Alan L. Yatvin

The Bar Exam — Does it Pass the Test?

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In the Spring my friend Julianne Romy received her L.L.M., magna cum laude, from Fordham Law School. Unfortunately, thanks to Covid-19, her New York City job offer evanesced and her visa along with it. So in August she was on her way home to France. In October she took the New York Bar Exam remotely from Paris, where she was taking a French Bar course. As we near the release of the New York Bar results, I share this 1983 essay in her honor.

July 27, 1983, Somewhere in New Jersey.  I am aboard Amtrak’s Garden State Special from Philadelphia to New York. A few hours ago I completed the two‑day culmination of the worst eight weeks of my life — the Bar Exam.

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World Serious

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In this season of the Major League Baseball World Series, I am sharing a confession I wrote in October 1985.  The New York Times took a pass, but I did get a lovely note from the opinion page editor.  Those were the days. With the World Series upon us, it is time for me to … Read more

Brown v. Board of Education at 65

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65 years ago the Supreme Court of the United States issued the decision in Brown v. Board of Education, a historic decision on desegregation in public education, outlawing so-called separate but equal discrimination in public education.  

One might think that the issue was well-settled, but Brown is once again in the news. As a Washington Post op-ed noted yesterday: “More than two dozen of President Trump’s judicial nominees have declined to answer whether Brown v. Board of Education was properly decided.”

On the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision, I wrote an essay for Philadelphia’s newspaper serving the legal community, The Legal Intelligencer.  On the occasion of the 65th anniversary, I am republishing that essay.1


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  1.   At the time of her death in March 2018, I also wrote of Linda Brown, whose father joined the eponymous law suit on her behalf. [↩]

January 22, 1973, at about 10 AM

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Memory is strange.  My son, Dan, has a savant-like ability to precisely place and describe even the most mundane events, going back to nursery school.  My recall of even important moments is foggier.  Unlike most people born before 1960, I do not remember where I was when I learned that John F. Kennedy had been shot.

However, one very distinct memory I have from my youth is where I was on January 22, 1973, at about 10 AM.

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On the passing of Linda Brown: Remembering Brown v. Board of Education

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On Sunday, March 25, 2018, Linda Brown of Topeka, Kansas, passed away at age 75.  Brown was an educational consultant, civil rights activist and public speaker.  But to many she was also the face of a historic decision on desegregation in public education.

In 1950, then seven year old Linda Brown asked her father, Oliver, why she had to make a long walk across train tracks and a busy street to catch a bus to an elementary school across town, when the Sumner Elementary School, attended by her friends from the integrated neighborhood in which she lived, was just four blocks from her house. Oliver Brown promised his daughter he would try to change that. Topeka’s high schools and junior high schools were already integrated, but its elementary schools remained segregated.  On the advice of the NAACP, he took her to Sumner to enroll, but they were turned away.  Oliver Brown then agreed to be a plaintiff in a suit against the Topeka Board of Education.  That suit led to a landmark decision from the United States Supreme Court outlawing so-called separate but equal discrimination in public education.  By the time of the 2004 ruling, Linda Brown was enrolled in an integrated junior high school.1

On the 50th anniversary of the Brown decision, I wrote an essay for Philadelphia’s newspaper serving the legal community, The Legal Intelligencer.  On the occasion of Linda Brown’s passing, I am republishing that essay about the case her father brought to fulfill a promise to her.

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  1.  https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/26/597154953/linda-brown-who-was-at-center-of-brown-v-board-of-education-dies[↩]

A snowy December night in The Hague

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I was in The Hague for a meeting of the Association of Defense Counsel at the International Courts (ADC-ICT).  This was my last day in The Netherlands before heading home and it was snowing.

Winter Landscape with Skaters by Hendrick Avercamp

With images of Hendrick Avercamp’s impish 17th century paintings and childhood memories of Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates (book and movie) dancing in my head, I set out for the “centrum” to fill the last afternoon of my vacation.  However, that snowy, frozen canal climate is long gone from this country.  Unused to so much snow in a short period of time the Dutch city was, if not paralyzed, substantially slowed down.

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Insulin isn’t just a drug

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Insulin isn’t just a drug. Insulin isn’t just a drug. It’s the difference between life and death for millions of people with diabetes—and it’s something they will need every day for the rest of their lives. When you or someone you love needs insulin and cannot afford it, the choices are scary. As the cost … Read more

Traffic Pain in Philadelphia

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The hardest part of writing something I am pleased with, is accepting when I can’t get it published. Newspaper and magazine editors only have so much space and they have to triage. When the piece is geographically specific, the available outlets are few. Or maybe what I wrote was junk and I just don’t know it. For better or worse though, because I run a blog I can always self-publish. So before you read on, be forewarned: the following Philadelphia-centric piece has received multiple rejections. I think the message is still worthwhile. But then, I would, right?

It’s 5:30 on a mid-week afternoon, and I am driving north on 16th from Locust Street to JFK Boulevard in Center City Philadelphia. The distance is about seven blocks. The trip will take more than 15 minutes.

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Where to file a Philadelphia police misconduct suit.

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Recently, a colleague queried a local criminal justice listserve for advice on filing a police unreasonable force case in Pennsylvania state court in Philadelphia. I responded with some advice and observations on the pros and cons of filing in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas (the First Judicial District or “FJD”), versus seven blocks east in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. This blog post collects and expands upon our email exchange.

The incident at issue involved allegations that Philadelphia police officers beat a suspect.  When their further investigation cleared him of the initial criminal allegations, they left him on the street without arresting him or transporting him for medical treatment. There were officers on the scene who did not participate in the beating, but merely stood by without intervening. The proposed plaintiff suffered bruises, contusions, abrasions and broken teeth. He took himself to the hospital, where he was treated and released. He did not have medical insurance and did not receive follow-up treatment. His injuries have resolved, other than his teeth.

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Gideon v. Wainwright: Facts to Know and Tell

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In Philadelphia and across the country, lawyers, the judiciary and politicians are examining the quality and adequacy of funding for legal representation of indigent criminal defendants.  The case that confirmed the broad right to such representation was Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963).  This month we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the decision.  Here … Read more