.
Southern Methodist University and
Boston College Law School. He also
served as dean of the Northwestern
School of Law of Lewis and Clark
College in Portland, Oregon, where
he supervised establishment of that
school's first law school.
Harold G. Wren will conclude five
years service as dean and return to
full-time teaching in the fall.
Speaker Explores Law Oddities
by Tom Schulz
About 30 students and faculty
members gathered in the Allen Courtroom
Thursday, April 2 to hear
"one of the oddities of commercial
law" speak on the oddities of commercial
law.
Alphonse Squillante, Professor at
the University of Cincinnati School
of Law, opened his speech on a
humorous note, "one of the oddities
of commercial law is Alphonse
Squillante." He also acknowledged,
in a good-natured way, the innocent
fun poked at his name by the person
who scrawled "Asti Spumante" on
one of the signs announcing the
presentation which was sponsored by
the Louisville Law Forum.
The premise of the talk was the antiquity
of the concepts which form
the core of modern commercial law,
as well as all other law. Not to mention
the numerous asides and detours
into the more bizarre areas of "legal"
trivia. For instance, take the ancient
lawgivers, all of whom were chosen
by "God" to give laws to man:
Moses, ·Manu, Mene (all twosyllables,
beginning with "M") and
"all having trouble with bulls."
"Is there one guy walking around a
lot?'' Squillante asked rhetorically.
And as testimony to the antiquity of
commercial law, Squillante asked if
anyone "remembers what law God
chose when dealing with the Jews."
Immediately came the retort from someone
in the audience, ''Strict liability."
But, of course, the correct
answer was "the covenant," the contract.
But more specific examples were
soon proferred. Secured transactions,
he asserted, have been with us since
antiquity and he distributed a copy of
an ancient Egyptian "security agreement,"
which would be governed by
Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial
Code (UCC). As he handed out the
mimeographs, Squillante apologized,
"I can't resist being a teacher."
Further evidence of his thesis was
the popular Greek play "Clouds,"
written in 423 B.C. by Aristophines,
subtitled "How to Avoid Debt" or
"Be Not a Deadbeat." Outside of
such enterprising methods to beat out
a creditor as burning the promissory
note and "snatching the moon from
its orb" to prevent the passing of
another month -with its attendant interest
charge, Aristophines suggested
suicide. Death would indeed seem to
be one way to escape debt. But before
you consider it, you might also want
to consider the plight of playwright
Richard Brenley Sheridan. He died in
1816 deep in debt, or as Squillante
characterized him, "he was a
deadbeat." But picture his funeral, a
beloved playwright surrounded by his
faithful. In the midst of the eulogy
(perhaps), in walk his creditors under
the guise of paying their last (least)
respects and slap the corpse with a
summons under a writ of body execution.
Sheridan, already dead about 3
days, was beginning to outstay his
welcome. The mourners, unnerved by
the prospect of a delayed burial,
quickly pooled their resources and
settled with Sheridan's creditors for
50¢ on the dollar.
For these and the other oddities
which Squillante related, he pleaded
innocence, "I don't make these
things up." Because of the antiquity
of the concepts and the religious and
moral backgrounds from which they
(Continued on page 4, Col. 3)
•
...
l Louisville Law Examiner, April13, 1981
Louisville Law Examiner
EDITORIAL BOARD
Elizabeth S. Ward, Editor-in-Chief
Tom Schulz, Managing Editor John B. Wright, Jr., Business Manager
Presenting the 1981-82 Board of Editors:
D. Scott Furkin, Editor-in-Chief
Tom Schulz, Managing Editor
Mike Smither, Associate Editor Mike Milby, Associate Editor
Richard J. Head, Business Manager
STAFF EDITORS
Gall Doph, Projects Editor Mark Ashburn, Photographic Editor
Joram Salig, Articles Editor John Peabody, Night Column Editor
Nick Riggs, Brandeis Brief Editor · Bill Savarino, Sports Editor
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Jeffrey Wade
Linda Thomas
Ruth Ann Cox
Richard Milster Deborah Skaggs
David Strait John Tate
Charlotte Scott Gerald Schray
Judge MARLIN M. VOLZ, Advisor Professor ALBERT T. QUICK, Consultant
The Louisville Law Examiner is published eight times during the academic year in the
interest of the University of Louisville School of Law community. Unsigned editorial opinions
are those representing a majority vote of the editorial board and do not necessarily e~tpress the
views of the School of Law or the University of Louisville.
Articles are invited from faculty members, students, and members of the bar who wish to do
freelance work, but any proposed article must be cleared in advance with the editor as to topic
and length. This is to avoid duplication of coverage and insure that the article will not be
beyond workable length for a newspaper format.
Address all communications to the Louisville Law Examiner, School of Law, University of
Loeisville, Kentucky 40208. Phone 502-581-6391.
Members of the Volume 7 Editorial Board of the Law Examiner are from left
to right: Mike Smither, Tom Schulz, Mike Milby, Scott Furkin and Richard
Head.
The staff of the Louisville Law Examiner
recently elected editors to
oversee the newspaper's seventh year
of publication. The new editors will
lead the staff in publishing eight
issues for distribution to more than
4,200 members of the law school
community during the next academic
year.
The Law Examiner has established
a tradition of responsible reportage
of items of interest to students, faculty
and alumni as well as to diverse
sectors of the local legal community.
The newspaper is entirely studentoperated
and is recognized as a leader
among such publications by law
schools in the Sixth Circuit and
around the county. The editors and
staff members will be striving to
maintain the quality of writing that
readers have come to expect of the
Law Examiner.
