SCHOOL OF LAW / TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
VOL.
III,
NUMBER
2
FEBRUARY
1972
State Moot Court Competition
Tecll Team Places Second
by RICK GRAHAM
Dictum Staff
Tying in oral arguments but placing
second behind The University of Texas,
Texas Tech University's Moot Court
team made the best showing in the young
school's history in regional competition
held in Houston in November, and became Tech's first team to advance to the
final rounds of the National Moot Court
Competition. And despite a narrow loss
to the University of Tennessee in the
nationals, held in New York City in midDecember, Don E. Williams, Grover
Hartt III, and Mike South had established themselves as one of the leading
moot court teams in the nation.
Selected through competition among
second and third-year students, the team
was Tech's fourth to enter the annual
regional competition. At the Houston
meet it won more rounds of argument
than any other team, including an impressive victory over defending champion University of Oklahoma, which finished third in national competition last
year.
Teams competing at the regional meet
in addition to Texas Tech were law
schools from the University of Texas,
University of Oklahoma, Tulsa University, University of Houston, Texas Southern University, Baylor University, Southern Methodist University, and from
South Texas College of Law.
Paralleling the recent My Lai cases,
this year's hvoothetical concerned an appeal before the United States Supreme
Court from a conviction of an army
First Lieutenant for the murder of 22 civilians in South Viet Nam. At the national level, Supreme Court Justice Byron
R. White presided over the proceedings.
First and second-place teams from 13
regions are selected to compete in the
national meet held in the House of the
Association of the Bar of the City of New
York. Although Texas Tech tied in oral
argument at Houston, the University of
Texas scored higher on the written brief
to take first place.
Team coaches Associate Dean C. Tom
Reese and Professor Robert L. Jay said
that team members were selected to represent the school by a panel of Moot
Court Board members, law faculty and
Lubbock attorneys.
APPElLATE ADVOCATES-The Texas Tech University School of Law Moot Court Team took second place in regional competition in New York City in December. Appearing before Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White to present final arguments in
national competition, the Texas Tech team distinguished itself by being the first to achieve national prominence since Texas
Tech began entering the competition four short years ago. Members of the team, from left, are Grover Hartt III, of Dallas,
Don E. Williams of Lubbock, and Mike South of Lovington, New Mexico.
Circulation Increases
Besides being distributed within
the law school and to many active
members of the bar all across Texas,
DICTUM is now being mailed to
selected national law student publications, law book publishers and on
an exchange basis with every law
school newspaper in the United States.
On a trial basis, the complimentary
mai ling list recently expanded to include all Lubbock practicing attorneys
as well as each alumnus of Texas Tech
University School of Law. The list
will be updated each year and to
defray the cost of printing and
mailing, contributions will be solicited.
Graduates are also encouraged to
correspond and submit items of interest.
D.C. National Column Cites
Lead Article In Law Review
Eight months of steady labor will be
cl imaxed early this semester with distribution of a "bigger and better" edition of
the Texas Tech Law Review.
A total of 22 articles will appear in the
fall edition of the Law Review, which is
expected to arrive' back from the Atlanta,
Georgia, printer in February. The 34member Law Review staff has been
working on the current book since early
June.
Headlining the edition will be lead
articles by Lubbock attorney Daniel H.
Benson on the military court system; by
Professor Maurice B. Kirk on legal drafting; and by Professor Murl A. Larkin on
a proposed statute dealing with criminal
confessions in Texas.
Benson's article, although not yet in
print, has already drawn nationwide attention due to a syndicated column which
appeared in scores of daily newspapers
across the nation. The article, which is
critical of the U.S. Court of Military Appeals, was the subject of Jack Anderson\
"Washington Merry -go-Round" column
on October II, 1971.
Also in the edition will be legal comments by student writers Paul L. Smith,
Mike Riddle, Suzan Riddle, and Cody
Wales, and by recent graduate Bruce
Magness.
Authors of case notes to appear in the
fall book are Karl Clifford, Ralph Edwards, Annette Marple, Dan Peck, John
Sears, Elgin E. Conner Jr., Charles Hurd,
Jim K. Boyd, Chris Inabnett, Lowell Lasley, Don Collier, Steve Anderton, Arliss
Champlin, and Tom F . Duren.
Coordinating the editorial staff during the fall semester were N ewal Squyres,
editor-in-chief; Bob Baker, managing
editor; James B. Shackelford, citation
editor; Ty Sparks, lead articles editor;
Phil Wy lie, topics editor; and Benny J .
Lowe, business manager.
Elected recently to succeed Sparks and
Lowe, both of whom graduated in December, were Kent Sims, business manager, and Wylie, leading articles editor.
Hollis Webb was named to succeed Wylie in the topics editor post.
u.
T. Lawyer Encourages
Student Attorney Offices
By JAMES G. BOYLE
Guest Feature
EDITOR'S NOTE:
Attorney James G. Boyle at age
25, employed nine briefing clerks
and represented over 40,000 clients
during his second year of practice.
Hired two summers ago by the University of Texas Student Association
on the Austin campus, Jim became
the nation's first full-time attorney
for students. He is the forerunner of
a unique new breed of advocatesthe professional "hired guns" be ing
retained all across the country, to
protect students' interests. Following
December approval by the Board of
Regents of a student attorney's office
for Texas Tech, we asked Jim to tell
us something of the experience of
his office. Boyle, a University of
Texas Law School graduate licensed
to practice in both Louisana and
Texas, was a Reginald Heber Smith
Fellow during student days, and fo llowing graduation spent a year in a
poverty law project in Alexandria,
Louisana .
