By Leslie King O’Neal
Commemorating Women’s History Month and the ABA Forum on Construction Law’s upcoming 50th anniversary celebration, this week’s post showcases Marian Mayer Berkett’s long and storied legal career.
Marian Mayer Berkett: Inspiring generations of lawyers
The length and breadth of her law practice make her a role model for all lawyers. Tulane Law School dean, David Meyer said, “Marian Mayer Berkett was a singular figure and inspired generations of lawyers to look past barriers in their quest for excellence.”[i] “Although she was hailed as a pioneering woman lawyer, she wanted her skills to be judged without reference to her sex.” [ii] And they were. During her seventy-two years as a lawyer she was an advocate, a scholar, and an activist for government reform. Not only was she a formidable trial lawyer, she also argued numerous appeals, including at the U.S. Supreme Court.[iii]
An early leader in the ABA Forum on Construction Law
Over the years, her practice included workman’s compensation and personal injury cases, collections, bankruptcy, labor law, aviation law, probate law, tax law, fidelity and surety law and construction law. Her focus on construction and surety law led to her becoming an early leader in the ABA Forum on Construction Law.[iv] She served six years on the Forum’s Governing Committee. At the Forum’s first annual meeting in 1985, she moderated a panel regarding new bond forms. In 1996, she was among the first recipients of the Forum’s Cornerstone Award, its highest honor.
She wrote the “Bible” on Louisiana workers’ compensation law—while in law school
Born on March 29, 1913, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, she graduated from Baton Rouge High School in 1929. In 1933, she received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from LSU, with a minor in political science. After spending a year studying at the Geneva School of International Studies in Switzerland, she returned to LSU and received a master’s degree in political science. Her master’s thesis, Workman’s Compensation in Louisiana, was published as a book after her first year of law school. It was considered the “bible” on the topic for many years. [v]
Politics interrupted her law school career
She began law school at LSU, but politics interrupted her law school career. Huey Long, [vi] a controversial political figure, was Louisiana’s governor while she was in law school. Marian was an outspoken critic of Long, giving speeches against him. She described herself as “the only vocal anti-Long person in the LSU law school.” She believed her phone was tapped and that she was followed. Feeling isolated and uncomfortable at LSU, she transferred to Tulane.[vii]
Co-founder of the People’s League–seeking government reform
At Tulane she was a co-founder of the Special Committee of the People’s League along with other law students, including Hale Boggs.[viii] The People’s League opposed Huey Long and worked for state and local government reform. They successfully ousted the district attorney of New Orleans Parish who refused to bring indictments according to grand jury recommendations. The People’s League tipped the press that a grand jury was filing a report complaining about the D.A. When the judge refused the report, one of the jurors threw it to the press, which published it in the newspaper. The People’s League met on the courthouse steps and called for the D.A.’s resignation. Litigation ensued, but the People’s League prevailed.
First woman hired by a New Orleans law firm
After graduating number one in her law school class, she became the first woman hired by Deutsch, Kerrigan and Stiles in New Orleans, where she practiced for seventy-two years. Although there were other women lawyers practicing at the time, all of them were either sole practitioners or in practice with their husbands. Her law school ranking and her book convinced Eberhard Deutsch to hire her as an associate attorney. However, she dismissed the importance of being “first,” saying, “I never embraced the idea of being a ‘woman lawyer.’ I just wanted to be a good lawyer, man or woman.”[ix]
A mentor and a role model for many
Throughout her career, Marian mentored many law students and young lawyers. Ron Scalise, a law professor at Tulane, who worked with her when he was a summer associate, said, “Although it was a daunting experience to work with such a legendary figure, I am privileged to have had the opportunity to learn at an early stage from one of the very best lawyers in the Louisiana legal community. Today, in many of my civil law classes, I teach some of the very courses she litigated.”[x]
Advice to new lawyers: Be brave!
In 2013, Ms. Berkett spoke to the graduating class at Tulane Law School, offering this advice for finding their way in law practice. “It will require your ingenuity and your determination, whether you attack your problems as a group or each with a plan of his own. So, be brave!”[xi] This advice applies to all lawyers, not just to new graduates. Let us all follow Marian Mayer Berkett’s example to pursue excellence and to be brave. For more information about Marian Mayer Berkett’s life and legal career, see the New Orleans Life Story oral history interview: https://hnoc-web.s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/docs/d2745/u119727452/mss629.66.pdf
[i] Tulane University Law School, Tulane Law mourns legal pioneer Marian Mayer Berkett. https://law.tulane.edu/tulane-law-mourns-legal-pioneer-marian-mayer-berkett
[ii] John Pope, Marian Berkett, Louisiana’s oldest lawyer, dies at 104, The Times-Picayune, (June 5, 2017) https://www.nola.com/news/business/marian-berkett-louisianas-oldest-lawyer-dies-at-104/article_0a7a32ba-315a-549f-a6e4-3136d1649d19.html
[iii] She was lead counsel in Lambert v. Maryland Cas. Co., 418 So.2d 553 (LA 1982), a landmark case on the issue of a surety’s obligation of good faith. https://law.justia.com/cases/louisiana/supreme-court/1982/81-c-2750-1.html
[iv] Edward J. Walters, Jr., Marian Mayer Berkett, A Life and Law Career of ‘Firsts’ for this People’s League Co-Founder, 46 Louisiana Bar J. 5 at 379 (Feb. 1999) at 384-384..https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/5d4eaf1a275a8adce7fdb589/5df956b1f5f9c9572f4d9db9_Interview%20with%20Marian%20Mayer%20Berkett.pdf
[v] Id.
[vi] Huey Long was governor of Louisiana from 1928-1932. He was a U.S. Senator from 1932-1935. Nicknamed “the Kingfish” he was assassinated in Baton Rouge in 1935. Huey Long: A Featured Biography, United States Senate, https://www.senate.gov/senators/FeaturedBios/Featured_Bio_Long_Huey.htm
[vii] Walters, supra, note iv at 380-381.
[viii] Thomas Hale Boggs, Sr., was U.S. Representative from Louisiana for 28 years, serving as House Majority Leader from 1971-73. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/9547
[ix] Kimberly Singletary, The Advocate (May 15, 2013). https://www.nola.com/news/state-s-first-female-lawyer-turns-100-will-speak-at-tulane/article_295721c0-d2c4-592a-bc44-d6af3253d416.html
[x] Tulane University Law School, supra, note ii.
[xi] Id.
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