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Where's Witkin?

There are two kinds of legal scholars in California: those who recognize the name Bernie Witkin, and those who should.

Witkin was a Boaltie (1928) who described his attitude toward law school as "loathing," who argued that the Socratic method dishonored Socrates and insulted students, and who was ever-on-the-verge of flunking out. He may also have been a bit of a schemer; legend has it that while studying for exams he used to make money on the side by selling to other students carbon copies of his notes and outlines (remarkable, given his grades, no?). After graduating, he developed those notes first to teach bar review courses, and then to create a treatise on California law. That treatise became both the seminal authority on California State Law, and the backbone of his career. For over sixty years, then, Bernie Witkin was a professional outliner -- a fact which may make him the only Boalt grad to make a living from the skills he learned in law school.

And to what effect? WestLaw shows that Witkin has been cited by the California Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal over 20,000 times. Justice Chin of the Supreme Court once remarked, "For me, Bernie Witkin and California law have always been synonymous." Any sentence that succeeds the words "Wikin says . . . " carries the weight of appellate authority. All this despite the fact that Witkin neither practiced nor taught law. I say that's pretty good for a self-described misfit.

The Witkin story is fascinating enough (at least to me) as it stands, but the Chronicle this week reveals a heartwarming twist: although Witkin passed away over ten years ago, his wife's philanthropic work has steadily disbursed his wealth to needy organizations in California generally and the Bay Area specifically, and has made possible many noble undertakings at Boalt, in San Francisco, and across the state. Read the article for yourself -- it's an impressive list.

Without grasping at platitudes, I would submit that Witkin's story and his wife's work proves that good things can come out of the law. It also suggests that people who disagree with the Socratic method (*cough*) may be wiser to stick it out.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on December 31, 2008 (boomark / email).