Mile
Scott Furkin will be Editor-inChief
and Tom Schulz will continue
to serve as Managing Editor; these
positions include full- and halftuition
scholarships, respectively.
Mike Smither and Mike Milby will be
Associate Editors and Richard Head
will act as Business Manager to complete
the editorial board. The board
will be responsible for technical
aspects of the publication and
ultimately determine the content of
each issue.
Various staff editors will assist with
related tasks: Gail Doph will coordinate
projects and Joram Salig will
present ideas for stories; Nick Riggs
will solicit articles for the Brandeis
Brief series; Mark Ashburn will provide
photographs and advise on
layouts; John Peabody will represent
the night students; and Bill Savarino
will cover sports around the law
Editorial
Dean Harold G. Wren's abrupt
resignation last week amidst a review
of his job performance inevitably invites
speculation. To those familiar
with his uneasy relationship with
some members of the faculty, the
Dean's decision to resign before the
release of preliminary findings in the
decanal review seems less than coincidental.
But one should not jump
too quickly to the conclusion that the
dean resigned in anticipation of a
negative report by the decanal review
committee.
People rarely rearrange their professional
priorities for a single identifiable
reason. It may indeed be true
that the Dean's resignation was prompted,
as he maintains, only by factors
other than the committee's invesgitation,
among them a desire to
return to full-time teaching .
Nevertheless, the circumstances of
the resignation serve to ·underscore
the difficulty (some would say impossibility)
of any law school administrator
sustaining harmonious
relations with an often fickle faculty.
It seems curious at least that the dean
is subject to evaluation every five
years by a faculty-dominated committee
using faculty-developed
criteria while the faculty itself
undergoes no similar review beyond
the point of tenure. That alone places
a heavy burden of responsibility upon
any committee empowered to recommend
to university officials that the
Dean's contract not be renewed;
The power and authority to make
such review comes from Section
3.2.3 of the Redbook, the governing
manual of the University. The size
and structure of the review committee·
is determined by the law faculty in
consultation with the Vice-President
for Academic Affairs. In this case
and ad hoc committee of the faculty
formulated recommendations which
were subsequently approved by the
entire faculty and Herbert Garfinkel,
Vice-President for Academic Affairs.
Members of the decanal review
committee were then elected and
charged by Vice-President Garfinkel
with making recommendations concerning
continuation or changes in
the deanship and administrative
school.
A number of contributing writers
will join the staff in producing the
newspaper.
Those elected have already begun
to function in their new positions.
policies and procedures of the school.
Recommendations were to include
continuation or discontinuation of
the services of the dean and any
reasons therefor.
In the present case, there is nothing
to suggest that the decanal review
committee was anything but
scrupulous in its review of the Dean.
All indications are that the committee
was taking great pains to include in its
report the impressions of students
and staff as well as those of various
alumni groups, past presidents to the
Student and Louisville Bar Associations,
influential local lawyers and
others in the hierarchy of the University.
Yet by one account, roughly twothirds
of the data collected before the
committee's dissolution was from
members of the faculty. More than
one committee member stated that
the Dean was interviewed for six
hours over the course of three days
the week before he resigned. One student
was heard to remark after leaving
an interview with the committee
that the experience resembled a
"witch-hunt." The committee's investigation
was only half finished
when it was mooted by the Dean's
resignation.
"Review" means to inspect or to
examine. The subject of the review is
placed in a spotlight and every aspect
of his performance or nonperformance
is investigated with
minutest precision. A thorough invesgitation
is certainly desirable, for
the School of Law has a right to competent
leadership on a_ continuing _
basis; it has a right to a faculty and an
administration working together for
the overall betterment of the school.
But with these rights comes the
responsibility of conducting any inspection
or examination with utmost
humanity.
The editors and staff of the Law
Examiner only hope that the committee
charged with selecting a new dean
will put as much energy into setting
criteria for the person ultimately required
to fill that spot as the present
decanal review committee put into investigating
Dean Wren. In this way.
perhaps future deans will be spared
unnecessary anxiety and humiliation.
The immediate task facing the
editorial board is the compilation of
entries · for the Sixth Circuit press
awards given annually by the Law
Student Division of the American Bar
Association.
"The mutual confidence on which all else depends can be maintained
only by an open mind and a brave reliance on free discussion.,,
-Learned Hand
Let us know your point of view.
Letters to the editors should be typed and signed. The editors
reserve the right to edit letters for space considerations and for
clarity.
.
Louisville Law Examiner, April 13, 1981
3
NeWilr~lleclled felltl'e!!iellltalliv•~ to Honor from urphy
• T~rry Edwards, Joram Salig, Terry Beckner and Scott Furkin. The Honor
NIGHT and DAY I
Res Ipsa Loquitor (The Thing Speaks for Itself)
by David Strait
The principal difference between
people who go to law school at night
~d those who attend during the day
1s what color sky they see when they
look out of the law library window
succumbing perhaps to a moment'~
respite from the turgidity of it all.
(Tell me not in mournful numbers life
is but a turgid dream.) The seeming
endless fascination with the difference
between day students and
night. ~tudents becomes finally a bit
re~tltious and ultimately almost
pomtless. There are most important
and captivating things to ponder, the
Rule Against Perpetuities being but
thwhile, however one wishes to define
''worthwhileness. '' Unquestionably,
both personally and professionally
(f'!r most) there is much worthwhile
gomg on at the School of Law at the
University of Louisville. Nevertheless,
what might well merit some
consideration, given the limitation of
resources (physical, financial intellectual,
professional, and so ~n), is
how we can work to enhance what we
already have. And we can.
Council enforces the honor code and promotes ethical standards
students at the law school.
among one.