With the approval of the University of
Texas Board of Regents, I was hired as
Students' Attorney by the student government of the University of Texas at Austin. This office is funded with monies
collected through the student activity
fee. The Regents placed several restrictions on my role as a lawyer advocate.
The restrictions prohibit me from representing a student in any criminal matter
or in any proceeding where the University would be an adversary. I thought at
first that these restrictions might cripple
the effectiveness of this office as far as
maintaining credibility with students,
but this has not been the case.
Interests of Students Generally
My job is quite different than the role
would be p laying in traditional private
practice, as I represent a class or an
association of individuals. I am a lawyer
for the University of Texas student community. The mandate presented me by
student government is to give legal counsel to individuals or groups of students
when the problem is one which affects
the "interests of students generally." Unlike the private practitioner who waits
for clients to come knocking on his door,
I already know who my clients are.
However, my clients are often nameless to me when I engage in action on
their behalf. For example, when I know
of companies that are marketing special
"student offers", I scrutinize their selling
techniques very carefully. If their marketing practices appear deceitful, after
checking with state and local officials,
I might issue a press release advising
students of the pitfalls of entering into
contracts with such companies. Recently
several statements from this office were
issued on the effect of Phase I of the
Wage -Price Freeze on lease agreements
entered into prior to August 15, 1971.
Not long ago I issued a statement
advising students of the dangers inherent
in the marketing of certain life insurance
policies aimed at college students. In the
last two years over 10,000 copies of
Tenants Rights and Responsibilities: A
Guide for Students have been distributed
on campus. The booklet was originally
published by the Fair Housing Commission, the predecessor of this office.
Community Lawyer Approach
I am very much in favor of the community lawyer approach in terms of
arriving at the best method of representing the interests of students generally .
The private practitioner who is put on
retainer by a student government is at a
significant disadvantage when compared
with the community lawyer. As a case in
point, it is unlikely that retained counsel
will develop the expertise in residential
landlord-tenant law and in the law relating to consumer protection, since in
all probability none of his other feegenerating clients will give him cause to
develop such specialities. For the most
part, the reason there is so little litigation
(Continued on Page 2)
PAGE TWO
DICTUM-FEBRUARY 1972
Student Attorney - -
By FRANK SULLIVAN
Dictum Staff
Law students Robert W. Baker, Benny Lowe, Newal Squyres, and Jeffrey Wentworth were selected along with 38 other Texas Tech students for listing in the 1971
Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. Selection is made
on the basis of academic standing, service to the community, leadership in extra-curricular activities and future potential. The publication includes the names of outstanding
students in more than 1,000 four-year undergraduate and graduate institutions. It was
Wentworth's second year to win the honor.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Thirty-One Tech Law Graduates were among 555 persons who passed the June
bar exam. Swearing-in ceremonies were conducted September 20 by members of the
Texas Supreme Court in Austin. Tech graduates licensed included Elmer Norman
Arnett, Mary Reed Bobbit, James Craig Brummett, Bob D. Burnett, David Robert
Casey, Dale Pat Campbell, Buford A. Cates, Jr., Natalyn Collins, Danny Val Dent, Ben
Thomas Edwards, Jess Homer Hall, Jr., Claude William Harland, Alan Oldham Johnson, Jerome Martin Kolander, Jr., Phillip Norman Lam, Charles E. Lance, W. Reed
Lockhoff, William Bruce Magness, Marvin Ferrell Marshall, Dan Richard McNery,
Michael Ross Miller, Alfred Duane Neill, Ernest Reginold Reeves III, Macon Dee
Strother, Hedrick Randolph Thomas, Thomas Earl Tollett, Don A. Tucker, William Z.
Weems, Jr., Jerry L. Williams, William Thomas Womble, and Jeffrey Wentworth.
Aryeh Neier, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, was a
guest speaker at the law school on December 7. A lively question and answer session
followed his short address.
*
Seven law students attended the twelve-state Regional Conference on Women in
Law at the University of New Mexico Law School early in the semester. The representative were Elaine Boze, and Andrea Buzzard, second-year students, and first-year students Peggy Butler, Linda Grounds, Judith Larson, Barbara Runge and Susan Walker.
Topics included in the three-day conference were Job Placement, Sex Discrimination in
the Legal Profession, Women in Prisons, Special Problems in Law School, and others.
In addition, a symposium was conducted by Leo Kanowitz, author of Women and the
Law-The Unfinished Revolution, on "Special Problems Encountered Through Involvement in Minority-Related Areas".
*
*
*
*
*
*
The law school's Alvin R. Allison Courtroom was the scene of the, Lubbock Legal
Secretaries' Legal Education Seminar on October 16. Topics covered included The ParaProfessional or Lay Assistant, Family Planning, Legal Incapacity, and Juvenile Law.
Local Lubbock attorneys Johnny Phillips, Ken Hobbs, and Travis Shelton, along with
District Judge William Shaver, were speakers for the seminar.
