Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge

Billings Learned Hand was one of the most influential judges in America. In Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge, Gerald Gunther provides a complete and intimate account of the professional and personal life of Learned Hand. He conveys the substance and range of Hand's judicial and intellectual contributions with eloquence and grace. This second edition features photos of Learned Hand throughout his life and career, and includes a foreword by Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Gunther, a former law clerk for Hand, reviewed much of Hand's published work, opinions, and correspondence. He meticulously describes Hand's cases, and discusses the judge's professional and personal life as interconnected with the political and social circumstances of the times in which he lived.

Born in 1872, Hand served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He clearly crafted and delivered thousands of decisions in a wide range of cases through extensive, conscientious investigation and analysis, while at the same time exercising wisdom and personal detachment. His opinions are still widely quoted today, and will remain as an everlasting tribute to his life and legacy.

Publishers Weekly

Stanford Law School professor Gunther, a former clerk to Hand (1872-1961) with exclusive access to his mentor's papers, ably portrays the man, perhaps the most important jurist not to serve on the Supreme Court, and explains his work. Christened Billings Learned Hand (the product of family surnames), the teenaged Learned studied philosophy at Harvard, and came by his long-held belief in judicial restraint as a Harvard Law student. Becoming a federal district judge in 1909, Hand in 1917 wrote an unpopular but ultimately influential opinion supporting free speech in a case involving the Masses , a revolutionary organ. Rising to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1924, Hand helped improve judicial procedures, wrote numerous worthy opinions, gained respect as a skeptical liberal and helped found the prestigious American Law Institute, an organization aimed at improving the law. Besides describing Hand's cases, Gunther tells of the judge's personal life, his political dabblings and his popularity. The book's only drawback is its length; an abridged version could still assay Hand and reach many more readers. Photos not seen by PW. History Book Club alternate. (May)