What happens to lawyers, who refuse to chase ambulances, pursue indifferent debtors or sue gentlemen who write indiscreetly to ladies who save their mail, but who wish to remain in the practice of law? Answer: They become writers and exponents of “causes”. Arthur Garfield Hays belongs in this class. The middle-aged little gentleman whose limp, earned as the result of a horseback riding experience, is familiar in the nation’s court-rooms, has for many years been a spokesman and lawyer for the Civil Liberties Union. Not only is he an advocate for free speech but he has written a number of books on the injustice of justice in the United States.
Morris Ernst is another lawyer who has found extra curricular activities a help in the practice of law. As a defender of allegedly “immoral” literature he successfully got “The Well of Loneliness”, “God’s Little Acre”, and Mrs. Mary Ware Dennett’s primer of sex for the wide-eyer, past the smut hounds. In addition he has written books on the subject of censorship and only last season tossed off a slim volume on the silliness of the libel laws. He is the favorite lawyer of many of the successful literati and his office file reads like a best-seller list.
A lawyer not so well known as either is Maurice Finkelstein, a young man who was awarded a doctor of jurisprudence degree by Harvard University. The slim Finkelstein has confined his talents to legal subjects. Besides writing a series of texts on constitutional law he has done many articles for the liberal weeklies and recently wrote a pamphlet for the John Day Co. which discusses the possibilities of the Supreme Court of the United States upholding the legality of the laws passed to make the N.R.A. work.
Another writer known more for his writing than his law practice is Newman Levy. This ex-title searcher and “brief” writer is one of America’s best light verse makers. He has done many successful lyrics and much of his work has appeared in the town’s better musical shows.
Harry Hibschman is also known more for his writing than his law work. This soft-spoken native of Kansas is one of the best known popularizers of the law. He has contributed articles to the class magazines and has conducted a newspaper syndicated department on legal subjects. His pen is most virile when writing about the stupidity of law, lawyers and clients. He is at work on a book covering this subject which will be published early in 1934. His object in writing is to debunk the law and bring about the necessary reforms.
There are countless writing lawyers about the literary field. In fact most of your current reading matter comes from the typewriters of newspaper men and lawyers but most of the latter either give up law entirely to write or continue to practice law and do books about Lincoln.
OTHER THINGS TO WONDER ABOUT
Why rabbis, teachers and student editors of high school papers believe that if they write a publisher for a review copy of a book they will receive it. . . . Why Paul Yawitz of the Daily Mirror allows his picture to be placed atop his column and why he didn’t take his hat off when he had the photo taken. . . . Why Jewish authors are so superior about publicity in the Jewish press. . . . Why Jewish authors when they adopt a pseudonym always take one that is very Nordic. . . . Why Ellery Queen doesn’t take off that mask. . . . Why Meyer Berger of The Times gave up that idea for his book about New York’s current crop of gangsters. . . . Why Maxim Lieber who once had a beard, mustache and a cane hasn’t any of the aforementioned articles.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