*
*
*
In what is becoming a traditional visit, the Court of Civil Appeals for the Seventh
Supreme Judicial District of Texas heard oral arguments in the Allison Courtroom
during its November session.
New members of the Victor H. Lindsey Senate, Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity,
initiated during the fall semester are: Hank Anderson, Gary Barnard, Richard Carter,
Joe Crawford, Don Collier, Tom Duren, Thad Floyd, John Gilmartin, Gene Hallock,
Chuck Hawthorne, Steve Hines, Charles Hurd, Nathan Hoffman, Chris Inabnett, Art
Lara, Craig Leslie, Jim Lewis, Griff Lord, Max Moudy, Gregg Owens, Joe Perkins,
and Karl Prohl. Newly-elected Delt officers are: Lee Griffin, Dean; Charles Snuggs,
Vice-Dean; Johnny Atkinson, Tribune; Frank Sullivan, Master of the Ritual; Norman
Lubke, Treasurer; Richard Mock, Clerk of the Rolls; and Joe Thigpen, Bailiff. The Delts
are planning their usual extensive rush activities and round of spring parties.
*
*
*
TECH LAW WIVES started out the New Year with a Grand Inebriation and
Dance January 22 at Vann's Catering, sponsored in conjunction with the Student Bar
Association. Music was provided by Don Caldwell Plus One and refreshments were
compliments of B. Yob. The Law group held a pot Luck supper and bingo party February 18, at the Pioneer Natural Gas Flame Room. Winner of the Law Wives tuition drawing
was Mike Smith, of the second-year class.
*
*
*
*
*
DELTA THETA PHI LAW FRATERNITY, at its 37th Biennial Convention
held last summer in Miami Beach Florida, settled a long-standing dispute by voting to
give individual chapters the right to accept women as members. The Lindsey Senate at
Texas Tech has adopted the proposal. At the same convention, third-year student John
Mann won an award for his address concerning the activities of Tech's Lindsey Senate.
*
(Continued on Page 4)
-,II
jill
,////
i·
/
(Continued from Page 1)
reported in Texas concerning Truth-inLending, the Texas Consumer Credit
Code and challenges to Texas' forcible
entry and detainer statutes, is credited to
the fact that it is not economically feasible for private attorneys, or non-group
legal services attorneys, to represent
such clients. For retained counsel, there
is also the possibility of a conflict of
interest with other clients.
Unique Problems of College Community
There are several problems which are
unique to the community lawyer whose
community consists of college students.
Every four years there is an almost complete turnover in membership of the
student community. Such a transient
population means that it is possible for
a landlord or merchant to gain a deceitful reputation by a large segment of the
student community one year, and be in
a position to take advantage of a whole
new group of students who have never
heard of him the next year. This situation
gives added weight to the need for a community lawyer who is constantly on
guard from year to year against the practices of unscrupulous businessmen.
Another consideration to be aware of,
resulting from the continuous change in
membership of the student population,
is the necessity to pursue lawsuits to a
relatively speedy conclusion. My experience has been to try to get to trial on the
merits within one year of the date of
filing, or risk the loss of needed witnesses,
and in some instances clients, through
graduation or withdrawal from the university.
Even though university administrators
give lip service to the proposition that
in loco parentis on college campuses is
dead, this is not so. There are administrators who still believe it is their duty
to intercede on behalf of the student
when he has a scrape with the law, especially when the student is accused of
petty theft or passing a worthless check.
As a by-product of the "radical" student movement, a large segment of the
public views students as spoiled, dirty,
drug-crazed, sexually-maladjusted hippies. For the local Texas politicians when
the era of "red-baiting" was over, open
season on students was declared. In the
last session of the Texas Legislature some
30 bills were introduced to control the
activities of students on campus. One bill
went so far as to prohibit loitering on
campus.
Students Admonished
Throughout the nation, students have
been admonished to work within the
"system". When students attempted to
work within such boundaries during
Austin's last City Council election, a
front-page editorial in the Austin Statesmen encouraged voters to turn out to
prevent a "student take-over" of the city.
Shortly after Austin's City Council election, the Texas Legislature reacted by
passing a bill requiring single 18-21
year-olds to vote in the home precinct of
their parents. Fortunately that provision
has been declared unconstitutional by a
federal district court.
Despite the antagonism toward giving
students more effective voice in state and
local affairs, the Office of the Students'
Attorney has grown. The budget for the
office for 1970-71 was $20,000.00. The
budget for this fiscal year is some $31,000.00, with additional funds available
for eight law students participating in the
Federal Work-Study Program. The proposed budget for 1972-73 is $56,000.00.
Presently, some 21 law students are
working in the Student Attorney's Of-
////,/
/
"
DICTUM is published periodically by
the Texas Tech School of Law in cooperation with the school's Student Bar Association. Views expressed by the editor, staff or
guest columnists do not necessarily reHect
the opinion of either the university or law
school administration or the Student Bar
Association. Composition for this publication is by Tech Press, Texas Tech University. University photos courtesy of Texas
Tech Information Office. The DICTUM will
not solicit advertising but will accept such if
it reasonably relates to the law school and
the legal profession. All tendered advertising
must be camera-ready.
Editor-in-Chief .
Nathan Hoffman
Sports Editor .
Lee Griffin
Photographers
Steve Guerra, Morgan
Jones, Pete Andres
Staff .
