Fred Rodell (March 1, 1907 – June 4, 1980) was an American law professor most famous for his critiques of the U.S. legal profession. A professor at Yale Law School for more than forty years, Rodell was described in 1980 as the "bad boy of American legal academia" by Charles Alan Wright.
He was one of the leading proponents of the "legal realism" approach and railed against overly abstract and theoretical legal arguments. He was a harsh critic of the legal profession, which he described as a "high-class racket." In his 1936 Virginia Law Review article "Goodbye to Law Reviews", Rodell famously remarked, "There are two things wrong with almost all legal writing. One is its style. The other is its content. That, I think, about covers the ground."
Rodell himself never became a member of the bar, later explaining that, "By the time I got through law school, I had decided that I never wanted to practice law. I never have."
Rodell studied under Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas at Yale Law School They carried on a lifelong correspondence, a substantial portion of which is archived at Rodell's alma mater, Haverford College (class of 1926). Haverford also awarded him an honorary degree (LL.D.) in 1973, the year he retired from Yale.
Bibliography
Books
Articles
Great Chief Justice: Excerpt from NINE MEN, AM. HERITAGE, Dec. 1955, at 10. Impeccable Mr. Acheson, AM. MERCURY, Apr. 1950, at 387. Man who Stopped John L. Lewis, AM. MERCURY May 1949, at 517. Vandenberg of Michigan, AM. MERCURY, Jan. 1947, at 5. Senator Claude Pepper, AM. MERCURY, Oct. 1946, at 389. Robert E. Hannegan, AM. MERCURY. Aug. 1946, at 133. Bill Douglas: American, AM. MERCURY, Dec. 1945, at 656. Sumner Welles: Diplomat deluxe AM. MERCURY. Nov. 1945, at 578. Walter Lippmann. AM. MERCURY. Mar. 1945, at 263. Justice Hugo Black, AM. MERCURY, Aug. 1944, at 135.
Dred Scott―A Century After, ATLANTIC MONTHLY, Oct. 1957, at 60. Dred Scott: A Century After, ATLAS, Oct. 1957, at 60.
Everybody Reads the Comics, ESQUIRE, Mar. 1945, at 50. Douglas Over the Stock Exchange, FORTUNE, Feb. 1938, at 64. Black versus Jackson, FORUM. Aug. 1946, at 68. Law is the Bunk. FORUM. Sept. 1939, at 109. The Warren Court: A Fresh, Free Voice from the High Bench, FRONTIER, Nov. 1957, at 11.
Wendell Willkie: Man of Words, HARPER'S, May 1944, at 305. Felix Frankfurter: Conservative, HARPERS, Oct. 1941, 449. A Word to the Wise, LIBERTY, Nov. 4, 1944, at 24. Trial Lawyer, LIFE, May 26, 1947, at 107. Chief Justice, LIFE, June 24. 1946, at 102. Divorce Muddle, LIFE, Sept. 3. 1945, at 86. Morris Ernst, LIFE, Feb. 21, 1944, at 96. Can Nixon's Justices Reverse the Warren Court?, LOOK, Dec. 2, 1969, at 38. Pattern of Defiance, LOOK. Apr. 20, 1956, at 24. The South vs. the Supreme Court: The Pattern of Our Not So Supreme Court, LOOK, April 3, 1956, at 25. Fred Rodell's Limericks―Nine Acourt, MONOCLE, Nov. 1964, at 56. In Memorium, NATION, Mar. 2, 1957, at 184. I'd Prefer Bill Douglas, NATION. Apr. 26. 1952, at 400.
Symposium: Will America Go Fascist?, NEW LEADER, Mar. 25, 1944, at 4. Supreme Court Is Standing Pat, NEW REPUBLIC, Dec. 19, 1949, at 11. Depression Is Here to Stay, NEW REPUBLIC, Nov. 1, 22, 1939, at 374, 144. America, We Love You, in Small Doses, NEW REPUBLIC, Feb. 15, 1939, at 43. Arnold: Myth and Trust Buster, NEW REPUBLIC, June 22, 1938, at 177. Complexities of Mr. Justice Fortas, N.Y. TIMES MAG., July 28, 1968, at 12; Sept. 8, 1968, at 60. It Is the Earl Warren Court, N.Y. TIMES MAG., Mar. 13, 1966, at 30. Warren Court Stands Its Ground, N.Y. TIMES MAG., Sept. 27, 1964, at 23. TV or No TV in Court?, N.Y. TIMES MAG., Apr. 12, 1964, at 16. Crux of the Court Hullabaloo, N.Y. TIMES MAG., May 29, 1960, at 13. Fifty Years of the Comics, READER'S DIGEST, Mar. 1945, at 72. My Debt to the Town Drunk, READER's DIGEST, Nov. 1941, at 54. Gallery of Justices, SATURDAY REV., Nov. 15, 1958, at 9. Was Alger Hiss Framed? A Debate, SATURDAY REV., May 31, 1958, at 15. Academic Adjudicator, SATURDAY REV., Sept. 1, 1956, at 15. Benefactors, Inc., SATURDAY REV., June 2, 1956, at 17. American View, SATURDAY REV., Apr. 28, 1956, at 9. Portrait, SATURDAY REV., Nov. 5, 1955, at 14. Justification of a Justice, SATURDAY REV., July 16, 1955, at 18. School Kids Are Color Blind, SATURDAY REV., Oct. 16, 1954, at 9. Transatlantic Dissection of a Pen Pal, SATURDAY REV., March 14, 1953. Alexander Bickel and the Harvard-Frankfurter School of Judicial Inertia, SCANLON's, May 1970, at 76. Background for Peace: Freedom front Attack: International Police, TIME, Sept. 13 1943, at 105. Our Unlovable Sex Laws, TRANS-ACTION, May–June 1965, at 36.