Dedication: William Wayne Justice: The Life of the Law

Lynn E. Blais* Judge Justice has finally returned to Austin. After spending his college and law school years here, Judge left for more than half a century. First he served in Army during World War II, and then he settled down in East Texas. While in East Texas, he married Mrs. Sue Justice and had a daughter, Ellen. And he practiced law in both public and private sector, and served for thirty-one years on federal bench. Now, he has come back, having taken senior status as a federal judge so that he and Mrs. Justice can be near his daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter. What a wonderful opportunity Judge's return presents for our students. As Oliver Wendell Holmes is renowned for observing, [t]he life of law has not been logic: it has been experience.1 By this, great jurist meant that law evolves with the felt necessities of time, and embodies story of a nation's development .... Important chapters in this story were written in Judge Justice's courtroom. To be sure, Judge Justice's legal opinions are replete with unassailable logic that is generated by pensive application of a razor-sharp intellect. But, more important, his opinions and his legal life-the life inside his courtroomevidence accumulated wisdom of a man of great character who has fought for a lifetime to protect principles and ideals inherent in our constitutional republic. I urge all of our students to spend time during their law school years in Judge Justice's courtroom. For it is in courtrooms like his that life of law is found. The Judge's judicial legacy is well known: He forced integration of public schools in Texas3 that were recalcitrant in face of Brown v. Board of Education;4 he required State to correct unsafe, degrading, and inhumane conditions that were commonplace in Texas penal institutions;5 he compelled desegregation of State's public housing communities;6 he protected rights of Texas's detained juveniles' and its mentally retarded citizens;8 and he rejected its legislators' attempts to restrict free speech rights of labor unionists.9 Along way he also had something to say about such things as hair length and latrine design. But how did that legacy come to be? What is it about Judge Justice that would lead a small town lawyer to become one of most influential jurists in Texas (and even in United States)? It is my belief that Judge became a principal in Texas history by virtue of his three outstanding qualities: his legal acumen, his reverence for rule of law, and his extraordinary sense of compassion. First, Judge is a highly skilled lawyer, and standard he sets in his courtroom reflects his personal knowledge of power of exemplary legal representation. The Judge learned to practice law, quite literally, at his father's knee. His father, Mr. Will Justice, was well known in East Texas as perhaps best all-around lawyer of his era. Mr. Will is still so revered among criminal defense bar that he was posthumously selected as one of first lawyers to be inducted into Texas Criminal Defense Attorneys' Hall of Fame.'2 As a child, Judge watched his father work assiduously in evenings and on weekends, and he started helping out in his father's law office as a young teenager.3 After war, he practiced with his father and late Bill Kugle for many years, honing his skills and taking full advantage of his father's willingness to share his wisdom and expertise. To this day, Judge recounts stories of Mr. Will's prowess-stories that still instruct young lawyers who are serving as Judge's law clerks. And, of course, Judge served as United States Attorney for Eastern District of Texas for seven years, during which time he managed a large and varied caseload. From this background, Judge knows first hand quality of legal representation that hard work and commitment to one's client can produce, and he expects no less from attorneys in his courtroom-each and every time they file papers or appear before him. …