R. B. Pool, Dennis
Burrows, Larry Glazner, Rick Graham,
John Noble, John Economidy, Don
Wills, Mike DeGeurin, Frank Sullivan,
and Steve Scott.
Faculty Advisor .
W. Reed Quilliam
fice; ten are primarily assigned to landlord-tenant problems, seven to consumer
protection, two to employee rights and
two to school law. Within each of the
four broad areas there is a further breakdown. For example, consumer protection
is categorized into the following: door-todoor sales, life insurance, and automobile repairs. In each area we are developing a litigation manual complete with
demand letters, petitions, answers, requests for admissions, interrogatories
and motions to produce, along with all
memoranda we have prepared dealing
with applicable substantive law.
Initial Opposition Outlined
I bel ieve that some of the initial opposition to the students' attorney concept
at Texas resulted from the feeling that
vexatious lawsuits were going to be
filed against "friends of the university".
That has not been the case. This office
has always maintained the philosophy
that it is a lawyer's primary obligation to
do all possible toward settling disputes
out of court. Consistent with this selfimposed obligation, this office has
filed only 45 lawsuits in over two years.
This is a small number when compared
with the nearly 2,000 students who have
come to this office seeking legal advice.
In another 30 cases I have defended
students who were sued before coming to
me for counsel.
The purpose of this office has been to
discourage self-help and street rhetoric
in favor of providing students with an
effective means of articulating their
grievances and settling disputes with
institutions that in the past have given
students short shrift. It is toward this
purpose that I am hopeful that other universities will initiate similar programs.
CASELOAD FOR
OFFICE OF STUDENTS' ATTORNEY
June, 1970 to December, 1971
Type of Case
Total Cases
Handled
LandlordfTenant
584
Consumer Protection
620
Employee Rights
88
*Criminal
147
* Auto Accidents
216
*Domestic Relations
71
*University Problems
147
*Traffic Tickets
106
Taxation
22
Insurance
32
Miscellaneous
96
2,129
TOTAL
(* Advice Only)
Dictum Lists
Law Officers
Because Dictum's publication schedule
does not generally coincide with the
elections for filling Student Bar Association and class offices, persons undertaking the responsibilites of those offices
sometimes fail to receive proper recognition in these pages. Lest we be derelict
in this regard, we wish to acknowledge
the work of these persons on behalf of the
Law School in general and the student
body in particular.
Serving as SBA officers for the current
year are: Richard Crews, President; Ed
Kliewer, Vice-President; Mac Smith,
Secretary; Tom Schueller, Treasurer;
Gerald Smith, ABA/LSD Representative;
Judicial Council members Mike DeGeurin (Chief Justice), Kip Boyd and
Hank Anderson (Associate Justices); and
members of the Board of Governors
Paul Smith, Frank Sullivan, Pat Bond
and John Westhoff.
Class officers, elected in the fall, include the following students, serving as
President and Vice President, respectively, of their classes: Benny Lowe and
John Skogland (3Ls); Chuck Hawthorne
and Johnny Actkinson (2Ls); Kenneth
Senn and Jeff Payne (1 Ls). Class representatives to the Student-Faculty Liaison
Committee include Danny Taber and
Richard Palmer (3Ls), John Noble and
Hardy Burke (2Ls), and Judith Larsen
and Tom Ladd (lLs).
Student Senator Hac Brummett represents the Law School on the Student
Council. Members of the SBA election
committee are Gerald Smith, Stan McWilliams, Steve Scott, Don Windle, Morgan Jones, Drew Simpson, Jim Wright
and Tom Schueller.
PAGE THREE
DICTUM-FEBRUARY 1972
I{irii. Role Prominent In
Law School Development
FOUNDING FACULTY MEMBER-Arriving in the summer of 1967, Professor
Maurice B. Kirk was one of the six men comprising the original faculty who took
refuge in the old "barracks" on the main campus which housed the temporary
law school. Widely known as one of the more scholarly professors, Kirk has been
an instrumental and moving force which has led Texas Tech University School of
Law toward eminence as a legal institution.
14 Law Student Interns
Aid Indigents In Lubbock
By MIKE DeGEURIN
Dictum Staff
A growing number of citizens are sincerely frustrated with inadequacies of
"the system"-the alleged failure of the
legal, social, and economic systems to
fulfill their expectations of equal justice
and opportunity. We are today witnessing
a manifestation of this frustration in the
form of violence and civil disorder in
preference to orderly processes of change.
Legal institutions, no matter how responsive to essential problems of society,
may nevertheless be irrelevant to the solution of those problems if the legal services making the law operative are not
readily obtainable by those who might
benefit by them.
The Legal Aid Society of Lubbock is
an attempt to make the legal system function by making legal services available
to those persons whose access to such
services is severely limited by their socioeconomic level.
Financed by the United Fund and
sponsored by the Lubbock County Bar
Association, the Legal Aid Society is not
entirely new to this area. But it was substantially revamped last year when a new
director was named and the scope of its
services expanded through the use of 10cal law students in the program.
Operating within the confines of a
minimal budget, the Society's current
staff consists of director John Michael
Sanders, 1971 Tech Law School graduate and a licensed attorney, a secretary,
Mrs. Madelle McGee, and fourteen thirdyear law students. Legal interns who participated in the program during the fall
semester were: Sam Chase, Mike DeGeurin, Jack Edwards, Tom Hill, Mike
Irish, Elliot Knott, Mike Lloyd, Benny
Lowe, John Mann, Jim Mullin, Steve
Scott, Paul Smith, Danny Taber, and
M ike Thomas.
