Joseph Raymond Grodin was an American lawyer, law professor, and a former Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of California.
21 Facts About Joseph Grodin
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Joseph Grodin's father had emigrated from Vilkaviskis, Lithuania where his own father and grandfather had been rabbis.
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Joseph Grodin went to Sunday school at Temple Sinai and graduated in 1948 from Piedmont High School, where he played fullback on the football team.
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Three years later Joseph Grodin graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with honors.
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In 1951, Grodin matriculated at Yale Law School, with future Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt, future Justice Ellen Ash Peters and future congressman Allard K Lowenstein as classmates.
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Worried about Yale's lack of emphasis on black letter law, Grodin hired Bernard E Witkin to tutor him for the California Bar Exam.
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Joseph Grodin next received a Fulbright grant to study at the London School of Economics under Otto Kahn-Freund.
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Joseph Grodin would extend the grant to finish a Ph.
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Joseph Grodin returned to California in 1955 and joined Tobriner's law firm.
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In 1959, Joseph Grodin became a partner after both Tobriner and Leland Lazarus were appointed to the bench by Governor Pat Brown.
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Joseph Grodin began teaching labor law part-time at University of California, Hastings College of Law.
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When Joseph Grodin returned to San Francisco he began teaching full-time at UC Hastings.
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Governor Jerry Brown, a Yale Law School graduate who clerked for Justice Tobriner, needed a Teamsters voice on the board so he appointed Joseph Grodin, serving alongside future Cardinal Roger Mahony.
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Governor Brown promoted Joseph Grodin to Presiding Justice on Division Two of the California Court of Appeal, First District, in March 1982.
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Joseph Grodin was considered supportive of trial lawyers and defense attorneys, while seeming skeptical of law enforcement and business interests.
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Joseph Grodin dissented from allowing a victims' rights amendment to the constitution, Proposition 8, to even appear on the ballot.
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Joseph Grodin joined the liberal majority when it granted the American Federation of Labor's 1984 original petition to block a balanced budget amendment proposition from appearing on the ballot.
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Joseph Grodin had served as treasurer on Eugene McCarthy's presidential campaign and had himself made an unsuccessful run for the Berkeley City Council.
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Joseph Grodin raised money from labor unions and the California Trial Lawyers Association, and the state police union ran a TV ad endorsing Grodin.
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Joseph Grodin was removed by the California electorate at his first retention election in 1986.
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Joseph Grodin returned to being a law professor at UC Hastings and has written extensively about the need to abolish judicial elections.