Although no one expects the law
faculty to function in loco parentis, is
the.re no reason to recommend the
assigning of a visible advisor to each
and every student at the inception of
his o~ her studies here? Perhaps this
practice has been initiated since 1977
Obviously, in the early semesters of
law school education, there is little
possibility for romancing with the
course sched~e. However, as time
passes, questions arise, and having
someone designated as at least institutiL?
nally responsive to these questions
might be of service to students and
faculty alike. Students would benefit
from having a chance to receive one
faculty opinion as of right, and faculty
advisors would become apprised of
what, if anything, rumbles and boils
in their charges' heads. Whether or
not such an advising program has
worth could be determined after a
trial period, and if the determination
were negative, the program could be
abandoned as rats abandon an exploding
sewer.
The "Naider's Raider"
in Every Law Student
For over a decade Ralph Nader has
alerted law students of the escape of
the legal profession from responsibili~
Y ~or the quality and quantity of
JUStice. In h1s analysis, law schools
are central to the problem.
groups. E.J .F. is contributorcontrolled.
Members elect and may
run for the Board of Directors.
Members also participate in referenda
used in setting the Foundation's agenda
of reform work.
Law school curricula, according to
Nader, prepare the individual for acquisition
rather than activism. Tax,
corporate, securities, and property
law outweigh health, criminal and
civil rights law. Estate pla~ning
courses are universal; environmental
planni.ng courses, l;lntil recently, did
not ex1st. A professiOnal ethics course
focuses on issues more appropriate to
a trade association than to a profession
with a monopoly power over access
to justice.
In response to the escape of the
l~gal profession from these obligatiOns,
Ralph Nader joined with other
public interest lawyers and with law
students to found a grassroots
lawyers' organization based on the
one percent solution. It is called the
Equal Justice Foundation.
The Equal Justice Foundation is a
membership organization of lawyers
who tithe and law students who
pledge to tithe a small percentage. 1 OJo
or more, of their post-law school income
for a minimum of one year to
p ~ omote access to justice for en VIronmental
and consumer acti vities ,
poor persons, minorities and women ,
and other underrepresented client-
SUMMER
LAW STUDY
in
Guadalajara
London
Oxford
Paris
Russia - Poland
San Diego
For information: Prof. H. Lazerow
U. of San Diego School of Law
Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110
E.J .F. works on issues tht are likely
to have wholesale impact on access to
justice .. Reform of class action procedures
IS one example. By restricting
federal court jurisdiction over class
actions and imposing unaffordable
notice requirements on plaintiffs initiating
23(b )(3) class actions the
Supreme Court has reduced by' over
forty percent the number of class action
suits brought. The highest single
c.ategory of reduced filings, accountmg
for nearly half of the total drop
is civil rights actions. The second
highest category is consumer class actions.
E.J.F. has also worked, during its
first year of existence, on legislation
to. liberalize standing-to-sue reqmrements,
to provide attorneys' fees
for successful litigations that confer
substantial public benefits, and to
~stablish public participation funding
1n ·agency proceedings.
Most recently, the E.J .F . staff has
initiated a major national organizing
effort call~d the National Energy Access
ProJect (NEAP). Citizens '
organizations and individuals around
the country are uniting in NEAP to
fund the presentation of alternative
viewpoints in Nuclear Regulatory
Commission and other energy agenc y
rulemaking proceedings.
. In accordance with the priorities of
1ts members, E.J.F . conducts legal
reform on the local level as well. Each
law student pledger may designate
that fifty per cent of his / her post-law
school tithe will return to the local
chapter to fund locally-initiated access
projects.
. Among the endorsers of the Equal
Justice Foundation are Ramsey Clark
(former United States Attorney
General), Laurence Tribe (Harvard
Law Professor), Chesterfield Smith
(former President of the A.B .A.),
and, of course, Ralph Nader.
Students at over thirty law schools
around ~he. country are organizing
E.J.F. t1thmg Pledge Drives. The
staff of E.J .F. is currently conducting
a national search for E.J.F.
"ADVOCATES" to organize at law
schools. E.J.F. provides to ADyocA
TI~S comprehensive organizIng
ancl 1ssues materials. Interested
students should write or call: The
Equal Justice Foundation, 1333 Connecticut
Ave., N.W. #400,
Washington, D.C. 20036, phone
202/452-1267.
Granted I have on occasion been
tempted to suggest a rattle and a clean
diaper for some - Saints preserve
me! - soot-nosed youngster in the
day school, but then, there have been
again on occasion, instances whe~
similar advice would have been quite
~ propos for me. Judge not lest ye be
Judged - that sort of thing. Let it
suffice to say that in both groups
there are some smarties and some
dummies, some fatties and some skinnies,
some meanies and some nicies
some oldies but goodies, and leave it
at that.
More interesting and more important,,
surely, is the question of the
quality of the experience available to
all students at the Law School of the
University of Louisville. Fundamentally,
a degree of appreciation may be
due the very process that allows us to
be here,. A variety of criteria (one
w'?u~d like to assume) determines admiSSion
to the law school, and this in
turn makes for a diverse and
heterogeneous group which is per se
"~d~cational" f<?r most. Ask any admissions
committee in a contemporary
American law school, and the
membership will no doubt confirm
that many are called, but few chosen.
We have a duty to remember this.
App~ovingly or disapprovingly,
dependmg on one's religion, law
schools have been characterized as
finishing schools for the Establishment.