Before a person can acquire legal services from Legal Aid he must meet three
basic requirements: he must be a resident
of Lubbock County; his problem must
concern civil law; and he must meet certain indigency standards, based primarily
on his income. For example, a single person must make less than $125 per month
to qualify, a married couple less than
$250, with an additional $35 per month
income allowed for each dependent child.
The increased scope of the Society's
services is illustrated by its monthly
caseload statistics. In the month of N 0vember, for example, Legal Aid handled
110 cases by consultation. There were 67
applications for litigation, 34 of which
were approved for handling. Fifteen cases
were actually filed during the month, and
10 cases reached resolution in the courts.
Texas Tech law students logged over 140
hours during this period in the Legal Aid
program, receiving valuable practical experience together with one hour of scholastic credit through a cooperative program between the Society and the Law
School.
No criminal cases are handled by the
Legal Aid Society. While civil problems
encountered are diverse, the largest single
area in which services have been rendered is that of domestic relations, including divorce, adoption, guardianship, and
dependent and neglected children cases.
Although limited in its scope, the Legal Aid Society of Lubbock is a realistic
approach to the problem of making the
law and its legal institutions relevant to
the solution of crucial problems of contemporary society.
Student Editorial
Hiring Statenlent Approved
By JOHN NOBLE
Dictum Staff
At this writing, the 1973 placement
brochure will be prefaced by a new policy statement-"The students of this law
school believe that employment opportunities should not be governed by considerations of race, religion, color, sex, or
national origin".
On its face, the seemingly uncontroversial statement is a mild affirmation of
the founding and guiding principles of
the American system and the legal profession. Yet, based on the discordance
visible before and after its 8-3 adoption
by the governing body of the Student
Bar Association, controversy nonetheless
exists.
Those associated with the law school
in varying capacities have directed their
comments toward the meaning and effect
of the policy statement, indicating their
support either for or against it. Those
who oppose it feel that the statement will
cause law firms to be offended and con-
sequently decline to interview at the
school. Others believe that the statement
should be more forceful and approach
"black listing" in an attempt to eliminate
discriminatory hiring practices by law
firms.
Apparently, the majority feel the
present policy statement itself is no
longer the true issue and are merely
puzzled as to why any law student soon
to take an oath to support the United
States Constitution could have any
reservation whatsoever in supporting
such a humble affirmation of "equality".
In this writer's view, the question
raised by this "controversy" provides an
opportunity for each student to evaluate
his own position, resolving personal
inner conflicts in light of his chosen role
as a lawyer. Although there may not be
a "black letter" answer to the dilemma,
it would seem better to resolve the conflict while in law school than to discover
it for the first time as a practicing attorney.
By STEVE SCOTT
Dictum Staff
When Professor Maurice B. Kirk left
his post as dean of the Drake University
Law School to become one of the original
faculty who opened the doors of the
fledgling Texas Tech University Law
School in 1967, he brought with him a
broad legal and teaching background
and an array of abilities which have
made him a moving force in the new
school's rise to eminence.
A native of Princeton, Indiana, Professor Kirk earned his A.B. (with honors)
from Indiana University in 1943, and his
J.D. from that school in 1952. Sandwiched in between, however, were three
years as an Army Air Force pilot during
World War II, four years as a teacher in
the Government Department at Indiana,
and most importantly his marriage to
Dorothy Pohl (Kirk), an Indiana University classmate.
Upon his graduation from law school,
Kirk was influenced by two of his law
professors to go into teaching rather than
the private practice of law, and he began
his career the following year on the faculty of New York University Law School.
Subsequent teaching assignments took
him to the law schools of the University
of Arkansas, Indiana University, and
Washington University (St. Louis), and
then to his job as dean and professor at
Drake.
Along the way Professor Kirk earned
his LL.M. degree from New York University Law School in 1957, and his
J.S.D. from that school in 1963. While on
the Indiana University faculty he also
served as Director of the Codification
of the Indiana Common School Laws.
The scholarly Kirk currently teaches
Contracts, Legal Drafting and Administrative Law, but he has also taught Remedies, Agency and Partnership, and Conflicts since his arrival at Tech. His contributions, however, have by no means
been limited to the classroom, since he
has served, and continues to serve, on
numerous committees at the Law School,
on the campus at large, and in the American Association of Law Schools, and has
been secretary of the Law School faculty
since the school's inception.
One of his most important contributions to the development of the school
has been in the area of curriculum development, much of which occurred while
he was chairman of the curriculum committee. According to Kirk, the first-year
courses in the current curriculum are
principally designed to acquaint the student with the traditional common law
and constitutional law concepts which he
will encounter throughout his legal career. The second year courses are planned
around the philosophy that a student will
need specific fundamental information
in order to successfully practice law,
from which he will draw tentative conclusions in problem-solving situations,
subject to further research based upon
the particular facts of his case. Too, the
second-year required courses such as
Evidence, Commercial Law, and Wills
and Trusts are intended to provide the
foundation from which students can
tackle third-year electives. And the elective curriculum will expand, he noted,
as the school grows and more professors
are added, thus offering increased diversity and specialization in the third year.
