Here He Practicedfor Sixteen Court Since 1971, a Role in Years, Ending As a Senior Part Which He Has Served with Ner of Powers &Rehnquist
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Cover: From the photo album of Avis Winton Walton'45. Taken in 1943, this snapshot shows (I-r) Gloria Midgely Beutler'44, Margaret Morten Feinlieb '44 (since deceased), and Mrs. Walton. (The young woman in back, whose name is unknown, is thought to be an assistant law librarian. ) An article on early women graduates of the School begins on page 4. f- STANFORD LAWYER FALL 1986 VOL. 21, NO.1 Editor: Constance Hellyer Associate Editor: Jo Ann Coupal Graphic Design: Nancy Singer, Barbara Mendelsohn Production Art: Linda Ruiz Stanford Lawyer is published semi annually for alumnilae and friends of Stanford Law School. Correspon dence and materials for publication are welcome and should be sent to: Editor, Stanford Lawyer, Stanford Law School, Crown Quadrangle, Page 4 Page 32 Page 16 Stanford, CA 94305-8610. Copyright 1986 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland StanfordJunior University. Reproduction in whole or in part, without permission of the publisher, FEATURE ARTICLES is prohibited. The President's Choice: Justice William H. Rehnquist '52 2 The Venturesome Women of Stanford Law, 1920-1945 4 Leelane Ellis Hines '59 AT ISSUE Overruled: Jury Neutrality in Capital Cases II SamuelR. Gross The U. S. and the World Court: Facing the Facts 14 Michael]. Danaher '80 BOARD OF VISITORS ANNUAL MEETING Introduction and Overview 16 State of the School, 1986 18 Innovative Approaches to Legal Education 20 Placement Issues: Strategies and Choices 24 SCHOOL NEWS Career Alternatives: Further Initiatives 32 Faculty Notes 47 ALUMNI/AE NEWS Class Notes SO In Memoriam 76 Alumnilae Gatherings 78 Letters to the Editor 80 Coming Events Back Cover LAW FUND ANNUAL REPORT Following Page 80 2 Stanford Lawyer Fall 1986 The President's Choice: Justice William H. Rehnquist '52 N JUNE 17,1986, at Professor George Osborne a White House news later described him as "the O conference, President outstanding student of his law Reagan announced his inten- school generation." tion to nominate William Rehnquist's first introduc Hubbs Rehnquist as next tion to the U.S. Supreme Chief Justice of the United Court was as clerk, in States. 1952-53, to Associate Justice Said the President: "Justice Robert Jackson. He then set Rehnquisthas beenanAssoci tled in Phoenix, Arizona, ate Justice of the Supreme where he practicedfor sixteen Court since 1971, a role in years, ending as a senior part which he has served with ner of Powers &Rehnquist. In great distinction and skill. He 1969, he was called to Wash is noted for his intellectual ington to serve at the Justice powers, the lucidity of his Department as Assistant opinions, and the respect he Attorney General, Office of enjoys among his colleagues." Legal CounseL He was 47 Rehnquist, in response to when, in 1971, President questions from the press, said Nixon elevated him to the that he was "deeply gratified Supreme Court. by the confidence that the The Justice has maintained President has shown in me... his ties to Stanford, including [I]t's not every day when acting as presidingjudge ofthe you're 61 years old thatyou get Kirkwood Moot Court final a chance to have a new job." competitions in 1973, 1981, His new eminence - and and 1983. In 1984 the School the concurrent appointment honored him with its first of Judge Antonin Scalia-will deepen the association Award of Merit, given in recognition of distinguished public between Stanford Law School and the High Court. Rehn service. quist, a 1952 alumnus of the School, was in 1971 the first Rehnquist enjoys visitinglaw schools as a way to overcome Stanford graduate named to the Court. He was joined in 1981 the "monasticism" of the High Court. "You just have to keep by classmate Sandra Day O'Connor '52, the first and only anchors to the outside world," he recently said. Other woman everto be sohonored. Scalia's connection to Stanford extrajudicial pastimes include weekly tennis with his law is as a visiting professor of law in 1980-81. clerks, stampcollecting, night-schoolclassesin painting, and Rehnquist was born October 1, 1924, in Milwaukee, grew vacations at his second home in Greenboro, Vermont. up in the suburb ofShorewood, and attendedKenyon College Rehnquist and his wife, the former Natalie Cornell (A.B. for a year, before joining the Army Air Corps in 1943. After '51), have been married since 1953. Their three children the war, he enrolled at Stanford, where in 1948 he received James, Janet, and Nancy-are all grown. both an A.B. ("with great distinction") and an M.A. in Though the ultimate influence of the new ChiefJustice on Political Science and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. The this nation's legal system cannot yet be known, one interest following year he earned a second M.A., also in Political ing clue emerged at the summer confirmation hearings: his Science, from