To the editor:

On June 9 you published a great column by Paul Herrmann titled “A charming Supreme Courtship.” I would like to clarify that Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson did attend two semesters at Albany Law School and received a degree. Jackson’s path to legal practice and bar admission was typical of his time. Before World War I, most lawyers prepared for the bar exam by clerking in a lawyer’s office, which was a structured process governed by the New York Court of Appeals. They did not attend law school, and of those who did, a substantial number attended only one year or so to supplement their clerking. Albany Law School gave such students a certificate of attendance, as did many schools, which counted toward the clerkship time required by the Court of Appeals. Jackson began a clerkship in Jamestown while still in high school. The bar association at the time required only three years of clerkship for admission. In 1911, after one year as a clerk, Jackson enrolled at Albany Law School for a year. He attended his commencement and received a diploma of graduation, but he was under 21 and too young to receive a degree — as were two women in his class. Jackson returned to Albany 39 years later in 1941 to deliver the law school’s commencement speech, and received his degree then.

Thank you,

David Singer

Director of communications and marketing

Albany Law School

Albany