The present curriculum reflects in
large measure Professor Kirk's philosophies of legal education. A cornerstone
of those philosophies is his view that a
substantial portion of a lawyer's training
and skills should be in the area of "preventive law" . . . . . that is the prevention
of litigation rather than litigation itself.
A good legal education should, he believes, include a curriculum that will
enable a lawyer to keep his clients out of
the court house rather than in it.
Further, Kirk believes that clinical
programs have a definite place in legal
education, and that such programs have
not presently been developed to the extent of maximum utility. In that development, he notes, there are some major
problem areas which must be watched.
First there must be assurance that law
students receive adequate supervision in
the performance of their clinical duties.
Second there is the problem of balancing
the time spent by students on such duties
with the time required for mastering
their academic courses. And finally there
is the problem of redundancy: in many
clinical programs students will handle
cases of a repetitive nature, thus limiting
the benefits that they receive from such
programs.
Kirk sees a companion solution to the
problem of giving law students more
exposure to the practical aspects of law
practice. He suggests that legal educators
be encouraged to apply legal classroom
concepts to more practical fact situations,
thus exposing the student to the application of legal principles to problems a
contemporary attorney is likely to face
in actual practice.
Professor Kirk holds membership in a
number of honorary and professional
societies, including Phi Beta Kappa,
Order of the Coif and Phi Delta Phi,
and is an elected member of the prestigious American Law Institute. He is
active in Boy Scout and church activities
in Lubbock, and he and his wife, Dorothy
(also a teacher), participate in a number
of activities with their three children,
Blake, Timothy and Brooke, the eldest of
whom is a senior in high school.
At Model Facility
Federal Prison Life Changes
By DON WILLS
Dictum Staff
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The following story is the product
of a visit to the Seagoville Federal
Correctional Institute by the author.
Mr. Wills reports that officials at the
prison were very cooperative and
pleased that law students were
taking an interest in the correctional
system, and spent the better part of
a day showing him the facility and
permitting him to visit with various
inmates.
Last September 9, a prison uprising at
Attica, New York left in a wave of violence 35 dead, over 100 injured, and
focused national attention on an often
neglected aspect of our criminal justice
system.
Our penal system has been characterized as "the most humane and advanced
in the world," or "monstrous, inhuman
dungeons, schools for crime and centers
for sexual abuse," depending upon the
speaker making the evaluation. The
above comments emanated from Spiro
Agnew and Edmund Muskie, respectively.
Few people disagree, however, with
the fact that effective reform is urgently
needed in a system which most penologists--not to mention prisoners and exconvicts--believe dehumanize and brutalize individuals who are subjected to it.
Nevertheless, progress is being made,
predominately in the Federal prison system, which is more adequately funded
than most state or county facilities.
Seagoville, A Model Prison
The Federal Correctional Institute at
Seagoville, Texas is a case in point. Located just southeast of Dallas, this facility
is what most would call a "model prison."
In contrast to more conventional prisons,
some 378 inmates all have keys to their
dormitory-styled rooms and the surrounding chain link fence is, as Associate Warden E. O. Toft told this reporter
with tongue-in-cheek, "more to keep
people out than to keep the inmates in."
Approximately 130 inmates were given
Christmas furloughs, allowing them to
spend the holiday with their families.
Everyone returned on time. Two-thirds of
the inmates voluntarily participate in
civic-oriented programs, including activi(Continued on Page 4)
PAGE FOUR
DICTUM-FEBRUARY 1972
Prosperity or Poverty?
EconOlllic Views Conflict
ber of one of the ten largest firms in the
country may easily reach $100,000 or
more. Even some "loners" do extremely
well. James Boccardo of California has
made a million dollars a year for the
last ten years.
So whose views and whose statistics
is the law student to believe? It may be
that the truth lies somewhere in between
. . . . that most law graduates can look
forward to good, though not spectacul ar,
earnings during their legal careers.
A now-somewhat-dated study in the
Texas Bar Journal (31 Texas Bar Journal
9, 1968) would seem to lend somewhat
more credence to the Fortune statistics
than those in Forbes, at least in Texas,
although when the five-year age of the
statistics is considered in light of inflationary trends in that period, the median
Texas lawyer today probably earns an
amount annually about halfway between
the Forbes and Fortune figures. Based on
1967 incomes, the Bar Journal study
incicated that the median practicing
lawyer in Texas made $13,500 that year.
A number of factors, however, influenced individual lawyer income well
above or below that level. For example,
the median firm partner earned $20,500
that year, as compared to $10,400 for
the practitioner practicing alone. And the
lawyer practicing in cities with more
than 50,000 population did nearly half
again as well economically as did his
counterpart in towns with less than 5,000
people.
The study also reveals that a lawyer
can measurably increase his income by
becoming a specialist. The 1967 nonspecialist, earning a median of $12,000,
would have increased his earnings to
$17,500 with the development of one
specialty, and to $18,000 with the development of two or more. The most lucrative specialties, according to the survey,
were public utility law (whose practitioners earned a median income of
$29,000), practice before administrative
agencies, oil and gas law, admiralty
law, and corporate practice, in that order.