We all know, of course what a
finishing school is . The E;tablishment
is, however, a more difficult
thing to define. For most it can be
crystallized as the tax coliector, and
that no doubt accounts in part for the
popularity of the income tax courses
particularly Tax II. On a more seriou~
note (what could be more serious
than Tax II?), there is much
favorable that can be said about being
a student in this law school allgood-
things-must-come-to-an:end
being perhaps one of the most
favorable. (We were not put on this
earth to be law students forever· it
just seems that way.) There is a flne
opportunity for a diverse group of
people to pursue legal education with
equally diverse personal motivations
and professional ambitions.
. As in any academic program, there
IS an exposure to new ideas and information.
This alone validates the process
fo~ many. But this particular
academic endeavor entails more.
Those of adequate desire and
capability will become members of
one of the world's oldest professions,
though not the oldest despite some
jaded speculation to the contrary.
Membership in the bar is an earned
privilege that has concomitant
responsibilities. Any lesser view
diminishes the profession and its
practitioners.
Legal education should be personally
and professionally wor-
Should there take place a deepseated
evaluation of the curriculum in
~erms of :-vhat we study, how we study
1t, and With what results? Is it, for example,
reasonable and proper to
teach the Uniform Commercial Code
in a total of nine semester hours a
total which represents more than ien
percent (lOOfo) of the total hours required
for graduation for those who
began their studies in 1977 when the
r.equired number was 84? English
literature has been anthologized and
presented in survey courses of S to 6
semester hours. If it can be done with
Chaucer and Milton, surely it can be
done with the Code, with a recommendation
that Article Nine receive
the most brutal treatment in the
editing . Without belaboring
"curriculum," what can we do to address
the problem articulated (to a
chorus of boos) by the Chief Justice
in a rather famous speech in Houston
a coup.le of years ago? Can our legal
educatiOn be enlarged to include the
crucial areas of research and trial
technique in a more forceful way? If
so, should it be?
Three fairly universal measures of
colleges and universities seem to be
the q~ality of students, the quality of
faculties, and the quality of libraries.
Needless to say, students at the
University of Louisville are the best in
~he West. Just ask them. The faculty,
1f one reads graffiti with credence
gets 1IJxed reviews. The library h~
come a long way, baby, in the last ten
years, but the library has a ways yet
to come. An important part of the
distance will be traveled when the fine
new wing that is now being built is
comp~eted. The Great Day in the
Mormng, however, will not arrive untillibrary
users develop a much more
highly evolved sense of proper library
decorum. I have talked in the library.
I have eaten a candy bar in the
library. I have even surreptitiously
drunk a Mountain Dew in the library.
To all of these charges, your honor, I
plead guilty. But never in my life have
(Continued on page 4, Col. 3)
-
4
Louisville Law Examiner, April13, 1981
Leadership Louisville Visits
School of Law
April 7, 1981, the University of
Louisville School of Law was the site
of the second half of Leadership
Louisville Justice Day. The program
started at 7;45 a.m. at the Louisville
Police Headquarters on Seventh and
Jefferson Street with an introduction
to Leadership Louisville being
presented by Maurice D.S. Johnson,
chai;man.
Leadership Louisville was formed
by the Louisville Area Chamber of
Commerce as a non-profit community
leadership program designed to
further development of the talents
and energies of Louisville's present
and future leaders. Each year a class
of 30 to 35 participants who represent
a broad cross-section of the community
meet on a regular basis to
study the organizations and institutions
which shape Louisville's future.
The individuals selected for the program
are chosen from widely varied
backgrounds and are persons who
have demonstrated leadership ability,
are dedicated to social progress and
have energies to devote to community
involvement.
Another aspect of Leadership
Louisville is that it (1) identifies key
individuals Who have demonstrated
leadership qualities and concern in
Louisville's future, (2) it provides a
systematic educational program to
familiarize these participants with the
community's opportunities, needs,
problems and resources, (3) it
establishes an effective dialogue
among those future leaders which will
become a common background for
present and future communication
and it provides a rapport between the
participants and individuals currently
in leadership positions in the com-munity.
.
Leadership Louisville's annual program
meets once a month from
September through May. The program
begins with a 2-day retreat for
orientation, communication and
background information. The April
7, 1981 . meeting concentrated on
criminal justice and civil justice in
Louisville.
At 8:45 6 small groups toured the
police headquarters after remarks by
Frank E. Haddad Jr., who gave a
roadmap to the justice system. After
a short break/walk to the Jefferson
County Hall of Justice, District
Court Judge Ken G. Cory told a little
of the layout of the Courtroom, the
arraignment process and so forth.
Thereafter, Richard A. Frey, Jr. who
is the executive director of the
Metropolitan Department of Correc-tions,
gave an introduction to the jail
and the group toured the jail. The
afternoon session was spent at the
University of Louisville School of
Law. The key note speaker for the
afternoon was Judge Bert T. Combs,
senior partner in Wyatt, Tarrant &
Combs. He gave a civil law overview.
The Leadership members then spent
the afternoon learning about
Louisvilles' legal education program,
beginning with Frank P . Doheny Kr.,
partner in Woodward, Hobson &
Fulton, who presented a background
of development of common law.
Leadership Louisville then sat in on a
torts class in the Allen Courtroom at
the School of Law; class was taught
by Ronald W. Eades, Associate Professor
of Law.
Thereafter, the leadership group
moved to small meeting rooms, where
two panels composed of one of the
deans, a practicing attorney and a law
student answered questions the group
may ·have had on legal education
followed by panels of practicing attorneys
who discussed exactly what
lawyers do. The members of Leadership
Louisville most inquisitive, asked
many questions on what lawyers
do in particular situations and raised
ethical concerns related to attorneys.
