A short tribute to Dean Miller upon the occasion of his retirement.  This piece appeared in the Catholic University Law Revie

Cardozo, Michael H.

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The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law

The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law CUA Law Scholarship Repository Miscellaneous Historical Documents Law School Historical Documents 1968 Vernon X. Miller: Association Man Michael H. Cardozo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.edu/misc_historical  Part of the Legal Education Commons Vernon X. Miller: Association ManMICHAEL H. CARDOZO*The Association of American Law Schools has been involved for someyears in the debate over the proper degree a law school graduate shouldreceive. Perhaps it should pause on the occasion of Vernon X. Miller'sretirement and consider the establishment of a degree of its own, an honor-ary A.M., Association Man. The justice of his being the first bearer of thedegree is obvious. Faithful participant in thirty or so annual meetings,he moved through all the ranks of service to the AALS, becoming its Presi-dent in 1965. As he took office, with due modesty, he told the "youngpeople . . . from schools like mine" that "if you live long enough, and ifyou come to enough of these meetings, some one of you is bound to makeit some time or other." It was not just patience, however, that impelledthe membership to choose him for governing positions out of all thosefrom "schools like his." It was devotion to the purpose of the Associationthat led to his election to serve, first in 1959 on the Executive Committee,then as "the last of the old-fashioned Secretary-Treasurers" and, ultimately,as President.Throughout this period Dean Miller was helping to mold the Associa-tion into a constructive organization, counseling its officers, exhorting itsmembers, serving on its committees, and creating its structure and its tra-ditions. Name a part or function of the modem Association and you willfind that Vernon Miller has played a part in its planning or design, fromthe Journal of Legal Education to the Regulations of the Executive Com-mittee. Let the word of the first of the new-fashioned executive directorstestify that it was his greatest good fortune to have as his boss, his neighbor,and his friend such a mine of data and wisdom about the new job in anold association.Of course, study in two law schools, terms on the faculties of half aExecutive Director, Association of American Law Schools.Catholic University Law Reviewdozen law schools, and finally election as dean of three schools, equipped himfor these special services. He learned the problems, the needs, and theglories of legal education from many perspectives. It was inevitable thatsomeone with his broad qualifications would be sought as a dean. The won-der is, however, that anyone, knowing him, would think he had sufficientof those peculiar characteristics, supposedly derived from canine ancestryon the distaff side, that traditionally qualify one for decanal success. Per-hapse a sense of humor, close to the surface and unaffected by academicintrigue, is really the essential ingredient.To have studied torts, constitutional law or other subjects in Dean Mil-ler's classes must have been a rare polymathic experience. His fabulousmemory has enabled him to draw on analogy, example, and history farbeyond most classroom performers. "That case," you can hear him say,"was decided in 1927, the year the Yankees beat Pittsburgh in four straightgames, and Babe Ruth hit sixty home runs." In another field, he mightcite the example of a contemporary of Julius Caesar who first won anargument with res ipsa loquitur. Of course, as a railroad buff, Dean Millernaturally wrote many learned articles on the law of compensation in rail-road cases. But woe unto you law students who do not recognize the name ofan Horatio Alger hero, a client of Mr. Tutt, or a social phenomenon de-scribed by Anthony Trollope.Indeed, a very catholic taste combined with a faithful Catholic spirit.[Vol. XVlI

Vernon X. Miller: Association Man

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Vernon X. Miller: Association Man

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