Law office operation also played a
By LARRY GLAZNER
Dictum Staff
The typical law student often wonders,
no doubt, whether the seemingly endless
effort of law school will ever reap just
financial rewards. Will he find himself
much like the advocate in "To Kill a
Mockingbird," receiving only a burlap
bag of potatoes for his services, along
with threats of violence to his family for
principles adhered to? Or can he expect a
reasonable quid pro quo?
The answer would appear to depend on
whom you are to believe. "The Angry
Young Lawyers," an article in the September issue of Fortune magazine, paints
a grim picture. Author Peter Vanderwicken states:
"The average income (from general
practice of law) is only $13,000 a
year, less than that of plumbers in
many areas, and many lawyers in
small towns still earn less ..... "
The picture is only slightly brightened
by Vanderwicken's admission that certain
specialists average somewhat more, and
that there are a few "aristocrats" in the
profession who earn $100,000 or more
annually. According to Vanderwicken,
the highest paid legal specialty is labor
law, whose practitioners average $25,000
a year.
A more favorable look at the profession is found in Forbes magazine, also in
the September, 1971, issue. Entitled "The
Gilt Edged Profession," the article presents a view far removed from that of
the Fortune article:
"We are living in a lawyer's society.
Lawyers dominate American politics
and increasingly are rising to the
top spots in American business. Economically, too, the profession is
booming."
The Forbes article ranks the average
sole practitioner at the $18,000 annual
income level, but points out that partnership lawyers have substantially higher
earnings. A partner in a 2-4 man firm
should make about $27,000, in a 6-man
firm about $35,000, and in a 9-man firm
$45,000, the study reveals. And a mem-
Leflerl Eriefs-
(Continued from page 2)
Steve Hines, a second-year student, has accepted summer employment with the
Houston firm of Fulbright, Crooker, & Jaworski. Third-year student Mike DeGeurin
has accepted a clerkship from Judge Wendell Odom of the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals. Newal Squyres has been selected to be briefing attorney for Judge Joe Ingraham, United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, following his graduation in
June. Squyres is presently editor-in-chief of the Texas Tech University Law Review.
*
*
*
Tom Schueller's name was inadvertantly omitted from the list of persons named
in the September issue of Dictum as qualifying for Law Review. Sorry, Tom. Part of the
problem stemmed from the fact that Mr. Schueller declined to accept the honor.
*
*
*
The University of Denver College of Law is offering next summer its Second Annual Summer Institute in Clinical Legal Education. Purpose of the program is to get
law students into actual courtroom situations. This is accomplished largely as a result
of Colorado's liberal practice provisions which allow second and third-year students to
represent indigent clients in civil and criminal cases "as if licensed to practice." Interested students should contact: Student Internship Program, 200 West 14th Ave., Denver,
Colorado 80204.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
The creation of a free, full-time Legal Counselling Service for Tech students received unanimous approval of a five-man committee formed by the Lubbock County
Bar Association. Lubbock Bar President Kent Wagonseller said, "I think it is a good
program; students need a legal counsel." The program was approved by the full Association on December 3, and by the Tech Board of Regents later in the month. Scheduled
to take effect during the 72-73 academic year, the program will operate on a $16,000
annual budget, with the attorney to be named receiving some $11,000 annual salary. He
will be assisted by second and third-year students who will either receive a salary or
academic credit for their efforts.
Susan Riddle, a third-year student, was presented a $500 award by Phi Alpha Delta
Law Fraternity. The award was one of 40 made this year by the fraternity to outstanding law students throughout the country, according to Professor W. Reed Quilliam,
faculty advisor for the Sam Rayburn Chapter.
Phi Alpha Delta law fraternity initiated ten new members during the fall semester.
They include Tom Akins, Cody Wales, Ralph Edwards, Don James, Ron McCluskey,
Lonnie Obeidin, David Pickering, Gerald Smith, Lanny Voss and Bob Wilson. On
November 13, these new initiates and PAD alumni were honored by the active members
with a cocktail party at the Villa Inn. New officers of the fraternity were installed J anuary 11. Serving PAD for 1972 will be Kip Boyd, Justice; Rick Graham, Vice Justice;
John Morris, Clerk; Steve Anderton, Treasurer; and Mac Smith, Marshall.
prominent part in determining lawyer
income. Attorneys who always kept time
records earned 40 per cent more than
those who never kept them, and those
who set their fees according to fee schedules netted about 31 per cent more than
those who did not. Of course a lawyer's
net income will depend greatly on what
he must spend in maintaining his practice, i.e. his overhead. Up to a certain
point, the more a lawyer spends, the
greater his net income. The lawyer whose
overhead is 10 per cent or less of his
gross income earns only 40 per cent as
much as the one whose overhead is in
the 25-30 per cent range, which is the
level of maximum efficiency according to
the survey. Beyond the 30 per cent overhead level, net incomes begin a downward trend.
The salaried lawyer in Texas does
better in comparison to the private practitioner than he does in most states. In
1967, the median income for all salaried
lawyers in the state was only $1,000 less
than that of the practicing lawyer, and
the statistics for the salaried lawyer did
not include fringe benefits. The best
salaries were paid to lawyers employed
by business corporations, whose median
salary was $2,000 greater than the
median practicing lawyer, while government-employed attorneys earned the
lowest salaries.
In conclusion it would appear that
answers to the law student's questions
about the financial rewards of his law
school endeavors may well be determined
by the decisions he makes following
graduation.