A late afternoon session was held
on the role of the attorney and civic
and corporate affairs followed by a
round tabfe discussion on civil law
held at Mastersons. The Louisville
Leadership Justice Day was wrapped
up by a summary of issues by Jay
Lawrence who is a reporter for the
Courier-Journal city desk.
Leaders from all sectors of
Louisville's community are becoming
increasingly aware of how much urban
organizations and institutions depend
on each other. As modern society
grows more complex each seemingly
independent action takes on new
dimensions as its effects are felt
throughout the whole system. For
maximum effectiveness, therefore,
Louisville's future leaders must be
able to appreciate the scope of problems
involving the organizational
complexities in Louisville, the relationships
between the economic sectors,
the differences in background
and outlook of particular interest
groups, and the most effective means
·to bring about necessary changes.
Simply stated, the future leaders of
Louisville must be able to evaluate
the Louisville community as a whole
or as the system that it is. It is to this
purpose then that Leadership
Louisville has been developed.
Photo by Scott Farldn
Judge Bert T. Combs addressed participants in the Leadership Louisville
Justice Day program, portions of which were hosted by the School of Law.
Plloto by Scott F•rtd•
Alphonse Squillante, noted authority on commercial law, spoke in the Allen
Courtroom. The speech and reception following was sponsored by the
Louisville Law Forum.
Commercial Law Oddities
(continued from page 1)
arose, Squillante asserted that
"commercial law is divinely inspired."
Take as an example the term
"good faith" which is used 60 times
in the 400 sections of the UCC and
appears in 14 sections of Article 2
alone. The term is derived from the
Roman "bona fides" and it describes
an honesty beyond all other human
experience, an utter confidence which
Squillante explained in metaphor.
"It's the knowledge of a little baby
wb.o looks into your eyes as you hold
it and knows that you won't throw it
on the floor. The baby has good faith
in your good faith." Roman lawyers
started their day of litigation with
prayer to "fides publica," the public
trust. The Roman lawyer knew what
his responsibility was.
And all of these concepts appeared
in ancient civilization, two and a half
millienium before England caught
on, or as Squillante put it, at a time
when the English ancestors were still
painting themselves blue. What could
possibly be odder? Ask Alphonse
Squillante; I'm sure he knows.
. Night and Da"' (continued from page t) .. ' J
I mistaken the library (or tbe desk
outside of tbe library) for a cocktail
party or a hog calling contest.
We are fortunate to have a law
faculty at the University of Louisville
that is, for the most part, competent
and willing to be helpful. From time
to time, out of a perceived necessity
no doubt, some one gets hired to
teach law courses that shouldn't get
hired to teach anything, not even dog
grooming. This is inherent in any profession
as many and varied malpractice
suits attest. Both the full-time
and the part-time faculty include
good teachers, but it is most probably
true that being a crack law student is,
in and of itself, insufficient to produce
an effective law teacher since
pedagogical skills are every bit as important
as grade point average.
Finally, because of the nature of
the profession for which we train, we
as law students have an obligation to
indulge in some methodical introspection
concerning how it is that we plan
to proceed once we are trained by the
law school and certified by the Board
of Bar Examiners. If "bread and butter"
is the primary consideration, will
a career practicing law afford it (and
a plate to put it on) in this day of
abundant lawyers and stabilizing demand?
If one's predilection is the
contemplation of the country's
welfare (again, physical, financial, intellectual,
and professional), what
can we as lawyers do to ameliorate
grave problems and to spark real
positivity in ourselves and in others?
In the prospectively precarious and
crucial decade of the 1980's that confronts
us, what can we, the new bar,
as it were, do to enhance not only our
own human prospects, but the human
prospects of all whom we are trained,
licensed, and obligated to serve?
Going Up . . . and up . . and up . . .
Call it inflation. Call it justice. Call
it what you will, but it all adds up to a
heftier tuition bill for law students
next fall.
Associate Dean Steven Smith
reported the proposal of the Council
of Higher Education to hike tuition
rates some 25"1o next fall at a recent
faculty meeting. Smith said the rate is
the highest percentage increase of any
unit in the university system, bringing
the full-year full-time in-state total to
$1,124 as compared to this year's
total of $920 and the previous year's
total of $720.
Smith said the total was arrived at
by averaging the tuition charged by
comparable institutions in the area
and arriving at a benchmark. U of L's
rate was arbitrarily raised to that
mark. Of course, Smith added, the
tuition rate hike will be accompanied
by a pro rata increase in financial aid.
The Council of Higher Education
was to vote on the proposal Wednesday,
April 8 but the vote was taken
too late to be included herein. It is
conceivable that the Council could
vote down the increase, but such is
improbable. Nevertheless, check your
local dean before tendering your tuition
payment next fall.
•
Photo courtesy of Unlnnlty A~hlves
In 1935, architect Jens Frederick Larson designed the law school building above. The cornerstone is located in the wall
to the right of the main entrance door.
Law School Cornerstone Laid During Ceremony
by Deborah Skaggs
University Archives
On the afternoon of June 7, 1928,
prior to that evening's commencement
ceremony, the University of
Louisville held cornerstone laying exercises
for the School of Law building
on Belknap Campus. For ninety-two
years since its founding in 1846, the
law school had occupied various
downtown sites. In 1924, it had moved
to rented space at 312 Armory
Place. nine years later, when the
School of Law received accreditation
from the Association of American
Law Schools, the AALS inspector
warned that "cramped and dingy surroundings"
hampered the scholl's
growth and influence. In a recent oral
history interview, Laurence Lee
Howe, a 1931 law graduate, recalled
that the Armory site was an "ancient
ruin" with basement windows barred
to discourage entrance by "drunks,
prostitutes, hold up men, (and) victims
of hold t:p men." The building's
interior was "covered with dust,"
Howe continued, "it looked like King
Tut's tomb when they broke into it."
