After 39 years, esteemed Professor John Ester will teach torts one last semester. In a career filled with high notes, he has lunched with Chief Justice Earl Warren, spent a tense day in moot court with some Black Panthers and changed the lives of some 4,000 students

Leary, Betty Lynne

English

Digital Commons @ UM Law

from the Past BY BETTY LYNNE LEA RY Words spill forth from the wellspring of students whose lives Professor John Ester touched. Their laughter and his music can still be heard today- for a short while. In 1960, John Ester came to Baltimore. Fresh out of graduate law school and newly married, he embarked on a teaching career that would impact the lives of more than 4,000 students. After 39 years, Ester prepares to teach one more class, grade one more exam , and reflect on the changes he has seen and experienced as part of the history of the U niversiry of Maryland School of Law. John Ester probably hod more impact on my low career than any other professor. He took a real interest in the students and challenged our minds. He was very analytical and we used to look forward to his exams, not because we hod to study, but because the questions were incredible. The Han. Benjamin L. Cardin '67 T he road ro becoming a renowned professor began for John Ester in law school at Willam ette University in Salem, Ore. The Dean of the school invited Es ter to lunch one day and asked about his career plans. "I rold him I wasn' t sure," Ester recalls. "So he told me to consider graduate law school and a teach-ing career. " Ester took the advice and, after passing the Cali fornia bar exam, strapped al l h is possessions to his 1952 black MG convertible and headed east to the Universiry of Illinois where he earned his L.L.M . T he Dean at Ill inois, who also recognized Ester's talents, suggested that the Universiry of Maryland might be a good place for him ro start a teaching career. "H e was right. T he University of Maryland was a good place not only to begin a teaching career, but to have a career," Ester says. "The pri mary reason we accepted the offer to come here was ro fi nd Out what the Eas t Coast was like. Baltimore turned out ro be a great place to live." John Ester was very young, only two years older than me. He fit right in with the other students because he was fresh out of low school himself He was on excellent teacher with a very dry sense of humor. Estates is a deadly course, no pun intended, but he certainly kept the closs interesting. He was very down to earth and didn't place himself above anyone. Carl Wannen '62 Continued on next page )D MAGAZINE SPRING 1999 "Hopefully they'll remember me as a pretty good The initial days of his new profession held some surprises for the young teacher. When Ester walked into his first class, he was shocked to see almost everyone wearing a coat and a tie. Mosr of [he evening students came to class straighr from their day jobs. "The dress was much more casual on the W esr Coasr, and ir kind of scared me when I walked in and saw all those white shins and ties," he says. "I was not prepared for rhat. " On closer inspection, Ester realized something else about his new students. "N ot only were they wearing shirts and ties, but rhey were older than I was," he laughs, "and I discov-ered fairly quickly that most of them were making more money than I was. So it was an interesting experience." John Ester kept you on your toes but was never threatening. He had a great sense of humor as he kept assuring us that the state of North Dakota doesn't exist. Trent Kitt/eman '91 Ester relishes many memorable moments during his tenure from having lunch with Chief} ustice Earl Warren, who dedicated the current law school building in 1966, to a tense day in the moot court room when members of the Black Panthers spoke as part of a lecrure series. Ester played an integral role as Chairman of the Appointments Committee dur-ing the time when the clinical program was created and rhe elective curriculum was greatly expanded. "The clinical program is perhaps the most dra-matic change I've seen," he says . "T oday we have so many different clinical experiences rhar a student can find our what he or she wants to do after grad-uating by doing ir before graduaring. You couldn' t do rhat in 1960." Ester also served as Associate Dean from 1985 to 1987, bur t11e events of 1986, when he also served as Acting D ean, remain unforgettable. "M y wife will tes tifY that I worked about 80 hours a week. Ir was like being a CEO at a large corporation," he claims. "I tried to learn the mys-teries of the Universiry's budgeting sysrem, which 10 has some really strange features. But what I learned most is that when I grow up, I want to be a middle-aged school teacher, not a Dean. It reinforced the fact rhat being a teacher is what I really