Harvard. Returning to Stanford for law school, interest in exploring alternative methods of dispute resolu he graduated first in his class, was a revising editor of tion (ADR) - "as important to me," he said, "as penal reform Stanford Law Review and a member of the Order of the Coif. is to [retiring] ChiefJustice Burger." D Fall 1986 Stanford Lawyer 3 , . III 4 The Venturesome Women of Stanford Law 1920-1945 ne of the most striking students were, until recently, avery small differences between percentage ofthe whole. The times were Stanford Law School to simply against it. day and in past decades Still, they came-fewin number, buta is the high proportion persistent presence-venturing (like ofOfemale students-now nearly half Lewis Carroll's Alice) into a land of (48 percent). Only once before, when in curious ambiguity. What led these young the midst of World War II the School women to study law? How did they experi shrank to less than fifty students, were ence law school? Andwhat opportunities women similarly represented. The cur and difficulties did they later find in an rentpattern is, however, no such blip, but undeniably "man's world"? ratherpart ofadeep andprobably irrever We were delighted when Leelane sible societal trend. Anabsence ofwomen Hines offered to explore these questions. would today seem abnormal. Her report, which follows, is based on Stanford Law School has of course questionnaire responses and interviews always been open to females (including with 12 of the 18 surviving alumnae of the 1949 admittee who became the first classes graduating from 1920 (our sen woman tositon the Supreme Court). But ior living alumna) to 1945. We thank even at Stanford-a young, Western, them for their candor and salute their coeducational university-female law achievements. - ED. by LEELANE ELLIS HINES '59 5 THE VENTURESOME WOMEN OF STANFORD LAW had hoped ambition for me - she was the feminist." to practice because of a hearing loss in begin An historical note is appropriate as influencing her choice of profession. ning this here. Virtually every woman graduate Besides, "there were several girls in project to we interviewed began her law studies law school, and perhaps it seemed identify a while still an undergraduate. Underthis exciting and glamorous." personalityI pro option (available until the mid-1960s) Nora Blichfeldt Bower '35 and Lois file of the Stan Stanford students could, as early as the BerryBetzenderfer'45, who date their ford woman end of their sophomore year, declare a interest in law back to childhood, have "trailblazer. " "Pre-Legal" major and spend their sen no idea how it all began. Betzenderfer But I soon dis ior year taking the regular first-year describes herselfas a vocal child, which covered that to postgraduate legal curriculum. They inspired people to remark, "You ought speak of a group profile of individualists would then have earned an A.B. and, to be a lawyer." Otherrespondents also is an oxymoron. with two more years of law study, could remember being loquacious orargumen My first surprise was that not one of gain an LL.B. The existence of this tative - characteristics apparently per the respondents even thought of her option made the barrier between col ceived as necessary for the practice of self as a pioneer - this despite the lege and professional study relatively law - and were counseled accordingly. unusualness of a woman studying for permeable and enabled the women to Mary RechifMulcahy '36 was one such: the overwhelmingly male profession of make their professional choices early. "I had been on debate teams and in law. "What seemed much more Many of the alumnae I talked with oratoricalcontests, and received encour unusual," recalls Elizabeth Spilman remember being eager to do so, believ agement from speech teachers." Rosenfield '24, "was a woman student ing that unless they acted quickly, they The appeal of "logic and reason" who was majoring in engineering and would be drawninto traditionally female drew Rhoda V. Lewis '29 to law. She worked over at the forge." professions that held less appeal for also cited another critical but little There was no sense of cause or them. "I knew I didn't want to be a mentioned factor: "My father was making history in any of the responses. teacher," was a frequent response. One willing to pay for my legal education." I found no militant suffragettes. The woman saw being a nurse as the alter In short, the reasons given by these choice to study law seems to have been native to avoid; for another it was women for studying law are not so very an individual response to the oppor becoming a nun. different from those of their male tunities each student saw for herself at Miriam E. Wolff '39 felt less limited peers: evident aptitude, intellectual the time. ToJosephine Welch Wood '20, in her options - Egyptology had its drive, supportive parents, and avoid for example, law school seemed like "a attractions - when she designated ance of less appealing career alter natural thing to do.