In 1935, when the AALS again
cited the school for inadequate
quarters, University administrators
initiated a two-year endeavor to obtain
a loan and grant from the Public
Works Administration to construct a
new law building, but the federal
agency ruled that the university was a
private institution and therefore ineligible
for grant funds. Fortunately,
the university secured financial
assistance from another New Deal
agency, the Works Progress Administration,
in addition to generous
donations from several members of
the local legal community.
At the June 7th cornerstone
ceremony, William Marshall Bullitt,
an 1895 law school graduate and local
attorney, deposited in a copper box,
to be placed in the new building's cornerstone
nine letters from United
States Supreme Court Associate
Justice and University of Louisville
patron Louis Demnitz Brandeis.
An explanatory note from Univer-sity
of Louisville President Raymond
Asa Kent accompanied the Brandeis
letters. He wrote that Mr. Justice
Brandeis, a Louisville native, had
"shown marked personal and professional
interest in our Law School. It is
therefore highly proper that there be
included in this cornerstone some letters
written in his own hand." Kent,
who had been U of L President since
1929, regarded the cornerstone
ceremony as "one of the most significant
events" of his administration.
Several months later, on May 1,
1939, the School of Law moved from
its downtown location to new
quarters on Belknap Campus, which
then housed all divisions of the
university except the medical, dental,
and music schools. In recent years,
inadequate space again jeopardized
the law school's accreditation. The
most recent resolution of this recurring
issue culminated in a 197 4
building addition and the present
construction of an east wing.
5
Audiocassettes Offered
(Philadelphia) - Basic Law of
Pensions and Deferred Compensation
is the subject of a new 24-hour
audiocassette program recently
released by the American Law
Institute-American Bar Association
Committee on Continuing Professional
Education (ALI-ABA). The
program was recorded at a June, 1980
ALI-ABA Course of Study and is
geared toward ·the attorney with
limited experience in this area of the
law. An advanced level ALI-ABA
Course of Study, Pension, ProfitSharing
and Other Deferred Compensation
Plans (V529), recorded March,
1980, is also available.
In Basic Law of Pensions and
Deferred Compensation, Course
Planning Chairmen Berrien C. Eaton
of the Phoenix bar, Sherwin P. Simmons
of the Tampa bar, and· Mervin
M. Wilf of the Philadelphia bar,
together with seven other panelists,
explore relevant tax code and ERISA
provisions, as well as current
developments in litigation. A practical
approach is emphasized. The
speakers outline the steps to follow in
analyzing problems in specific areas
of pension law and work through
many actual problems.
Topics of discussion are qualified
and nonqualified deferred compensation
- basic ERISA and tax law concepts;
basic qualified plans; social
security intergration; distributions,
terminations - PBGC problems;
special situations in H.R. 10 - subchapter
S plans, affiliated groups,
IRAs, union plans, master-prototype
plans, use of insurance, professional
corporations, ESOPS and stock
bonus plans; target benefit plans; administration
and procedures;
operating problems; estate planning;
choice of investments; fiduciary
responsibility; prohibited transactions;
multiple services; ERISA litigation;
other nontax and non-ERISA
problem areas; and drafting of plan
documents.
A three volume, 1255-page Course
of Study book, a paperback folio Tax
Treatment of Plans and Participants
(No. T635), and additional study
materials accompany tbis program.
This program, Order No. V533, is
an 18-<:assette program which may be
purchased for $200 plus $4 for
postage and handling.
For further information, or to
order either of the programs, please
contact ALI-ABA, 4025 Chestnut
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, or
telephone (215) 243-1650.
-..
6
on Professors has an event at the law school. This year's
version was held on Thursday, April 9, in the Allen Courtroom. Before a packed house, the two advocates advanced their
respective views: Professor Quick urged a strict and Professor Eades a liberal interpretation of the First Amendment. Staff
artists Richard Head and Gerald "Bear" Schray provide a humorous look at the professors in the cariactures above.
Unda Thomas, left, President of the Moot Court Board, discussed upcoming
projects with Instructor James Ragan (back to camera) during a lull in the
recent Pirtle-Washer competition. Other members of the Moot Court Board
include Ken Mudd, Vice-President; Bill Parks, Treasurer; Ann Bailey,
Secretary; and Karen Holt, Barry Willett and Rosemary Taft, Representativeat-
Large.
Field of Moot Court
Competitors Narrowed
The Moot Court Board 'reports that
eleven students have qualified to
compete in the finals of the PirtleWasher
Appellate Advocacy
competition scheduled for next fall .
These students were preliminary
winners in competions held Friday,
March 27 at the law school's Allen
Courtroom and Saturday, March 28
at the Jefferson County Hall of
Justice: Bob Thieman, Joan Carter,
Karen Holt, Cindy Stone, Jessica
Ervin, Gary Padgett, Charlotte Scott,
Bob Steinmetz, John Cramer, John
Hutchins and John White.
Participants in the contest
voluntarily reargued problems they
prepared for mandatory oral
presentations earlier in March. In
contrast to the mandatory rounds,
however, students had to prepare
both the petitioner's and
respondent's sides of their cases in the
competitive rounds. .
Instructor James Ragan, who has
been advisor to the Moot Court
Board since 1977, congratulated all
participants for their performances.
Mr . Ragan noted that the
competition is an excellent
opportunity for students with a fear
of public speaking to overcome their
fears in a clinical setting; he also
observed that the competition
provides valuable practice for
national moot court competitions.