Prison- (Continued from Page 3)
ties as diverse as Alcoholics Anonymous
and the Jaycees.
A significant contributing factor in
this prison's success is pointed up by the
fact that Seagoville is assigned younger,
less-hardened criminals whose sentences
average under two and a one-half years,
making them understandably more receptive to the rehabilitative programs offered.
Perhaps an even more significant factor is the practical approach taken by
Supervisor of Education Norman Langdon. He believes that for the most part
the correctional process should be a personal rather than an impersonal experience--if human beings are treated as
such, they will generally act accordingly.
Initial Meetings Decide Programs
When a man is assigned to Seagoville
he initially meets with several staff members who work with him throughout his
stay. These meetings are designed to
determine which programs, from an educational and psychological perspective,
best fit the make-up of the individual
inmate. Although the programs are
voluntary, a large percentage of the prison population participates, while the
remaining few already have a saleable
skill or are needed to run the maintenance functions such as the food service, laundry, and sanitation sections of
the institute.
An inmate can choose from among
programs ranging from the traditional
vocational classes, such as welding and
auto repair, to a class in interpersonal
relations, which is primarily an encounter
session with inmates and guards, designed
to break down psychological barriers and
lead toward an insight into human relations. Inmates may also work in the
prison furniture refinishing factory, enabling them to earn up to $80.00 a month.
As progressive as it may appear, this
correctional institute has its problems.
One of the more pressing is the resistance
to change and the fear of experimenting
with new methods. Not only do some of
the older correctional officers display
such resistance, but surprisingly many of
the inmates also prefer the more tratitional approach. In this tradition most
all decisions and duties can be outlined
by others and all an inmate need do is
serve his time.
Inmates also complain that the administration is "gadget-conscious". Thousands
You Cannot
Beat The Law
By LEE GRIFFIN
Dictum Staff
The sporting public may soon think of
Law Blue in the same category as the
Green Bay Packers when it comes to
football dynasties. For the big Blue team
swept to its second title this fall in only
three years of competition in the
graduate-faculty intramural league.
Following a championship 1969 season, Blue was on its way to a repeat
performance in 1970 until meeting its
Armageddon in a close game with the
Physical Education Department Turtles.
But that loss set the stage for this year's
grudge match between the two teams in
early October, and the inspired Blue
gridders, honed to a fine edge by coach
Charles Hawthorne, got their revenge,
14-6, in a game that turned out to be
the title-deciding contest.
With momentum gained from their
victory over the Turtles, Law Blue then
coasted to the championship. The rugged
team featured a defense that often scored
more points than the offense.
Second and third-year law students
comprised the Blue squad, while firstyear students participated on Law Red,
the school's other entry in the graduatefaculty league. Law Red, under the tutelage of coach Steve Wren, compiled a
3-3 season record, compared with Law
Blue's 6-0.
Law Blue players were: Bubba Crocker,
R. B. Poole, Hardy Burke, Steve Scott,
Pete Andres, Danny Hill Ed Kliewer,
Steve Anderton, Jerry Hennigan, John
Stewart, Richie Crews, Tom Hill, Charles
Seltzer, Don James, Joe Thigpen, Rick
Graham, Buddy Rake, Pat Hubbard,
Greg Allen, Tom Schueller, Mac Smith,
and David Posey.
The Law Red squad included: Bruce
Childers, Frank Pendleton, Bill Wright,
Terry O'Neal, Dave Capp, Rodney
Acker, Wayne Reaud, Bob Zintgraff,
Tommy Bastian, Joe Whittenburg, Bob
Vint, Bill Allensworth, Ronnie Plesalla,
Barry Fisher and Richard Clark.
LAW PROFESSORS DOMINATE
LAW SCHOOL TOURNEYS
Law professors Charles Bubany and
(Dean) Richard B. Amandes proved
again that age and experience may conquer youth and enthusiasm as they led
the faculty to a clean sweep of the two
law school tournaments held during
the fall semester.
Bubany fired a 72 to walk off with top
honors in the third annual Law School
Golf Classic, held in September under
the guidance of tournament director
John Morris. Low handicap honors for
the event went to 1L James Inzer.
Following Bubany's lead, Amandes
survived five rounds of competition to
win the first Law School Handball Tournament, played in October. Twenty-two
competitors inaugurated the event, which
is expected to become a fixture at the
school.
of dollars are spent on elaborate videotape machines and other related learning
apparatus, when many inmates feel the
real need is for more individual personal
instruction.
Transferees Raise Problems
Another problem often arises between
newly-transferred inmates and the correctional staff. It develops, for example,
when a man has served several years in
one of the "harder" institutions and for
some reason is relocated at Seagoville
to serve out his remaining sentence.
Sometimes he tends to believe that this
type of institution is nothing but a
sham-a "front" put up to mislead the
public into believing that progressive reform is being undertaken. This often
leaves the inmate with even less respect
for the system than if he had not been
exposed to newer methods at all.
Both Warden Toft and Supervisor
Langdon emphasized that the criminal
justice system is only as strong as its
weakest link-there still remains the
need for more progressive, up-to-date
reform within the correctional system
on all levels. There are, after all, more
Atticas in this country, with their overcrowded archaic facilities and practices,
than there are Seagovilles, and the national rate of recidivism remains at well
above 65 per cent.