Kansas City School of Law - Pandex Yearbook (Kansas City, MO)

Page 13 text:

Ninth and Main Streets, where the Sheidley Building now stands, held a woodyard and the New York Life Building site, where the Kansas City School of Law was originally opened, was a hole in the groundg at a time when the best of law offices were of necessity located above small shops or drink emporiums and when the court rooms could be reached only over or through mud or dust. There were no paved streets and scant board sidewalks. Graphic descriptions of their early day life here were heard at the dinners given by the Bar Associations in honor of these gentlemen a few years ago. They were, with other lawyers at that time, compelled to undergo early disappointments and apprehensions about the daily bread problem that many others of us have since experienced. Those were days of trial that tried the souls of men strong as these gentlemen, even. But their struggles and hardships then have quickened their friendly sym- pathies for the young men in the law, in their early struggles today. I have it from friends who knew them intimately in those times, that their courtly manner, and distinguished appearance caused them to be styled Democratic Aristocratsf' Mr. Dean and Mr. Ladd both were reared in country towns, Mr. Dean having been born in Montour County, Pa., near a village called Washing- tonville, something over a year after Mr. Ladd's birth at the Village of Milford, Mich. They received practically the same educational ad- vantages-each excelling in Latin Cthis was then quite significant, since a young lawyer was required to have had a thorough training in Latin in many states, before being admitted to the Barb. Mr. Ladd took his Latin instruction under the village preacher. Mr. Dean taught Latin in the Tuscarora Academy in Juniata County, Pa., when in his 19th year. This accomplishment of Mr. Dean's led to his having learned to sing college songs in Latin while at the University of Michigan, and moreover, we have been informed that he sang them well. I pause here to rejoice with you that Latin is a dead language, otherwise, the profession of the law might here been robbed of one of its greatest expounders thro' the call of grand opera syndicates to our Mr. Dean. As raconteurs, Mr. Ladd and Mr. Dean are without peers, save possibly our friend, Judge J. E. Guinotte. Of strong personality and forceful presence, they possess, alike, the natural qualities that make effective, convincing, eloquent public speak- ersg moreover, the fine lucrative practice which they gradually built up was composed of clients from the same high type business meng they number many large corporations in their clientele. Their professional as- sociates in the practice have been referred to time and again, and it is needless to mention them again. It has occurred to many of us that a copartnership between them would have been an ideal one in the law. Both public spirited men, high minded, cultured gentlemen of un- questioned integrity throughout their honorable, successful careers and recognized as among the strongest lawyers in the State of Missouri, both men of exceeding great modesty but men whose counsel and opinion are sought in the great public questions of the day, men whose opinions are a guide to the laity and to the lawyers. It would be strange, indeed, where those of us who have enjoyed the benefits of close association with Mr. Dean and Mr.. Ladd should not have become more useful citizens and lawyers with a high regard for the Page 9

Page 12 text:

A C t' Sk t li fI'l bl 0l'ver H. B?5.?iiZ.? Hsnfnracble 523234 E. Lslda , fBy Elmer N. Powell.D It was a gracious thought of the Editors to make dedication of The Pandex, 1921, to Honorable Oliver H. Dean and Honorable Sanford B. Ladd, jointly. This is a recognition first, of the enduring, wonderful friendship of these distinguished members of our Faculty, inter sese, both of them fore- most in the original little group of founders of the schoolg second, this joint dedication gives opportunity for timely expressions of our profound admiration and affection for these learned expounders of the law, third, it affords an opportunity, which we welcome, to emphasize our deep ap- preciation of these scholarly gentlemen of great hearts and of great minds. I am requested to write a comparative sketch of Mr. Dean and Mr. Ladd herein, a privilege and an honor that I appreciate. What an inspiration they have been and are to us all! Their un- selfish devotion to the Kansas City School of Law, their keen interest in the student body, have been the subject of comment throughout all these years of the School's history. Their names have become inseparably as- sociated with our Law School. The manners of born gentlemen set naturally upon them 5 their kindness of heart, the hallmark of true gentle- men, has surrounded them with such friendships as grapple us to them by hooks of steel. The privilege given us to enjoy the scholarship and the influences of Mr. Dean and Mr. Ladd in school relations and personally, serve as daily reminders of the sublime truth that there is nothing so kingly as kindness , their close friendship and keen interest in us, in each other and the common affection and admiration we have for them as our legal guides and friends, cause us to feel that you and I belong to that great Invisible Order of Friends. Oliver H. Dean and Sanford B. Ladd both received their degrees from the University of Michigan, about five years apart, and both emigrated to Kansas City within three years of each other-Mr. Ladd having ar- rived in this great metropolis in the year 1867 and Mr. Dean in 1870. It was here their real acquaintance and friendship begang a friendship that has remained unmarred throughout these many years. We note much, in common, in the abilities, personal characteristics and life of these noted lawyers of our Bar. While most of -us have had intimate knowledge of their earlier his- tory in- sketches, given in previous Pandexes and elsewhere, permit me here, f'1n the spirit of review, to refresh your memory in this brief, com- parative sketch. We shall then, I believe, easily understand some of the reasons why these gentlemen of similar tastes, abilities, training, student habits, natural gifts as advocates would be drawn to each other-both in private and professional life. They settled in Kansas City amongst the pioneers in the law, they came at a time when conditions were primitive indeed: at a time when Page 8

Page 14 text:

ethics of the profession, because of such influences. Their reputations as lawyers may perhaps have become more widely known because of their devotion to the Kansas City School of Law and their leading part in the direction of its affairs, but the Kansas City School of Law and its twelve hundred alumni would have been less great without the legal guidance and impress of the characters of Mr. Dean and Mr. Ladd. They have held the highest honors it were possible for our Bar Associations to confer upon any lawyer, as tributes to their ability and as marks of confidence and affectiong these and other honors have come to them unsought, al- ways. Kansas City, the Kansas City Bar Association, the Missouri State Bar Association and the Kansas City School of Law, the public generally, all count themselves fortunate, indeed, that Honorable Oliver H. Dean and Honorable Sanford B. Ladd chanced to select this metropolis of the West as the field for their legal activities. Our Bar Association, too, would have been great-many able lawyers are numbered in its membership- but it would have been less great without the impress of the strong char- acters and rare ability of our Mr. Dean and our Mr. Ladd. , V- Page 10