The Moot Court Board is currently
selecting a problem for the night
school mandatory rounds in the Fall.
Problem consultants have been
selected and the problem will go out
about two weeks after Spring finals ,
according to Linda Thomas, Moot
Court Board president. Night school
students can compete in the PirtleW
asher final rounds in the Fall
following their competition in initial
rounds.
The Moot Court Board would like
to thank the Louisville area judges,
practicing attorneys and law students
who served as judges for the March
28 semi-final rounds of the PirtleWasher
Competition: for Fanning v.
Fanning, D. Durham, R. Breen and
E. Caposella: for In Re Dellwood. J.
Morreau, R. Smith, C. King, H. Jarrett
and N. Riggs; for Templeton v.
State, B. Hackett, K. George, S. Burnham,
J. Eckert, M. Welch and B.
Reynolds: for Allen Post v. Silverman,
P. Grossman, J. Fowler, M.
Rhea, S. Barnett, C. Seaman and M.
Stanziano: for Gonzales v. I.N.S., J.
Ragan, J. Riel, T. Beckner, K.
Sublett, R. Breen and T. Logar; for
Crosby v. Podunc School Board, F.
Goodwyn, T. Johnson, F. Burnett,
T. McDonald, T. Lively and S.
Hauck.
Louisville Law Examiner, Aprill3, 1981 7
Women'S Law Caucus Represented r-~--~------------------------------~
at National Conference News-In-Brief
By Charlotte Scott
On April 3-5, 1981 the 12th National
Conference on Women and the
Law was held at the Boston Park
Plaza, Boston, Massachusetts. Gail
Kaukus, Robyn Meadows, Carol
Schafer and Charlotte Scott attended
this conference representing the
women of the University of Louisville
School of Law.
The 1981 Conference was organized
by a coalition of Boston lawyers,
law students and legal workers who
are committed to the preservation
and advancement of women's legal
rights and the application of feminist
principles to their work within the
legal profession.
and women of color.
The keynote address on Friday
morning and all-conference panel
presentations on Saturday afternoon
provided opportunity to consider the
growing impact of right-wing politics.
According to the panelists, the results
of the 1980 election and recent -
Supreme Court trends underscore the
fact that right wing forces in
American politics can no longer be ignored.
Legal advances by women are
vulnerable to attack by "progressive"
civil libertartians as well as conservatives.
Several student organizations
recently elected officers for 1981-82:
PHI ALPHA DELTA- Ken Mudd,
Justice; Vicki Dohrman, 1st ViceJustice;
Lucy Helm, 2nd Vice-Justice;
Mindy Darnell, Clerk; David Mussetter,
. Treasurer; Debra Harris,
Reporter; and Tim Scott, Marshall.
DELTA THETA PHI - Mike
Smither, Dean; Ann Bailey, ViceDean;
Tawana Edewards, Clerk of
the Rolls; Jerry Bowles, Clerk of the
Exchequer; Adrienne Berry, Tribune;
Malcolm Abel, Bailiff; and Brad
Carey, Clerk of the Ritual.
SIGMA DELTA KAPPA- David
Williams, President; Marianne
Halicks, Vice-President; Scott.
Seligman, Secretary; and Greg
Mayes, Treasurer.
LOUISVILLE LAW FORUM -
Pam Clay, President; Don Battcher,
Vice-President; Jim Cochran,
Secretary; and Linda Thomas,
Treasurer.
WOMEN'S LAW CAUCUS -
Kathleen Murphy, President;
Charlotte Scott, Vice-President;
Rosemary Taft, Secretary; and
Robyn Meadow, Treasurer.
The law school community has experienced
a rash of births in the last
few weeks. Among the new arrivals:
Adam McMurray Tate, son of
John Tate and Phyllis McMurray,
born March 18, 1981;
Meredith Lee Bizer, daughter of
Jerry and Maxine Bizer, born March
20, 1981;
Matthew Cory Williams, son of
Jerry and Helene Williams, born
March 21, 1981;
Brandon Robert Wimberg, son of
Bobby and Becky Wimberg, born
March 29, 1981; and
Kenneth Craig Siegwald, son of
Ken and Rita Siegwald, born March
30, 1981.
••••••••••••
Tawana Edwards is the new Director
of the Student Legal Research
Group. Ms. Edwards fills the vacancy
left by Toni Logar, who plans to
transfer to another law school at the
end of the semester.
The National Conference on
Women and the Law provided
speakers and workshop leaders who
were successful women working as
law professors, sociologists, trial
lawyers, corporate law firm partners,
social organizees, authors, communications
experts and law
students. Through special interest
luncheons, caucuses, and a feminist
network employment board, the Conference
served to unify all women
working for social and legal change in
the "white, male-dominated" legal
arena by cutting through traditional
race, class and sexual preference barriers.
The right-wing politics, however,
are seen as dangerously wellorganized
and funded and derive
their appeal from positions which
directly attack the interested of
women, people of color, poor people
and lesbians. A major fear expressed
at the Conference was that to the extent
that feminists, third world communities
and poor people remain
divided, the right is guaranteed even
greater power in the future.
Moreover, the silence of individuals
who do not affiliate themselves overtly
with right-wing politics, but who
oppose women's and third world
libertation struggles appear to be contributing
to the growing influence of
the organized right which ironically,
may be reflected and advanced by the
legal system.