enjoy most. " Professor Ester always had a terrific sense of humor. The law con be very dry and boring, but he had a way of bringing the law to life . He was obviously intelligent and cored about teaching and that made him extremely effective as a teacher. He is one of the greats. Carmel Snow '74 Ester's infectious enthusiasm in the classroom made learning more enjoyable for generarions of students. W hen the school stopped using a bell to signal [he stan of class, Esrer began ringing his own bell to bring students to order. The bell soon gave way to a wider variery of instruments including a plas ric tambourine, horns, a wooden whisde, clack-ers, a toy trumpet, and a tiny keyboard on which he plays a soulful rendition of "Amazing Grace." "On my student evaluations, I actually had some students say the music relieved their fear and anxiery abour law school because, after all, how can you be afraid of an old man who comes in and plays a plastic toy trumpet to start class?" Ester muses. His classes were great fun , very lively. He was a mentor to me and gave me a lot of encour-agement early on which meant a lot. The law con be dry but he brought wit, common sense and intelligence to the classroom and made it a lot offun. The Hon. Kathleen O. Friedman '66 teacher who enjoyed what he was doing." John Ester Ester's favo rite class to teach and the one he is perhaps most famous for is torts. He enjoys teaching first-year students and finds it easy to keep students imerested in what he calls "the rather dramatic and entertaining subject matter." Contracts, on the other hand, is one course he's happy to yield to another. "Com racts and I just didn' t get along," he admits. "I don ' t mind questions that I can ' t answer but with contracts, I didn't even know what the questions were sometimes. I really had to work hard to get ready for contract classes because I didn' t wan t to cheat the students." I took con~icts of low with john Ester and it was the most confounding course. In teaching renvoi, a French term for a principle of con-~icts of low, he hod such glee taf<jng us through each rule. He would sit up there and smirk because he hod a roomful of people who thought they were pretty bright, pretty confounded. joseph Finnerty jr. '63 Reflecting on the changes he's seen in almost four decades of teaching, Ester recalls how the law school was filled with predominantly white, male, upper-middle-class Baltimoreans when he arrived. Today more than half of the students are women, 28 percent are minorities, and a quarter are not Maryland residents. He has seen many of his gradu-ates leave Baltimore to become successful congress-men, judges and attorneys who practice allover the world. "There are lots of students I've enjoyed having in class over the years," he says. "I have now reached a place where I actually taught the grandchild of a former student. That makes me feel very old." I started in '58 and john Ester come two years later. A course is mode by the personality of the professor and people like Ester and Brumbaugh are legends of their time. They taught generation after generation of students. Herbert Belgrad '61 In May, when the las t lecture is delivered an d studems stream from his classroom one final time, Ester plans to shout for joy. He predicts an even louder shout after the last exam is graded. He wants to spend more time with his wife of 39 years, his son, [wo daughters and granddaughter. He has more mutder mysteries to read. He will also continue serving as one of the law school's most passionate ambassadors as the Director of Student Recruiting, a position he's held since 1986. "I vis it approximately 15 universities and three law school forums each fall, " he explains. "I talk to prospective students about the merits of the University of Maryland, which I'm delighted to do because I think we're one of the best law schools in the coun try. " An avid music fan, Ester plans to continue adding to his burgeoning collection of cassette tapes that now occupy an emire closet in his home. He might relearn the trombone, which his wife insists wil l be an oucdoor activity. "I also want to learn how to use that thing," he says, pointing an accusing finger in the direction of his computer. "I think it's about rime an old dog learned new tricks." As spring draws near, Ester enjoys his torts class perhaps a little more each day. H e admits he will miss the studems, but quickly adds that he won 't miss grading their exams. Generations of students will remember him for his wit, curios ity and bril-liance, his musical talents, and his countless contri-butions to the law school. II JD MAGAZINE SPRJ NG 1999 

Echoes from the Past

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Echoes from the Past

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