Leibowitz Rounds Out Law School Workshop

An experiment in legal education came to an end yesterday, as the Law Forum concluded its two-day "School for Young Lawyers."

Lectures by Edmund Morgan, Royall Professor of Law, and Judge Samuel Leibowitz, of the New York King's County Court, were featured on the School's program, which also included seminars directed by 30 lawyers from 20 eastern law offices and business firms.

Professor Morgan opened the session Wednesday afternoon in New Lecture Hall with a discussion of "Legal Ethics."

He called the ethical problem one of the most difficult for the lawyer, and cited several cases where the ethical problem was puzzling.

Judge Leibowitz pictured the lawyer as a "salesman" and the jury as his "12 customers" in his description of courtroom tactics last night in New Lecture Hall.

Criminal law provides the opportunity for the cleanest form of legal practice, Leibowitz said. He advised against objectionable courtroom practices, warning that they would turn the jury against one.

Advice

At the same time, Leibowitz offered suggestions as to tactics which the lawyer could employ on behalf of his client.

He said that individual personalities should be the primary consideration in selecting juries, but offered as a rule of thumb that old women and young men were likely to be more lenient than young women and old men, and hence should be preferred by the defense lawyer in picking a jury.

A happy, fat man is also better for a defense lawyer than a skinny, sour man "with vinegar in his veins," according to Leibowitz.

Magruder on Leibowitz

Leibowitz' advice on tactics so impressed Calvert Magruder, chief judge of the U.S. Circuit, Court of Appeals for the first circuit, who was presiding at the meeting, that he said, "If I were ever on trial for murder or rape, I would try to get Leibowitz as my attorney."

Leibowitz replied, "You will note that the Judge included rape."