New Audiocassettes Available
Conference participants could attend
9 of the 170 workshops in some
of the following areas: ageism, constitutional
law, economic independence,
education, ERA, family
law, health, housing, international
law, labor/ employment law and
patriarchy, lesbian law, options for
women in legal professions, physically
challenged women, poor women,
skills seminars and panels for legal
practitioners, technology and the environment,
violence against women,
women in the criminal justice system,
The keynote and panel presentations
directed conference participants'
attention to the national
and global power of the right and to
its general strategies for creating an
organized and broad-based feminist
front which can fight back effectively.
The 13th National Conference on
Women and the law will be held in
early April, 1982 in Detroit,
Michigan. Conference applications
and information will be available
from the Women's Law Caucus.
(Philadelphia) - Two new
audiocassette programs in the field of
civil litigation have just been made
available to lawyers by the American
Law Institute-American Bar Association
Committee on Continuing Professional
Education (ALI-ABA).
Both Civil Practice and Litigation in
Federal and State Courts (V532) were
recorded at a June, 1980 ALI-ABA
Course of Study on civil litigation.
Together, the two cassette programs
present a complete Course of Study
on trial practice. Both programs
feature Planning Chairman Sol
Schreiber, former Magistrate, U.S.
District Court, New York, and a
distinguished faculty consisting on
experienced judges from the federal
district courts.
Civil Practice and Litigation in
Federal and State Courts covers the
present state of civil practice and
litigation and also addresses trends
BALL ON THE BELLE
Semi-Formal
Thursday, May 7, 1981
$15.00 per Couple
Loading Time 8 p.m.
Return 12 midnight
Alumni Welcome Professional Dance Band
and recent proposals that will affect
this area of the law in the future.
Designed for the practitioner who has
limited experience in civil litigation,
this recording examines jurisdictional
trends; changing concepts ·in
attorney-client privilege and the
workproduct rule; attorney and
judicial disqualification disputes; the
latest proposed amendments to the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure;
litigation under the Freedom of Information
Act; private civil actions
and concurrent or subsequent
regulatory or criminal proceedings;
class and derivative controversies;
temporary restraining orders and
preliminary injunctions; legal
malpractice litigation; liability of corporate
officers, directors, and accountants;
civil rights litigation, and
products liabiility litigation.
Civil Practice and Litigation in
Federal and State Courts, (Order No.
V531), is an 18-cassette program providing
approximately 27 hours' instruction
and may be purchased for
$185 plus $4 for postage and handling.
A two-volume, 741-page Course
of Study book is included with the
purchase of this program.
Trial Evidence in Federal and State
Courts (V532) explores the major
evidentiary aspects of civil litigation.
Lectures and panels provide insight
and guidance to important trends and
developing problem areas. The
Federal Rules of Evidence; relevancy
and its limits; opinion and expert
testimony; and problems of authentication;
best evidence, and business
and public records and reports are
among the subjects covered. This
program (Order No. V532) consists
of 7 cassettes providing approximately
10 hours' instruction and may be
purchased for $85 plus $3 for postage
and handling. Federal Rules of
Evidence Manual (Saltzberg and Redden,
2d ed. 1977, 874 pp.), Federal
Rules of Evidence Cumulative Supplement
(2d. ed., 1980, 347 pp.), and
study materials (40 pp.) complete this
cassette package.
For further information, or to
order either of these programs, please
contact ALI-ABA, 4025 Chestnut
Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, or
telephone (215) 243-1650.
8 Louisville Law Examiner, April 13, 1981
~--------------------------------~----. ~~~~---------------------------------,
Journal
of
Family Law
Appearing in Vol. 19, Number 2
ARTICLE
Joint Custody: Recent Research
and Overloaded Courtrooms Inspire
New Solutions to Custody Disputes .. ..
Diane Trombetta
LEGAL ESSAYS
The Power of the Attorney
in Divor-ce . .. . . .... . . . .......... . . .. .
Emily Hancock
Nonmarital Relationships and their
Impact on the Institution of
Marriage and the Traditional Family
Structure ..... . ....... . . . ...... . .. . . .
Charles F. Crutchfield
NOTES
Malpractice Comes to Divorce Court:
Smith v. Lewis and Current
Standards of Care .. . . ...... . ... . .... .
The Federal Youth Corrections Act:
Flaws in Equal Protection Analysis . . .. .
Copjugal Visitation in
American Prisons Today . .. . . . . . . . .. .. .
BOOK REVIEW
Behind Closed Doors: Violence in
the American ·Family . . . . .. .. .. .. .. . .. .
April14
April15-17
April 18-May 1
April 24-25
May 7
May 8
May 10
May 12
May 22
June 25-26
July 2
July 6-10
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Last Day of Classes, Spring Semester
Reading Days
Final Exams, Spring Semester
CLE Construction Claim Seminar; College of Law
Courtroom, UK
Ball on the Belle of Louisville, 8 p.m. -midnight
CLE Ethics of Law Management Seminar; College
of Law Courtroom, UK
Commencement Exercises on The Oval, U of L
Belknap Campus
Summer School Begins
CLE Tax Disputes Seminar; Founder's Union
Bldg., U of L Shelby Campus
CLE Trial Demonstrations Seminar; Founder's
Union Bldg., U of L Shelby Campus
Last Day of Classes, Summer Session
Final Exams, Summer Session
Louisville Law Examiner
School of Law
University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky 40208
John M. Harlan Louis D. Brandeis
Louisville ,,
Law Examiner
Volume 6
Number 8
April 13, 1981
Dean Wren
Resigns ....... page 1
Leadership
Louisville ...• page 4
Moot Court Finalists
Selected ..••.. page 6
The advent of spring
provides an excuse
for many law students
to take a break from
books and enjoy the
outdoors. At right,
Sam Fritschner pauses
on his bike to chat
with Phyllis Florman
and Lee Cory on the
Oval.
