Attorney Nathan Lewin has been blazing law trails for decades ‘Helping the Community’ R By DEVORAH KLEIN


enowned constitutional attor- ney Nathan Lewin recently addressed the University of


Baltimore Law Students Association and the general public, speaking about his professional experience and


PROFILE


current cases. Lewin, an observant Jew, is well


known for his involvement in fight- ing for the rights of Jews in many U.S. courtrooms, with an impressive list of past clients. He has been included for over 25 years, including the 2012 edition, of Best Lawyers in America — in five different special- ties — and has argued 28 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Lewin is a fascinating personality, and the lecture provided an opportu- nity to learn first-hand about his experiences and views.


L


ewin began by describing his background and how he made the decision to go to law school. “I attended Yeshiva University, and did well, but did not really understand what lawyers did. My father studied and received a law degree from the University of Lvov in Poland, but never used it to prac- tice law. When I was in seventh grade, I used to argue points in his- tory with my teacher. She once said, ‘Nathan, you are a Philadelphia lawyer.’ I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded good. “In Yeshiva University I took the


law aptitude test and did well, so I applied to Harvard and Yale Law Schools and got accepted to both. This was over fifty years ago and the tuition to those schools was $1,000 dollars a year — very high for that time! My friend’s father, who was a lawyer, tried to convince me to go to Harvard, but I was hesitant, as Boston was far from my home in New York. My father’s reaction to the suggestion was, ‘Boston? Can you keep kosher in Boston?’ “Sure enough, I quickly found that there was an apartment with three other religious students who were looking for a fourth roommate. So yes, I could keep kosher in Boston, and to Harvard I went.” Lewin did well in law school, graduating with high grades. Seeking a summer job after his sec- ond year, he applied to various pres- tigious New York law firms. However, one after another, the firms looked at his résumé, noted that he had attended Yeshiva University, and


becoming a founding partner in the firm of Miller, Cassidy, Larroca and Lewin and growing into the famous litigator he is today. He now works with his daughter in the firm of Lewin and Lewin. But his experience with Justice Harlan proved valuable when, in 1977, Lewin worked with the late Congressman Stephen Solarz to draft legislation that would allow


Observant Jew and Harvard-educated attorney Nathan Lewin has argued 28 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Here he argues on behalf of Menachem Zivotofsky, who was born in Jerusalem in 2002, for the right to have Zivotofsky’s place of birth listed as Israel on his passport.


inquired, as was perfectly legal in 1958, “Are you a Sabbath-observ- er?” (Today this is illegal; Congress amended the Civil Rights Act in 1973 by adopting a law drafted by Lewin.) When Lewin said yes they responded, “Sorry, we will not hire a Sabbath-observer who will be unavailable if work has to be com- pleted Friday afternoons or on Jewish holidays. If you want to be a lawyer, go get a dispensation from your rabbi.” That was not going to happen.


Lewin was frustrated — and embar- rassed: While his classmates had received many offers for legal posi- tions he was still without a job, despite his hard work and high grades.


He took a summer job as a research associate with Professor Benjamin Kaplan, whom he had not known before that summer. During the year after graduation, when he was working as a law clerk to the chief judge of the Federal Court of Appeals in New York, Lewin received a call from a professor at Harvard Law School who had been assigned to find a Harvard graduate to clerk for Justice John Marshall Harlan of the U.S. Supreme Court. With the strong recommendation of Kaplan and other Harvard faculty, Nathan Lewin was chosen. At Lewin’s interview with Harlan, he told the justice that he was a Sabbath observer and could not work in the winter on Friday afternoons or on Shabbat. Harlan replied, “No problem; you can work on Sundays instead.” Lewin found Harlan to be a phe- nomenal judge, and a wonderful human being who was free of prej- udice. Not only did Harlan allow Lewin to take off on Shabbat, but on Friday afternoons, in the mid- dle of a conference with his two law clerks, he would say, “The sun


JEWISH TRIBUNE • JANUARY 20-26, 2012 3


‘There are too many lawyers who can practice with yarmulkes and without worrying about Shabbos, who are not ready to sacrifice time and profit from their law firms to do work that has to be done for the Jewish community.’


is going down; it is time for you to go home.”


A


fter serving in the Department of Justice under Robert F.


Kennedy and as a deputy assistant attorney general, Lewin moved on,


federal workers to use compensa- tory time for time missed due to Shabbat and yom tov. The law they drafted would per- mit federal workers to leave early on Friday or take off on yom tov without the time being charged


against “annual leave” if they made it up before or afterwards. The assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the time declared this legislation unconstitutional because it gave preference to religious workers. At first, the Carter Administration said it would oppose Solarz’s bill on constitutional grounds. Solarz invited Lewin to join him at a special meeting to influence the administration’s position. The meeting was attended by some 60 representatives of various federal agencies. When it was his turn to speak, Lewin launched into a legal argument based on Supreme Court decisions, but he soon noticed that no one was really paying attention. They were already convinced that the bill was unconstitutional. In a moment of inspiration


Lewin related how he had clerked for Justice Harlan (known as a con- servative), who had sent him home early from conferences on Friday afternoon.


“Do you think that Justice Harlan imagined he was violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment when he sent me home on Friday afternoons?” Lewin challenged. His remarks were met with a stunned silence. continued on page 31


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