Griswold Testifies at First Hearing on Legal Education

Sitting in special session at Langdell Court, the Law School Forum heard Dean Erwin N. Griswold amass an extensive and detailed structure of evidence last night to prove that Harvard is superior to any other legal institution in the country. Dean Wesley A. Sturges, of Yale, will argue the other side of the case at another hearing next Wednesday evening.

"We don't have all the great law teachers in the country, but we do have more of them than any other school," Griswold said at one point in his 40-minute talk to several hundred law students, prospective law students, and interested bystanders.

Cites Harvard 'Realism'

In his speech, Griswold briefly sketched the Law School's distinguished history and then went on to mention some of the present problems it faces. He claimed that its relatively large size gives it advantages in library, faculty, and cosmopolitan student body not to found in smaller institutions.

Referring to Harvard's competitive system, Griswold declared that "law is not practiced in a pipe-and-slippers atmosphere of informality," and called Harvard's "realistic" preparation the best for life in the competitive world of the courtrooms.

Answering an objection from the floor, Griswold debunked the old idea that one out of three students at Harvard Law are flunked out. "Actually, the number who don't come back after the first year is about 10 percent," he said. "And half of those turn out to be at some disadvantage, such as poor health, which would handicap them at any school."