June 9, 1989
From “Trials and tribulations causing Jewish lawyers to quit profession”
For Aviva Schiff Boedecker, the law once seemed like “the modern equivalent of Talmud study.”
Al Baum, like other Jewish kids growing up in Chicago in the 1940s, aspired to “the gentlemen’s profession.”
And Malcolm Kushner internalized his mother’s feelings that “going to law school can’t hurt, it’s something to fall back on.”
But after sweating through three grueling years of law school, and surviving several more years of six-day 70-hour weeks of brief-writing and legal wrangling, all three Bay Area residents have left the law — part of a growing trend of Jewish lawyers who have achieved success only to give it all up.
“A lot of Jews went into the law to do good, found the legal system entrenched, and were soon disillusioned,” says Hindi Greenberg, a former lawyer who founded Lawyers in Transition four years ago. “It’s hard to give up being a layer as an identity — especially for many Jews.”
Among 800 clients who have participated in Greenberg’s workshops and meetings, one-third have been Jewish lawyers. “I’ve never met more Jews than in my work helping people look at alternatives to the law,” says Greenberg.
Jews may be leaving the law in droves, but they are part of a general trend. In a 1987 national study by the American Bar Association, 40 percent of all lawyers surveyed said they wouldn’t become lawyers again if given a second opportunity.
June 12, 1959
From “Dr. Einstein Claims Elizabeth Roboz as Bride in Berkeley Hall of Justice”
Dr. Hans Albert Einstein, son of the late Albert Einstein, claimed Elizabeth Roboz as his bride last Friday in noon rites in the Berkeley Hall of Justice Chambers of Municipal Judge Floyd C. Talbot.
The new Mrs. Einstein was born in Hungary and is a Stanford Medical School research biochemist. Einstein, a University of California professor of hydraulic engineering, is one of two sons of the late German scientist who developed the theory of relativity. His first wife died last October and he is the father of Bernard, who is currently studying physics in Zurich, Switzerland.
Among those who witnessed the ceremony were Professor and Mrs. Hans Jenny; Evelyn, the bridegroom’s 17-year-old daughter who is studying at the University of California and Edith Roboz, the bride’s sister.
Upon their return from a two-week honeymoon, the couple will reside in Berkeley.
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