How would you best describe Robert L. Fletcher, I asked my colleagues. He is, they said, thoughtful, a man of integrity, a delightful and companionable gentleman, sincere of purpose, hard-working, reliable, exceedingly thorough, a respected scholar and teacher. By habit he examines all aspects of a proposal before acting on it, reserves judgment until  all the evidence is in.  Reputedly he enjoys ferreting out arcane future interests that violate the Rule Against Perpetuities in trust and real estate documents

Johnson, Ralph W.

English

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Washington Law Review Volume 65 Number 2 Dedicated to Professor Robert L. Fletcher 4-1-1990 The Fletcher Years Ralph W. Johnson University of Washington School of Law Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr Recommended Citation Ralph W. Johnson, Dedication, The Fletcher Years, 65 Wash. L. Rev. 281 (1990). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol65/iss2/6 This Dedication is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at UW Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Washington Law Review by an authorized editor of UW Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact cnyberg@uw.edu. Copyright Q 1990 by Washington Law Review AssociationTHE FLETCHER YEARSRalph W. Johnson*How would you best describe Robert L. Fletcher, I asked my col-leagues. He is, they said, thoughtful, a man of integrity, a delightfuland companionable gentleman, sincere of purpose, hard-working, reli-able, exceedingly thorough, a respected scholar and teacher. By habithe examines all aspects of a proposal before acting on it, reserves judg-ment until "all the evidence is in." Reputedly he enjoys ferreting outarcane future interests that violate the Rule Against Perpetuities intrust and real estate documents.Bob Fletcher practiced law for nine years in Seattle and Tacoma,Washington, before entering teaching in 1956. Before that he was anofficer in the U.S. Navy three and a half years during the SecondWorld War, serving as an engineer and flight tester in the lighter-than-air branch at Lakehurst, New Jersey. He received his LL.B. degreefrom Stanford Law School in 1947.After 33 years of law teaching Bob Fletcher retired from the LawSchool in 1989, having attained a vigorous 71 years of age, and a newhip. (Incidentally, Bob's initial salary was the munificent sum of$6,800 per academic year, higher than the salary for a less experiencedentering professor).During his career Bob rendered invaluable teaching and administra-tive service to the Law School. These few pages can not capture thedepth of his contribution to the life and work of the School's commu-nity, but may help affirm the affection and respect that community hasfor him.One of Professor Fletcher's abiding goals was to design courses anda curriculum to provide students with the best possible legal educa-tion. He served on the Curriculum Committee for seven out of tenyears between 1970 and 1980, and was three times Chair of that com-mittee. In 1976 he instigated a major review of the curriculum, per-sonally interviewing each faculty member to assist in coordinatingcourse coverages, eliminating duplication; and evaluating afresh whatwas actually taught in classrooms.His principal teaching interest was Property II and Wills andTrusts. He also taught Constitutional law for a time, and continued tomaintain interest in it throughout his career. In 1963 he published a* Professor of Law, University of Washington School of Law.Washington Law Reviewconstitutional analysis of a proposal to limit, and gradually reduce, theexcessive number of salmon boats and nets operating in northernWashington waters,' which was keeping most fishermen impover-ished. On the basis of his thorough, accurate, and widely read studyfor Washington, the state of Alaska consulted Bob to assist in writinga gear limitation law for that state. In recognition of his work theAlaska Senate adopted a 1973 Resolution expressing its "most sinceregratitude and appreciation" to Professor Fletcher for the public ser-vice he rendered advising the state on the "formidable" constitutionalquestions posed by gear limitation legislation.Bob always had a keen interest in providing opportunities forminority students to enter the Law School. In the stormy, early 1970sthe faculty wanted a constitutionally supportable affirmative actionadmissions program. Bob played a central role in crafting the lan-guage to implement this program. Later, in light of the Bakke deci-sion,' admission policies were modified to add a greater element of"diversity," but otherwise these policies have remained essentiallyunchanged until recent times.For such a fair minded, gentlemanly "nice guy," it may be surpris-ing to learn that Bob, along with this Author, was known during thelate 1950s as a "hatchetman," whose goal in life, some studentsthought, was to flunk first year students. At the time both Bob and Iwere teaching the fall quarter course in Personal Property.3 We weretagged with this "affectionate" name because we delivered the firstyear class's earliest law school grades, and it was not unusual then toreturn a significant number of failing papers. In those days virtuallyanyone with a bachelor's degree could enter law school, but only somehalf to two-thirds graduated. Things are different now. When thenumber and quality of applicants for admission skyrocketed in the1960s and 1970s the screening process for admissible students wastightened. Almost no students flunk anymore, although a few leavefor other reasons.Bob believed strongly in the idea of collegiality for the law faculty.To further this objective, he and his wife Betty, with Harry and Lynn1. Fletcher, Legal Analysis, in SALMON GEAR LIMITATION IN NORTHERN WASHINGTONWATERS 52-118 (University of Washington Publications in Fisheries, New Series, Vol. II, No. 1,1963).2. Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978).3. The course in Personal Property was a delight to teach. But due to the expansion of thelaw generally, and the pressure to cover other subjects, personal property has been absorbed intoan overall "Property" course, across the country. Instead of getting 40 hours of class time,personal property now gets 8 to 10 hours.Vol. 65:281, 1990Dedication to Robert L. FletcherCross, hosted a series of annual summer family picnics at the Crosshome and grounds near Kirkland, Washington. Children wereinvited, games organized, and excellent food provided. They werememorable occasions.Then there was the issue of Saturday classes. It is difficult now tobelieve that the Law School once actually held such classes, thendebated for weeks in the 1960s whether to retain or drop them. Theprocess by which they died illustrates another Fletcher talent. Thefinal debate lasted most of a Saturday (The faculty no longer holdsSaturday meetings.) Arguments for retaining Saturday classes wereplentiful: the problem of scheduling 3 hour classes would be difficultduring week days (a 6 day week can handle scheduling of two three-hour classes but a 5 day week poses problems of symmetry); coursecoverage would suffer; students would lose their sense of discipline,etc. One of the most serious problems concerned a question of equity:some faculty taught on Saturdays, others avoided this chore. During along afternoon of debate, a consensus began to form that Saturdayclasses should be terminated. Throughout this debate Bob Fletcherdrafted, as he did on other occasions, on-the-spot language, skillfullydesigned to articulate the faculty consensus, while the verbal battleraged on. Whether in this case Bob designed the ultimate or thepenultimate language is unimportant. What is significant is that somany draft motions had been proposed that Bob's final rendition waslabelled "Pink Fletcher Two," to distinguish it from his earlier"white" and "blue" editions, from editions crafted by others, and from"Pink Fletcher One." The ultimate motion was clever: Saturdayclasses would not be held unless necessary for scheduling needs. Thisreduced the issue to a mere "scheduling problem," to be solved by theassociate dean who scheduled classes. This saved face for the Satur-day class advocates, but effectively killed the concept. All associatedeans since that time have concluded that "scheduling needs" do notrequire Saturday classes. Today any suggestion of such classes wouldbe considered a joke, or incite a revolution. How times change!A man of many facets, Bob has extra-legal talents. Aside from suc-cess as A parent (in plain view elsewhere in this volume) a perhaps lesswell known talent is his engineering skill. For one thing, this talentput him on to using a slide rule for the final calculations of his gradeseach quarter. It was also critical to the success of a rather hazardousproject he supervised in 1959 when my wife Anne and I worried abouthow to get a full size, upright piano up 33 steep steps into our house.Fletcher agreed to assist. Indeed it was due to Fletcher's engineering283Washington Law Reviewacumen that a motley team of muscled young law professors avoided atinkling, cacophonous, ivory-keyed disaster.Bob recently became a pilot. After 1974, when Bob and Bettypurchased a tract of land at Parker Harbour, British Columbia-abeautiful but isolated area with few roads-Bob developed a passionfor spending summers there. He built a cabin from the ground up. Hegardens, makes repairs, and in general enjoys the pastoral life. Sinceflying made it faster to get there and back, he started flying lessonswhile "still young," or shortly after his 65th birthday. (When my ownfather took up flying at age 55 I worried he was "over the hill," andlacked the needed coordination. My perspective has changed uponsurpassing 55 some years ago.) Bob now flies regularly to Parker Har-bour, and at least one daughter gives him high marks as a pilot.Thus far, in "retirement," Bob has taught a semester at HastingsLaw School in San Francisco, and a semester at Vermont Law Schoolin South Royalton, Vermont. He will continue flying to Parker Har-bour in summers. Gently but assuredly, as he goes into that new life,he takes all our warm wishes for an interesting and productive post-Law School career.284Vol. 65:281, 1990

The Fletcher Years

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