University of Texas School of Law - Peregrinus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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Special Programs The Law School Foundation helps sponsor special conferences and seminars for the continuing legal education of the state legal profession. Not all of these programs are held in Austin, and some involve only faculty participation, not Foundation support. Among the programs held during the past year were: Media and the Law. February 9. Austin; Corporate Counsel Institute, March 5-6. Houston; Mortgage Lending Institute, September 20-21, Austin; Conference on Immigration and Naturalization, October 4-5, San Antonio; Conference on the Handicapped. October 15-16, Austin; Tax Conference, October 24-26. Austin; Conference on the Legal Aspects of Agriculture, November 1-2, Dallas; and the Products Liability Conference, November 8-9, Austin. TOP: Experiences as an appellate judge are shared with students in Judge God-bold's talk. BOTTOM: The Chicano Law Students Association played host to a speech by U.S. Attorney Tony Canales. Special Programs — 23

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Speakers Lecturers Broaden the Scope of Legal Education BELOW: Judge Baxter spices his lecture with a bit of humor as John Eldridge listens closely. The endowed lectures enjoyed by the UT Law School add a dimension to legal education not found in the classroom. The Will E. Orgain Lecture, named for a Beaumont attorney who was an UT alumnus, was delivered this year by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Columbia law professor who has been very successful in arguing sex discrimination cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Ms. Ginsburg spoke on the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and the time extension for ratification granted by Congress and the constitutional questions raised by the extension. Law Week brought two lectures, the Vinson and Elkins Lecture by former Minnesota Congressman Donald Fraser and the Board of Advocates lecture by John Hill, the former Texas Attorney General, who spoke on the role of civil trial advocates. Two more endowed lectures, the Rain. Harrell. Emery. Young and Doke Lecture by Richard Baxter, now a judge on the International Court of Justice at The Hague, and the Seventh Annual Tom Sealy Law and the Free Society Lecture by The Honorable John C. Godbold, Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, are presented in the fall. Judge Baxter’s comments concerned the international legislative process. The decision-making process of a federal judge and the role played by facts, precedent, policy and advocacy in the process was the subject of Judge Godbold's remarks. 22— Speakers

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Sunflower Began as Law School Protest The Sunflower Ceremony is a unique tradition which stemmed from a disagreement over academic regalia in the University’s early years. Although no caps and gowns had been worn from the founding of The University of Texas in 1883 till the turn of the century, a salesman at that time persuaded the senior class to adopt the tradition. Not having been consulted on the decision, the law students refused to comply on the grounds that caps and gowns were inappropriate for a professional, non-academic school. Faced with an ultimatum from University officials, the students finally agreed to wear white suits and chose the sunflower to represent their distinctive insignia. The sunflower was chosen because, like lawyers, it is widely distributed throughout the world, and it turns its face to the light of the sun just as the lawyers turn their faces to the light of justice. The use of the sunflower has not only survived, but is one of the school’s most cherished traditions. TOP RIGHT: With diligent research Dean Sutton introduced each fall graduate with an anecdote gleaned from their Law School career. BOTTOM RIGI IT: Gretchen Rimes beams with pride as her husband receives his sunflower. 24 — Sunflower Ceremony